Rapid recharge capability of valve-regulated lead-acid batteries for electric vehicle and hybrid electric vehicle applications

Range limitation is a significant drawback to the successful commercializat ion of electric vehicles (EVs). An apt description of an EV is 'a high perf ormance vehicle with a one-gallon fuel tank'. In the absence of a 'super ba ttery', there are at least two approaches to resolving this drawback. The f irst approach is rapid recharge, i.e., recharging the battery as close as p ossible to the same time period as it takes to fill the petrol tank of an i nternal-combustion-engined (ICE) vehicle. Whilst not extending the vehicle range as such, this approach does enable high usage of the vehicle without experiencing unduly long recharge times. The ability of the battery to acce pt rapid recharge is paramount for this approach. The second approach is th e development of a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV). In this case, the demand on the battery is the ability to provide, and also absorb from regenerative braking, high specific peak-power levels over a wide range of battery stat e-of-charge. This paper describes the ability, and indeed Limitations, of t he valve-regulated Genesis(R) lead-acid battery in meeting such requirement s. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.