First big piece of 'Electric Highway' gets juice

[Seawytch]

Stupid idea.

Electric cars are not a solution to our energy problems.

No, they aren't THE answer...but they ARE one of them.

 

[Mr. H.]

Great news.

A journey of a 1,000 miles begins with a single step....

...and 15 stops. At 20 minutes per.

 

[Seawytch]

Better Place Unveils an Electric Car Battery Swap Station

Each station costs about $500,000.

 

[WillowTree]

First big piece of 'Electric Highway' gets juice
San Jose Mercury News ^ | 3/16/12 | Jeff Barnard
First big piece of 'Electric Highway' gets juice - San Jose Mercury News

Electric car drivers hit the road Friday to inaugurate the first major section of a West Coast "Electric Highway" dotted with stations where they can charge up in 20 minutes.


The stretch of 160 miles of Interstate 5 served by eight stations marks the next big step in developing an infrastructure that until now has been limited primarily to chargers in homes and workplaces.


The stations go from the California border north to the Oregon city of Cottage Grove and are located at gas stations, restaurants and motels just off the nation's second-busiest interstate. One is at an inn that was once a stage coach stop.


Spaced about every 25 miles, the stations allow a Nissan Leaf with a range of about 70 miles to miss one and still make it to the next. Electric car drivers will be able to recharge in about 20 minutes on the fast-chargers. The charge is free for now.


"I would say range-anxiety with these fast chargers will be nearly a non-issue for me," said Justin Denley, who owns a Nissan Leaf and joined the caravan. Inspired by the stations, his family is planning a trip from Medford to Portland, a distance of about 280 miles. Last summer, he took the family on a 120-mile trip to the coast and had to include an overnight stop at an RV park to charge up.


He expects the trip to Portland to take perhaps three hours longer than in a gas car, because the only chargers available for the last 100 miles are slower, level 2 chargers.


(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...

 

[LoneLaugher]

It is progress........and it scares those who are not intellectually curious. Eventually, their children ( or grandchildren ) will teach them which buttons to press.

 

[Truthmatters]

change sacres the shit out of some people

 

[Ernie S.]

First big piece of 'Electric Highway' gets juice
San Jose Mercury News ^ | 3/16/12 | Jeff Barnard
First big piece of 'Electric Highway' gets juice - San Jose Mercury News

Electric car drivers hit the road Friday to inaugurate the first major section of a West Coast "Electric Highway" dotted with stations where they can charge up in 20 minutes.


The stretch of 160 miles of Interstate 5 served by eight stations marks the next big step in developing an infrastructure that until now has been limited primarily to chargers in homes and workplaces.


The stations go from the California border north to the Oregon city of Cottage Grove and are located at gas stations, restaurants and motels just off the nation's second-busiest interstate. One is at an inn that was once a stage coach stop.


Spaced about every 25 miles, the stations allow a Nissan Leaf with a range of about 70 miles to miss one and still make it to the next. Electric car drivers will be able to recharge in about 20 minutes on the fast-chargers. The charge is free for now.


"I would say range-anxiety with these fast chargers will be nearly a non-issue for me," said Justin Denley, who owns a Nissan Leaf and joined the caravan. Inspired by the stations, his family is planning a trip from Medford to Portland, a distance of about 280 miles. Last summer, he took the family on a 120-mile trip to the coast and had to include an overnight stop at an RV park to charge up.


He expects the trip to Portland to take perhaps three hours longer than in a gas car, because the only chargers available for the last 100 miles are slower, level 2 chargers.


(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...

I can drive 400 miles in my pick-up and recharge with gasoline in 5 minutes including a visit to the rest room.
3 additional hours for a 280 mile trip? I'll make it in 4 hours, averaging 70 MPH this guy will take 7 hours or more, for an average speed of, at best, 40 MPH. Sorry that doesn't do it for me. My time is more valuable than that.

 

[Ernie S.]

change sacres the shit out of some people

Not at all, if the change is worthwhile.

 

[Ernie S.]

lol, so progess is taking more time out of your lives...all to get away from that evil, OIL.....why don't we just go back to horse and buggy..

Horse shit is a pollutant, Unfortunately, at this point, 90% of "green energy" is horse shit.
Build me a car that sells at a price comparable to gasoline powered vehicles, that will do 70 on the highway and has a range of 400 miles, and I might just buy one. I have no desire to pollute the environment and I don't have an insane attachment to "big oil". I am simply not paying a premium for the opportunity to be inconvenienced.

 

[Truthmatters]

the future will be there even if you refuse to accept it

 

[Ernie S.]

Hypothetical scenario. What if your rushing your pregnant wife to the hospital after her water broke and you look down at the gauge and your charge is low and you have to stop the car for 20 minutes to get it recharged while she is in agony? What if you have a emergency and you have to go somewhere but all the sudden there is a power outage in the area? This is a disaster in the making.

