An Analysis of Electrical Vehicles’ Batteries

Abstract

The advent of electrical vehicles has revolutionized transportation. The gases produced by the conventional vehicles powered by fuels such as diesel and petroleum, and a potential shortage of these fuels led to the interest in electric vehicles. The electrical vehicles on the other hand are powered by lithium-ion batteries and offer a possible solution to the increasing pollution as they only emit natural by products instead of exhaust fumes and harmful gases like carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons from unburnt fuel and particulate matter such as soot. A very interesting component of an electrical vehicle is its battery. The batteries of most electrical vehicles are made of lithium-ion and are the reason why electrical vehicles are so distinguished from their conventional fuel powered counterparts. The paper focuses on the various batteries that have been used over the course of the years in different electrical vehicles. It talks about the history of battery performance improvement and includes descriptions of the following types of batteries: Lead-acid batteries (Pb-PbO2), Nickel-Cadmium Batteries (Ni-Cd), Nickel metal Hydride batteries (Ni-MH), Sodium-Nickel chloride batteries (Na-NiCl2), Sodium sulfur batteries (Na-S) and Lithium-ion batteries. The lithium-ion batteries have been discussed in detail due to their relevance in today’s electrical vehicles. However, there is also a discussion of solid-state batteries and their features because of their superiority over lithium-ion batteries and how they can be the next major choice for electrical vehicles’ batteries soon. It also describes the various batteries’ indices and characteristics such as power density, energy density, specific energy, battery capacity, internal resistance, working temperature and efficiency. The conclusion of the paper mainly focuses on the future of electrical vehicles, their batteries, and their impact on the environment in the long run. The paper also discusses the few hurdles that electrical vehicles face today due to which many nations haven’t been able to switch from conventional vehicles to electrical vehicles yet.