SOLAR ENERGY FOR ELECTRICALVEHICLES: SYSTEMS ANALYSIS

g e n y Oman, Consulting Eyimer, Seatth, Wmhiryton

users port, the shipping cost of the zincate and zinc would add 17.5 cents to the cost of 120 km travel in the Irmscher. A by-product of the solar-power plant in the desert could be renewable fuel that local residents can use in electric bicycles. One oriented solar panel, 10 meters by 10 meters in size, with 30-percent efficient solar cells, can in one day deliver enough energy for 14,700 km (9135 miles) of travel on bicycles. This by far exceeds the travel distance that could be obtained in one day by riding on an animal that is pastured on a 10-by-10 meter area.

Abstract
The Sun delivers to the Earths surface during daylight hours around 85 milliwatts per sq cm (79 watts per sq ft) of energy on a clear day. This energy source has not been practical for vehicle propulsion because it may not be available when needed, and the vehicle may not be properly oriented for receiving it. Sunlight can be used to grow plants that can be converted into fuels, but the resulting fuel generally costs more to produce than does gasoline. Now available is a new tank for carrying solar energy--the zinc-air battery, which can deliver propulsion energy from sunlight with greater efficiency and less value-added expense. This battery generates electric energy by combining zinc from its anode with oxygen from air to form zincate. At the recharging station the zincate is replaced with zinc, and the zincate is sent to a electro-winnowing plant where the zinc is recovered. The main cost of delivered solar power is the interest on the money invested in the solar-cell arrays. This interest, which persists even when the sun is not shining, has made solar power plants non-competitive for generating power for American electric utilities. In a tropical desert clouds rarely interrupt the intense sunlight, and the zinc output from a solarpowered electro-winnowing plant can be stockpiled. In a tropical desert a hectare-size solar-power plant with 30-percent efficient solar cells can in eight hours recover enough zinc to power 36,000 km (22,000 miles) of travel in lightweight 4-passenger Irmscher electric vehicles. The cost of the energy for a vehicles 120 km travel range would be $2.88. If the desert processing plant is 5000 km from the

Introduction
Electric cars powered by on-board solarcell arrays, plus energy stored in batteries, have travelled great distances and also won races. However, on-board solar power is not practical for ordinary day-to-day automobile propulsion because sunshine is not available on cloudy days, nor during nights which can be long in the winter. Also, a vehicles orientation during travel on roads and streets may not be the best for collection of solar radiation, and road-side buildings and trees cast shadows on the vehicles solar panels. Solar power not been practical for electric utilities either. The energy is free, but the interest on the invested cost of the solarplant accumulates even when no power is being generated at night. Furthermore, a fuel-burning power plant must be running and ready to carry the solar-plants load whenever clouds interrupt sunshine. Also, a utilitys peak load comes in the early evening when the sun is near the horizon and light intensity is low. Batteries and pumped-hydro have been tested for supplying peak loads, but they cant compete with the

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aeroderivative gas turbine, with which the independent power producers make electricity that costs only 3 cents per kWh. Some utilities now invite customers to make extra monthly contributions of money for building and operating solar and wind-power plants. Solar energy has been used for propelling vehicles for centuries. For example, the bicyclist's propulsion power comes from third-hand value-added solar energy. During summer the no-cost sunlight is absorbed in a corn field to produce ensilage. During winter this product is fed to cows that produce milk. The milk is hauled to a value-adding creamery which delivers cheese that enables the bicyclist to travel 1000 miles with energy which costs him $9.20.
A new development, the zinc-air storage battery, can make energy from the sun practical for propelling electric vehicles. In the paragraphs that follow we evaluate the economics of using solar energy to electrowinnow the zincate from discharged batteries. The product is zinc-fuel for recharging the batteries. This electroforming can be done at a solar power plant located on a tropical desert where the intense sunlight is rarely dimmed by rain clouds. The principal cost is the interest on the solar-power plant investment. A small maintenance crew will be needed. The cost of waterborne shipping of the zinc and zincate between port cities is small.

