Results of electric vehicle demonstration program

Many countries and companies around the world are supporting and developing zero emission vehicles (ZEVs). These efforts reflect legislative and other government actions that result from the growing public awareness of the damaging effects of air pollution caused by automotive emissions. In spite of developments, the most significant technology barrier postponing the manufacturing of commercially acceptable electric vehicles is the development of a suitable energy source. The zinc-air battery that is being developed by Electric Fuel Ltd. is one of the advanced technologies under development. In December 1996, the Israel Electric Corp. (IEC) signed an exclusive license agreement to utilize the electric fuel zinc-air battery technology in the Middle East. The first stage of implementing this agreement was the development of and carrying out a demonstration program based on a Mercedes Benz MB 410 van that was converted to EV operation. The vehicle was equipped with a computerized data acquisition system. The battery data is collected via the battery controller, the data concerning the regeneration of the zinc anodes is collected via the control computer of the regeneration plant. The purpose of the work presented in this paper was to evaluate road performance of the demonstration electric vehicle powered by zinc-air battery under typical conditions of Israeli traffic.