The great battery search [electric vehicles]

Batteries are the Achilles' heel of electric vehicles (EVs). Advocates of EVs frequently find themselves explaining why no electric car can drive far without refueling and as frequently promising things will get better any year now, as soon as the latest advance in batteries reaches maturity. As the search goes on for new electrochemical couples, designers try to avoid the pitfalls of the old ones. The article discusses the problems of batteries for EVs and discusses Li-ion, Ni-MH and Ni-Cd battery developments. The possibility of using primary batteries is briefly discussed as are battery charging technologies, safety and health issues.