1912 Detroit Electric car with its nickle iron battery still working

Thomas Edison spent $3.5 million between 1903 and 1910 perfecting his nickel iron battery. It was half the weight of lead acid batteries and had twice the energy density. His electric cars were demonstrably superior to the competition that were powered at the time by what we today know as Exide batteries. Thomas Edison’s nickel iron battery was used as the energy source for the Detroit Electric and Baker Electric vehicles. A 50 volt nickel–iron battery was the main power supply in the World War II German V2 rocket.

Edison’s batteries were made from about 1903 to 1972 by the Edison Storage Battery Company in East Orange, NJ. They were quite profitable for the company. In 1972 the battery company was sold to the Exide Battery Corporation, which discontinued making the battery in 1975.

Edison developed the nickel–iron battery to be the battery of choice for electric vehicles which were the preferred transportation mode in the early 1900s. Edison’s batteries had a significantly higher energy density than the lead–acid batteries in use at the time, and could be charged in half the time,

History has recorded that the electric car was built years before the gasoline combustion engine car. Electric automobiles held many speed and distance records. Among the most notable of these records was the breaking of the 100 km/h (62 mph) speed barrier, by Camille Jenatzy on April 29, 1899 in his ‘rocket-shaped’ electric vehicle Jamais Contente, which reached a top speed of 105.88 km/h (65.79 mph). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Jamais_Contente

Two years earlier, in 1897, electric vehicles found their first commercial application in the U.S. as a fleet of electrical New York City taxis, built by the Electric Carriage and Wagon Company of Philadelphia.

The good news is that nickel iron battery production has now returned. You can now buy these batteries that never die at Iron Edison http://ironedison.com/ Their sales motto is “The Last Battery you’ll Ever Buy.”

The Iron Edison Electric Car Designed for a 1000 Mile Endurance Race

The New York Times – October 16, 1910, “AUTOMOBILES COMPLETE LONG ENDURANCE RUN; Trip of 1000 Miles Including Mount Washington Climb Proves That Edison Battery Is No Longer a Myth.”

Related link http://www.nickel-iron-battery.com/

Hydrogen from water can be used to fuel electrical power generators, every combustion engine vehicle on the planet, gas stoves, gas fireplaces, emergency power generators, boat engines, barbecues and gas home heating furnaces.

A new electric car that can get more than 300 miles per gallon. You read right – three, zero, zero miles per gallon.  But this car wasn’t created by any of the major car manufacturers in Japan, Detroit or Germany. It’s the brainchild of students from DeLaSalle Education Center, a high school in Kansas City, Mo. for students who need an alternative to the traditional system.

They took part in the school’s Automobile Design Studio, which is aimed at fostering outside-the-box thinking in a real-world setting.  Their car produces zero emissions, a feat it achieved on Bridgestone’s Texas Proving Grounds. The students have applied to Guinness World Records for approval of their achievement.

The students’ super high mileage electric car consists of a chassis from the 2000 Lola Indy, an ultra light-weight aerodynamic body, Bridgestone Ecopia EP100 tires, and a high-end electric propulsion system specially designed for the vehicle.

A test on Bridgestone’s Texas Proving Grounds showed the vehicle got around 300 mpg.  The students and their instructors are looking for a suitable automaker who can turn the project into a full-scale commercial entity.

Electric cars are powered by a zero emission electric motor instead of a polluting gasoline engine and they get energy from a controller that regulates the power level as determined by the driver’s acceleration.

This achievement proves GM, Ford and Chrysler can develop high mileage vehicles but just don’t want to.   If 300 mpg+ can be achieved by students why are the Big 3 domestic automakers only producing 60 mpg and less vehicles?

The video demonstrates that all gasoline engines can be converted to electric.  The technology is available today to convert all fossil fuel vehicles to electric.