Comparison of Battery Technologies for Hybrid Electric and Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles

Abstract

Although Electric Vehicles especially e-bikes were available in the market; it did not catch the attention of many for years. The main reason for this was their high cost and limited range between two consecutive full charges of the battery on board. However some of the modern battery technologies are promising in this direction. Lot of research is underway to fabricate battery with as high power and energy densities as possible. Presently such batteries have very high cost. But it is said that once these advanced battery technologies mature sufficiently to be used easily in all applications where people presently go for lead acid batteries, their prices will also automatically come down. This paper makes an effort to compare various feasible battery technologies and the factors to be considered before use in a Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) or a Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV). Towards the end, an effort is made to analyze the performance of two most popular battery technologies, viz. NiMH Battery and Lithium Ion Battery if used in a HEV or PHEV. A typical example is considered for this purpose.

Keywords: Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV), Battery, Energy Density, Coulombic Efficiency, Voltage Efficiency