09-11-2011, 06:03 PM
BernDog wrote:
A system of universal batteries that allow them to be swapped out instead of being charged in-vehicle. Pull up to a battery station, drive over a swap bay, and the batteries are replaced from underneath. This would eliminate charging times (the station does it for you) as well as the costs/headaches of battery wear/replacement (as these costs would be built in to the swap fees). Think propane tank exchange. The stations could charge the batteries any number of ways, depending on the most efficient method in any given geographical area. In some locations, this could even be a way to encourage alternative fuel adoption where feasible; it'd have a better economy of scale than individual systems for homes, but still be more easily deployed than a full-scale power plant operation. Plus the issues of peak usage would be lessened because the power needs for charging batteries would be more consistent. Put up solar panels in the desert, put up windmills where it's windy, probably use traditional power grid systems in urban areas, etc...
Sorry to go on, but as you can see, I've given this some thought. What it comes down to though, is that most of the technical roadblocks to the adoption of battery powered electric vehicles could be eliminated. The manufacturers just need to get together now to develop some standards. The longer they wait, the harder it will be.
Electric cars using a swap out the battery technique would be even more difficult to implement than natural gas. In my location, Sacramento, there are only 10 places to refuel cars with natural gas.
http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=natural+gas+stations+sacramento&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8#q=natural+gas+stations+sacramento&hl=en&safe=off&client=safari&rls=en&prmd=ivnscm&source=univ&tbm=plcs&tbo=u&ei=h_ZsTq2TG83XiALAxMnJDg&sa=X&oi=local_group&ct=more-results&resnum=1&ved=0CF4QtQMwAA&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=71a9d625d5ffaa11&biw=1253&bih=1304
Natural gas is fine for business use since they can have their own distribution system. Our bus system is natural gas.
If batteries were being swapped out at swap stations, there would have to be room on site for both fresh and discharged batteries, and it would take a lot of work to get old batteries sent to some location to get recharged, and to receive fresh batteries. The trucks that did this distribution would of course br diesel powered.
Another option would be to recharge the batteries at the swap stations, but that again would take enormous amounts of space, and be hugely labor intensive.