Electric Cars: A Dual Plan for Recharged Driving
September 8, 2010 by Adoption Information and Laws
Filed under Adoption Videos
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Complete video at: fora.tv Better Place CEO Shai Agassi discusses his ideas for mass public adoption of electric cars. Agassi’s plan calls for charging outlets at parking spots for city driving, and battery switching stations for traveling extended distances. —– Shai Agassi deliveres the 2009 Alfred Deakin Eco-Innovation Lecture, outlining how through smart business, improving technology and changing public policy, the electric car revolution can commence. – Australian Broadcasting Corporation Shai Agassi is the founder and chief executive of Better Place, the leading electric vehicle services provider. He is focused on one of this century’s biggest challenges, moving the world from oil-based to sustainable transportation. Agassi works with government leaders, auto manufacturers, energy companies and others to make his vision “zero-emission vehicles powered by electricity from renewable sources” a reality in countries around the globe. Agassi’s visionary leadership with the Better Place model has been recognized widely. TIME Magazine named him to the 2009 TIME 100, the world’s 100 most influential people, and one of TIME’s “Heroes of the Environment 2008.” Fast Company placed him third on its “100 Most Creative People in Business” list. Most recently, Scientific American Magazine named him to the 2009 Scientific American 10, a select group of 10 people who have demonstrated outstanding commitment to assuring the benefits of new technologies and knowledge will accrue to …
This is kinda silly with today’s technology. Especially when you consider that most of the electricity in America comes from coal, or when you realize that lithium ion batteries takes more than half a millennium to decompose.
what happens when 20 miles away the battery pack you switched in happens to be bad or defective?
Simply put with the law of thermodynamics, You cannot get more energy from something then has been put in. so 1+1 does not = 3 Unless you get into fringe science type of stuff and inter-dimensional forces (search zero point energy ) and just plain out there theory but thats another topic altogether.
of course the battery can charge itself while driving an electric by adding a small gas or propane powered electric generator for emergencies. This is the way hybrid systems are set up now with electric assist but I like to go extreme and think of it as gas assist/mostly electric. That way we spend less on fuel.
this is pure gold, the future is here. I like the swap the battery idea but could the battery charge its self while traveling somehow like the energy of wind or wheels spinning can we harness this energy so the battery is self charging?
Tragically, solar panel efficiency today is such that you’d have to sit in the sun for eight hours to go an additional mile. And solar panel efficiency is one of the slowest areas of technological progress.
It’s still a good idea though, but for a different reason. It would mean that if you had an electric SUV and went camping, you could use up the entire battery getting to the camping spot. Then just camp out for a week or two and by the time you’re ready to go home, it’ll have enough juice.
I think you’d have the same standardization problem with redox that you would with battery swapping because not all car manufacturers would want to use the same chemistry for their electrolyte.
Imagine a swap station that can handle multiple types of battery pack. The automated bit under the car that moves the battery about and lifts it into place can adjust to grip various pack formats.
When you need a swap, your GPS would show you only swap stations with compatible battery packs available.
That would require standardization for the swaping but I like the Redox idea if you used lead acid.
Hydraulic drivetrains will solve the problem because it does not drain the batteries. The electric motors are used for building hydraulic pressure rather than moving the car. If hydraulics are used to stop a car, then why not use hydraulics to move the car?
The only was fast charging will work is if some rich arrabs (who sell oil) adopt the idea for one of there Dubia type projects.
I like the idea of changing the charged fluid its a good idea provided that the old fluid can be recharged.
But on the fast charging thing i heard somthing about MIT made a fast charge battery ( i think it was MIT) it was fully charged in 2 minutes.
What about battery swap stations? Swap out your exhausted battery for a freshly charged one, and keep driving. Better Place is building those. There are also Redox batteries, which use a charged electrolytic fluid that can be drained out of the battery, and fully charged replacement fluid is put in, almost the same way you’d refuel a gas car.
I personally think the only real solution is fast charging. i don’t think its impossible its out technology that fails us.
Did you see that Better Place cars can also charge via induction pads under the parking spots?
what if we can just carry spare batteries,
Listen to the video! The stations are engineered on an electrical level to make sure that kids don’t electrocute themselves. That means that very low levels of current are going through anytime a disconnect happens. Once you start to pull that cable, the current’s going to drop off mighty fast and there’s no safety issues.
16SKB
Nanotechnology won’t come cheap, and therefore won’t solve the problem. People keep forgetting about one thing….cost.
Maybe not in the US, but in Denmark and Israel this is getting rolled out starting this year.
Renault already has the cars ready and in Denmark. DONG is supplying the grid. The power comes from windmills( we have”a few” of those here.
I have some faith in indie movements. If the technology becomes cheap and accessible in any form, people will make/modify cars with it. If it works, people will catch on.
although we’ll never get to buy one until there’s no oil left
It’s not effiecinet enough, yet. But soon it will be. We can make the panels thin enough already. We just need to increase their output. Very soon we should have completely self-sustaining electric cars. I can’t wait!
yeah, but sadly, that’s not feasible today… But soon nanotechnology will solve that problem… (and thousands more)
We don’t want to switch “horses” or feed our horses every time we stop. If its pissing down with rain the last thing you want to do is quickly unplug your car before jumping in and driving off!!!
are you retarded? i will make it simple
dirty coal plants are still MORE EFFICIENT than petrol cars.
“I didn’t say you said capitalism is evil
I did imply that you thought it was”
XD
Precisely.
Which is why replacing gasoline powered cars with electric cars powered by coal fired electric is worse that gasoline powered cars to begin with