Comment Swapping batteries (Score 1) 768
Many people have proposed swapping batteries out in an electric car to eliminate the wait involved in charging the car. I'm afraid I don't have any hard numbers, but aren't the battery stacks for these cars extremely large? If you are imagining swapping a ~20lb 1'x.6"x.4" battery from a gasoline car it makes sense, but the full stack from an electric car will weigh much more. For instance there is the 88kg for the stack used to run buses serviced by the electric fuel transportation corp. Details at: http://www.electric-fuel.com/evtech/EF-tech-brochu re.pdf
They actually use the swap-out method, but it is an automated (heavy robotics, hydraulics?) system, and even then it takes 10 minutes. Admittedly this might be more manageable on a commuter car scale, but I think people are severely underestimating the difficulties invilved with a "swap out" plan.
Personally I think plugging your car in at each destination isn't a big deal. On the other hand I would like to see a breakdown on how much that would increase one's power bill per month as compared to how much you pay for gas. I'm guessing this does not come up because the electricity would end up costing more, otherwise we'd be seeing hard numbers from the electric car fanatics.
They actually use the swap-out method, but it is an automated (heavy robotics, hydraulics?) system, and even then it takes 10 minutes. Admittedly this might be more manageable on a commuter car scale, but I think people are severely underestimating the difficulties invilved with a "swap out" plan.
Personally I think plugging your car in at each destination isn't a big deal. On the other hand I would like to see a breakdown on how much that would increase one's power bill per month as compared to how much you pay for gas. I'm guessing this does not come up because the electricity would end up costing more, otherwise we'd be seeing hard numbers from the electric car fanatics.
