Sony announces LiFePO battery

Sony announced a new battery – designed for high power devices. No its not quite fit for an electric car, but its still interesting nonetheless.

The 2,000 cycle count is very impressive as well as the high discharge rate, and this battery is well suited for devices like power tools or R/C airplanes. Does this mean anything for electric cars? Not really, since it appears the batteries are cylindrical and not prismatic (rectangular prism). From a volumetric efficiency standpoint, prismatic batteries are better because you can pack them in tightly, where as with cylinders you’ll always have that space between the cylinders.

But what if Sony put this same battery technology into prismatic batteries? Based on the properties of this battery, they would stack up very well for an hybrid car – 1800W/kg and 95Wh/kg would be best suited towards hybrid and plug-in hybrid cars with small batteries and high power demands – a 3kWh battery would be 32kg and provide sustained power of 56kW, with peak power higher than that. The specific energy is too low for any kind of E-REV or EV, and would cause the batteries to be too large and heavy.

[via Sony Insider]