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Ohm Is A Smarter, Lighter Car Battery That Works With Your Existing Car


Jalada

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Instead of lead plates, Ohm brings in a more modern, two-part system: an EDLC supercapacitor capable of dumping enough energy to start your engine, and a set of smaller batteries (LiFePO4, which contain no toxic heavy metals) to keep things powered when the engine is off.

 

Techcrunch article, actual site.

 

Thoughts? Weight reduction...right?

 

ohm.png?w=1024&h=657

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I run a Shorai Lithium battery on my Ducati. Im guessing this is something similar. They use lithium technology and even the housing is made out of carbon fibre! On my bike, the new battery actually weighted about 10lb less than the old one. It is shockingly light and half the size of the original. So much so when you pick it up you really wonder how an earth it will have enough power to turn the bike over. But it does, and it seems to start the bike a lot easier than the old battery did.

 

On these batteries, another thing to note is that you have to be careful what charger you use as it doesnt like a lot of them - you need a special charger in some cases.

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Problem with 'super capacitors' is they store not a lot of energy for their weight. The Ohmn website state only 10 amp hours - normal battery 30 amps+. So if your car starts up first time your fine....But if your asking for repeated runs on the starter motor your drain that battery pretty quickly.

 

Bizarrely I think even ALL electric cars on the market still have lead-acid batteries to power the radio/lights etc. I'm not really sure why ??

Edited by gangzoom
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Problem with 'super capacitors' is they store not a lot of energy for their weight. The Ohmn website state only 10 amp hours - normal battery 30 amps+. So if your car starts up first time your fine....But if your asking for repeated runs on the starter motor your drain that battery pretty quickly.

 

Bizarrely I think even ALL electric cars on the market still have lead-acid batteries to power the radio/lights etc. I'm not really sure why ??

 

Doesn't it quote 10amp hours for the keeping the alarm etc running part, not the starting the car part?

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Doesn't it quote 10amp hours for the keeping the alarm etc running part, not the starting the car part?

 

Their website is abit short on detail - 10amps 'reserve capacity'.

 

A battery is a battery regardless of technology, there's no such thing as 'reserve capacity' unless they are talking about the rechargeable lithium iron phosphate battery bit.

 

Supercapacitors can discharge/recharge alot of power very quickly compared to 'normal' batteries, but they cannot store alot of energy. It's a bit like a 100meter sprinter who can run 100 meters very quickly, but gets tired out after 200 meter, versus 800 meter runner who might not be as quick over a short distance but can run for much longer.

 

If you can guarantee your only need X amount of power for a short period of time (ie: your car will start first time, every time), than 10amphrs is probably enough. Your ideal battery should be at the top right of the graph - which currently is totally empty!!! Infact per kg, Supercapacitors store less energy than Lead-Acid batteries. So I suspect the reason this battery is quoted at 10amps is because to make it 'lighter' than a lead acid battery the amount of energy it can store has to be less than any Lead-acid battery of the same weight....

 

So actually what is the point of it?? A 350Z has a 60amph+ battery, if you reduced it down to just 10amph (chuck away 80%+ the battery), it'll probably be lighter than this battery they are selling.

 

Supercapacitors-vs-batteries-chart.png

Edited by gangzoom
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