Can a Battery Provide 220 Volts?

While batteries of any voltage can be wired in series to achieve 220V, with the best will in the world they will not generate AC without a piece of electronic equipment called an inverter. The inverter takes the input supply and generates the AC voltage from it.

Inverters are readily available over-the-counter starting, for a small-rated one, from about £35GBP.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_electric_vehicle

For safety reasons I very much doubt that the voltage will be allowed in a car. The maximal voltage discussed for the future is 42 VDC.

You could, but again I doubt that it will be accepted, have the voltage increase at the motor with a very sensitive protection.

We had a 210 to 385 volt battery on the USS "Use-ta-sail" . . . a submarine . . . battery life was rated at 2000 Amp/hours . . . we used that battery to drive a Motor Generator . . . that converted the DC to AC . . . in the DC motor/AC Generator Mode . . . in the AC Motor/DC Generator Mode . . . it acted as a battery charger to float the battery and occasionally do an "equalizer charge" where the battery was basically "over charged" for a defined period of time. The equlizer charge improved battery life by reducing build up off various oxides and metals on the battery plates.

The overall purpose of this arrangement was to provide Vital Electric Power to the ship when the normal source was not available. This battery/MG set arrangement was not used for propulsion of the ship.

Keep in mind that a battery of this size would cost a few million bucks and would take a couple of 18 tractor trailer rigs to haul it around!

Many years back, 510 volt batteries were available to power electronic flash units. Batteries can be made to provide any voltage required. The advantage of using higher voltages is a lower current, thus smaller diameter wire.

bewar anything over 90 volts and .45 milliamps will be leathal.

batteries supply only DC.

as above inverter or ac/dc convertion motor is required for ac.

most electric fork lift trucks use 48 volts dc via inverter then control pack to ac motors, Look up fork lift truck operation

this fork lift motor is DC

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0enVmqBZzKg

http://curtisinst.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=cProducts.dspProductCategory&catID=8

using ac to control motors for drive is very efficent.

reverse is accomplised by reversing the phase conections

You can put batteries in series to increase the voltage, in parallel to increase the current capacity. UPS (Uniterruptable Power Supply) Systems, sometimes referred to as Backup Power Supplies for large computers, typically use a series / parallel string of 12VDC batteries to feed an inverter and provide the backup power to run the computers in the even of a utility power failure. They are easily available up to 600VAC output.

If you want to DIY (not recommended for novices), your DC voltage must be at least the PEAK voltage of an AC sine wave. The "voltage" we refer to is called the RMS voltage, meaning Root Mean Squared, a complex form of averaging a continuously varying signal such as a sine wave found in AC power. So if you want 220VAC, that is the RMS voltage and the Peak voltage is that divided by .707. So the minimum DC voltage you must provide for an inverter to get 220VAC out will be 311VDC. Divide that by 12V, you will need 26 12V batteries in series to feed the inverter. Then you start worrying about the amount of power you want to supply, and with batteries, for what amount of time. From that, you get what is referred to as "Amp-Hours" which is how you buy batteries.

Now for the all important question,

Why do you need to use a 220 volt AC motor on a car? What is it driving?

please i advise you to read some literature on batteries and inverters/converters to fully understand this stuff so you can be well directed and informed engineer.

GOOD TOYS BUT CAN BE LETHAL

try these, hope it all helps

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/Feg/hybridtech.shtml

http://images.google.com/images?q=hybrid+electric+vehicles&sourceid=ie7&rls=com.microsoft:en-gb:IE-SearchBox&oe=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=d1BtS97nJJ_-0gTYnrTRBA&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=7&ved=0CDYQsAQwBg

http://www.afdc.energy.gov/afdc/vehicles/hybrid_electric_what_is.html

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/Feg/evtech.shtml

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/electric-car.htm

Hi there try to use DC to AC converter or step up circuit from 12V or 24V to 220V.

good luck to you

In electric vehicles, batteries are conected in series to achieve the desired voltage. Deep cycle 12V lead acid batteries have been used in hobbiest cars, but lithium chemistry batteries are now becoming commonplace in conversions. An automotive grade inverter/controller for 220VDC input will be expensive. I'd recommend checking with Azure Dynamics, who specialize in AC motors and controllers for automotive use. Aside from the major auto manufacturers, they are about the only people in the US who can claim any real experience with AC motor production electric cars (the Solectria cars used their motors and controllers).

You may find it cheaper to buy a motor controller pair than to use your existing motor. What size is your 220 v motor?

There are many controllers available for DC motors, and many sources for the motors themselves. These have been more common in EV conversions.

To become familiar with what others have done, look through the EVAlbum, and read the postings at EVDL.

Yes, hybrid vehicles can use lithium-ion batteries. Voltage/amperage varies.

Research the GM EV1 specifications. Very similar to what you seem to want to do.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_EV1

IMHO a successful technology TEST platform, the EV1 was not ready for mass market and the mass market was not ready to accept its limited capabilities when compared to common IC engine vehicles.

