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decayunderway wrote:The solar panels I've seen that power houses would pretty much crush your car.
The solar panels I've seen that power houses would pretty much crush your car.
Sort of shows what can be done if car makers wanted to.
I also know that there is research into concentrating the suns rays using dish shaped reflectors,
hunter wrote:Sort of shows what can be done if car makers wanted to.
fuzzy,
I don't understand why people always say this. Toyota, Honda and Ford sell hybrid vehicles and are working on improvements. If they could easily develop a product like that described they would. There is a world of difference between a one time experimental vehicle and a reliable product that will run for 15 years with no major issues. The power train described in the article is basically that proposed for the Volt. The problem is still the battery. An electric car requires a high capacity, high charge/discharge rate, long life battery that is not too heavy. In the article they used a Li-Polymer battery. These things have on the order or 500 charge/discharge cycles before they hit 80% capacity reduction. Great for an experiment but that mini with it's great specs will be dead in less than 5 years because of the battery. A lot of very smart people are working on this problem but it's hasn't been really solved yet and that is the main reason you can't buy an electric Corvette.
it hinges on batteries at this point it terms of range, recharge times, and battery life.
You mention reliablity, the drive train to an electric car is identical to a fuel cell from the fuel cell forward
hunter wrote:The solar panels I've seen that power houses would pretty much crush your car.
hunter wrote:You mention reliablity, the drive train to an electric car is identical to a fuel cell from the fuel cell forward
Umm, just FYI it was someone else advocating fuel cells. I was just pointing out that electric is not quite a silver bullet (yet).
I'm not really certain what your referring to here. A prius uses two power sources to turn a CVT which then goes into a fairly normal drive train with electric breaking. I agree that this is a reliable system.
The Mini used a totally electric drive train with motors in the wheels. As far as I know the Volt concept car is the only commercial vehicle to use this system and it has never been sold. I personally believe that this is a great system and hope it will take off. I don't believe that it will be totally reliable w/o some major work. The electronics involved in balancing power between 2 or 4 wheels on the fly are not trivial.
hunter wrote:An interesting side thought is that car companies employ a large number of expert mechanical engineers in drive train design. The all electric drive train will require a major shift in expertise.
An interesting report on the GreenHouse Gas impact of Plug in Hybrid Electric VVechile adoption under different adoption levels and different electricity generation senarios. Interesting reading....
I'm not very familiar with the balancing of drive to four seperate electric engines
Not sure that the power balancing will be all that much of a leap from traditional ABS or traction control systems except braking and traction control are both through the one system (not that I know anything about it).
You can power a whole lot more than just a cell phone or laptop off one of the Brunton rollups. How about camp incandescent lights for week AND two laptops AND two cellphones. Not a car, yet, unfortunately.
hunter wrote:An interesting report on the GreenHouse Gas impact of Plug in Hybrid Electric VVechile adoption under different adoption levels and different electricity generation senarios. Interesting reading....
Umm, was there supposed to be a link with this? I can't see one in my browser.
hunter wrote:I'm not a high energy electrical engineer but I've discussed the issues with a couple. The main issue is actually power balance on turns. In almost all cars today this is done via the differential. The tricky part is that we are talking something like a minimum of 25hp per wheel. That works out to 18643 watts per wheel. That's a tough problem.
hunter wrote:I totally agree on electric engines being highly reliable. I understand the diesel -> electric -> wheels argument but I "think" the efficiency loss in the added step offsets any gains except the regular breaking energy recovery.
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