I've long wondered about the durability impact of automatic start-stop systems
When I wrote the press release for Ford about the 2013 Fusion with auto-start-stop, we estimated the $295 option cost would typically be recovered in about 18 months through fuel savings. However if you have to replace a battery that can cost up to $200 in less than two years it eats up most of the potential savings.
While automakers have adopted more robust batteries and beefed up the starters on cars with auto start-stop, it looks like the batteries are not enjoying the increased cycling caused by all those additional engine starts. This only applies to non-hybrid vehicles like the Ford Fusion, the 2015 +Ford Motor Company F-150 and the Ram 1500.
Hybrids generally use the high-voltage battery and the electric drive motor to restart the engine. Non-hybrids with start-stop use advanced-glass-matt batteries. But it looks like manufacturers are looking to ultra-capacitors to solve the durability issues. ?
Inefficiencies and durability questions cropping up with now-proliferating stop/start systems could be opening the door for long-promising, but little applied ultracapacitor technology in the light-vehicle market. Ultracaps, long considered too costly for widespread employment in light vehicles, …