In recent years, electric cars have been widely discussed by many people. Did you know that this electric car is different from ordinary cars in general? Why is that? Because this electric car can only operate on electric power. Many think that electric cars will be the future car that is environmentally friendly.

To make an electric car, it takes 2 basic materials, namely a battery and an electric motor. Both function as electrical storage power and other functions as a driving system. The electric car battery is a very important component because it functions the same as gasoline in a car in general.

In a BEV (Battery Electric Vehicle) or electric car, the battery is the only "source of life" because the electrical energy stored in the battery is the only source of energy for driving this electric car. What you need to know is that this electric car battery has different types.

Each electric car battery has different characteristics in its operation so that it affects the condition of the electric car when used. Therefore, this time we will discuss several types of electric car batteries complete with their characteristics. Check out the explanation below, OK!

The type of electric car battery that is widely applied is this Li-Ion battery. Maybe it's familiar because this type of battery is also widely used in portable electronic equipment such as laptops and smartphones. The difference is a matter of scale. The size and physical capacity of electric cars are much larger, so they are called traction battery packs.

Li-ion batteries have a very high power to weight ratio. This type of electric car battery has high efficiency, so performance at high temperatures is also good. Li-ion batteries have a higher energy-to-weight ratio. The smaller the weight of the battery with the same kWH capacity means the car can travel further on a single charge.

This battery also has a low self-discharge rate, so Li-ion batteries are the best compared to other types of batteries in maintaining the ability to hold a full charge. Most Li-ion batteries are recyclable, making them suitable for environmentally conscious electric car enthusiasts. BEV and PHEV cars use this Li-on battery a lot.

This NiMH battery is mostly used by HEV (Hybrid-electric Vehicle) cars which have also been successfully used in several BEV cars. This type of hybrid electric car battery does not get external power or can be recharged from an external source of the electric car system. For recharging this type of car depends on the wheels, engine speed and regenerative braking.

NiMH batteries have a longer cycle life than Li-on or SLA batteries. This battery is tolerant and safe against inaccuracies during use. But the biggest drawbacks of NiMH batteries include: high cell-discharge rates, relatively more expensive prices. Generates significant heat at high temperatures.

From these shortcomings, NiMH batteries must be able to be recharged from outside the system, for example the PLN network. Therefore, this type of electric car battery is the most widely applied and used by hybrid cars.

This SLA battery is the oldest rechargeable battery. Compared to NiMH and lithium batteries, this SLA battery is indeed inferior in terms of weight and capacity which is much heavier. But the price of this battery is relatively cheaper and safer. There are types of large capacity SLA electric car batteries under development, but currently SLA electric car batteries are only used by commercial vehicles for secondary storage systems.

This type of ultracapacitor electric car battery is different from the definition of a battery in general. In contrast to other electrochemical batteries, this ultracapacitor battery stores a polarized liquid between the electrolyte and the electrodes. As the surface area of ​​the liquid increases, the energy storage capacity also increases.

Like SLA batteries, these ultracapacitor batteries are suitable as secondary storage devices for electric cars. Because this ultracapacitor battery helps electrochemical batteries increase their load level. This battery also provides extra power to the electric car during acceleration and regenerative braking.

This type of ZEBRA battery is a low temperature variant of NaS (sodium sulfur) battery and the development of ZEBRA which was originally “Zeolite Battery Research Africa” changed in 1985 to “Zero Emissions Batteries Research Activity”. From the beginning the ZEBRA battery was developed for electric vehicle applications using electrolyte ceramics Na + -beta-alumina and NaAlCl4.

The characteristics of this ZEBRA battery include: a high temperature battery that operates at more than 270°C, the chemical NaNiCl (Sodium Nickel Chloride) which provides an operating cell voltage of 2.58 volts and this battery has a high power cell making it suitable as a type of electric car battery.

The advantages of ZEBRA batteries are cycle life > 1000 cycles, safer than Sodium Sulfur cells, high energy density even 5 times higher than SLA batteries and low cost materials.

Compared to other electric car batteries, Nickel-cadmium or Ni-cd is superior in terms of storage density. In addition, the service life can reach 500 - 100 charge cycles.

However, these batteries are quite heavy and prone to memory effects. If you experience an "emptying" cycle, the battery performance will drop or drop. Now, Ni-cd batteries are no longer used because they contain cadmium toxicity.

At a glance, earlier information about the types of electric car batteries that can be used as a reference. If you are looking for an affordable electric car, you can choose IONIQ Electric and KONA Electric from Hyundai.

IONIQ Electric Hyundai uses Lithium Ion Polymer battery which has a capacity of 38.3 kWH. Meanwhile, KONA Electric has a capacity of 38.3 kWH which is suitable to be combined with an electric motor. You can get this safe electric car battery technology at Hyundai, which is complete with 4 security steps.