-
Hybrid car chemistry includes unique aspects. Lithium and hydrogen technology is pursued because financial, technical and environmental payoffs promise to be big if costs can be overcome. Also, hybrid cars use disproportionately large amounts of a certain class of elements that chip away at hybrids' "green" appeal.
Lithium Technology
Mainstream battery technology focuses on lead- and nickel-based chemistry. Lithium batteries promise greater efficiency, but, so far, they are prohibitively expensive to produce.
Lithium Chemistry
Lithium is attractive because it easily gives up an electron for battery operation. Nickel and lead also possess this property (otherwise they'd be useless in batteries), but lithium accomplishes the task more efficiently.
Hydrogen Technology
Hydrogen is practically everywhere---in water (H2O) and virtually all organic/biomass sources. Hydrogen's abundance means that there is no need to depend on a localized foreign supplier, as can happen with fossil fuels.
Hydrogen Chemistry
It takes energy to separate the hydrogen atoms from their sources. Getting 100 units of energy out of hydrogen doesn't seem so impressive if it took 110 units to separate and prepare it.
Rare-Earth Metals
Hybrid cars require elements typically not used on a large scale. There are arguments that fuel-saving benefits of hybrids are negated by the cars' unusually exotic electrochemistry requirements.
Source:
Hybrid Cars: Lithium Ion Hybrid Batteries
Hydrogen Hybrid Technologies Inc.: Products
ThermoAnalytics: Battery Types and Characteristics
More Information:
University of California, San Diego, Department of Physics: The Hydrogen Economy; Spring 2009
Reuters: Your Hybrid Car Is Hogging All The Rare Earth Metals; Adrian Covert; Sept. 2, 2009
Copyright 2023, Wired Ivy, LLC