ZAP Electric Cars Double their Range with Lithium Batteries - 6/1/10

ZAP electric vehicles have started shipping lithium battery systems for a number of models of their electric cars, vans, trucks and scooters.  These new batteries will give them four times the life of standard lead acid batteries plus twice the driving range.

The new lithium batteries will be a drop in replacement that will fit in the same space as the lead acid batteries used in many of ZAP’s electric vehicles. 

The new light weight lithium batteries used in the ZAP Alias is boosting its range up to 100 miles on a single charge.  ZAP’s fleet vehicles used in China are using a similar system it their electric taxies and corporate vehicles.  An array of over 100 battery cells is connected to monitoring systems which checks that the temperature and voltage of each cell are in balance.

ZAP says lead acid batteries have 300-500 cycles of discharging and recharging.  The lithium has 2,000 cycles of discharging and recharging.  ZAP drivers will see improved performance and handling with the higher voltage lithium batteries.  The ZAP vehicle with the lithium batteries will charge overnight from a standard 110 volt AC outlet faster with a 240 volt AC outlet.

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