Electric Vehicles

That's at full throttle. If you're spending most of your time idling in traffic, your actual efficiency is far less than that.

The gasoline engine is reasonably efficient at full throttle, not very efficient at mid-throttle, and continues to consume substantial amounts of gasoline at idle.

Right. However, the generator is now running at full throttle all the time, at the point where it is most efficient. The question is what point the charging efficiencies kill you in the process.

The good part of it is, though, that the electrical power generation and distribution system is a whole lot more efficient than a gasoline generator. You'll know this if you ever have to run your house off of a generator for a weekend and compare costs per KWh.

The other good part of it is that we do have hybrid vehicles which give the efficiency of the electric motor without the inefficiency of the battery charging process. They are available right now at your Ford, Toyota, or Honda dealer and they seem a moderate efficiency win.

All of the real problems with electrical vehicles revolve around battery capacity and conversion efficiency right now.

--scott

It's the Chevrolet Volt that goes into range-extender hybird mode and does not allow the batteries to go under 30% charge.

Tesla uses electronic control of the battery pack. If a few battery cells are weak or dead they are just taken out of the loop and this creates a stronger overall battery pack.

As for re-charging of electric vehicles, a trade group representing the electric utilities did say that they can recharge large numbers of EV's at night. And so the EV should require its own electric meter. A commercial charging station would just make its deal with the electric utility and be available during the daytime.

It's the Chevrolet Volt that goes into range-extender hybird mode and does not allow the batteries to go under 30% charge.

Tesla uses electronic control of the battery pack. If a few battery cells are weak or dead they are just taken out of the loop and this creates a stronger overall battery pack.

As for re-charging of electric vehicles, a trade group representing the electric utilities did say that they can recharge large numbers of EV's at night. And so the EV should require its own electric meter. A commercial charging station would just make its own deal with the electric utility and be available during the daytime.

Tesla drivers are reporting 200+ miles range daily driving, 60ish if they haul ass. Battery management software limits battery discharge to a reasonable amount. HTH Ben

Throw this in Fastest electric car ran on 10,000 AA bateries. Its true TreBert

Diesel electric trains have been around for about 80 years. Have lots of good features. Swiss like electric cars,but they have cheap electricity,and its a tiny country. Isreal is pushing electric cars. Naturally they all will someday be built in China since its now the biggest car maker. Electric motor has only one moving part. It even takes away the transmission. It hums. LA needs them the most. TreBert

Diesel electric Locomotives have to be started and run every once in a while whether they are going anywhere or not.Something about keeping too much moisture from the air out of the electric coils.A couple of buddies of mine are Railroad fans.I once heard them talking about moisture in the coils. cuhulin

Makes me wonder why, then, we had rolling blackouts during the cold weather in Texas a couple of weeks ago. Every major city in the state, I believe, went into this mode.

Simple answer: deregulated electricity with the grid managed by a "non-profit" that is populated with electric company cronies. The rolling blackouts were coupled with huge spikes in the spot electricity markets that are going to gouge everyone in the state who has a floating rate plan. This same deregulation is why we Texans pay more for electric than almost everyone else in the country.

I simply don't understand how anyone can think that deregulating basic infrastructure can ever benefit anyone. Textbook example of government failing to provide the very thing for which it exists.

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another regulatory obstacle is car insurance.

no one is going to buy and use a "commuter car" (of any technology) to go to work and leave the SUV in the driveway, if they have to pay full insurance on both vehicles even when it;'s not used. The gas savings won't come close to covering the insurance cost.

We have this problem already with motorcycles. In summer, I'll use the 75 MPG motorcycle to go to work just cause it's fun to ride. It ends up costing me money for insurance that I don't make back on gas savings, but I do it because I enjoy riding.

My insurance cost for the car should go down for the days I ride the bike, but the system doesn't work that way.

If we are going to encourage folks to use commuter vehicles, we need to fix the insurance system.

Mark

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That sounds like something you could convince the insurance agency of.

There should be good money in your idea.