by the Federal Transit Administration
and Northeast Advanced Vehicle
Consortium as part of the National
Fuel Cell Bus Program.
The new dual battery system was
recently demonstrated in a Nova Bus
Rapid Transit Series (RTS) transit bus.
In that vehicle, a high-power density
A123 Systems lithium-ion battery was
combined with a high-energy density
sodium metal halide battery, also from
A123 Systems.
GE developed the computerized
energy management system needed
to manage the contributions of the
two types of batteries. GE also provided a development drivetrain for the
demonstration bus.
The zero emissions transit bus has
a top speed of 50 mph and about a
60- to 80-mile range under ideal conditions. The ultimate goal of the project
is 62 mph and a 100-mile range on a
transit bus route with multiple stops
and starts. This goal is in line with GE’s
research that indicates that many of
the 843,000 buses in the U.S., including most of the 63,000 transit buses
and 480,000 school buses, travel less
than 100 miles daily.
GE will conduct another bus demonstration this year, using its new
Durathon sodium metal halide battery
installed in a new advanced composite lightweight bus from an unspecified supplier. The Durathon battery,
which GE plans to build at a new
battery factory in Schenectady, N.Y.,
incorporates the cathode structure of
a sodium-metal halide cell consisting
of a conductive Ni network, molten-salt electrolyte, metal-current collector,
carbon-felt electrolyte reservoir and
the active sodium-metal halide salts.
The Durathon battery is aimed
primarily at the emergency standby
power market. The battery targets
uninterruptible power supply (UPS)
applications for large data centers,
hospitals and other areas where a
continuous supply of power is critical.
The service life of the Durathon battery in such applications can be up to
two decades, GE said.
While significant advances in battery
technology have been made, further
reductions in the size and cost are still
needed. GE projects that a dual sys-
tem could reduce battery cost by up
to 20% compared with a single battery
system when used in transit buses,
delivery trucks and other heavy-duty
vehicles that require significant power
and energy storage capacity. A dual
system can provide the flexibility to
integrate less expensive batteries
without having to increase its size to
provide the same capabilities as a
single battery system. dp
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