RUNNING ON AIR

Electric cars are the rage in the US, but they still need lighter and cheaper batteries

Both nissanleaf and the estar are the companies that go on for the sale of electric cars but they are limited to just a 100 miles of driving on charge. These cars are powered by the batteries -one that shuttle lithium ions back and forth between two electrodes(lithium ion batteries).the unattractiveness of electric vehicles boils down to two facts :

1) Rechargeable batteries cost a lot and weigh a lot

2) A lithium ion battery at its best packs 100 watt-hours of energy per pound.

Now a day’s IBM group is trying to develop a battery that can do much better than lithium battery found now-more than seven times better or 800 watt hours per pound .this would mean that a 125-pound battery would be competing with a 100-pound full gas tank.

The trick here is to make use of something light and easily available: air, what are now known as metal air batteries.

METAL-AIR-BATTERIES: one electrode is a metal but the other is air, this type of battery would be lighter for a simple fact that it doesn’t have to carry one of the electrodes.

But whether recharging can happen for these batteries is the entire question.

the other problem for the lithium ion batteries is that they should be kept away from water which is impossible coz air contains water vapor .so few people came up with suggestions like usage of thin ceramic on lithium which allows only lithium ions to pass but not the water molecules .

so this is the current event for which the solution is yet to be found ,many projects have been taken up by companies like IBM which promised for an electrical-vehicle- size demo battery by mid decade.

NISHITHA REDDY

II year