Neal Saiki claims battery breakthrough gives more range, costs less

Neal Saiki claims battery breakthrough gives more range, costs less:
Filed under: Emerging Technologies, EV/Plug-in




Engineering challenges are like a siren's call to Neal Saiki. Since leaving Zero Motorcycles in early 2011, the company he co-founded with his wife Lisa, he's spent lots of time and effort wrestling with the human-powered helicopter conumdrum. As engaging as that might be, however, he still hasn't been able to keep himself from considering how to build a better electric motorcycle; work that has, it seems, proved slightly less Sisyphean as he has just announced a pretty cool battery pack breakthrough.



His approach tackles the big battery drawbacks of cost and energy capacity head on by employing the same "18650" cylindrical cells that Tesla Motors so successfully uses. Then, to get around the labor intensive connection method of welding thin strips of nickel to each one, he has devised a way to mechanically connect the cells with enough pressure to keep the current dependably flowing through them.



This configuration makes it easy to replace a single cell if it goes bad - each one is thermally monitored for signs of failure - and also makes it super easy to upgrade when new, better cells become available. What's not to like?



Saiki calculates a 200-pound pack will hold a nominal 16.1 kWh of energy using 1440 individual cells. That, he says, should provide for a real-world, driving-down-the-highway, 100-mile range. By contrast, the "100-mile" bikes by Zero Motorcycles and Brammo hold around nine kWhs.



The system can also be adapted to four-wheeled vehicles. In that application, the pack would be arranged as a three-inch thick plate holding 26.6 kWh of energy per square meter (22.2 kWh per square yard). It's too soon to say whether or when the pack will be commercially available. Saiki's new company, NTS Works, is currently looking to work with "select OEM's on custom battery pack design and licensing." Scroll down below for the official press release for more details.
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Neal Saiki claims battery breakthrough gives more range, costs less originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Fri, 18 May 2012 09:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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