Air Powered Cars coming to US

[Gungnir]

In the same vein:


After the main battery is recharged, does the alternater of a car just needlessly run durring a drive? If so, could I save some money by dirrecting that towards a bank of batteries?

I assume the rig for the extra batteries and the batteries themselves are not too expensive and are fairly long lived.

 

[BrianH]

In the same vein:


After the main battery is recharged, does the alternater of a car just needlessly run durring a drive? If so, could I save some money by dirrecting that towards a bank of batteries?

I assume the rig for the extra batteries and the batteries themselves are not too expensive and are fairly long lived.

Well, you're battery is in constant use in a normal vehicle. It is never completely full. So you're alternator is never going to be able to bybass your main battery at any time without your main battery eventually draining. It could work, but I foresee problems with that. Instead of having your alternator bybass once the main-battery is full, you could instead just have one big bank of batteries and have a large amp alternator charging all of them. Instead of your electricity running off one one main battery, it'll run off of all of them. There is a German woman where I'm from who drives a small chevy s-10 that runs soley on electric power. About every 6 months, she showed up at the auto parts store I worked at and brought about 10 batteries to get core charges on, then purchased 10 more. I'm not sure exactly how her "system" is set up on her truck, but it drives just like a normal vehicle.

 

[editec]

As long as they make a decent scmall electic pickup truck, sign me up today.

 

[JimH52]

I hope one day to be able to buy an electric vehicle, if I love long enough. From what I have seen of the Volt, it looks good. I do hope GM makes their 2010 prediction goal. If it is priced reasonably, I will give it a look.

 

[manu1959]

classic.....so instead of buying gaoline we will buy electricity.....which will be made by burning coal or oil ...... of course there will be less emmissions from the cars....but more from the power plants.....

i wonder where we will bury all these batteries?

 

[dilloduck]

classic.....so instead of buying gaoline we will buy electricity.....which will be made by burning coal or oil ...... of course there will be less emmissions from the cars....but more from the power plants.....

i wonder where we will bury all these batteries?

Do you mean after we spend all that extra energy lugging them with us wherever we go ?

 

[RetiredGySgt]

You are going to pay. Decide who you want to pay.

Electricity is made by Coal and Gasoline and diesel, WE won't save any money or lessen our dependancy on oil by going to electric cars. In fact we will make it worse as we will have to build MORE power plants and use MORE oil to run them.

 

[editec]

Electric cars serve to decrease pollution if and ONLY IF, the the electicity generated done by non-polluting means.

I am astounded that we don't ALL understand this.

 

[BrianH]

classic.....so instead of buying gaoline we will buy electricity.....which will be made by burning coal or oil ...... of course there will be less emmissions from the cars....but more from the power plants.....

i wonder where we will bury all these batteries?

WEll it seems as if you're not satisfied with anything....come man, tell us what you want...(j/k)

 

[BrianH]

classic.....so instead of buying gaoline we will buy electricity.....which will be made by burning coal or oil ...... of course there will be less emmissions from the cars....but more from the power plants.....

i wonder where we will bury all these batteries?

Plants need to go solar and nuclear and we'll be ok.

 

[editec]

Plants need to go solar and nuclear and we'll be ok.

Sounds about right.

Read recently that the cost of creating solar plants (even using today's technology) is far less than the cost of producing nuclear plants even if we gave those plants regulartory passes.

Not being a cost accountant, I can't attest to the authors validity, though.<!-- google_ad_section_end -->

 

[Gungnir]

I would really like to see the actual cost to build, transport, install and maintain solar pannels for a domicile and for mass production. Compare this to Atomic Fission.

To be fair; all taxes, tax breaks, and subsidies must be taken into account. A sampling of solar pannels across several states (northern New Mexico, Wisconsin, Virginia, and southern Florida). Here I am also assuming a single code for the transmission of electricity and the handling of the nuclear process and its waste.

