Blue Dome Restoration

[heironymouspasparagus]

There are some designs that allow inductive charging as you drive over coils buried in the pavement.

Zero to sixty in three seconds has no appeal? 

He's an old fuddy-duddy....

[Ed W]

I like this Rhodes car as a short range, "urban" vehicle. There's no mention of whether the electric motor is full time or assist only when pedaling.

http://www.rhoadescar.com/news/2015/01/rhoades-car-opens-doors-to-non-drivers-best-article-ever/

[sgrizzle]

I admit I haven't researched this question because I have zero interest in owning an Electric Car(but that new BMW is bad A**)
How long does it take to charge these cars? Cause my patience level differs from getting a Latte to having to take in a movie.

There are a couple of Tesla's in my neighborhood. 250miles on a charge. 400miles on the forthcoming models. Plus 0-60 in under 3 seconds with a launch that leaves the million dollar supercars in it's dust.

This guy mashes the peddle with his family/friends in the car.
caution: language

[Conan71]

There are some designs that allow inductive charging as you drive over coils buried in the pavement.

Zero to sixty in three seconds has no appeal? 

Total crazy talk here, but why is there no way to drive with either the front or rear wheels and generate some charge with the other set?  Probably no way to have big enough generators (sorry the more accurate terminology is beyond me) to be self-sustaining, but I'd think enough to operate accessories.

[BKDotCom]

Total crazy talk here, but why is there no way to drive with either the front or rear wheels and generate some charge with the other set?  Probably no way to have big enough generators (sorry the more accurate terminology is beyond me) to be self-sustaining, but I'd think enough to operate accessories.

Same reason you can't lift yourself off of the ground by pulling at your ankles.
You describe a perpetual motion device and/or Rube Goldberg contraption
Think of it this way:  would you try to charge a battery by running a generator with said battery?  An impossible best-case is that your battery level remains constant.
But you're going to lose energy in the mix (friction, inefficient motor, inefficient generator, etc) and there's the added weight of the generators you want to add to the wheels.

Not so crazy:  transfer kinetic energy to the battery when braking.  or perhaps when going down a steep hill.

All the "issues" mentioned so far are merely "early adopter" issues.  It seems clear the future is electric as we get better storage technology / more charging stations / options.

ie: wind farms could charge car batteries and eliminate the need for the transmission lines that tend to be a issue with wind farms.

[AdamsHall]

ie: wind farms could charge car batteries and eliminate the need for the transmission lines that tend to be a issue with wind farms.

Or skip the batteries and use the wind farm energy to create fuel cells.

[saintnicster]

Or skip the batteries and use the wind farm energy to create fuel cells.

I think the biggest drawback with fuel cells is that we don't really have the hydrogen infrastructure in place.  Yes, it takes special charging stations to get them going quickly, but electricity is mostly everywhere at this point.

AFAIK, wind farms can't be everywhere, seem to be a lot more money down for possibly minimal additions.  How many turbines does it take to generate a steady flow of Hydrogen?

[swake]

Total crazy talk here, but why is there no way to drive with either the front or rear wheels and generate some charge with the other set?  Probably no way to have big enough generators (sorry the more accurate terminology is beyond me) to be self-sustaining, but I'd think enough to operate accessories.

Tesla does use regenerative braking to recharge the batteries when you slow down.

[heironymouspasparagus]

Total crazy talk here, but why is there no way to drive with either the front or rear wheels and generate some charge with the other set?  Probably no way to have big enough generators (sorry the more accurate terminology is beyond me) to be self-sustaining, but I'd think enough to operate accessories.

Where you can use the wheels is for regenerative braking.  When brakes are applied, it isn't just pads on disk, it is essentially running the motor as a generator - so that the stopping force puts charge back into the batteries.  Very efficient and effective!  You get a good percentage of the power back that it took to get to the running speed initially.  None of the "travel" charge is regained - that is lost as motion/heat.

[rdj]

I thought Reasors in Bixby and Whole Foods at 91st & Yale have electric car charging stations?

[Conan71]

Same reason you can't lift yourself off of the ground by pulling at your ankles.
You describe a perpetual motion device and/or Rube Goldberg contraption
Think of it this way:  would you try to charge a battery by running a generator with said battery?  An impossible best-case is that your battery level remains constant.
But you're going to lose energy in the mix (friction, inefficient motor, inefficient generator, etc) and there's the added weight of the generators you want to add to the wheels.

Not so crazy:  transfer kinetic energy to the battery when braking.  or perhaps when going down a steep hill.

