Rapid charging batteries are yet to be proven but may be a partial fix to electric car problem. Fuel cells mixed with battery storage would be the best interim solution. This allows for rapid refueling when required and when hooked up to a mains power it could recharge the batteries and then go on to produce hydrogen if you could also hook it up to a water supply. How much better would that be?
How long until...
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If we were to produce hydrogen at the level needed for consumption by motorists we would use an inordinate amount of electricity. Hydrogen may well be abundant, but it's not easy to get on it's own!
Electricity is needed, and in order to ever have "green" motors we need a clean source of electricity which produces waaay more than we currently do.
Electricity is needed, and in order to ever have "green" motors we need a clean source of electricity which produces waaay more than we currently do.
Nuclear fission and later fusion - unfortunately we are ruled by as bunch of *************************** (extra long combined swearie) who are incapable of understanding that and building more nuclear power plants and spending more money on the EU fusion research.
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2004/12/65936
Would do the job
If we ended up with something like solar panels generating hydrogen or electricity so that there was no longer a distribution network as the primary source of fuel for cars, what would happen to all the tax on fuel? Would the government just increase road tax to compensate for this?
Why? Electric motors can put out over 1000ftlb of torque
So can a really big breaker bar with a bit of scaffold pole on the end...but it isn't going to solve our transport problems.
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2004/12/65936
Would do the job
If we ended up with something like solar panels generating hydrogen or electricity so that there was no longer a distribution network as the primary source of fuel for cars, what would happen to all the tax on fuel? Would the government just increase road tax to compensate for this?
Looks like another one of those "wow we've done this omg save the world!!" discoveries that nothing ever comes of, seeing as that article is from more than 5 years ago ;p
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I don't quite think we will all be driving electric cars about at any time. I think biofuel, LPG, and others will always have a shout. I do think that a potential majority will be driving electric vehicles within 20 years or so though.
Haha didn't notice the article date
Having a dig I can't find much other news from them.I do think that microgeneration would make sense though and hopefully there will be some breakthroughs which bring the cost down and make it affordable for the masses. I don't see hybrids as a viable alternative as they are just prolonging the inevitable and IMO the money spent developing them would be better off invested in research in to alternative fuels..
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It doesnt work like that. Its not a 1000V battery after all. Eon are working on a fast charger with an OEM to provide 15KW charge. It drives high current DC power straight into the battery pack rather than having an onboard charger that takes mains AC.
That said 13A isnt the limit for home charging. The feed into your house is 100A so you could probably do a spur from that with 60A of course monitoring other load before you allow fast charge.
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Soldato
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Cant agree with that. Hybrid stuff is pushing forward high voltage powertrains and bringing volume to the parts to reduce their costs, not to mention pushing battery technology forward and giving a massive amount of understanding the battery monitoring, conditioning and control. The only alternative fuel is nuclear. Anything else is just a energy carrier.
Hydrogen at the minute is about $5 a kg, 1kg in the FCX gets you about 55miles. Thats before you think about fuel duty. Home stations that make hydrogen could be a solution, particularly in sunny regions for solar as we should soon see a drop in the 15-20% efficient panel prices, so you create H2 into a large tank then refil the car with that. Theres no real reason to go to a 'fuel' station to fill up.
I lol'd.
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I like the Modec van 
I think thats a good start to whats possible.
Hydraulic hybrids are another good one ideal for frequent start stop. 80% wheel to wheel efficiency of the energy you capture.
So if you brake from 45mph the energy you store can get you back to something like 36mph purely from the pressure you have stored in the hydrau drive accumulator. Massive fuel savings for people like UPS or refuse trucks.
I think thats a good start to whats possible.Hydraulic hybrids are another good one ideal for frequent start stop. 80% wheel to wheel efficiency of the energy you capture.
So if you brake from 45mph the energy you store can get you back to something like 36mph purely from the pressure you have stored in the hydrau drive accumulator. Massive fuel savings for people like UPS or refuse trucks.
How many people can do that simultaneously before the grid becomes overloaded?
If we're putting hydrogen-generating solar panels on the roofs of garages, why stop there? Put them on the roofs of cars. If the efficiency's high enough, theoretically you could have a car that can run forever without needing filling up.
There's something odd about the maths though. I'm sure I read somewhere recently about a kg of hydrogen being able to power a car for about 200 miles. The guy in the article said he can make a few kg/day with cells about 10 square inches in size. So how can a garage roof of them only provide 11,000 miles/year? Did he mean all his 10 square inch panels put together?
There's something odd about the maths though. I'm sure I read somewhere recently about a kg of hydrogen being able to power a car for about 200 miles. The guy in the article said he can make a few kg/day with cells about 10 square inches in size. So how can a garage roof of them only provide 11,000 miles/year? Did he mean all his 10 square inch panels put together?
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Surface area of a roof is larger on a house.
Surface of a roof is not curved.
You dont need to carry water with you nor an electrolyser.
You can continuously generate gas at home into a large tank, then popping home allows refil like a normal car.
The sun gives 1000W on a sunny day in the UK. Galium arsnide panels on say a 1.5sqm roof would give you around 500W. Thats nothing your home vaccuum cleaner may use 4 times that so you cant drive soley on sunlight unless you go for a solar car design and only drive on sunny days.
According to a book I've got (Build Your Own Electric Vehicle by Seth Leitman
& Bob Brant), electric car's don't require vast amounts of power...
20bhp = 14.92kW
Say there was 8 hours of usable sunlight in a day and in any given hour you get 500W of energy on the roof as you estimated, that would provide you with 4kWh
4kWh / 14.92kW = 0.26h = 15 minutes at 50mph.
Clearly that wouldn't be enough so a larger area would be needed. That is assuming you get 8 hours of decent sunlight which of course won't always be the case.
If you took a house to be 25ft * 25ft this gives 625 square feet of roofspace = 58.0644 square meters. If only half the roof was in the sun at any given time then half that is 29 square meters which is 20 times the 1.5 square meters you allowed so would provide 10kW, so over 8 hours would give 80kWh. That would be enough for 5 hours of driving at 50mph.
That said, these values are for a 4000lb truck and I have only guessed at the usable amount of sunlight per day
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You seem to be working on a battery system that chargers 100% efficiently and a drivetrain that gets 100% of the battery energy to the wheels.
1.5 m with a very bright 1000W gives 500W woth the most efficient and expensive solar panels at 35%. Commercial affordable stuff at the moment wont exceed 20% so you only looking around 5.5KW
4000lb truck would take an age to get to that speed is your first issue and you need to consider aerodynamics and rolling resistance.
I have a 10KW motor i mine, if I went pure EV id certainly want more than 15kW!
1.5 m with a very bright 1000W gives 500W woth the most efficient and expensive solar panels at 35%. Commercial affordable stuff at the moment wont exceed 20% so you only looking around 5.5KW
4000lb truck would take an age to get to that speed is your first issue and you need to consider aerodynamics and rolling resistance.
I have a 10KW motor i mine, if I went pure EV id certainly want more than 15kW!
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Petrol cars don't require vast amounts of power to roll along a flat, windless road at 50mph either. Rolling resistance and aerodynamic drag are not huge at these speeds.
What this simplistic view leaves out is how you get to 50mph in a reasonable amount of time, or have the ability to ascend a gradient. A modern heavy pickup truck with a 20hp motor would be pretty much unusable on public roads.