 

[Chris]

Nuclear power plants died because no insurance company would insure one after the accident at Three Mile Island.

 

[BrianH]

That's pretty generalized Kirk.

STP nuclear power plant

They've got two units and are planning two more in the next 10 years. They supply Austin, TX with electricity (About 162 miles away) According to their website, they create 1 cubic yard of waste in one year. Sounds good to me.

 

[BaronVonBigmeat]

Electricity is made by Coal and Gasoline and diesel, WE won't save any money or lessen our dependancy on oil by going to electric cars. In fact we will make it worse as we will have to build MORE power plants and use MORE oil to run them.

Coal and natural gas are the twin pillars of america's power plants. Nuclear and hydroelectric are a much more distant 3rd and 4th place. Only a tiny bit of electricity is made from gasoline or diesel.

Electric cars serve to decrease pollution if and ONLY IF, the the electicity generated done by non-polluting means.

Not really.

They use less energy per mile. The power company is using turbines that are much more efficient than a gasoline engine, and of course an electric motor can easily be 85%~90% efficient across a broad RPM range.

Then on top of that, the power plant can design it's emissions scrubbers without regards to size or weight. They're also kept in peak condition and monitored carefully 24/7. As opposed to cars, where the catalysts don't do much for the first few minutes, or where people will often continue driving around after the cat needs replacement.

i wonder where we will bury all these batteries?

Presumably, they'd be recycled, just like current car batteries are.

 

[editec]

Coal and natural gas are the twin pillars of america's power plants. Nuclear and hydroelectric are a much more distant 3rd and 4th place. Only a tiny bit of electricity is made from gasoline or diesel.


Not really.

They use less energy per mile. The power company is using turbines that are much more efficient than a gasoline engine, and of course an electric motor can easily be 85%~90% efficient across a broad RPM range.

Yes, really.

You're quibbling here, sport, by comparing apples to turnips

Electric autos do not use less energy per mile unless they weight less.

It takes the exactly same amount of energy to move dead weight regardless of how that energy is generated.

Then on top of that, the power plant can design it's emissions scrubbers without regards to size or weight. They're also kept in peak condition and monitored carefully 24/7. As opposed to cars, where the catalysts don't do much for the first few minutes, or where people will often continue driving around after the cat needs replacement.

Great arguments for migrating to electic cars, of course.

And just as soon as we find a nonpolluting energy source we really ought to do just that.

In the meanwhile the real question facing mankind is where do we find non-polluting sustainable energy sources to power our society?

AFAIK, there are only three possible choices: solar, tidal or geothermal energy sources avaialble to us which fit that criteria

 

[BaronVonBigmeat]

Yes, really.

You're quibbling here, sport, by comparing apples to turnips

Electric autos do not use less energy per mile unless they weight less.

It takes the exactly same amount of energy to move dead weight regardless of how that energy is generated.

Let's make a light bulb analogy.

For a small bedroom, 10x10, painted white, it takes say...1000 lumens to light it up enough to read a book comfortably.

That light can come from incandescents, or fluorescents, or white LED's, or metal halides. Any way you go, you need 1,000 lumens of light. Less than that, and you are squinting. There's no way around it.

So now that you need to convert electricity into light, what is the most efficient way to do that?

Incandescents are the worst. 10% light, 90% heat is produced. Fluorescents are much better, something like 40% light 60% heat produced. White LED's are the best, being 80% efficient.

The bottom line is, an electric motor has about the same huge advantage over combustion engines that fluorescents and LED's have over incandescents. They simply produce less waste heat.

Great arguments for migrating to electic cars, of course.

And just as soon as we find a nonpolluting energy source we really ought to do just that.

Err...if it's a nonpolluting energy source like solar or wind, you don't need exhaust scrubbers at all.

I'm just saying, electric cars represent a sizeable improvement in emissions, even if you're talking about conventional coal or natural gas power plants. Solar/wind would be even better still, of course.