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New Battery for Hybrid Cars Introduced January 2005
Johnson Controls, North America's largest manufacturer of lead-acid batteries, introduced at NAIAS a new NiMH battery designed for hybrid cars.
The new 7.2-volt, 7.0 Ah prismatic nickel-metal-hydride battery was developed using technologies from the companys Varta Battery Automotive Business in Europe, where buses have run on the suppliers nickel-hydride batteries for the past decade. Johnson Controls acquired Varta in 2002.
Johnson Controls also offers a cylindrical NiMH cell. In a prismatic design, the positive and negative plates are stacked flat in a rectangular case; in a cylindrical, the plates are rolled up and placed in a cylindrical container. Both types of battery geometries are currently used in hybrids.
The more competition in the hybrid battery market, the better. An increasing supply of ever-more efficient battery packs would be great for accelerating hybrid adoption.
SOURCE: Green Car Congress
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