[Newsbot]

Title: New battery charges 100 times faster
Category: Tech
Posted By: Scape
Date: 2011-03-23 08:42:46

[GreenTiger]

Excellent. The less we have to do with oil the less we will be bothered with assholes from the ME.

[andyt]

GreenTiger GreenTiger:

Excellent. The less we have to do with oil the less we will be bothered with assholes from the ME.

The battery is only part of the problem. You need the infrastructure on place to handle all that extra demand. You going to build a whole bunch of coal or natural gas fired generating plants to produce that electricity?

[GreenTiger]

andyt andyt:

GreenTiger GreenTiger:

Excellent. The less we have to do with oil the less we will be bothered with assholes from the ME.

The battery is only part of the problem. You need the infrastructure on place to handle all that extra demand. You going to build a whole bunch of coal or natural gas fired generating plants to produce that electricity?

Yes, but I'm one of those that optimistic enough feel that we can build up such an infrastructure, besides what a great way to employ those still out of work.

[andyt]

Won't happen tho, until oil costs more than building that infrastructure. Business won't do it unless it makes economic sense. The Repubs won't do it and would be all over the Democrats for being socialists if they tried to do it by government mandate. You'd never have the TVA if Repubs had been in power (sorry) at the time.

[bootlegga]

Sounds good, now we just need to build a half dozen nuclear power plants to provide the energy for the charging stations and other infrastructure these will need. Well, either that or build craploads of solar/wind farms and build batteries next to them store the energy they create until its needed.

[martin14]

bootlegga bootlegga:

Sounds good, now we just need to build a half dozen nuclear power plants to provide the energy for the charging stations and other infrastructure these will need. Well, either that or build craploads of solar/wind farms and build batteries next to them store the energy they create until its needed.

Nuclear.

Solar/wind aren't efficient enough, and can't produce anywhere near the
quantities we would need.

2-3 generations of fundamental improvements in the technology, maybe.

[QBall]

This is the eureka moment that electric cars have been waiting for. The infrastructure to build stations or outlets to recharge vehicles, along with the additional power plants necessary to handle demand, is a tiny obstacle to overcome.

[BartSimpson]

The wireless transmission of electricity will be the invention that makes fossil fuels obsolete.

[EyeBrock]

I'm thinking I can get batteries for my flash units that recharge and recycle way quicker...good news!

[andyt]

QBall QBall:

This is the eureka moment that electric cars have been waiting for. The infrastructure to build stations or outlets to recharge vehicles, along with the additional power plants necessary to handle demand, is a tiny obstacle to overcome.

There are already shortages in the US, if you've been paying attention. Imagine what would happen under a large scale shift to electric cars. The US uses coal and natural gas for 70% of electricity generation - lots of problems there. Even in BC, where we have the potential for abundant hydro power, the govt is reluctant to spend the money, and there are all sorts of environmental and First Nation obstacles to building more dams.

[QBall]

andyt andyt:

QBall QBall:

This is the eureka moment that electric cars have been waiting for. The infrastructure to build stations or outlets to recharge vehicles, along with the additional power plants necessary to handle demand, is a tiny obstacle to overcome.

There are already shortages in the US, if you've been paying attention. Imagine what would happen under a large scale shift to electric cars. The US uses coal and natural gas for 70% of electricity generation - lots of problems there. Even in BC, where we have the potential for abundant hydro power, the govt is reluctant to spend the money, and there are all sorts of environmental and First Nation obstacles to building more dams.

Those are all people problems, which are easy enough to fix by putting new people in charge or changing minds. The Civil Rights movement in the U.S. was essentially a people problem that was basically solved by changing minds and getting new people in power who think differently. Battery charging was a technology problem, one that appears to have been overcome. I'm not worried about the power generation issue because I have no doubt once people realize we need to increase capacity to usher in the true era of the electric car that people's attitudes will change. Once people's attitudes change so will the government's priorities.

[PostFactum]

Dreams come true))

[rickc]

I would love an electric car. The cost is the main deterrent for me. The Nissan Leaf goes for over $32,000. Too rich for my blood. The price for electric vehicles need to come way down to make them feasable. The 100 mile range is more than adequate for me. I would support some sort of tax credit for cab companies to get the ball rolling. Taxi cab engines are running all day long emitting exhaust,getting them off the road would be a good start. Plus cabs would expose a large amount of people to the electric car. It could help boost sales and hopefully bring the cost down.

[andyt]

32k seem so bad if it's a decent car. I'm no electrician, but I would guess fuel and maintenance should be much lower to help with the cost. The main problem is charging, to get a decently quick charge you would need to install a charging station at your house - I believe 600 volts are required.