Why isn't this a good design?
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Some are nice.. but the Mini E and the BEV electron? Insane recharge times. or the Tango? Impressive stats (except range), but with a design like that..
Hey, like I said... We're GETTING THERE... We're not there yet :)
Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels) -
Someone must have thought of this before, but apparently rejected the idea. "The" electric car problem is the insane recharge time. So, don't recharge. Swap batteries, and let the ones you're not using recharge. And build "swap stations" around the country where you pay to swap in new batteries. And have them swapped automatically - push them in on one end, the old ones come out at the other. But they're not doing this, so something must be wrong with the idea.
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That could work, there would have to be a lot more of those than of swap stations though.. How would they charge you for the electricity?
harold aptroot wrote:
How would they charge you for the electricity?
Noting fancy or expensive; for the residential areas a designated parking spot with a key for the outlet or even an electric switch inside your apartment or outlet programed to “serve” only your car. For the public areas, booths where you slap your credit card and enter the spot number. The problem as you mentioned it will be the recharge time – if you forgot to plug your car in the evening you will not be able to commute on the next day. But they could make the cars “smart”. There will be a lot of “free” money because of removing from the vehicle of the most expensive parts – the engine, pumps, complicated gear box etc. part of this money could be invested in the car computer: it will give you a call if you forgot to plug it in, if you not answer for some time, calling your boss explaining that you’re a nub and will not be able to go to work on the next morning and eventually electronically sign your resignation. Things like that.
The narrow specialist in the broad sense of the word is a complete idiot in the narrow sense of the word. Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.
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Just like you take your empty gas bottles for a refill. Simple yet elegant solution.
Two heads are better than one.
The gas bottle weight is not 200 Kg/400 lb. and it not costs > $4K.
The narrow specialist in the broad sense of the word is a complete idiot in the narrow sense of the word. Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.
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Someone must have thought of this before, but apparently rejected the idea. "The" electric car problem is the insane recharge time. So, don't recharge. Swap batteries, and let the ones you're not using recharge. And build "swap stations" around the country where you pay to swap in new batteries. And have them swapped automatically - push them in on one end, the old ones come out at the other. But they're not doing this, so something must be wrong with the idea.
There are many, many reasons that this would not be practicable. Apart from those already mentioned Cost of real estate to build a large enough facility in highly populated areas would push the price way higher than many people could afford. What do you do if you arrive at the swap station just after they have sold the last charged battery pack, with insufficient charge left to get to the next one? You cannot jog there with a spare can for a few volts. With current technology, battery powered electric vehicles really are a dead end. Only when fuel cells are improved enough will the practical electric vehicle start to be seen.
Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.” Why do programmers often confuse Halloween and Christmas? - Because 31 Oct = 25 Dec. Business Myths of the Geek #4 'What you think matters.'
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There are many, many reasons that this would not be practicable. Apart from those already mentioned Cost of real estate to build a large enough facility in highly populated areas would push the price way higher than many people could afford. What do you do if you arrive at the swap station just after they have sold the last charged battery pack, with insufficient charge left to get to the next one? You cannot jog there with a spare can for a few volts. With current technology, battery powered electric vehicles really are a dead end. Only when fuel cells are improved enough will the practical electric vehicle start to be seen.
Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.” Why do programmers often confuse Halloween and Christmas? - Because 31 Oct = 25 Dec. Business Myths of the Geek #4 'What you think matters.'
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harold aptroot wrote:
So.. you're putting your money on "tech which doesn't exist yet"?
Oh, but it does. Honda has a Hydrogen powered fuel cell vehicle that it sells only in (I think) California USA, at the moment. Clickety[^] The problem is getting sufficient quantities of Hydrogen, at a reasonable cost, for it to become a feasible mainstream product. Many companies have developed fuel cells to power Lap-Tops (most that I have seen powered by Methane) just one example[^].
Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.” Why do programmers often confuse Halloween and Christmas? - Because 31 Oct = 25 Dec. Business Myths of the Geek #4 'What you think matters.'
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harold aptroot wrote:
So.. you're putting your money on "tech which doesn't exist yet"?
Oh, but it does. Honda has a Hydrogen powered fuel cell vehicle that it sells only in (I think) California USA, at the moment. Clickety[^] The problem is getting sufficient quantities of Hydrogen, at a reasonable cost, for it to become a feasible mainstream product. Many companies have developed fuel cells to power Lap-Tops (most that I have seen powered by Methane) just one example[^].
Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.” Why do programmers often confuse Halloween and Christmas? - Because 31 Oct = 25 Dec. Business Myths of the Geek #4 'What you think matters.'
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harold aptroot wrote:
So.. you're putting your money on "tech which doesn't exist yet"?
Oh, but it does. Honda has a Hydrogen powered fuel cell vehicle that it sells only in (I think) California USA, at the moment. Clickety[^] The problem is getting sufficient quantities of Hydrogen, at a reasonable cost, for it to become a feasible mainstream product. Many companies have developed fuel cells to power Lap-Tops (most that I have seen powered by Methane) just one example[^].
Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.” Why do programmers often confuse Halloween and Christmas? - Because 31 Oct = 25 Dec. Business Myths of the Geek #4 'What you think matters.'
Henry Minute wrote:
Oh, but it does. Honda has a Hydrogen powered fuel cell vehicle that it sells only in (I think) California USA, at the moment. Clickety[^] The problem is getting sufficient quantities of Hydrogen, at a reasonable cost, for it to become a feasible mainstream product.
This is dead end as well. The only efficient way to extract free hydrogen is from Methanol – so again fossil fuels. I would put my bet on the nuclear power plants plus electrical public transportation. IMO this formula is perfect for the EU, not sure for the US though.
