There is a benefit to having electric cars charged during the night, when extra capacity has to be managed, and in the day, when peak demand calls for reserve capacity.
http://energy.aol.com/2011/09/02/the-magicc-of-millions-of-mini-storage-tanks/?ncid=webmail18
But how are we supposed to keep all those power cords strung behind all the cars from getting all tangled up with one another and traffic obstacles? What if I want to go more than 100 feet from my garage?
Well I didn't think of that.
Great idea for the future unaffordable and unsustainable now
Nobody would love to get into his George Jetson future car and fly off to work anymore than I would. And while I see electric charging stations being built all over town here in Dallas/Ft Worth, it is still a long ways off from being practicle and affordable for everyone.
Just look at the comments being made by people below the advertisement video.
Roberto
As a retired electrical engineer, I find this article laughable at best. It is misleading and omits *many* factors that make the concept impractical. Others have already touched on some of these factors.
gov111w
The things they don't seem to want to talk about is the cost of batteries, the short life cycle of batteries, and the TOXIC nature of batteries. Any articles that speak to this power problem, and use words like innovative... had better address the downside along with the up.
mikekojima1
Batteries are a lousy and inefficient method of storing power. Not only are they expensive and weigh a lot for the power output stored, they often need conversion and controls before being used.
To envision this, take one cup of gasoline, which weighs less than a small lithium ion battery (current best consumer battery) and try to move a vehicle with it. The gas pushes the car at high speed for a short duration, the lithium ion battery barely has enough power to drill a 1/2" hole in the same period of time and insufficient power to even get the car moving.
Unless battery power sources dramatically improve over the next few years, any attempt to use them practically for alternative energy is a waste of money, especially harnessing existing technologies, and mostly political show & tell.
If you saw the amount of batteries and lights needed to illuminate any area for 8 hours at the same rate a sunny day does it naturally, the balance would become pretty evident. However, electricity can be taxed/charged for as can the batteries. Sunlight, heat, wind, atomic level emissions, tides, air pressure and (wild) plant growth are basically free but make nobody any profit except on the converters.
Our brains have to be independent of the remote controls hidden in our wallets and practical answers might actually appear.
It will probably be 5-10 years before the technology is there to make this affordable for everyone, since electric and hybrid cars tend to be very expensive right now. As solar panels become less expensive and more powerful, it's going to start making sense for people to use them more, and you could eventually have "free" clean energy to power your car.
I'm surprised that Florida hasn't moved towards mandating solar water heaters and maybe solar panels on new construction. The building codes already have energy efficiency standards, such as high SEER rating on ACs, minimum insulation, etc.. It would be nice to have a minimum solar requirement and an expandable system.
An electric vehicle would already have the power control components in place to manage the batteries, and the electric companies are already required in many states to pay the consumer for any flow of electricity back into the grid. The infrastructure is already in place for distribution, and in fact needs reserve capacity in some form or another in order to function. Batteries can be re-cycled, and my first hand experience with the benefits of the hybrid (Prius) leave no doubt as to the reduced cost of operating it, which helps offset the higher original cost.
Are there difficulties? Sure. But such is life. combustion engines are about 20% efficient where the rubber meets the road, as opposed to electric motors which are at least three times more efficient.
> I'm surprised that Florida hasn't moved towards mandating solar water heaters and maybe solar panels on new construction. The building codes already have energy efficiency standards, such as high SEER rating on ACs, minimum insulation, etc.. It would be nice to have a minimum solar requirement and an expandable system.
Yes, this surprises me too here in Hawaii, although there are tax credits available. My hot water has been free for the past 4 years, after paying for the system over the first 5 years.
Aside from the politics and the obvious vested interests of the fossil fuel industry, it's hard to understand why we don't encourage even more development of renewable energy resources here in this country by offering tax credits and research grants, etc. I would rather that we sell clean energy technology to the rest of the world over the next few decades rather than purchase it. I think clean energy will be industry of the near future.
What A Crazy Stupid Idea
Actually the large battery trailer is a good idea and the power companies pay for it. The second part is the crazy stupid idea:
Every citizen goes out and pays 50% more for a car with a big battery. Then the power company wants you to leave it parked so they can cycle the battery you bought and paid for through peak power peak discharge every day. So if you happen to want to go the store to get chips for lunch, you can't because your battery is discharged.
OH! I get it now, this is a Michelle Obama idea.
Paul in PA
What A Crazy Stupid Idea
You would have to be able to set a limit on how far your car's battery could be drained by the utility. It would be inconvenient at times, and the cycling would not be good for battery life.
You Buy A Car For The Convenience Of Using It When You Want
If you are willing to accept inconvenience, then you don't buy a car and wait for the next electric bus to come along.
Paul in PA
not so crazy
With potentially millions of batteries on tap, it would work just like re-generative braking does already, which does not affect the deep cycle life of full discharge and recharge.
Seems like a great idea.
Having several million electric car battery packs hooked to the grid would help solve one of the big problems with renewable energy; the ability to quickly feed power to the grid when wind or solar systems slow down from low winds or clouds. Currently, only hydro and natural gas plants have the ability to immediate supply power within seconds.
Tim's arguments about battery energy density or cost effectiveness are essentially a moot point as the electric car batteries will be available anyway as more and more people buy them. An as far as battery longevity goes, most battery systems would suffer little loss of life as long as battery are not cycled too deeply. I would also assume that the electric car owners would be financially compensated for participation that would offset any shortened battery life.
As far as "Toxic Batteries" go, car batteries are among the most highly recycled of anything we use. Electric Car battery packs will have considerable value and would certainly not be thrown away. And it's not exactly like gasoline powered vehicles are toxic-free; considering all the polluted ground water from leaky tanks, the smog produced, and other pollutants from internal combustion engines.
What A Crazy Stupid Idea
> You would have to be able to set a limit on how far your car's battery could be drained by the utility. It would be inconvenient at times, and the cycling would not be good for battery life.
I would assume that participants would be financially compensated for participation in the program that would more than offset the reduced battery life. (if it didn't; Why would anyone participate?)
Seems like a great idea.
Exactly right. Also an electric or hybrid could be the backup power source for a home in the event of an outage, or serve as a home energy storage unit for home produced wind or solar when parked at home. In addition it would make an excellent mobile power source for electric power tools, where grid power is not available.
Great idea for the future unaffordable and unsustainable now
What did pundits say after the Wright brothers flew an aircraft for all of three seconds in 1903?
Would they have scoffed at their enthusiasm for aircraft, or predicted that planes would be a primary mode of long-distance passenger transportation within 50 years?
🙂
Great idea for the future unaffordable and unsustainable now
You defined my point by acknowledging it took almost 50 years for planes to become the major mode of transportation.
What did they continue to use until the planes were ready? They used what they had.
The same is true today.
Until these future power sources become online and made afforable to the masses, we need to drill and refine our own oil, instead of giving all our money and jobs to the Middle East.
