Quote:
Originally Posted by mindmachine
Wow you need to read up a little on your understanding about battery technology and efficiency of internal combustion engines. You are way off the mark on how much energy 500 lbs of batteries can hold. Also you should bone up on how much work has already been invested in internal combustion engine efficiency and how little additional efficiency can conceivably squeezed out of them.
The volt is one of the poorer examples for your plan, it only gets around 38 mpg on gasoline while the Toyota Prius plug-in gets around 50 mpg. Also the volt is one of the less efficient EV's too.
Not all of us live where public transportation in available nor can we carry the groceries we need by hand. However I am sure you would suggest we make multiple walking trips to the store.
Anyhow not going to argue with you as I suspect it would be a waste of my time, sounds like you are set on these issues. However try reading up on these things before you spread more incorrect information. For example there is way more to EV efficiency then just the ICE not running at idle. - as I address below...
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Okay, well the Tesla S's battery weighs roughly around 1,500 pounds has a 85KwH rating, which is roughly equivalent to 2.5 gallons of gasoline, so it is roughly about 600 pounds for 1 gallon of gas equivalent (1,500/2.5). Gas weighs a bit less than 7 pounds per gallon. Then considering most EVs only use 75 - 80% of battery capacity it makes the calculations worse. Simple math. I'm sure we can agree the Tesla S is considered the most modern of electric cars. I'm quite well read on the subject. Show me an example of a battery currently in production in a EV currently for sale that has drastically better specs than 600 pounds per gallon of gasoline energy equivalent and I'll change my mind; I've not seen it.
And just brainstorming... Ceramic Engines that were in private development (i.e. not funded by the government) 30 years ago were getting upwards of 70% efficiency (if memory serves correctly). Had further development of ceramic engines (just as a engine type example) been made, the efficiency factor would even be better now, 30 years later. Take such an engine used in a hybrid system where the energy from carbon fuel is converted to electricity (with some loss) and then stored for use in the very efficient manner electricity is in an EV, the result would be a much higher efficient ICE vehicle than today, with no range limitation (the Volt is a rudimentary example of this design). EVs barely use any energy at idle (i.e. the vehicle is not moving); gasoline engines use fuel at idle and lose most of it as heat.
A modern internal combustion engine is very efficient as compared to its ancestors, and the modern computer-controlled combustion process is very efficient but about 70% of the energy is lost as heat due to engine design. Ceramic engines improve that ratio (just as an example) because the ceramic material can deal with very high temperatures and convert more of the heat generated by the combustion process into usable work. Put a turbine engine running a hybrid system as discussed above and the possibilities are quite good.
But as I said mobile burning of carbon fuel and the resultant exhaust emissions is now politically incorrect. Government has decided the Prius and Battery EV are the cars of the future; so what I am suggesting, to R&D the efficiency of the petrol engine, will never get public funding. In todays current electric generation industry, a majority (70% I think) of electricity is generated using carbon-base fuel, so the carbon produced to make EV travel is just transferred from the tailpipe to the smokestack, far away from the city, where most people live, so they don't care about the pollution they cannot see being generated.
My Grandmother, who never had a drivers license and did not drive, had a fancy fold up grocery cart that she walked to the store with (she lived in Washington DC) bought her groceries and pulled or pushed them home. If my Grandmother could do it, I'm sure you could too! And by the way, if you drive a Volt 40 miles a day, it is more efficient than a Prius plug-in. The Prius Plug-in in most instances uses gasoline though out the drive cycle, and in pure electric mode (which it rarely runs in) only goes about 18 miles, vs. the Volts 37 (which is about the average daily driving distance of most Americans).