All the "issues" mentioned so far are merely "early adopter" issues.  It seems clear the future is electric as we get better storage technology / more charging stations / options.

ie: wind farms could charge car batteries and eliminate the need for the transmission lines that tend to be a issue with wind farms.

Do the accessories run off the main battery plant in an electric car or is there a separate battery for accessories?  I was simply thinking from the aspect of what the alternator and voltage regulator do in a gas-powered car- run lights and accessories and top off the battery.  Obviously, you could not generate enough charge to top off the main power battery for an electric car, but seems like you could at least extend the range by engaging alternators or generators going downhill (or braking) and employing a solar panel on the roof.

Bear with me, my total knowledge of electricity and electronics is a bit limited.  I know enough to change out a light fixture, add a wall receptacle, or re-wire an antique Harley-Davidson (literally point-to-point diagram: red wire with yellow stripe goes from terminal 22 to terminal 3).

edit/ looks like some of you explained regenerative braking while I was typing.  Thank you!

Also, WF at 91st & Yale also has a bike tuning/repair station.  Nice touch.

[Red Arrow]

Do the accessories run off the main battery plant in an electric car or is there a separate battery for accessories?  I was simply thinking from the aspect of what the alternator and voltage regulator do in a gas-powered car- run lights and accessories and top off the battery.  Obviously, you could not generate enough charge to top off the main power battery for an electric car, but seems like you could at least extend the range by engaging alternators or generators going downhill (or braking) and employing a solar panel on the roof.

The Laws of Thermodynamics are against you.  BKDotCom explained it.  I just gave you the words you were looking for.

[Red Arrow]

Tesla does use regenerative braking to recharge the batteries when you slow down.

Nissan Leaf uses regen braking too.  One of my friends has one.

[dbacksfan 2.0]

In answer to Conan, the accessories run off of the main battery system. If you stop at a stop light and are listening to the radio (regardless of it being over the air, mp3, Bluetooth, CD, or satellite radio, it's fed by the battery plant. HVAC runs off of the batteries as well in a true electric car.

I drove a hybrid Ford Escape as a pool car in Arizona, and if you were good at driving it would run up to 30mph on battery power and then the ICE would take over. If you were driving under hybrid mode and the A/C was set at normal when you stopped the A/C shut off. So if it was above 70 degrees, and you stopped at a stoplight, the A/C quit, and you were basting in your own juices.

Yes, you get energy off of regenerative braking, but the energy recovered is small, compared to the energy needed to power a vehicle.

Credit to Elon Musk, he got millions from the gov't to start Tesla, and paid it back, but then went to Goldman Sachs for more. And yes there are the supercharging stations, and the stations where you just get a new battery pack installed, you don't get back the battery pack you started with in return.

I'm not going to say that Tesla is in the same realm as Solyndra, Fiskar, and others, but to think that it's all paid for by Elon is pure fantasy. There is a tax payment of $7500.00 from the fed, and $2500.00+ from states, so approximately $10,000.oo plus comes out of tax payers for each Tesla car.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/teslas-feat-of-financial-engineering/2013/09/20/c4d4667e-e26a-11e2-a11e-c2ea876a8f30_story.html

http://www.goldmansachs.com/s/esg-impact/places/san-francisco/tesla/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/joannmuller/2013/05/11/the-real-reason-tesla-is-still-alive-and-other-green-car-companies-arent/

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324659404578499460139237952

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2014/05/15/tesla-continues-to-roll-out-tax-strategies-for-consumers/

[AdamsHall]

I think the biggest drawback with fuel cells is that we don't really have the hydrogen infrastructure in place.  Yes, it takes special charging stations to get them going quickly, but electricity is mostly everywhere at this point.

AFAIK, wind farms can't be everywhere, seem to be a lot more money down for possibly minimal additions.  How many turbines does it take to generate a steady flow of Hydrogen?

Agree, but I understood the suggestion to be a means of avoiding long-range transmission line issues, and perhaps the intermittent nature of wind power, by setting up change-out battery charging facilities near wind farms.  If I read that correctly then I would submit that the infrastructure needs to set up a change-out hydrogen fuel cell facility would be similar to that of a change-out battery charging facility.

Re your question, I am not certain, but I don't think the electricity requirements to split water into its components including hydrogen is unusual, e.g., I think it is accomplished in high school chemistry classes using regular 110 current.  However, like anything else, more electricity would be required to do it at commercial scale.  The problem is it is not yet efficient to develop fuel cells compared to other uses of electricity, but generating fuel cells with an otherwise stranded source of power might make sense.  Just a thought.