Electric Vehicles

[jennythereader]

So I'm listening to an episode of the Commonwealth Club where they're talking to a bunch of people involved with different aspects of the electrical vehicle industry.

The moderator asked a very good question about how much of a difference switching from gas cars to electric cars really makes today, when so much of our power still comes from coal burning plants. I mean, we're still putting carbon and other pollutants in to the air, right? The people had several good answers, but they left off one that I think is very basic: namely, that it's a lot easier to put a filter on the smokestack of one power plant than on the tailpipes of thousands of individual cars.

Added: And here's the episode I'm listening to - Turning Over A New Leaf

Comments

[seawasp]

If they develop batteries capable of holding a charge even close to that equivalent to a tank of gas, you have a MAJOR explosion hazard -- and very nasty toxic fumes, much worse than gasoline.

You would *NEVER* want to put those charging circuits into a home. At a minimum you're doubling the input -- if you assume that Joe Homeowner is always willing to wait many, many hours for the recharge. If Joe Homeowner wants to recharge his car the way he "recharges" it currently, you're talking MEGAWATTS. Assuming you can get a battery that would take that charge that fast.

Again, one of the primary advantages of liquid fuel: I can refill my car tank VERY fast with a LOT of energy for use. No battery known can accept a charge even within orders of magnitude of that speed. Theoretical superconducting storage loops might, but they would also be theoretically capable of releasing all that energy in a single instant, which would make them the most powerful non-nuclear explosive in existence.

[tetsujinnooni.livejournal.com]

It surely reads to me that bottom line, from an engineering standpoint in 2010, is "not conceivable as a practical reality in the next 10 years".