ETV’s micro- turbine device to extend the range of the battery cell packs to up to twice the present driving range of 130 -160 km. Public charging posts (like this one) may not be needed.
The electric car innovation and development industries in Israel have not been sparing media hype to make people more aware of the approaching realities of large numbers of electric cars plying the streets and highways. This is especially true regarding companies such as Better Place LLC, which plans to put their version of a Renault made electric car on Israel’s roads by the end of 2011.
Better Place’s battery exchange network is not being received favorably by many people, however; and the company’s infrastructure concepts in Israel (the proposed trial center for company head Shai Aggasi), the company does not appear to be to moving towards creating such a big impression on the average individual. The company is also being looked at as an electric car “monopoly” since it is the only “favored” electric car company in Israel.
All this may change, however, with the entrance of another electric car concept “player”, ETV Motors which has just announced a radically new concept to extend the range of the lithium ion battery cell packs that will be fueling these cars.
Located just north of Tel Aviv, in Herzliya, ETV Motors is developing a unique micro- turbine device that will be able to extend the range of the battery cell packs to up to twice the present driving range of 130 -160 km.
In an interview with weekly Car Talk radio show hosts Joop Soesan and Weeb Cnossen ETV’s Chief Operations Officer Arnold Roth said that the micro turbine device will be able to “create electricity while driving.”
The turbine utilizes a specially series of rotary blades, which will be located at the rear of the car’s undercarriage and will provide power by a rotating “universal joint” to the battery pack in the center of the car.
According to Roth, ETV will be able to create electricity at much less costs than a combination of expensive lithium ion battery packs and electricity provided by standard electrical power plants. This will be possible, Roth said, due to ETV also developing a much less expensive battery cell pack than the one currently being made for companies like GM (for their new Volt model) and Better Place, whose “Li-IO” battery pack is very heavy and tremendously expensive.
ETV is intent on producing a “new generation” of batteries by creating a new type of battery cell that takes up less space in the car and is much less expensive to produce.
“Our new battery cells contain no exotic materials and create a more affordable battery for use in electric cars and other vehicles,” Roth says. He added that combined with the new micro turbine, between 50 and 100 % more battery power will be possible. Information found on ETV’s website:
“ETVM’s High5ive 4.7V battery cells are designed to be more compact than, and have twice the driving range of, the best available competing cells. Batteries built on the basis of High5ive cells will be less expensive to produce; will have higher energy density reaching 200-250 Wh/kg and beyond (300-350 Wh/kg at the cell level) and will be safer to use”.
ETV has so far been able to raise more than $16 million in venture capital, and prototypes of both battery packs and turbines will be ready for serious testing in 2011.
As for ETV’s new mico-turbine concept, Roth believes that this technology will be much better than that presently being utilized by companies like GM or Tesla motors, whom readers will recall offer a high priced electric sports car. The car recently raised nearly $190 million in an IPO stock offering.
Read more about electric EV car technology:
Israeli Electric Cars on the Fast Tract, Says Company’s Power Supplier
“Car Talk” With The Driving Dutchman Highlights Many Green Auto Issues
Oman’s Noor Majan to Build Mid East’s First Electric Car, With Massage Seats to Boot
