I've seen how some people take care of their shit. I don't want to swap batteries... Not that I can afford anything other than an econobox gaser.
He was talking about being able to charge 4-10 cars simultaneously, and eventually running the chargers from solar panels. I don't see how the charging stations can be unstaffed if they're planning to swap packs, and I don't see how they can offer free charging if they have to have staff. I think the current rapid charger is 480V, so who knows what voltage the new 20-minute charger will be.
would be great except... http://blog.caranddriver.com/follow...claims-israeli-startup-better-place-analysis/
Yeah but..... the electricity to charge them has to come from some where. The Greenies don't want more oil or coal powered electricity stations, the definitely don't want nuclear. The DO want green such as Solar or wind - problem is other people don't want wind because of the 'blot on the land scape' or the noise or birds fly in them. Solar takes up a lot of space etc Sure its good the technologies are being developed but is it really environmentaly friendly? Take the Toyota Prius for example, they are essentially building a normal car, and then building electric motors and the batteries for it - all taking more resources at production than to build a normal car. It MAY pay off in the long term, but surely that would depend on the cost of the electricity and where that comes from. Sorry for the hijack but this is some thing that I struggle with Hay Ewe
I want a diesel electric car. Mount an efficient engine that runs at the most efficient RPM and have that run a generator to charge a battery pack/run the electric motors. Like the WWII US Fleet Boats! I'm sure there is something wrong with my idea, though.
Aside from the diesel part, that's a Volt using the range extender. It's also available with diesel for powerboats and you get and Azipod in the deal just like big tugboats.
80kWh battery capacity charged in 20 minutes at 480VAC input (without losses) would require 500Amps, not really a big deal. To run one charger from solar (no storage) would require a 300kWAC array @STC or about 400kWAC to get real use out of (morning and evening). Even with 20% efficient panels, the array would cover @14,000sqft for the panel area and about 20,000sqft for a real installation with access ways, cable ways and room for the inverter and switchgear, about 2/5 of an acre for he solar alone.
Musk has "tweeted" that it will take less time than filling a car with gasoline. What kind of battery can be charged that fast?
Haven't you heard about putting your cell phone battery in the microwave and charging it in 1 minute? I bet they could do that with the car batteries if they build a microwave you could drive your entire car into.
Dunno, but one thing about the Tesla packs is that they're made up of a crapload of small cells, so maybe he has figured out a massively parallel way to charge them and knows just how much those 18650 cells can be pushed. Or you're right that they're just going to swap packs, but then he shouldn't also be talking about a new type of charger.
I recently spent 5 years at a Mitsubishi dealership, and a couple of years ago the new iMiev demo came down from our other branch 40km away - it didn't have enough fuel in the tank to get back home. We had to change one of our outlet plugs over to charge it, although it's just the standard plug with a larger earth pin, other stuff still works on the outlet. It had 2 charge ports, one is for fast charging...and Mitsubishi won't supply the fast charge cable because it shortens battery life. Changing the battery pack on an iMiev is a simple 2 or 3 hour job, using a forklift to remove the battery. Would be great around town, but you can't travel out of the city. It only cost 3 times the price of the iCar it's based on.
What new type of charger? The actual charger is built into the car. The "Supercharger" is just a D.C. power supply. Even if they charged all the cells in some sort of parallel way, that would still be 80Kwh in 20 minutes. A lot of energy and a lot of heat.
http://www.teslamotors.com/supercharger They bypass the onboard charger. And they're charging to 50% capacity in 20 minutes and claiming that that's 200 miles of range, enough to get to the next charge port. According to the linked article, subject to demand, you can stay connected to continue charging beyond the 20 minutes. They also say that the charge rate may be reduced if the ambient temp is over 100. My guess is that they're using the onboard cooling system to pull heat out of the pack during charging.
I saw a Miev yesterday. The owner said it was $150/mo lease and a 90 mile range. I thought it was a pretty dinky non-descript car -- but everyone was kinda talking about it with amazement. There's been quite a push towards battery electric vehicles in the past two years. However, I feel strongly that daily battery maintenance required of ownership will make owners start to wonder why they completely restructured their lives around the needs of a fucking car
And we haven't as a society done this with cars and car travel in general? I'm not sure why we cant just start making economical small IC powered vehicles ( cars..), like the rest of the world does. I guess I'm jaded as I'm fine with two motorbikes that get near to over 100 mpg. It seems a well designed small car could get 60-65 mpg with regular gasoline and a light foot.