per cc. Lead weighs 11.35 grams per cc. The second factor is the storage of oxygen jn the from of lead oxide on the positive electrode. In the zinc-air battery the oxygen is obtained from the atmosphere. Germany's Deutsche Post AG is testing 65 postal vans that cut the fuel cost in half by replacing gasoline energy with electric-utility energy. One van with a 150-kWh b,attery recently traveled on one charge from Chamtbray, France, across the Alps, to Turin, Italy, a distance of 152 miles. This trip included 93 miles of continuous climb. Twice a week the German postal van goes to a "Refueling Station," where the oxidized zinc cassettes in the van's battery are replaced in 10-minutes (Figure 1). The cassettes are sent to an electro-winnowing plant in Bremen which services German postal-van fleets in Bremen, Cologne, Mainz, and Hamn, and also vehicles in Stockholm, Sweden.

Recharging a Zinc-Air Battery

During discharge of a zinc-air battery the zinc at the anode combines with oxygen from the air to produce zinc oxide:

2 Zn + 0 2 -> 2 ZnO
This reaction theoretically delivers 1.65 volts per cell and 1350 watt-hours of energ!! per kg of zinc. Normal cell voltage is 1.15 volts, and present batteries deliver up to 200 watthours per kg at a 5-hour discharge rate. The recharge of an electrical-vehicle battery consists of four steps: 1. The zinc oxide is removed from the current-collector frames. The
a

Zinc-Air Powered Electric-Vehicles

The key to the new solar-power option is the zinc-air battery described by Jonathan Goldstein at the 3 1st Intersociety Energy Conuerswn E y i n e e r i y Conference ('). This battery makes electric vehicles practical because it stores over seven times the watt-hours-per-kg that can be stored in common lead-acid batteries. The low weight of the zinc-air battery is a result of two factors. One is the weight of the negative electrode, which is zinc that weighs 7.13 grams

2.

zinc

oxide

is

dissolved

in

potassium-hydroxide

solution

to form a zincate solution:

ZnO + 2KOH + H 2 0 -> K2Zn(OH)4

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3.

In electro-winnowing recovered as metal:

the

zinc

is

KzZn(OH)4->Zn +2KOH + H20+ 1/2 0 2

4.

The zinc is compacted onto current-collector frame and inserted into a separator bag.

the is

The recharging energy, consumed in Step 3, can be supplied at a remote solar-energy power plant. The zincate solution can be shipped in a tanker. The recovered zinc-powder can be shipped as a slurry, or as a dry powder that can be blown in and out of the transporting ve sse1.

The efficiency with which solar cells can convert sunlight into electricity is approaching 30 percent (3). Thermophotovoltaic and AMTEC solar converters are approaching the efficiency of solar cells (4) and ( 5 ) . These developments could introduce an opportunity for making desert areas even more valuable than farm lands for producing exportable products with energy. Use of 30-percent efficient solar cells would triple the annual energy output of this solar-power plant. A further increase in output would be obtained at a tropical desert where the sunlight is nearly overhead all year long. These factors would reduce the cost of solar power at the plant site to perhaps 10 cents per kWh. Floyd Wyczalek described Opels Corsa Innscher sedan that carries 14.4 kWh of energy in nickel-cadmium batteries which can deliver 6.8 kW of propulsion power. The Irmschers mass is 1100 kg plus 160 kg payload, and the car offers 100 to 120 km of travel range on a battery charge ( 6 ) . A hectare-size solar electrowinnowing plant with 30% efficient solar cells can in eight hours produce enough zinc to power 36,000 km (22,000 miles) of travel in these lightweight 4-passenger electric vehicles. If we assume a 50 percent battery-recharge efficiency, then the energy for driving the four-passenger Ope1 Irmscher over its 120-km range would cost $2.88.

