I was just sitting here pondering when...
Discussion
...I was thinking about electric cars and the problems with them. The main problem I see is the recharge time. 100 mile range on it's own isn't the biggest deal (IMHO) - what is is having to wait 6 or 8 hours to chafe it back up.
Why can't electric cars have a standard battery (big cars/lorries can have multiples of these) that when they get to the fuel station, they don't recharge, they swap with one that is fully charged. I know this at first glance sounds daft, but i invisage it working in the same way BBQ gas tanks work - once you've bought one you swap it only for the cost of a recharge. Also this would allow the fuel station to maintain and charge the batteries correctly.
Now - people of PH - pull my idea apart!
Cheers
The Moose
Why can't electric cars have a standard battery (big cars/lorries can have multiples of these) that when they get to the fuel station, they don't recharge, they swap with one that is fully charged. I know this at first glance sounds daft, but i invisage it working in the same way BBQ gas tanks work - once you've bought one you swap it only for the cost of a recharge. Also this would allow the fuel station to maintain and charge the batteries correctly.
Now - people of PH - pull my idea apart!
Cheers
The Moose
I think I've read somewhere that one of the new electric cars doing exactly this. Apparently it would take about three minutes to change the battery. I'll try and find it (probably to no avail this was a while ago).
I would imagine the 'elfnsafety' people will find ways if making it complicated.
I would imagine the 'elfnsafety' people will find ways if making it complicated.
Fartgalen said:
I reckon there'd be a big limitation on the number of batteries they could store, charge and swap in a day.
But they could also afford to install the big phase power supplys necessary to get the batteries charged in a sensible time. While the tesla might have hundreds of batteries arrange them all into a single swappable pack and hey presto!Galsia said:
Battery swapping will mean that the Government could put something like a £100 swapping duty each time you do it.
I'll stick to recharging in the future, thanks...
And you don't think that when you re-charge at home you wont have to use a special adapter that records the units of electricity used, then transmits that information & your bank balance is altered accordingly? And if you don't have the funds in your account then no re-charge. I'll stick to recharging in the future, thanks...
I have no idea if this will happen, but I do know that when electric vehicles become popular the lost revenue from lower fossil fuel sales will have to be recovered from somewhere.
Fartgalen said:
I reckon there'd be a big limitation on the number of batteries they could store, charge and swap in a day.
It wouldn't matter that much, because the only people using swapping stations would be those who are on a long journey. Since 99% of journeys are under 100 miles, you wouldn't have as many users as you do at petrol stations.Biggest spanner with this idea is that all the manufacturers would have to use the same battery or batteries. Can you see that happening?
The best idea is the range-extender electric car which has an on-board generator that can either power the electric motors directly or recharge the battery, plus you have the option of plugging it in at home.
The best idea is the range-extender electric car which has an on-board generator that can either power the electric motors directly or recharge the battery, plus you have the option of plugging it in at home.
For this to work you'd have to make sure that all the batteries in all types of electric cars were a) easily swappable b) interchangeable. Even after that you'd also still have to overcome the following problems:
1. For current technology the amount of a charge (and therefore the range it gives) decreases massively over the lifetime of the battery - you'd be pretty pissed if you went and swapped a 100mile battery for one that gave you 40miles. How will the garage feel if it's the other way round?
2. Batteries are big - where are garages supposed to store enough batteries on site to be able service all the cars they are likely to serve in a day?
3. Batteries are heavy, this would make swapping them by hand difficult and dangerous for those who are physically weak, so you either need to hire lots of strong people to do it for everyone (expensive) or have some sort of machine that swaps them, this would incease the level of standardisation needed in vehicles (making cars all the same is the path to boredom), and also increase costs to set up and run the station.
4. Where do you charge the batteries? If you do it on site the electricity supply to the location is going to need some serious beefing, not always easy in a location where you might want a "swap" station. If you do it off site then the turnaround time on a battery goes up and your costs go up as you have to transport lots of heavy batteries to some remote location and then bring them back.
1. For current technology the amount of a charge (and therefore the range it gives) decreases massively over the lifetime of the battery - you'd be pretty pissed if you went and swapped a 100mile battery for one that gave you 40miles. How will the garage feel if it's the other way round?
2. Batteries are big - where are garages supposed to store enough batteries on site to be able service all the cars they are likely to serve in a day?
3. Batteries are heavy, this would make swapping them by hand difficult and dangerous for those who are physically weak, so you either need to hire lots of strong people to do it for everyone (expensive) or have some sort of machine that swaps them, this would incease the level of standardisation needed in vehicles (making cars all the same is the path to boredom), and also increase costs to set up and run the station.
4. Where do you charge the batteries? If you do it on site the electricity supply to the location is going to need some serious beefing, not always easy in a location where you might want a "swap" station. If you do it off site then the turnaround time on a battery goes up and your costs go up as you have to transport lots of heavy batteries to some remote location and then bring them back.
Larry Dickman said:
And you don't think that when you re-charge at home you wont have to use a special adapter that records the units of electricity used, then transmits that information & your bank balance is altered accordingly? And if you don't have the funds in your account then no re-charge.
What, you mean like an electricity meter? 
Home charging of leccy vehicle will be a big thing as there's a growing view that all those cars plugged into the grid can be used to supply the grid (i.e. draining your car) at peak times instead of having to turn on huge backup power stations that cost a bomb and only get used for an hour a day.
Lets hope it's an optional scheme when it happens, not sure I'd be happy getting in the car to find theres no juice in it at seven o clock because everyone is bleeding the grid dry to watch Corrie...
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