Ummmm... how about this? You take the OTHER fuckin' car.

that being said....20 minutes is too long to wait. I'd sooner see a standardization of battery technology(they all use the same battery) and have battery swapping stations that can replace your battery in less time than it takes to fill up a tankful of gas.

That's part of the problem.... Every car company wants to have their own proprietary battery.... Reminds me of the day of Betamax vs. VHS...or more recently...Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD. Eventually they all came to a consensus... but it took forever.

If we really want to do this right and have a solid infrastucture that supports electric vehicles... Standardization and swap stations are the way to go.

Let the private sector develop the technology by themselves.
If the government had pushed VCR's like they are alternative energy, they would have backed Betamax and vhs still would have won the market.

 

[Ernie S.]

the future will be there even if you refuse to accept it

I'll accept it, when it is acceptable. Cars costing an additional 8 to 10 thousand dollars with a range of 30 miles is not acceptable. What part of that don't you understand.

 

[Seawytch]

Hypothetical scenario. What if your rushing your pregnant wife to the hospital after her water broke and you look down at the gauge and your charge is low and you have to stop the car for 20 minutes to get it recharged while she is in agony? What if you have a emergency and you have to go somewhere but all the sudden there is a power outage in the area? This is a disaster in the making.

Ummmm... how about this? You take the OTHER fuckin' car.

that being said....20 minutes is too long to wait. I'd sooner see a standardization of battery technology(they all use the same battery) and have battery swapping stations that can replace your battery in less time than it takes to fill up a tankful of gas.

That's part of the problem.... Every car company wants to have their own proprietary battery.... Reminds me of the day of Betamax vs. VHS...or more recently...Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD. Eventually they all came to a consensus... but it took forever.

If we really want to do this right and have a solid infrastucture that supports electric vehicles... Standardization and swap stations are the way to go.

Let the private sector develop the technology by themselves.
If the government had pushed VCR's like they are alternative energy, they would have backed Betamax and vhs still would have won the market.

When the country started to shift from the horse drawn carriage to automobiles, this new vehicle required ROADS to drive on. It wasn't the public sector that built the roads.

 

[Procrustes Stretched]

Proof Positive Lone Laugher is a Joke

Do nutters have to be stupid in every thread? Is it some kind of rule?

Like I said in an earlier post "The Luddites @ USMB aren't going to like this"

 

[Truthmatters]

the future will be there even if you refuse to accept it

I'll accept it, when it is acceptable. Cars costing an additional 8 to 10 thousand dollars with a range of 30 miles is not acceptable. What part of that don't you understand.

when there are more they will be cheaper.

You dont seem to understand production very well

 

[bripat9643]

How much will it cost to put in charging stations every 30 miles?

And if you're running the heat or AC you might not even get 30 miles on a charge.

Yeah, they never tell you how far it will go on a cold day in january. Batteries hold less of a charge when they are cold, and you have to keep your winshield defrosted, at a miniumum. I can just imagine how electric cars will go over in places like Minniapolis Minnisota.

 

[bripat9643]

EVs are not 'the answer'. But they are one answer. Particulary for people that generate their own juice through solar, wind, or small hydro. Most of us put the most miles on our vehicles in the daily work, grocery store, school, and social activies trips. For this, even the present limited range EVs are fine. As the batteries get better, the EVs will become more attractive. Particularly as gasoline goes past $5 a gallon.

Solar? You must be joking. How are you going ot use your EV during the day if it's being charged then?

 

[bripat9643]

No, we aren't in agreement.

Are we in agreement that it is desirable to develop alternatives to fossil fuels that are capable of powering our homes, businesses and vehicles?

Can we establish that as a national goal?

 

[Ernie S.]

the future will be there even if you refuse to accept it

I'll accept it, when it is acceptable. Cars costing an additional 8 to 10 thousand dollars with a range of 30 miles is not acceptable. What part of that don't you understand.

when there are more they will be cheaper.

You dont seem to understand production very well

You don't seem to understand apostrophes, or much of anything else, for that matter

I understand production very well, you fucking idiot. Somewhere, I'm sure there are warehouses full of Betamax VCR's, pet rocks and mood rings.
The current technology is not worth the money. It's not worthy of government subsidy. It bears little resemblance to what will become viable alternative energy transportation. I certainly have no hatred for technology. I spent my career developing scientific instruments, but when I brought IRUS to market, it was the best possible alternative to then current technology. I didn't take billions of government money, build a barely working piece of shit prototype and then ask for a government subsidy to make it attractive to my market.

 

[Full-Auto]

Regressives unite.

Good point.....

Insisting we use over a hundred year old technology in a pretty new wrapper.