Cost of Solar Power Generation

A desert-area solar-power plant could power the electro-winnowing of zinc oxide from discharged zinc-air electric-vehicle batteries. For example, the ARC0 solar-power plant, which was built in 1982 next to the Southern California Edisons Lug0 substation, had 108 panels, each 9.75 m by 9.75 m (32 by 32-feet) in size. Each panel, with the then available 10percent efficient cells, produced 9580 watts peak power. This panel, if kept oriented in equatorial sunshine, could produce 65 kWh per day. One hectare (2.47 acres) of desert with these panels could deliver 3400 kWh per day. A winnowing plant receiving this energy could keep 40 postal vans in service.
In the early 1980s the Sacramento Municipal Utility District built a 1.2 megawatt (MW) solar power plant at a cost of $12 million (2). The plant has no fuel cost, but the interest on the investment at todays 10 percent would be $1.2 million per year. The energy output being obtained at that time in large California solar power plants was 3 million kWh per year per megawatt of peak-power capacity. The interest of the investment would correspond to a cost of 40 cents per kWh of output power.

Shipping Energy in Zinc Pellets

Electric-vehicle energy in the form of zinc would need to be shipped from a solarpowered electro-winnowing plant in the desert to a metropolis where the energy is used. The zinc oxide formed during battery discharge would be shipped back to the desert. These movements add cost. However, the price of gasoline also includes shipping cost. Petroleum energy is shipped from the Persian Gulf to the United States, and empty tankers carry water ballast on their return trips.

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Another new rechargeable zinc-air battery was described at the 12th Annual Battery Conference on Applications and Advances. "Recharging" requires replacing the zinc-oxidecontaining electrolyte and refilling a hopper on the battery with zinc pellets (Figure 2). The depleted electrolyte could be shipped in an ocean-going tanker to a port near the desert solar-powered zinc-extraction plant. The restored electrolyte could be returned in a tanker. We can estimate the cost of shipping zinc-air fuel by assuming that the zinc and electrolyte deliver 200 watthours of energy per kg of mass. That energy content has been measured in laboratory tests. The 14.4 kWh required to propel the Ope1 Irmscher through its 120-km travel range would require a fuel mass, mf: m f = 14,400 Wh = 72 kg 200 wh/kg We assume that the depleted and regenerated electrolytes can be shipped in an ocean-going tanker, and that the zinc pellets recovered at the solar site can also be shipped back in a tanker. The cost of shipping petroleum in a modern tanker is 2.5 cents per 100 ton-miles. This corresponds to 1.67 cents per 100 metric-ton kilometers. If the port city is 1000 km from the solar site, then the Irmscher's 72 kg of fuel mass for traveling 120 km has to go 2000 km. The cost of shipping this 72 kg over the 2000 km round trip (cf) becomes: cf = 1.67 cents X 72 kg X 2000 km 100 ton-km X 1000 kg/ton = 2.4 cents Alternatively the zinc could be shipped in a modern bulk carrier such as the Irena Dan. She can carry 81,040 tons of cargo whish i a loaded and unloaded with blowers. The cost of the 25-person crew plus fuel for her Sulzer propulsion engines corresponds 0.048 cents per ton mile. The shipping cost for the
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2000-km round trip of zinc fuel, to and from the solar-reprocessing plant, would then correspond to 3.5 cents per 120 km of travel in the Irmwher electric car. If the solar reprocessing plant is 5000

km from the user's port, this shipping cost

would rise to 17.5 cents per 120 km of Irmscher travel. The more significant cost to the driver would be the taxes that are added to the fuel price by govemments to support higlhway construction and maintenance.

Other Uses of Tropical Sunshine

A community that seeks prosperity must export products so that it can buy new technology and needed goods. Exportable food can be produced when sunshine illuminates irrigated farm land. Genetically engineered plants plus new agriculture technology are continually improving per-acre productivity. A marine farm in Thailand can grow seventy tons of dried green algae per acre per year. Examples of the energy productivity from agriculture areas are: Product and Location Tons per Acre-per-year of Land Hybrid sorghum, Texas Fast-growing alder trees, U.S.25 Napier grass, Florida pond 50 Green algae, Thailand 70

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The green algae, when dried, has a heating value of 7500 Btu per pound, and it can be converted into methane (7). This metlhane can fuel an aeroderivative gas turbine in a combined-cycle power plant that has a 50percent efficiency. Then the fuel from one acre will support a continuous power output of 17.6 kW. At a wholesale rate of 3 cents per kWh the plant will earn $4600 per year from the algae produced on each acre.

