1. Improving dramatically with improvements in energy-density. The weight of a battery-pack capable of >140miles plus electric motor weighs less than the gasoline engine it replaces, not counting the weight of a full tank. (this is based on battery packs available commercially from several years ago - a friend built an electric 911 with Kokam cells with these specs).
2. Conventional Li-Ion (cobalt) cells are definitely dangerous, best stick with NiMH or LiFePO4 to avoid that problem.
3. Those temps are a bit extreme... arguably small markets there.
4. Newer battery tech is reducing the charging time massively... I've read more than a few quotes of ~5 minutes for an 80% charge (diminishing rates beyond that). Example (granted, not near market ready): http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/134635-scientists-develop...
5. That's a much bigger problem... towtrucks would have to have a considerable powerplant on-board for this.
7. Well designed controls should prevent this (shutting down the on-board systems when batteries get below a certain point, rather than taking them past the point of no return).
8. This is coming down fast enough that by the time you have to replace the battery pack, it'll be a non-issue.
9. Again, avoid cobalt-based Li-Ion batteries, and this is not an issue. LiFePO4 batteries are an enormous improvement on this problem - less toxic than the lead cells in your car now.
10. Yet another massive improvement that's a side-effect of the lowered internal resistance in modern batteries. This goes hand-in-hand with the improvements in charge-rates (lower internal resistance means less heat from current, whether going in or coming out of the cells).
> 3. Those temps are a bit extreme... arguably small markets there.
Not really. The high temp is actually on the low side - a parked car in sunlight in the summer can reach 190 degrees!
-40 is a bit extreme for some parts of the world, but in other places it's not unusual. Perhaps not for the entire winter, but certainly as a daily low.
That's the interior of the car, which is effectively a greenhouse.
You don't put the battery packs on the inside of the car any more than you'd put the fuel tank on the inside. Typical placements are underneath the vehicle, arguably the coolest area possible. This is where the Tesla model S places the pack, as does the Fisker Karma, and this is also where the old ('97-'03) RAV4 EV placed the NiMH pack.
2. Conventional Li-Ion (cobalt) cells are definitely dangerous, best stick with NiMH or LiFePO4 to avoid that problem.
3. Those temps are a bit extreme... arguably small markets there.
4. Newer battery tech is reducing the charging time massively... I've read more than a few quotes of ~5 minutes for an 80% charge (diminishing rates beyond that). Example (granted, not near market ready): http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/134635-scientists-develop...
5. That's a much bigger problem... towtrucks would have to have a considerable powerplant on-board for this.
6. Again, improving by leaps and bounds all the time. Just one example: http://www.a123systems.com/lithium-iron-phosphate-battery.ht...
7. Well designed controls should prevent this (shutting down the on-board systems when batteries get below a certain point, rather than taking them past the point of no return).
8. This is coming down fast enough that by the time you have to replace the battery pack, it'll be a non-issue.
9. Again, avoid cobalt-based Li-Ion batteries, and this is not an issue. LiFePO4 batteries are an enormous improvement on this problem - less toxic than the lead cells in your car now.
10. Yet another massive improvement that's a side-effect of the lowered internal resistance in modern batteries. This goes hand-in-hand with the improvements in charge-rates (lower internal resistance means less heat from current, whether going in or coming out of the cells).
Which 3 are you referring to?