What models and how much?
The main problem is when people reach a certain age, then “new stuff” becomes less tempting. It just takes longer before the switch over from half empty to half full.
That’s because it is better to get the young people to do the beta testing of all the stuff that doesn’t work. The problem is that, nowadays, the beta testers aren’t as good as they used to be… if something works for long enough to post a pic on instagram, it’s “good enough” 
LeSving wrote:
Cartridges will never happen unless batteries shrink in size by a factor 20 at least. Maybe in 100 years.
I dont see why not, although I suspect we have missed the boat. I cant think of any technological reason, and I dont see the significance of size? Blocks of batteries of whatever size could surely be robotically loaded if the car was designed around doing so.
It may be stretching the analogy, but shipping couldnt operate without containers – but it was a long time coming. The economies and efficiences have revolutionised the industry.
I also dont follow the point about electric cars being good for most journeys. The reality is “people” say the single biggest reason for not buying an electric car is the lack of range. The fact of the matter is they might only occasiionally make a longer journey, but they neither wish to use public transport, or buy another car – it is that simple. Of course some will, but not the vast majority. If that were not true there would be far more on the roads already.
Finally, as to heaters, are they really adequate? There are now a few electric London Black cabs. They all moan that in the winter the punters want the heaters on, but it kills the batteries. My boat and aircraft has a little diesel heater that is super good, problem free, and very effective. It seems to me it solves the problem but does introduce the need to burn some fossil fuel. That would seem a small price to pay for warm electric cars withoug killing the batteries.
If that were not true there would be far more on the roads already.
I don’t believe so – there is no way to charge that many cars, within the current electricity infrastructure. On average, 3 Teslas (with significant usage) per residential street, before the transformer at the end of the street blows up. You could have rather more “little runabouts” but they can’t do any distance, and a second car is not a solution because the vast majority of people can’t park two cars, and certainly don’t want to pay the road tax and insurance on them.
That would seem a small price to pay for warm electric cars withoug killing the batteries.
That is quite a complex solution for just heating, and what would you do about aircon? That needs perhaps as much power, over the year.
Peter, I dont disagree, but they are usually sold on the basis you charge at home overnight. I suspect if the uptake had been substantial then we would see more public charge points. Those that I do see rarely (in fact I will say I have never) seen them all in use. On the way North only last week at a motorway service station there must have been a row of twenty charge points – and one had a car on charge.
Possibly. A typical Eber as fitted to most lorries is no more than a few bricks in size, yes it requires some leads and pipes, but otherwise pretty simple. If they can be fitted to keep lorry cabs warm overnight I would have thought its a solutions for maybe less than a £1K option at cost. I dont have a solution to A/C, I assume electric cars use the battery and an electric compressor which must hit the batteries hard. I have A/C with 800AH and a 2.5Kw inverter and can barely run the smalllest unit for any signficant length of time without caning the house bank, and that is on reverse cycle. Indeed, how do electric cars do heating and cooling – I dont know the answer.
BTW – why arent the roofs a continuous array of solar panels? You might manage 600W on a typical car roof, which would provide a reasonably serious power supplement?
I dont see why not, although I suspect we have missed the boat. I cant think of any technological reason, and I dont see the significance of size? Blocks of batteries of whatever size could surely be robotically loaded if the car was designed around doing so.
It would be an insane logistical problem. Heavy and large batteries would have to be moved around for no apparent reason, and you would need lots of them. Today they are always used to propel the car, and it works just fine (except in the heads of those who have no experience with it )
Fuji_Abound wrote:
BTW – why arent the roofs a continuous array of solar panels? You might manage 600W on a typical car roof, which would provide a reasonably serious power supplement?
600w is peanuts in the context of an electric car. Motorised transport (of any sort, except perhaps a light motorcycle) is incredibly energy profligate. For instance, when I’m flooring it in my very modest 1.4 Civic going up a hill, the energy output of the engine is enough power to run all the houses on my street. Most car roofs are smaller than you think, I think if you covered my Honda Civic’s roof with solar cells you’d be lucky to get 250w, and only then when the sun is direct and perpendicular to the roof. In reality the sun never goes above 60 degrees even at mid day, so that caps it at around 200w, and even just light cirrus (when you’re still getting strong shadows on the ground) will reduce the output by another 50%.
All 600w of solar panels would be good for would be charging a pedelec.
Yes, fair enough on the solar, I hadnt crunched the numbers. I have 800W on my boat, and I am very pleasantly surprised how much power this produces, but I agree it isnt driving a motor. My comment was based on the fact that many cars in fact spend most of their time parked in the sun all day long and this could be a useful contribution, but perhaps not even useful! I wonder if the numbers were crunched on a typical commuter journey of perhaps 10 miles, parked all day during the summer and return to home in the evening, what percentage a solar roof might provide? Doubtless it has been done and found not worth it.
As to moving batteries, this was never in my mind. On the whole each service station would have its own stock of units, they would come out the vehicle (robotically) and go on charge, and be cycled on that basis. On the basis of the law of averages it wouldnt take too long for each station to work out the approxiamte level of stock required to cater for their average needs. Of course there could be times no repowered pack was available – so go on to the next station.
Well, the Tesla battery weigh more than half a ton. How many tons to be stacked up? One of the main things why current battery cars do make sense is they use existing infrastructure with literally no extra (no logistics, no new power supply infrastructure). As explained many times, fast chargers are used for 5% on average, while the rest of the time it is charged slowly at home or at work or wherever. It makes no sense to use replaceable batteries.
If the batteries were more compact, by an order of magnitude, preferably two, and charging them were more complex (difficult to do at home), then it would start to make sense perhaps.
Interesting.
So what needs to change for the uptake to improve. I rarely see an electric car here in the UK.
The main objective obstacle – other than cost – is that unless you own a garage (or at least can park on your plot) there is nowhere to charge overnight.
All electric range is a non issue if you start full every morning. Only trips beyond half max range need a bit of thought.
If you can’t charge reliably overnight at home (or during day at work) it becomes a logistics challenge.
This needs to be addressed to get uptake from the urban population.
Subjectively – prejudice, and lack of choice. These two will diminish over time, pretty much on their own.
