Electric-vehicle battery

An electric-vehicle battery (EVB) or traction battery is a battery used to power the propulsion of battery electric vehicles (BEVs). Vehicle batteries are usually a secondary (rechargeable) battery. Traction batteries are used in forklifts, electric Golf carts, riding floor scrubbers, electric motorcycles, full-size electric cars, trucks, vans, and other electric vehicles.

Electric-vehicle batteries differ from starting, lighting, and ignition (SLI) batteries because they are designed to give power over sustained periods of time. Deep-cycle batteries are used instead of SLI batteries for these applications. Traction batteries must be designed with a high ampere-hour capacity. Batteries for electric vehicles are characterized by their relatively high power-to-weight ratio, energy-to-weight ratio and energy density; smaller, lighter batteries reduce the weight of the vehicle and improve its performance. Compared to liquid fuels, most current battery technologies have much lower specific energy, and this often impacts the maximal all-electric range of the vehicles. However, metal-air batteries have high specific energy because the cathode is provided by the surrounding oxygen in the air. Rechargeable batteries used in electric vehicles include lead–acid ("flooded", deep-cycle, and VRLA), NiCd, nickel–metal hydride, lithium-ion, Li-ion polymer, and, less commonly, zinc–air and molten-salt batteries. The amount of electricity (i.e. electric charge) stored in batteries is measured in ampere hours or in coulombs, with the total energy often measured in watt hours.

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