• Question: what would be a much better source to make electric car batteries from

    Asked by LIAM.W to Olga, Madhumidha, Connor, Canice, Aruna, Anthony on 11 Mar 2020.
    • Photo: Aruna Chandrasekar

      Aruna Chandrasekar answered on 11 Mar 2020:

      So far, Lithium ion batteries are the most environmentally friendly and efficient batteries. Lithium however is a rare metal and would need extensive mining.
      Hopefully research into batteries will bring us more positive results on better batteries, but we have hydrogen (fuel cell cars) that could be a better alternative to electric cars in future.

    • Photo: Connor McGookin

      Connor McGookin answered on 11 Mar 2020: last edited 11 Mar 2020 4:08 pm

      I’d vote for hydrogen as well. Cars that run on hydrogen fuel cells only emit water and oxygen, that’s cool

    • Photo: Anthony Newell

      Anthony Newell answered on 11 Mar 2020: last edited 11 Mar 2020 8:53 pm

      Lithium is used because it is the lightest metal so it doesn’t add much weight to the car. It also charges and discharges at room temperature better than other materials. We can make lithium batteries slightly better by designing the other parts of the battery better so that they don’t break down as easily and lose charge. Other batteries exist too and different materials have been discussed but not proven yet to be as effective. Lithium-sulfur, sodium-ion and graphene batteries could be used in the future if they perform as well based on how long they last, how light, efficient they are. How expensive they are to make is also very important.

      Hydrogen is a possibly better method in the long term as long as we have clean energy to make it. This is because it takes more energy to produce the hydrogen from water and transport it than it does to charge a car battery to drive the same distance. There will probably be a mix of hydrogen and battery cars in the future.

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