2 Oxyride AA Cells Power Car 1.2km !

[lambda]

This is a clip from the Yahoo News Photos Slide Show:

"A woman drives a Panasonic luge-shaped vehicle operated by 'Oxyride' dry batteries developed by Japan's Matsushita Electric Industrial (Panasonic), at an unveiling of the next generation batteries in Tokyo, January 28, 2004. The vehicle can go as far as 1.2 km with two Oxyride AA batteries at a maximum speed of 3.3 km per hour, Matsushita said. The new battery will go on sale in April at 360 yen ($3.40). REUTERS/Toshiyuki Aizawa "

Perhaps some real increase in battery capacity is close at hand .....

 

[muggsuxx]

Hew, you're quick, Lambda!

Here is the bulletin from Panasonic. It's Japanese though.
Matsushita

image

Basically, it says that a new recipe of oxide nickel hydroxide(?), newly developed manganese dioxide and new form of carbons are used in the positive terminal. 360 yen for a pack of two. It will last twice as long as the conventional alkaline battery in your digital camera.

 

[gadget_lover]

It sure would be nice to see what that car would do with existing AA Alkaline or NiMH cells.

A low rolling resistance vehicle that's shaped like a luge is not easily equated to real life cars. It's not hard achieve astounding results if you are willing to go way out of the normal specs for a product.

A couple of questions... Of that 1.2 KM trek, how much was under power? How hot did the battery get? What's the AH capacity and voltage of the battery?

I'm too cynical, I know.

Daniel

 

[muggsuxx]

I found .ra format image. click on the "video" at the top.
They show the power difference in the mini-car. They says that the battery has 1.5 times more power...

 

[vcal]

The batteries themselves are those new ZR6 alkalines that are becoming available at drugstores now. (Savon)
Brands like Sanyo, Kodak, Matsushita/Panasonic etc.

open circuit voltage at 1.7 volts
-great under heavy loads, -cheaper than L91 Li, but without the better cold temperature performance of Lithium.
Alkalines on steroids. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif

 

[Canuke]

I think these are the same type of batteries discussed here.. would love to see some more in-depth testing of these things compared to L91 in high and lower-drain apps. I found them for $2.99/4pk at Menard's in Minneapolis, but they are almost $5 at the Fry's here in Pomona, CA...

 

[hby]

> What's the AH capacity and voltage of the battery?

Ah is not specified but 1.5x from Alkaline with 1000mW/h constant discharge. Sounds great for Luxeons, isn't it?

Initial voltage is around 1.7V and higher current could be pulled out even with voltage gets lower, on Matsushita announcement. Internal resistance must be quite lower, I guess.

Actually we've got the same chemical stlucture batteries the last year from Matsushita and Toshiba in Japan. They are designed only good for digital camera because of the low voltage characteristic.
Matsushita solved it and made a new line for these batteries(The basic production method of battery haven't changed for 40 years!)

AAA will be released on 2005.

 

[Alan Hsu]

How about shelf life?

 

[vcal]

Two AA ZR6 batteries do a beautiful job if you have a low forward voltage Luxeon.

3.4v into my Luxeon draws only 135mA ,still pretty bright and goes many hours on just $2.00 worth of batteries. (4-pk.$4.00 US) /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

 

[hby]

> How about shelf life?
2 years.

 

[dukeleto]

Concerning the car trip, during my college studies I was part of a team competing in an amusing vehicle "race" called the Shell "Eco-marathon": build a vehicle that will do tha max number of kms on 1 liter (not sure, but I think that's around 1/4 gallon) of petrol, at a minimum average speed of 30km per hour. We were far from winning, but still managed 1200km...

Olivier