des batteries au plomb pour les véhicules hybrides rechargeables?
les batteries lithium restant très chères (ce qui explique le prix du Tesla Roadster de 109000$ ou celui de la Volt qui, malgré son autonomie en électrique limitée à 40 miles, pourrait dépasser 35000$) je me demandais si les batteries au plomb pouvaient être pertinentes pour une hybride rechargeable. leur principal défaut est la faible performance mais pour une hybride ce n'est pas trop genant puisque l'autonomie est limitée. et il reste l'avantage principal: le coût, très nettement inférieur.
ci dessous un article sur les hybrides rechargeables avec des batteries plomb associées à des supercapacités:
http://www.technologyreview.com/Energy/20105/page1/
The future market for hybrid-electric vehicles, at least those that are affordable, isn't necessarily paved with lithium. Researchers in Australia have created what could be called a lead-acid battery on steroids, capable of performing as well as the nickel-metal hydride systems found in most hybrid cars but at a fraction of the cost.
The so-called UltraBattery combines 150-year-old lead-acid technology with supercapacitors, electronic devices that can quickly absorb and release large bursts of energy over millions of cycles without significant degradation. As a result, the new battery lasts at least four times longer than conventional lead-acid batteries, and its creators say that it can be manufactured at one-quarter the cost of existing hybrid-electric battery packs.
In the United Kingdom last week, a Honda Insight hybrid powered by the UltraBattery system surpassed 100,000 miles on a test track. "The batteries were still in perfect condition at the end of the test," says David Lamb, who heads up low-emission transport research at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia's national science agency. "What we've got is a lead-acid battery that is nice and cheap but can perform as well as, or better than, the nickel-metal hydride technology, which we know is very expensive."