Electric Cars vs.Gas Guzzlers

[mneary]

You will notice several record holders were electric,

I notice that the first electric over 300mph was in 2005; a feat accomplished by an ICE in 1935.

 

[3v0]

I notice that the first electric over 300mph was in 2005; a feat accomplished by an ICE in 1935.

Everyone and his dog has been working on making the ICE go fast for over 100 years. I do not think the current disparity is a good indicator of potential.

 

[Willbe]

I've heard of a NASA battery that works very well once you allow it five minutes to get to 1500 C.
How do I do a degree symbol?

Also, you might want to use a flywheel spinning at 50,000 RPM in a vacuum on mag bearings; much more efficient than batteries, but watch out in a crash.

 

[jpanhalt]

I've heard of a NASA battery that works very well once you allow it five minutes to get to 1500 C.
How do I do a degree symbol?

Alt+0176

John

 

[arrie]

My humble opinion follows:

The electric motor can compete on par and even better a fuel burning motor.
But RadioRon has the dart in the cherry.
You need to supply the electric motor of some power, and that is where things lag behind. But I dare say "Watch this space"

I believe recent advances in fuel cell technology points to a real bright future.
Then dknguyen can have his dragster and allvol can have a safe trip home.

I had to buy a LA battery for one of our trucks today, 140Ah, huge thing. My match-stick legs were buckling under the weight of that battery.
Cost one hell of a lot of money too.
Can we get rid of this type of battery now!

 

[TRexall]

Allright all you innovators out there,
Let's stop watching"American Idle"and invent some new battery Technology,maybe Lightweight Portable fusion reactors that you can carry in your pocket?

 

[TRexall]

The thought of dead batts for my ecar in a winter storm just makes me shiver...

That's why they have insulated battery compartments and ceramic heaters..

 

[RadioRon]

What about if we have a small windmill mounted on the roof of the car and when the car is parked, it charges its battery? Then, when the car is moving , the blades are configured for less drag but they continue to pump charge from the relative air movement. Regenerative charging in other words.

 

[Space Varmint]

I was under the impression that the complete opposite was true, and by a huge margin, with electic planes and helicopters having only just become possible not too long ago, and still much lower performance.

Certainly they don't race electric cars against glow-plug engined ones, they don't perform anywhere near glow-plug ones.

As for dragsters - how many electric dragsters are there?, and do they beat petrol engined ones? - I've never heard of any such thing.

Oh yeah... I could see it now. Electric funny cars. Instead of big breathers with ram air, they got a giant stack of batteries sticking out of the hood. As for the fire....sparks. Maybe you could put some clorox on the wheels to heighten the excitement.

 

[3v0]

Maybe not quite there yet but check out
The National Electric Drag Racing Association
Drag Bike Burn out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wl_nikPj-n0

Oh yeah... I could see it now. Electric funny cars. Instead of big breathers with ram air, they got a giant stack of batteries sticking out of the hood. As for the fire....sparks. Maybe you could put some clorox on the wheels to heighten the excitement.

 

[TRexall]

I was thinking solar panels molded into the shape of the body of the car..then while the gas guzzlers are sitting at the red light your quietly recharging

 

[mneary]

I was thinking solar panels molded into the shape of the body of the car..then while the gas guzzlers are sitting at the red light your quietly recharging

It's been done in contests, with very special vehicles. With a normal car, I would assume a sunny day in Southern California and 3M^2 of 20% efficient cells facing upwards (not optimum) I would see maybe 120 watts at noon. If my motor is a modest 60kW, a three-minute stoplight would give me 0.36 second of running time.

 

[TRexall]

It's been done in contests, with very special vehicles. With a normal car, I would assume a sunny day in Southern California and 3M^2 of 20% efficient cells facing upwards (not optimum) I would see maybe 120 watts at noon. If my motor is a modest 60kW, a three-minute stoplight would give me 0.36 second of running time.

You missed the point..The car would be charging as you drove,before,during and after the light,with the help of ultra-capacitors to save the drain on your batteries

 

[mneary]

The car would be consuming 60kW while the solar cells are producing 120W. What did I miss?

 

[TRexall]

The car wouldn't consume anything at the light if it was charging,because the motor wouldn't be on,and the figures would depend on what type of system you had altho you would be generating waste heat from the controller as you picked up speed...which could be used to heat your batteries in a cold climate.

 

[Willbe]

Alt+0176

John

1500°C

You da' man!

 

[AllVol]

My humble opinion follows:

I believe recent advances in fuel cell technology points to a real bright future.
Then dknguyen can have his dragster and allvol can have a safe trip home.

But I still want wipers to keep the rain and snow off my windshield, a heater to keep my toes toasty, and I want to light the occasional cigarette while listening to my stereo tunes! Oh, and I'll need lights to see and signal my intentions, too.

 

[mneary]

True, the car wouldn't consume anything at the light, and I cheerfully accept that it would accumulate 0.36 second of running time. You can store that in a super capacitor or a battery, it's still only 0.36 seconds worth. Then when you're driving, the solar cells would provide 0.2% of your ongoing needs. The remaining 99.8% (59.88 kW) has to come from somewhere.

Hint: Batteries and super capacitors are not a primary source of energy. You put energy in, and get most of it back later if you are careful. You never get more back than you put in.

 

[TRexall]

Hint: Batteries and super capacitors are not a primary source of energy. You put energy in, and get most of it back later if you are careful. You never get more back than you put in.

I can accept that...The technology is allmost there,if they would invest in it.
maybe I just wanna go 0 to 60 in 4 seconds

 

[mneary]

maybe I just wanna go 0 to 60 in 4 seconds

That's certainly fun, but it is never gonna be free.

And it has nothing to do with charging at 120W while driving at 60kW.

Over unity still has a long way to go; We don't get close to 50% efficient for most energy conversions.