MINI-VAN EV WITH LOAD-LEVELING CAPACITOR LEAD-ACID BATTERY NEWLY REPLACED WITH LI-ION BATTERY FROM ITS ORIGINAL CONFIGURATION AFTER 9 YEARS FROM ITS ORIGINAL DEVELOPMENT

摘要

Regarding a system that reduces the load of lead acid battery by series connected ultra capacitor, and a mini-van EV named "Bongo Friendee EV" that uses such load-leveling (reducing) system; we presented the results of model tests at the EVS-13 held in Osaka, Japan in 1995. Further in 1997 at the EVS-14 held in Orlando, FL, U.S.A., we gave a technical presentation of its body manufacturing process and initial performance data. (References [1] & [2]) In the 10th year from its original development, we renewed this EV by replacing its lead-acid battery with the latest Li-ion battery. In this paper, we study the effect of installing Li-ion battery based on the comparison of vehicle performances before and after replacing the battery. An EV with a battery load-leveling system using capacitor is quite rare in the history of EV, and moreover, a unit that has served, and still is serving in the actual duty this long is never seen. We therefore present the history of the past 9-year operation of this EV as well as the status of the 9-year old capacitor.