Battery Vehicle Society

This is from another post but thought I'd repeat it here

I'd never heard of silicone batts but after a short google search came up with this

http://www.zpenergy.com/modules.php?nam ... e&sid=1677

Quite interesting

ChrisB

Silicone Gel batteries have been around for a little while now. They're main applications so far have been in electric bikes and electric motorbikes: the Lexola electric mopeds (distributed by Urban Mover - www.urbanmover.com) use Silicone Gel batteries as opposed to Lead Acids.

They're really an alternative to lead acid batteries. Their biggest benefits are they can be deep discharged better than lead acid, cope at lower temperatures and can be recharged much faster - Lexola's 'fast charge' takes around one hour to complete, which is pretty impressive stuff.

I've been playing with a set recently. Not for an electric vehicle, but for use in a vending machine. I've been very impressed with their low temperature performance.

mmm very interesting Mike, whats the plan having them in vending machines ??

ChrisB

The link with vending machines is interesting! I went to a job interview a few years ago with a company in Bristol that makes parking meters. I saw the production line and got a bit of a technical description of how the meters worked. The type that are currently in use in Bristol (supplied by the company) are powered by a lead-acid gel battery. The actual metering and ticket printing is done by a little Z80 microprocessor board. The whole battery pack is swapped out by the same van/crew who collect the money. This makes sense for a machine where (a) you don't want to have to dig up the street for a power supply cable and (b) you have to visit the thing anyway to collect the money from the coin-box. Presumably they take the batteries back to a depot for re-charging.

I suppose the same principle applies to the vending machines.

Well, this particular 'vending machine' is a parcel vending machine.

I work for a company that delivers parcels. But rather than delivering them to homes during the day when nobody is at home, we deliver them to our network of parcel vending machines, so that people can pick up their parcels when it suits them.