Better Battery Business

The following article from Wired's Autopia discusses a decent alternative to the problem of rate of refueling for electric car battery packs. It's merely a swap out - drive-in with a 'flat' battery, drive-out with a 'fresh' one.

Though the article pooh pooh's the notion saying, consumers will equate changing out batteries to changing an engine, and then decries the fact that we'll never standardize misses a couple of important points.

1) The batteries are 'fuel' - and the consumer is likely to see them as that. Especially if a scheme is put in place to treat them as such, including the cost associated with 'using' the fuel. Charges based on the cell.

2) Battery powered vehicles are in their infancy. Standards will come. That's why automakers are members of the Society of Automotive Engineers (the US standards body). Think of it this way, at the dawn of the horseless carriage there was no standardization of controls. Today you can get into almost any car and drive it away without having an all day course to figure out how to drive it.

This idea has a lot of merit IF battery power is the fuel source of the future.

Standard Plug Agreed to for Plug-In Hybrids

One of the first things needed to build an infrastructure to refuel electric vehicles is some sort of standard plug-in and voltage ceiling. Motorauthority had the story up this morning.

Imagine if the nozzles to dispense gasoline, and the openings to accept gasoline in the car, came in different shapes and sizes. Fords would have to have a separate set of pumps from Toyotas, for instance.

There are an amazing amount of standard configurations for automobiles. Some driven by international standards bodies, some by government and many by the Society of Automotive Engineers.

If you ever want a good lesson on why standards are good, arrange to drive a Model T. ; -)

What the announcement of a standard plug configuration means to me, is that we will start seeing a lot of plug-in vehicles within the next five years.

Fast Recharge Batteries

Toshiba announced it's 90 second recharge SCiB lithium batteries. Well . . . there goes the third leg of the puzzle; performance, range and now rate-of-refueling.

This battery technology in the Tesla Model S sedan and fathers will still be able to drive far enough to stretch their kids bladders and then rush them through bathroom breaks while they 'gas' up. Restores my faith in the electric car. ; -)

From MotorAuthority

Tesla Model S Sedan

Tesla unveiled its Model S sedan recently. It's well styled (reminiscent of a Maserati Quattroporte) and seats up to seven (though how you'd squeeze them in is another matter). But the performance and range of the car are the real stand out features.

I still believe we have a ways to go before electric vehicles can be used for the 'family vacation'. (In light duty use, like city cars, electrics do have a role to play.) But Tesla's Model S may be the closest an electric car has come yet to providing the performance and range of an internal combustion (IC) vehicle.

The Tesla S is claimed to do 0-60 mph in 5.6 seconds (VERY quick for a family sedan) and, with an optional battery package, has a range of 300 miles before needing to be recharged.

Rate of recharging is another matter however, with the fastest recharging scenario, DC quick-charged, taking 45 minutes. Plan meals along the way rather than just a 'restroom break then grab-a-snack and go' type stops.

Still two out of three concerns met for electrics isn't bad. The three keys to the viability of electric cars are; performance, range, and rate-of-refueling.

Tesla press release on the Model S here.

Image via Tesla Motors

Batteries

Electric vehicles are not high on my list of things to get excited about - primarily because you have to compromise performance to get any decent range out of the vehicles. You either pinch the electrons available, squeezing them to get the last possible mile, or you squander the electrons and get great performance and only get a block or two away from home. (Anyone who thinks electric cars are inherently slow hasn't seen an electric drag racer - they can be sneaky quick.)

The problem to date (and this is given 100 plus years of battery powered electric cars) has been battery technology.

The Chevy Volt will use Li-Ion batteries, but in their current state they are not all that the engineers desire. Here, however, may be the next big thing in electric vehicles. A Li-Ion battery that is not as reactive as the current designs and retains it's charge capacity longer than current designs.

From the MIT Technology Review: Li-Ion

Maybe they can finally build a decent battery pack for my electric razor. ; -)