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Electric Car Goes 375 Miles On One 6-Minute Charge
thecarchik writes with this quote from AllCarsElectric:
"We all know that battery packs are the weakest link in electric vehicles. Not only are they heavy and expensive, but they take a long time to recharge and on average can only provide around 100 miles per charge. A German-based company has changed all that with a new vehicle capable of driving up to 375 miles at moderate highway speeds. ... It doesn't end there. The company responsible for the battery pack, DBM Energy, claims a battery pack efficiency of 97 percent and a recharge time of around 6 minutes when charged from a direct current source. Unlike the small Daihatsu which was heavily modified by a team in Japan earlier this year that achieved a massive 623 miles on a charge at around 27 mph, the Audi A2 modified by DBM Energy was able to achieve its 375 miles range at an average speed of 55 mph."
Ok, let's say those figures are correct. Now let's assume that the average nuke plant has about 25% of it's output used for other means - a conservative estimate. That means we're down to 825 cars. ...
Er, no. It means were down to 825 cars in any given 6 minute period. It is usual to find 240 such 6 minute periods in any (Earth) day thereby allowing for approx 200000 such EV charge events (198000, but as we're using wet finger math(s) please excuse me if I round up at this point). I would suggest we could comfortably halve that number and be ecstatic about 100000 EV's driving around a city! Hell, 50K EV's would be brilliant!
What's the average commute I wonder? I furthest I ever had to commute was about 60 miles (30 each way) so I'd have to charge one of these suckers up (less than!) once a week if it was my car, and the same for my Electric MGF friend too. We could probably assume that most people's commute (or 'daily drive' for the non-workers) is (considerably) less than 375 miles anyway. If we plump for once a week we can multiply up the (already halved!) 100000 accordingly ... 500000 EV's. Hell, even if we go for 50000 EV's a day that's still capacity for 250000 a week!
Also, the article says the vehicle can be charged in 6 minutes but it doesn't say it has to be - what's the betting there'd be a cost benefit (and maybe battery life benefit) from charging more slowly, like in 6 to 8 hours overnight, for example.
If you finally factor in the ideas about keeping such EVs which are not currently in use attached to the grid and allowing the grid to request power back to smooth out power use spikes (with suitable payments to the EV owner, and the proviso that the owner can specify a minimum level on the vehicle in case they need to drive it - but if it only takes 6 mins to charge it that becomes less of an issue!) we could see the Max Load requirement for a city actually be lowered because the city grid can pull power from the EVs that are not in use (have hookups at places of work and other car parks maybe too?)!
That it seems too good to be true is another issue, but it sounds bloody good to me!
Eclectic beats from Leeds, UK
handmadehands.co.uk
Ok, let's say those figures are correct. Now let's assume that the average nuke plant has about 25% of it's output used for other means - a conservative estimate. That means we're down to 825 cars. ...
Er, no. It means were down to 825 cars in any given 6 minute period. It is usual to find 240 such 6 minute periods in any (Earth) day thereby allowing for approx 200000 such EV charge events (198000, but as we're using wet finger math(s) please excuse me if I round up at this point). I would suggest we could comfortably halve that number and be ecstatic about 100000 EV's driving around a city! Hell, 50K EV's would be brilliant!
What's the average commute I wonder? I furthest I ever had to commute was about 60 miles (30 each way) so I'd have to charge one of these suckers up (less than!) once a week if it was my car, and the same for my Electric MGF friend too. We could probably assume that most people's commute (or 'daily drive' for the non-workers) is (considerably) less than 375 miles anyway. If we plump for once a week we can multiply up the (already halved!) 100000 accordingly ... 500000 EV's. Hell, even if we go for 50000 EV's a day that's still capacity for 250000 a week!
Also, the article says the vehicle can be charged in 6 minutes but it doesn't say it has to be - what's the betting there'd be a cost benefit (and maybe battery life benefit) from charging more slowly, like in 6 to 8 hours overnight, for example.
If you finally factor in the ideas about keeping such EVs which are not currently in use attached to the grid and allowing the grid to request power back to smooth out power use spikes (with suitable payments to the EV owner, and the proviso that the owner can specify a minimum level on the vehicle in case they need to drive it - but if it only takes 6 mins to charge it that becomes less of an issue!) we could see the Max Load requirement for a city actually be lowered because the city grid can pull power from the EVs that are not in use (have hookups at places of work and other car parks maybe too?)!
That it seems too good to be true is another issue, but it sounds bloody good to me!
Eclectic beats from Leeds, UK
handmadehands.co.uk
Platinum or Palladium for the fuel cell isn't exactly lying around in droves in our streets either..
Hydrogen is a pain to store and transport, you have to build an entirely new infrastructure for it. We already have that infrastructure for electricity, though we obviously have to increase production and install new wires for charging stations to get enough juice, but its minimal compared to what's required for hydrogen storage and transport.
Not to mention that the electrolysis is only about 50-80% efficient, and the fuel cell can only convert about 50% of the energy stored in the hydrogen into electricity, for a total of 25-40% efficiency from the power source to the engine. Which means even more electricity production would be required.
I Am Not An Electrical Engineer, but I can read. These values are from Wikipedia articles on Electrolysis of Water and Fuel Cells.
(Already tried posting once but it apparently failed, excuse me if this leads to duplicates)