Kreisel Electric Porsche 910 Lights Up German Car Show

The Kreisel Brothers are at it again. After converting a Mercedes G Class to electric power for fellow Austrian Arnold Schwarzenegger, the brothers, who call themselves “E-Mobility Maniacs,” went to a classic car show in Essen, Germany recently and brought along an electric Porsche 910. The car is a replica of the one that Steve McQueen drove in Le Mans, the iconic 1971 movie about motor racing that turned the annual 24 hour endurance race outside a sleepy little town in the French countryside into an international media spectacle.

The brothers operate out of a three stall garage in their hometown of Freistadt, Austria, where they specialize in converting classic cars to electric power along with motorcycles, airplanes and anything else that moves.

They also claim to have invented a better lithium ion battery, one that weighs significantly less than conventional batteries. For instance, the battery in a Tesla Model S weighs 16 pounds per kilowatt-hour. The Kreisel battery weighs 9 pounds per kilowatt-hour. That allowed them to convert a Porsche 911 to electric power while adding just over 100 pounds to its total weight.

The project involved fitting the Porsche 910 with components needed to transform it into an electric car. It uses an electric motor with 490 horsepower and 568 lb-ft of torque — enough to hustle it to 100 kph in 2.5 seconds and give it a top speed of 186 miles per hour.  It has a two speed transmission designed and fabricated by the brothers. Range is said to be 215 miles, a figure the Kreisels say is “realistic,” not an EPA derived statistic. Best of all, it is full road worthy.

The electric Porsche has some other goodies it can boast about. It has fast charging capability and when paired with a home solar installation, it can act as a battery and store energy to feed back into the house. The Kreisels technical prowess has attracted the attention of some of the world’s largest automakers. Volkswagen has visited Freistadt to learn more about how the brothers make their lightweight batteries. Expect to hear more about the Kreisels in the very near future.

Source: iTech Post

Austrian Brothers May Have Built A Better Lithium Ion Battery

Three brothers named Kreisel in the Austrian town of Freistadt say they have done something the world’s top battery researchers have been unable to do — build a better battery. The heart of their discovery is a lithium ion battery that weighs close to half what the best batteries weigh today. For instance, the battery in a Tesla Model S weighs 16 lbs per kWh. By comparison, the Kreisel battery weighs just 9 lbs per kWh. The brothers have converted a Porsche 911 to electric power. The finished car, complete with battery, weighs just 120 lbs more than the stock car with its internal combustion engine.

Car companies are taking notice. Volkswagen has come to town to learn more about what the brothers are up to. It has placed an order for an e-Golf with the Kreisel lithium ion battery installed, which it will use to for test purposes. “The whole world is currently knocking on our door,” one of the brothers tells German newspaper Der Spiegel.

At this point, we need to take a step back. Battery breakthroughs are reported all the time. Most of them turn out to be vaporware. Several large battery companies with lofty promises of stunning new technology have gone bankrupt. A reader could be forgiven a certain amount of skepticism that 3 brothers in Austria do what so many others have not.

What is it about the Kreisel battery that is so revolutionary? For one, it is put together differently. In a traditional lithium ion battery, the individual cells are welded together. The brothers have devised a patented process that uses lasers to bond the cells together. That results in less heating of the individual cells, which promotes longer than normal battery life.

Second, the brothers have devised a new heating and cooling system to maintain temperature stability within the battery pack. They call it active thermal management. “Kreisel Electric battery cells feature a patented casing that is constantly flushed with liquid. This means that combined with a heat pump, the battery can be heated or cooled very efficiently. This significantly increases range and service life as a result,” the company website says.

The company is building a battery factory in town. It will be able to build batteries for about 8,000 cars a year, although output could be doubled or tripled if the demand is there. The brothers are thinking small for the time being but they may have invented the proverbial better mouse trap. If so, the world will very shortly beat a path to their door.

Source: CleanTechnica