GM Electric Vehicle Battery Tech Wins R&D 100 Award
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The General is committed to a battery-powered future, promising as many as 20 new GM electric vehicle models by 2023. However, to get there, General Motors will need to bring some impressive new battery innovations to market. Now, it’s looking like GM is gearing up to do exactly that, as evidenced by a new award handed to the GM China Science Lab in Shanghai for its capacitor-assisted battery (CAB) technology.
The accolade in question is the 2019 R&D 100 award, which is an annual honor presented by R&D World magazine to 100 of the “most innovative technologies and services from the past year,” according to a GM press release.
“The CAB is built on ground-breaking hybrid cell architecture that employs a capacitor as power assist to a lithium-ion battery cell,” the automaker explains.
The new technology offers myriad benefits with regard to GM electric vehicle and hybrid applications, including high cold-cranking performance and high-temperature durability. With capacitor assist, electrical power systems can offset the temperature impact on a lithium-ion battery supply.
“The creation of a hybrid cell architecture paves the way for a replacement of today’s dominant lead-acid solution for start-stop application, demonstrating a strong environmental impact while promising greater synergies with lithium-ion cells for purely battery-electric vehicles,” GM states.
The GM China Battery Lab opened in 2012, and will continue to explore novel new energy solutions for upcoming GM electric vehicles and hybrids. In addition to innovations like CAB, the facility is also exploring technology like solid-state batteries, which could be a major game-changer for GM electric vehicle power systems.
For now, the CAB battery technology is already licensed for mass production by two global battery manufacturers, and could see use in non-automotive applications as well.
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I hope that they have some aces in their sleeves…
Capacitors can move current more efficiently than a battery but their charge capacity is too short for long runs. That is why many variable load applications, such as specialty audio systems, add large Farad sized capacitors in parallel to the amplifier supplies so they can get the power jolt that a high note will produce without clipping. I have a bank of 350 Farad capacitors replacing the starter battery of my emergency power generator since 2005 because it is heat and water resistant and never needs liquid or maintenance. It does hold the needed starting charge for months. It can start a truck motor for several seconds!
Or they didn’t and this Sispoidis guy is going to have to deal with some very angry US creditors (and SV/TV/GB & co are also dead meat)