Alternative Range Extender for Electric Cars - Zinc Air Batteries Conference on Future Automotive Technology: Focus Electromobility

The small range of electric cars compared to cars with internal combustion engine is still one of the problems inhibiting the spread of these cars. Range extenders (RE) in general are the realistic possibility to increase the range of electric cars in the near future without the need to improve the technology of the main battery storage. This paper describes an alternative type of RE for electric cars. Its aim is to enlarge the range in special situations and not for the daily use. A study (1) shows that a range of 100 km per day is suitable for 90 % of the daily trips of a year in Germany. The electric car MUTE is designed to work as regional used car mainly for driving to work and for shopping. Range extension for a regional used car is necessary in special situations like driving around road works or traffic jams, which is the aim of this RE. Utilizing the zinc-air technology as RE makes more feasible a fully electric car with its zero emission. This contribution shows that a zinc air RE with an energy content of 4 kWh and a peak power of 4 kW is feasible to increase the range of regional used electric cars even if the RE is activated at a state of charge (SOC) of the main battery which is below 10 %. electric transportation (1) this kind of RE could be attractive. Thinking about a seldom necessity of use up to 10 times a year, an electric rechargeable RE could be used for about 15 years. Regarding this seldom usage, also the mechanic rechargeable RE could be interesting. In this contribution an exchange of discharged battery modules is suggested. The RE should consist out of several modules which can be exchanged manually. The electric car MUTE is already prepared to carry six zinc-air battery modules. It was developed at the Technical University of Munich in collaboration of several institutes. This car can later be used to investigate the ability for this technology as RE. The modules are intended for exchanging at a service station while the discharged ones should be sent back to the factory for refilling. The most expensive part of the battery, the air-electrode, and also the housing could be utilized again. Only the zinc anode has to be changed. The refilled battery modules can be reused as RE. In the electric car MUTE the RE is placed in the front part of it in the collapsible zone. This can be done because zinc air batteries are short circuit proof, as described in (6). This prevents the battery from fire and explosion.