News Electric cars can now do 300 miles on a single charge

[Ark]

The thing that really bugs me about electric cars is knowing that once the battery is worn out, the entire car is totaled because it costs half as much as a brand new car. I don't want to buy a car with an expiration date stamped on it. A gas motor can be rebuilt or replaced relatively cheaply, it doesn't always total the car when they go out.

 

[C3PO]

The thing that really bugs me about electric cars is knowing that once the battery is worn out, the entire car is totaled because it costs half as much as a brand new car. I don't want to buy a car with an expiration date stamped on it. A gas motor can be rebuilt or replaced relatively cheaply, it doesn't always total the car when they go out.

What bugs me is that no-one dares to point that problem out in public.

Another thing is that when they compare electric and internal combustion cars, no-one mentions that electrics are usually constructed using expensive lightweight materials. If internal combustion cars were built the same way, the gas mileage would be much better. IIRC the world record for internal combustion is 3000 km/l (7000 MPG).

 

[FADEC]

I hope this is a typo

Yes it was

---------- Post added at 03:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:50 PM ----------

By the way:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qntYBos-Twg"]TOM HANKS drives his AC Propulsion E-Box Electric Car - YouTube[/ame]

 

[RGClark]

Consumer Reports gives the Tesla Model S its highest rating ever for any car, electric or otherwise:

Bob Clark

 

[N_Molson]

Funny, battleships move up and down twice a day. Doesn't anyone see the potential in that.

We have a tidal powerplan in La Rance, Brittany, since 1966. It works, but it's a famous ecological disaster, as the dam obviously disrupted the ecosystem. There is also the problem of mud, that accumulates very quickly and has to be drained.

The 700 meters dam with 24 turbines has a max. capacity of 240 MW. Nuclear reactors typically range from 600 MW to 1500 MW. So about 100 turbines would be required to equal a reactor. Which makes a 2500 meters dam. Not impossible, but the coasts would be covered by concrete walls (bye bye tourism) and ecosystems would be devastated (bye bye life). Not to mention that the ships movement is seriously restricted (you can use gates a few hours / day).

There is another one in Seoul, South Korea, much more recent and slighty more powerful.

 

[Artlav]

Impressive.
One thing i worry about - did the do a crash test of this car?
With that much lithium on the bottom it might very well turn into a huge human-roasting furnace even on a mild impact. Lithium does not need sparks to burn, like gasoline, contact with air is enough.

Anyway.
Batteries are the main roadblock for the electric cars.
If there was to appear a way to store electricity with the energy density of gasoline and simplicity of ultracapacitors, then the gas cars would go the way of the dinosaurs about as fast as CRTs were replaced with LCDs.

A lot of infrastructure is waiting to be built, however. To charge a 100kWh battery in a couple minutes you would need a sustained power of 3-6 Megawatts.
Eight cars per "fueling" station, and each station would need a separate high tension power line going to it.

For reference, several dozen MW looks like that, and the neighbourhood can feel these things run even though they have separate supply lines going there.

 

[RGClark]

According to Tesla it will take about 20 minutes at 120 kW:

TESLA DRAMATICALLY EXPANDS SUPERCHARGER NETWORK, DELIVERING CONVENIENT, FREE LONG DISTANCE DRIVING THROUGHOUT U.S. AND CANADA.
THURSDAY, MAY 30, 2013
http://www.teslamotors.com/about/pr...arger-network-delivering-convenient-free-long


Bob Clark

 

[RGClark]

Impressive.
One thing i worry about - did the do a crash test of this car?
With that much lithium on the bottom it might very well turn into a huge human-roasting furnace even on a mild impact. Lithium does not need sparks to burn, like gasoline, contact with air is enough.

Agency Pushes Back on Tesla 5.4 Star Safety Rating Claim.
JON M. CHANG Aug 21, 2013

Clarence Ditlow, the director of the Center of Auto Safety, told ABC News that the Tesla Model S did earn very high marks on NHTSA's crash tests. However, he also says that Tesla Motors's spin on the score is misleading. "No matter what, you can't say it's the safest car ever tested, just that it had the best overall test score of any vehicle tested by NHTSA."

http://news.yahoo.com/agency-pushes-back-tesla-5-4-star-safety-173104441--abc-news-tech.html

Bob Clark

 

[Quick_Nick]

The thing that really bugs me about electric cars is knowing that once the battery is worn out, the entire car is totaled because it costs half as much as a brand new car. I don't want to buy a car with an expiration date stamped on it. A gas motor can be rebuilt or replaced relatively cheaply, it doesn't always total the car when they go out.

Apparently for many, you could just "rent" batteries and stay above 80% capacity with this vehicle. (Which has its own set of problems, but also a niche)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sv3Aid9hxi4

 

[Artlav]

Meanwhile, progress does not stand still in the battery department:
http://www.extremetech.com/computin...ing-process-rivals-lead-acid-battery-capacity

I'd bet the high density electric storage that would enable electric vehicles and so on would be next generation supercapacitors.

These things are awesome in many ways - you can charge them at any current your heat dissipation can handle, they give away the same amount of energy independent of the load, they contain no volatile chemicals and can tolerate a lot of abuse.

Just make one with high enough energy density, and you get an ultimate energy storage device.

 

[Fabri91]

They are an interesting development, however isn't the biggest problem that afflicts battery-powered devices/vehicles energy density and not power density?

With the energy density becoming roughly equivalent to that of "traditional" batteries a car equipped with such capacitors wouldn't have a longer range, which is the main issue. However it could be recharged much more quickly, making the more frequent stops resulting from a shorter range acceptable.

 

[RGClark]

They are an interesting development, however isn't the biggest problem that afflicts battery-powered devices/vehicles energy density and not power density?

With the energy density becoming roughly equivalent to that of "traditional" batteries a car equipped with such capacitors wouldn't have a longer range, which is the main issue. However it could be recharged much more quickly, making the more frequent stops resulting from a shorter range acceptable.

Yes, a big research focus now is getting capacitors to have the same energy density as regular batteries. That would be the best of both worlds.

Bob Clark

 

[RGClark]

Kevin Bullis
October 3, 2013
What the Tesla Battery Fire Means for Electric Vehicles.
A Tesla Model S caught fire. What happened brings both good news and bad news for electric vehicles.
http://www.technologyreview.com/view/519921/what-the-tesla-battery-fire-means-for-electric-vehicles/

Bob Clark

 

[Urwumpe]

Well, good news are, the fire detection and warning system worked.

Bad: Far less damage was needed than officially expected. The car wins the usual crash tests with flying colors, but such a minor event causes a fire.