Battery power the next frontier in electric cars

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=93a70d50-2af7-4d26-954b-3bc8751f1bec
Christopher Maughan , Canwest News Service
Published: Friday, July 18, 2008
MONTREAL - The Zenn is equipped with lead-acid batteries, the traditional power source in electric vehicles so far.It's conceivable that folks at Zenn would be looking over their shoulder given that Chevrolet has promised to unveil its Volt - a car that runs on "affordable" lithium-ion batteries that could recharge in minutes, not hours, and have a range five or six times that of the Zenn.But current estimates show the Volt would retail at around $40,000 U.S. That's a far cry from the Zenn's suggested retail price of $15,995."They're still in development," said Gilles Allard, the production chief at Zenn, of lithium-ion batteries, which typically add $10,000 to $15,000 to manufacturing costs.Zenn is hoping a Texas company called Eestor will be successful in its bid to create a capacitor powerful enough to boost the car's performance to top speeds of 80 kilometres an hour and a range of 250 kilometres. It currently can only go 40 km/h and for 60 kilometres in distance before a recharge is needed. Zenn has signed an agreement that will allow it to use Eestor's technology in a new high-speed model due for 2009.Auto industry analyst Anthony Faria said he's not sure who might win the ongoing battery war, but given the amount of money being spent by the big car companies, he sees it as "far more likely" that General Motors or Toyota would be first to market a car with a more efficient power source.

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