[Texgreen] Plug-in electric cars

[Alfred Molison]

I assume you're in favor of plug in electric or hybrid cars.  I agree with 
you that "Problem Solved" on the battery situation is a little too simple 
once I started digging into it.  The problem is only solved by degrees.

My friend, Vickie, drew a graph showing that the high end batteries had a 
constant utility until the end of their life when they have a drastic drop 
off in energy and rechargeability.  Low end batteries had a longer and more 
constant utility than the high end batteries. But during their lifetime the 
batteries were not nearly as easy to recharge and stay high energy as the 
high end batteries.

If you ignore something minor, like cost, then high end batteries like 
lithium ion are the best as far as easy availability, recharging and maximum 
output for a two year period.  But if you do take into account cost, then a 
$250,000, or more, bill every two years makes lithium ion batteries become 
annoying.

How about nickel metal hydrides?  
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel_metal_hydride  maybe they're the middle 
range batteries.  They're used in the Toyota Prius, the Honda Civic Hybrid 
and the Honda Insight.  They were used in the Generl Motors Ev1. (Who Killed 
the Electric Car).  At around $2500 per battery, (please call a dealership 
auto parts store to check the price) my thinking is that it's possible to 
rig up three of them in a car and have a viable 100% electric vehicle, if 
that's what you want.  I don't know how long they last.  But they're 
certainly cheaper than an array of lithium ion computer batteries.

Next is plain old lead acid batteries.  Easily available, cheap, poisonous, 
potentially explosive but apparently endlessly recyclable.  The technology 
is, what, over 110 years old for automobiles? On the internet I discovered 
hundreds of used cars that had been converted to electric vehicles with lead 
batteries.    I suspect that most of the owners have an extra car for long 
distance travel.  But for in town work, errands or shopping they must be 
reliable enough.

Alfred Molison


>From: Roger Baker <rcbaker@eden.infohwy.com>
>To: TXGP Listserve <texgreen@gp-us.org>
>Subject: [Texgreen] Plug-in electric cars
>Date: Sat, 3 Mar 2007 00:13:28 -0600
>
>As you may know, the Austin city council is strongly encouraging the  
>development of plug-in electric cars.
>
>In a certain sense the problem of the electric car has been solved.  Power 
>everything. Goes 150 miles when you plug it in overnight to  charge up on 
>electricity that is much cheaper than gasoline:
>
><http://www.evworld.com/news.cfm?newsid=14338>
>
>Then you dig a bit deeper and consider the battery.
>
>It turns out that the model bought by actor Tom Hanks uses 5000  
>rechargeable lithium laptop batteries. Consider their  characteristics. 
>They cost $100 a piece, and they last about five  hundred charges or about 
>two years.
>
>Assume you are able to get a special deal and get them half price.  Then 
>the batteries only cost $250,000 instead of $500,000. You have  to replace 
>them every two years, so actually you end up paying  $125,000 per year for 
>your battery power.
>
>I think, purely as a smart advertising move, the plug-in electric  battery 
>dealers ought to give away free cars when you buy their  batteries.  -- 
>Roger
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