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Dreisbach ElectroMotive, Inc. (DEMI) under the sponsorship of Arizona Public Service with assistance from Motorola Semiconductor Products and GM’s Saturn Division, has developed a second-generation high performance Zinc-Air powered electric vehicle (EV). The EV is based on a 1992 Saturn SC coupe chassis and uses a dual battery hybrid configuration to demonstrate acceleration, top speed and operating range approaching gasoline vehicle specifications. This electric powered Saturn SC beat a conventional Saturn SC1 in a 5 lap sprint race during the third Annual Solar and Electric 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. The DEMI/APS Saturn set a new electric stock car lap record of 40.8 seconds during the race and was about 1 second per lap faster than the stock reference car. Both cars were set up by the Saturn Engineering department just prior to the race and used identical race-prepared tires.

Dreisbach ElectroMotive, Inc. (DEMI) is developing a maintenance-free rechargeable Zinc-Air Battery that operates at room temperature. This new battery has an energy density of 200 Wh/kg or about eight times conventional Nickel-Cadmium or Lead-Acid technology now used in electric vehicle applications. This paper will cover the performance characteristics of DEMI's Zinc-Air Batteries to date and the results of a 48-cell test in a Chrysler minivan* which was converted to electric drive under the sponsorship of Southern California Edison. In addition, work in progress on a 168 cell long range vehicle configuration will be presented.

Dreisbach ElectroMotive, Inc. (DEMI) is developing and testing a maintenance-free wall-plug rechargeable Zinc-Air Battery to power Electric Vehicles. This new battery technology offers over 200 mile vehicle range capability from very low cost, commonly available raw materials. This paper will focus on the preliminary systems integration needed by an electric Vehicle to operate these air breathing batteries in various common environments. Air cooling and reaction air requirements will be covered as well as the actual systems used to implement these requirements in a Chrysler minivan* which is sponsored by Southern California Edison (SCE). In addition, the projected system implementations of Zinc-Air batteries in automobiles and multi-use vans will be presented.