Finally a battery we can use!

In agreement with miscrms I don't think a better battery is needed. It just has to be cheaper!

Shai Agassi said a 300 mile EV battery that charges in 5 minutes is a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. The grid will never be able to provide that much power to a vehicle in that short amount of time.

Meanwhile, even with the batteries as expensive as they are now, EVs are cheaper, over the life of the vehicle, than an equivalent gas car. The Better Place model takes the barrier of high upfront costs out of the picture by keeping ownership of the battery with the company. Makes a lot of sense.

 

Basically, I agree with this, Though I expect the actual solutions to be different. A growing number of EVs will create a market for charging stations, and charging stations will make EVs more practical, and the two will support each other. The grid will have to grow, and so it will, because there'll be a market for the electricity. Fast charging will cost more than home charging, but competition will help ameliorate the difference.

There are things which are impossible. Building a bigger electric grid is not one of those things.

Apparently they have not upgraded their web site for a while, because it says "Available January 2009." That's now, folks, and these cars are nowhere to be seen. I'd write these folks off as a scam. But legitimate EVs are coming. Advances in battery technology are bringing them closer all the time. A few of us are driving them now. It's coming.

 

Welcome to my life! EV test pilot for comin' on nine years now.

 

More accurately - anybody who even gives lip service to our laws of physics will "poo poo" this. We can't get something for nothing! Conversions always entail losses. If not, then we can start building perpetual motion machines right now!

Aw heck. They don't use ANYTHING. They don't exist. They can't exist. These guys have been on the EV-investor scam radar for several years.

 

The motivation for scamming is to make money dishonestly. In this case there are two potential routes for profit: Convince people to send them money for a car, which never comes; or convince people to give them money as an "investment."

The former is riskier, because you can go to jail if you are caught taking money and then not delivering the promised product. The latter is pretty safe, because you merely maintain the appearance of doing "research," and when you are tired of the scam you declare that you were unsuccessful.

 

ya the hydro people are scams... i even called one of the dealers listed on their website, and they just reinforced the scam info... they been promised delivery of the vehicle since last summer...still nothing, not a single word on how the technology works (or how to fix it!!)

as far as making batteries cheaper... sure that will come in time. but right now, we just need to make alternatives too expensive. gas is cheap and we NEVER should have let it go below $3 a gallon for any reason...should have been taxed to fund BEV, plug ins, national power grids, etc....

 

Charging a 30kWh battery in 10mins? That means you need a 180kW source. 180kW x 1/6 hours = 30kWh.
Even at 440V, you're talking 400+ amps.
The charging rate is unlikely to be flat, so the peak amps would be even higher.

The cable for an electric range is huge, and that's 220V/50A (not sure about the 50amps, someone please chime in).

 

Yes see my post 21...

 

I believe Phoenix demonstrated a fast charge capability on their "SUT." I do not know specifically how they operated it, but with higher voltage you need less amperage, and therefore a smaller cable.

Yes, high voltage is dangerous and must be treated with care. But when you drive a bomb on wheels, it sounds funny to worry about high voltage electricity.

Delivering enough electric energy to fast-charge cars is merely an infrastructure problem. And probably an easier one than the present network of oil tankers, refineries, and trucks that deliver non-renewable gasoline from the people who fund Al Qaeda to the hundreds of thousands of gas stations scattered throughout the country. Once the electric infrastructure is in place, it will be much cheaper to operate, and will produce much less pollution. And if we can fight off the corrupt politicians who want to make sure their oil buddies can keep their boot on our neck, we can build the infrastructure to power the grid from renewable sources.

 

I wonder what would be more efficient:

1-Upgrade house electrical to 225+ kW (ouch - we're talking industrial-type transfos)
2-Keep the current grid structure, install a battery bank. Charge the battery bank at a normal rate, use the battery bank to charge the car's battery at a high rate.

#2 would allow using electricity during the night and avoid increasing peak power output demand on evenings.

 

The average person has no reason whatsoever for fast charging at home. Overnight charging works fine at home. Fast charging would permit the development of a network of charging stations on the highways which would make it practical to drive electric on extended road trips.