Chevy Volt Batteries

General Motors has demonstrated an end-of-life reuse plan for spent Electric Vehicle (EV) batteries in partnership with ABB, the power electronics and automation giant. The environmentally conscious auto buyer, who opts for buying an Electric Vehicle, remains concerned about what happens to the batteries at the end of their warranted life. In the past, used lead-acid car batteries ended up in landfills that led to heavy metal contamination of ground water and streams that needed expensive cleanup operations.

GM and ABB conducted a laboratory demonstration at the University of North Carolina campus in Raleigh that combined a bank of “used” EV batteries with an Inverter pack to produce 25 kilowatts of power for 2 hours. The 25/50 kWH pack could provide standby power to five homes. The batteries used in the demo were not really used batteries. The Chevy Volt warrants its batteries for 8 years or 100,000 miles and the car has not been on the roads for long enough to generate “used” batteries. The application , which is planned to be field tested in 2012 with help from the Electric Power Research Institute ( EPRI) aims to apply this Inverter to applications like storage batteries for renewable energy sources and as a standby power source connected to a transformer that feeds five homes on a street.

GM senior manager for battery life-cycle management , Pablo Valencia says that even after a 10 year use on the Chevy Volt car, the lithium ion batteries would still have 70 percent residual life that could well meet the utilities requirement of a 15 year further life for any standby power source they install. He also says that more spent batteries than needed could be used in the Inverter application to provide for any deficiencies in battery residual life. Valencia says that battery energy storage capacity declines in the first few years and then it “levels off”

Some battery researchers disagree.They say that as batteries age, they undergo changes in structure and chemistry that would make the performance hard to predict. Other critics point out that battery technologies are evolving fast and in 10 years when the EV used batteries become available in large quantity, then technology would make these batteries unattractive for use.

Nissan has also announced a partnership with Sumitomo Corporation to use spent EV batteries to store solar power. They have installed seven Leaf recharging stations at the Nissan Headquarters that have solar roof panels charging battery packs at the ground level.

TriMove – Three Hubless Wheeled Motorbike By Mohammad Ghezel

 Here is a design from Mohammad Ghezel that will blow your mind away. Primarily a three hubless wheel concept sets this one visually apart from any other bike on a top notch. When you first see this bike, you will only be wonder struck at the three wheels that it boldly flaunts. Unlike all other big, boring three wheeled bikes the TriMove is designed so sensually that agility and speed is a certainty. Very narrow and the tilting three wheels of TriMove redefines a trike for you.

Not just with its looks, this bike also charms with its fantastic features. It has a splendid three-disc braking system that needs very less braking space, making it perfectly safe. Also for all you people who are wondering about how this bike will help you balance; it has a triangular footprint, that balances brilliantly even when it is stationary.

The design, even though criticized for some so-called unergonomic characteristics, it is still avant-garde and highly fancy. There is nothing extrinsic about the bike, but because it is a new concept, its technical potency is not yet explored to the fullest.

Supersonic Futuristic Car

 The Supersonic is developed by Marko Lukovic of Serbia, a professor of industrial design. The structural design of SUPERSONIC is very essential and unique compared to other cars. Supersonic can carry two people seated one behind the other. It’s been designed with superb aerodynamics where main inspiration was established based on high-speed Supersonic flying aircrafts. The principles of the aerodynamic and easy styling are now radically emphasized. The very large Xenon head-lights are installed with blue LEDs, which produce the very striking and eye-catchy exterior design.

This futuristic vehicle has been designed with three wheels where the front wheels are hidden and each of back wheels is driven by its own controlling electric motor. It has extra-durable lithium-ion batteries which are located at the rear part of the supersonic. The steering is composed of Drive-By-Wire system and the transmission is automatic. It satisfies all future needs and is very light and safe. Automatic pilot mode is a typical feature.