The narrow specialist in the broad sense of the word is a complete idiot in the narrow sense of the word. Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.
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Last time I read about it, they still had huge problems with hydrogen leaking from the storage units, has that improved? As to getting the hydrogen, electrolyzing the sea is easy enough, not cheapest way now maybe but that may change
harold aptroot wrote:
As to getting the hydrogen, electrolyzing the sea is easy enough, not cheapest way now maybe but that may change
Not only expensive but if you are using energy from a regular power plants for the electrolysis the pollution and CO emissions will be far more than if you just use the gasoline in your car.
The narrow specialist in the broad sense of the word is a complete idiot in the narrow sense of the word. Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.
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harold aptroot wrote:
As to getting the hydrogen, electrolyzing the sea is easy enough, not cheapest way now maybe but that may change
Not only expensive but if you are using energy from a regular power plants for the electrolysis the pollution and CO emissions will be far more than if you just use the gasoline in your car.
The narrow specialist in the broad sense of the word is a complete idiot in the narrow sense of the word. Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.
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Last time I read about it, they still had huge problems with hydrogen leaking from the storage units, has that improved? As to getting the hydrogen, electrolyzing the sea is easy enough, not cheapest way now maybe but that may change
As Deyan has said, the monetary and environmental cost of liberating Hydrogen from water is currently so high that using Petrol is probably still better. I have not seen anything about storage problems but then again I haven't been looking. :)
Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.” Why do programmers often confuse Halloween and Christmas? - Because 31 Oct = 25 Dec. Business Myths of the Geek #4 'What you think matters.'
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Yes – if we are able to use a green energy for the electrolysis this would be a game changer.
The narrow specialist in the broad sense of the word is a complete idiot in the narrow sense of the word. Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.
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Henry Minute wrote:
Oh, but it does. Honda has a Hydrogen powered fuel cell vehicle that it sells only in (I think) California USA, at the moment. Clickety[^] The problem is getting sufficient quantities of Hydrogen, at a reasonable cost, for it to become a feasible mainstream product.
This is dead end as well. The only efficient way to extract free hydrogen is from Methanol – so again fossil fuels. I would put my bet on the nuclear power plants plus electrical public transportation. IMO this formula is perfect for the EU, not sure for the US though.
The narrow specialist in the broad sense of the word is a complete idiot in the narrow sense of the word. Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.
Deyan Georgiev wrote:
he only efficient way to extract free hydrogen is from Methanol – so again fossil fuels.
There are one or two other methods under development using Ammonium Borate (I think, without looking it up) some variants of which can be recycled. Also some of the Metal Hydrides look promising. As concentrated research into this field is relatively new I think it is too early to call it a dead end to the same extent as storage batteries.
Deyan Georgiev wrote:
I would put my bet on the nuclear power plants plus electrical public transportation.
I would partly agree. Only partly, not from a technological point of view but because of enormous opposition to Nuclear Power generation and the problems of getting people to give up the 'freedom' of personal transport. I don't care because I have my Jet Pack and Hover Board but others seem to.
Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.” Why do programmers often confuse Halloween and Christmas? - Because 31 Oct = 25 Dec. Business Myths of the Geek #4 'What you think matters.'
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Deyan Georgiev wrote:
he only efficient way to extract free hydrogen is from Methanol – so again fossil fuels.
There are one or two other methods under development using Ammonium Borate (I think, without looking it up) some variants of which can be recycled. Also some of the Metal Hydrides look promising. As concentrated research into this field is relatively new I think it is too early to call it a dead end to the same extent as storage batteries.
Deyan Georgiev wrote:
I would put my bet on the nuclear power plants plus electrical public transportation.
I would partly agree. Only partly, not from a technological point of view but because of enormous opposition to Nuclear Power generation and the problems of getting people to give up the 'freedom' of personal transport. I don't care because I have my Jet Pack and Hover Board but others seem to.
Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.” Why do programmers often confuse Halloween and Christmas? - Because 31 Oct = 25 Dec. Business Myths of the Geek #4 'What you think matters.'
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Absotively! That or a truly efficient, on a par with Photo-synthesis, photo-electrics.
Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.” Why do programmers often confuse Halloween and Christmas? - Because 31 Oct = 25 Dec. Business Myths of the Geek #4 'What you think matters.'
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Absotively! That or a truly efficient, on a par with Photo-synthesis, photo-electrics.
Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.” Why do programmers often confuse Halloween and Christmas? - Because 31 Oct = 25 Dec. Business Myths of the Geek #4 'What you think matters.'
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I believe that eventually someone will find a way. I think the Russians have had some huge complex for fusion research during the cold war – I think the name was “Tokamak”. I hope now US will spend some bucks and continue with the experiments. Or they already doing it – I’ll ask Google.
The narrow specialist in the broad sense of the word is a complete idiot in the narrow sense of the word. Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.
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I believe that eventually someone will find a way. I think the Russians have had some huge complex for fusion research during the cold war – I think the name was “Tokamak”. I hope now US will spend some bucks and continue with the experiments. Or they already doing it – I’ll ask Google.
The narrow specialist in the broad sense of the word is a complete idiot in the narrow sense of the word. Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.
There's also the ITER in France, which apparently costs 10 billion € over its entire projected lifetime. Which of course means that the budget will be doubled someday and they will still go over budget :) Or it will quietly die long before that time, I haven't heard much about it lately.
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The gas bottle weight is not 200 Kg/400 lb. and it not costs > $4K.
The narrow specialist in the broad sense of the word is a complete idiot in the narrow sense of the word. Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.