Such options are not available in desert regions which have plentiful sunshine, but little water for supporting plant growth. Electric power could be generated with solar cells, and exported, but that requires an expensive transmission line which would be in service only when the sun shines. Sunlight can be concentrated to produce hydrogen from water with a complicated chemical process. On the other hand, electric power can electrolyze water with a very simple process. The hydrogen that is produced can be combined with nitrogen to make ammonia, which can be liquefied and shipped to farms for fertilizer.

Conclusion
A new renewable fuel for electric vehicles is zinc, which combines with oxygen from the atmosphere to form zincate as the vehicle's battery is discharged. The zinc is recovered from the zincate by electrochemical winnowing. This "recharging" operation could be done at a remote location, such as a solar power plant on a desert. This new battery technology, plus the development of solar cells that approach 30 percent in efficiency, opens new ways of exporting energy from tropical deserts. The solar energy would be converted to vehicle fuel at the solar array site. The energyinput received from the Sun costs nothing. The interest on the money invested in the solar power plant, plus shipping the used and renewed fuel between the solar plant and a 1000-kmdistant port city can cost only $2.90 for every 120 km travelled by a four-passenger Irmscher car. The only remaining source of atmosphere pollution is the diesel-powered ship that hauls the depleted and renewed battery-fuel.

Fuel for Local Transportation

A by-product of the solar plant could be renewable fuel for use by local residents in battery-powered electric bicycles. One ten-byten meter solar panel, equipped with 30-percent efficient solar cells, would in one day generate 195 kWh. An electric bicycle while travelling over moderately hilly terrain consumes 10.6 watthours per km (*). With 80-percent battery charging efficiency, one day's energy output from the ten-by-ten meter panel will propel electric bicycles a distance of 14,700 km (9135 miles). This far exceeds the daily travel distance that could be available by riding on an animal that lives on a 10-by-10 meter pasture.

Furthermore, a single 10-meter by 10meter solar panel with 30-percent solar cells can generate 195 kWh in one day. This energy can propel battery-powered electric bicycles a distance of 14,700 km (9135 miles).

Bigure 1 Two G m e s each week .

the electric-poweredGerman postal van stops at a refueling station for exchanging the electric-fuel cassettes in its zinc-air batteries. The discharged cassettes are later regenerated.

--Electric Fuel Regeneration

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Hopper feeds zinc pellets Into cell as zinc le consumed Electrolyte contains zinc particles Cathode (carbon) Depleted electrolyte contains zincate -Anode current Collect0 (tln-plated copper)

Figure 2. In another zinc-air battery the zinc from the hopper replaces the zinc consumed in the electrolyte.

Air inlet

--e

'.

I. Goldstein, J. R., "Field Test of the Electric Fuel Zinc-Air Refuelable Battery System for Electric Vehicles," P r o d i y s of h 3 l s t Z m , 1996, pp 1925-1929. '. Anderson, M., and Spencer, R., "The SMUD Photovoltaic Power Plant," P r o d i g s of the ZEEE Tower E y i m ' t g Summer W y ,Jdy, 15-20, 1984, page 3. '. Chmielewski, A. B., et ai, "The New Millennium Power Z m 1996, pp 2193-2198. Technology," P r o d i y s o f th~3lst '. Fatemi, N. S., et al, "High Efficiency Converters for Thermophotovoltaic Applications," P r o d i g s of the 31st ZFCFC, 1996, pp 2238-2242. '. Van Hagen, N. S., et al, "Thermionic/AMTEC Cascade Converter Concept for High-Performance Space Power," P r o d i y s o f h 3 l s t IECEC, 1996 pp 629-634.

Wyczalek, F,, "Hybrid Electric Vehicles (EVS-13 Olsaka)," Confeeme K r d ; %OmCO9( 96,November 4-6, 1996, pp 409412. '. Enssani, E., "Liquid Hydrocarbons from Biomass Grown on Waste," T r o d i y s o f h 2 5 t h Z w ? ~1988, pp 1953-1957. ~, *. Morchin, W. E. "Trip Modelling for Electric Powered Vehicles," Conference Kmrd 5@WCO?( 96, November 4-6, 1996, pp 372-377.

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