- Joined
- May 27, 2016
- Messages
- 3,469
You touch on several things here. I don't know if it is true, but I understand the Tesla fast charger station we used has a truly mighty battery under the place, and it is being continuously charged at a rate the grid at the facility can manage, so that it can deliver huge charge rates to the cars, when they are there. My pal's Tesla Model "S" took about 20 minutes to bring the charge up to 80%, though I am unsure how much was in there before the charge. The charge rate concept was 332mph equivalent. It was enough time for a cup of tea, and to use the facilities at the motorway service stop.
Folk are used to the minutes they spend at a fuel stop. It is perhaps surprisingly more than many would estimate, but even so, if they go electric, I expect they will have to plan for it more. The Tesla owner told us that he did try hybrid, describing it as "the worst of both worlds". He said he did have "range anxiety" at first, but after a few all-electric travels into France, and another through Germany, and on to Poland, that feeling went away.
I don't expect batteries can be "swapped out" in any form anytime soon. It would be a serious safety issue, and the value of a battery, depending on condition, is not constant like the liquid. There would have to be "standardization". I don't think so!
We will be forced into something other than fossil-fueled cars, if only because we used the stuff up. I know human nature might ensure we take a lot of discomfort, and disagreement in the selfish quest to extract every last bit of Sun energy that was stored in the vegetation over millions of years, but one contributor is right to suggest we may be forced off the fossil fuel somewhat sooner for other reasons.
If at all we can get fusion power going, especially using perhaps one using the Proton-Boron reaction that does not generate toxic long-lived radioactive waste, then we can use the electricity to extract hydrogen from water, and either burn the hydrogen in engines with only steam in the exhaust, or make more concentrated liquid fuels taking CO2 back out of the air. These would be "carbon neutral". Hydrogen is so light, it is inconvenient for cars. Some would fear the safety implications of driving around with a tank of gaseous hydrogen under pressure, and I hesitate to compare that to driving around with up 60 litres of petrol.
Charging is not only difficult for the grid energy infrastructure. Millions in cities cannot park up on their own property and have a point for overnight charge. I cannot see how a row of cars in the street alongside terrace houses can all have a way of getting the charge to them without all sorts of problems. I guess many of us will change to a no-car lifestyle, while those who can afford it, will be going electric. To an extent, that separation is society has already started. I need a car, second-hand depreciated, reliable, low cost, and available. I look at the line of Teslas in my picture, and I know that the owners live with different norms compared to my life!
