Mitsubishi Motors Jointly Develops New Lithium Ion Battery For Electric Vehicles.SOUTHFIELD, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 6, 1997--Mitsubishi Motors Corp., Inc. (MMC See MultiMediaCard and Microsoft Management Console. ) of Japan, in collaboration with Japan Storage Battery Co., Ltd. (headquartered in Kyoto, Japan), has developed a new low-cost, high-powered lithium ion A rechargeable battery technology introduced in 1991 that provides greater charge per pound than nickel metal hydride. In 1993, Toshiba introduced the first notebook in the U.S. with a Li-ion battery. battery for use in electric vehicles. Compared to conventional lead-acid accumulator Noun 1. lead-acid accumulator - a battery with lead electrodes with dilute sulphuric acid as the electrolyte; each cell generates about 2 volts lead-acid battery batteries, the new battery offers a significant increase in energy storage capacity and power. As a result, the battery enables an electric vehicle to travel over 155 miles without recharging. The new lithium ion battery uses cheaper and more abundant manganese electrodes, rather than cobalt, which are found in conventional batteries. The use of manganese enables mass-production of a high-power battery at a cost close to 40 percent less than the production of cobalt electrode batteries. Starting the collaboration in the fall of 1996, the companies developed two types of lithium ion batteries: one for use in electric vehicles (EV) and the other for use in hybrid electric vehicles (HEV HEV abbr. hepatitis E virus HEV hemagglutinating encephalomyelitis virus of pigs. ). The lithium ion battery for the EV is more compact and has a higher energy storage capacity, compared to conventional EV batteries. The Mitsubishi Motors Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (三菱自動車工業株式会社 lithium ion battery has an energy capacity of 100 ampere-hours and weighs 34 pounds, compared to a regular lead-acid battery Noun 1. lead-acid battery - a battery with lead electrodes with dilute sulphuric acid as the electrolyte; each cell generates about 2 volts lead-acid accumulator , which only has 60 ampere-hours and weighs 45 pounds. The lithium ion battery designed for HEV's produces more power while being significantly smaller. The HEV utilizes both an electric motor and gasoline engine. Therefore, a smaller battery is desired in order to reduce the total weight. The HEV's lithium battery can generate about 320 Watts per pound, compared to a regular lead-acid battery, which generates about 115 Watts per pound. Mitsubishi Motors has been a trailblazer in the EV/HEV field because of its concern for the environment. Even though the new batteries are ready to be applied in production models, the electric motors, generators and batteries required for EV's and HEV's result in substantial increases in vehicle weight, cost and demand for natural resources. For this reason, Mitsubishi Motors intends to limit manufacturing of these vehicles for use in specific areas such as factories, hospitals and some commercial purposes. Mitsubishi plans to sell 2,000 vehicles equipped with the new batteries annually by the year 2000. Another major part of its pro-environment strategy, Mitsubishi Motors announced at the end of August 1997, that it produced over 100,000 passenger models powered by its revolutionary, environment-friendly GDI (Graphics Device Interface) The traditional programming interface (API) for output in Windows. When an application needs to display or print, it makes a call to a GDI function and sends it the parameters for the object that must be created. (Gasoline Direct Injection Gasoline direct injection or GDi is a variant of fuel injection employed in modern two- and four- stroke petrol engines. The gasoline is highly pressurised, and injected via a common rail fuel line directly into the combustion chamber of each cylinder, as opposed to ) engine. Mitsubishi believes that the GDI engine, with its superior resource conservation, economy and performance will become the benchmark power unit for the 21st Century. Established in 1973, Mitsubishi Motors America Inc. (MMA (Microcomputer Managers Association, Inc.) A membership organization with chapters throughout the U.S. that was devoted to educating personnel responsible for personal computers. It disbanded in 1996. Mma - A fast Mathematica-like system, in Allegro CL by R. Fateman, 1991. ), headquartered in Southfield, Michigan, monitors the technical, quality, warranty, purchasing and marketing areas of the U.S. automotive industry. The company also coordinates external and government relations activities for all Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Motors Corporation subsidiaries in the United States. CONTACT: Mitsubishi Motors America, Inc. Junzo Ishino, 248/353-5444 or LobsenzStevens Scott Tangney, 212/684-6300, ext. 313 |
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