IMHO a successful technology TEST platform, the EV1 was not ready for mass market and the mass market was not ready to accept its limited capabilities when compared to common IC engine vehicles.

I think you're right. Perhaps if it could have been half the price, so people saw it as an affordable commuter car, (that could be the second or third car in some families) then a market could have been created for it back when it was current. It was a more refined, better-engineered vehicle than the Tesla Roadster, and much more efficient (190 watt-hour /mile vs 310 for the Tesla -- which will not be produced for 2011.) All the people I've met who drove them loved them.

It will be interesting to see what happens to electric cars this time around. If Tesla gets their sedan on the market, it will be very expensive, but will still be considered a commuter car for many people. 500 miles per day is not unusual for trips in cars, so half that range (under the best conditions) or 1/4 that under more strenuous driving, makes electric vehicles still an iffy proposition, even if the price were identical.

On the other hand, I hope that the Volt will make sense to people who are not buying a car soo much to show off as to get around. (I am biased, given that my prototype uses the same logic, albeit in a far more efficient, yet smaller, form). People will pay a small premium, I think, for a vehicle that operates as an electric vehicle, but doesn't make you call a tow truck every time you accidentally go out of range. With the Volt, you can drive across the country, if you want. I would not be surprised if the Tesla sedan follows in the footsteps of the Roadster: ultra low production , and therefore never reaching the economies of scale for it to be profitable. The Fiskar is more like the Volt, but the Cadillac version of the Volt can undercut it substantially on price. I am not at all convinced that Silicon Valley is the new Detroit.

Cars like the Volt have the advantage that the battery pack can be much lighter, so you are dragging around less weight. If the engine-generator is well-engineered, it can be half the weight of the additional batteries required to give 300 mile range, so the overall vehicle is a better environmental deal, burning less coal.

In battery-only vehicles, if the Nissan Leaf can be sold for $20,000 - $25,000, perhaps it will do well. The BYD and Tata electric cars may be cheap enough to make electrics feasible as commuters... and if lots of people buy them, battery prices could come down, and perhaps batteries will improve, making widespread electric cars feasible. My bet is, however, that plug-in hybrids will trounce pure electrics.

Haris,

With lead-acid batteries, the main problem in life-span is sulphation of the plates, leading to buildup of solids at the bottom of each cell. Over time, this rises until it contacts the plates within the cell, and the cell dies. Thus, the battery dies. To increase the life, the space at the bottom of the cell is made taller (marine/deep cycle types). Some chemical additives have been promoted to minimize this problem. With lead-acid batteries, the main problem in capacity is that they are not real efficient in energy storage and produce unwanted/explosive gases (H₂) in normal use.

With newer (typically Lithium ion hydride) batteries, a major problem is run-away thermal breakdown that can occur if they are improperly charged or discharged. Many designs are being developed to minimize this risk. But, proper matching of the battery to the charger output is critical to safety.

Regardless of battery type, they are storing a seriously large amount of energy that can be released very quickly into a short circuit. This can easily lead to fires and explosions that can wreck the vehicle and adjacent property. Therefore, proper protection against short circuits is mandatory and critical; fuses must be capable of operating at the DC voltage levels involved. Many electrical vehicles are made with battery voltages significantly higher than the 48 volts others have mentioned.

I agree with the point well-made in an earlier answer, that an AC motor is rated for the RMS voltage present and the battery must therefore put out a voltage at least 1.42 times this RMS voltage.

Something no one else has noted--the current technology in electrically powered vehicles is to using AC motors designed for a much higher frequency than the nominal 50 or 60 Hz commonly in use. Even the 400 Hz common in the aircraft industry is low compared to the 1000+ Hz of the custom motors involved. The reason for the higher frequencies is that as the frequency increases, motor size and weight get smaller for the same power output. To give you an idea of this, look at the size and weight of a typical 500W computer switch-mode power supply (that operates at frequencies much higher than 10,000Hz) and compare this to a 500W transformer for 50/60Hz operation. Some EV's use a single motor with a step-down gearbox and a conventional differential to power the wheels and others use wheel-motor units in each driven wheel with separate controllers for each wheel but no drive train.

Finally, most commonly available VFD inverters are designed for AC (50-60Hz) input, have a DC bus in the middle, and then put out the desired power. However, you don't want or need the rectifier head end. They are produced this way, but require a more savvy supplier and/or close communication with the factory sales staff.

So, if you want to experiment with an EV:

1. Provide proper protection against any short circuits
2. Provide a design for charging or recharging that matches the battery characteristics.
3. Use an inverter to drive the motor, without an AC rectifier head-end.
4. Anticipate switching to a higher-frequency motor sooner or later.
5. Have fun learning and leaving the neighbors curious or even envious (hopefully not LOL as in "Laughing-Out-Loud").

--John M.