Electric Cars And Reality
General Motors today revealed plans to begin testing lithium-ion batteries intended for use in their Chevrolet "Volt" electric cars.
Because of the extreme power demands involved in driving a car in the real world, the vehicle would be powered by lithium-ion batteries. Lithium-ion batteries are lighter and can store and release more power than the nickel-metal hydride batteries used in today's hybrid cars.
Fully charged, the Volt should drive about 40 miles without using any gasoline, according to GM. The small conventional engine would extend that range allowing the car to get as much 150 miles per gallon, depending on the distance driven.
The Volt will be a four-seat car. Not having a center seating position in the back will allow room for the car's battery to run longitudinally down the center of the car while keeping the roof low for better aerodynamics, according to a GM press release. The T-shaped battery will also extend out under the back seats.
"After extensive aerodynamic testing of the Volt, the vehicle now has a coefficient of drag that is 30% lower than the original concept," said Ed Welburn, GM vice president, Global Design. "It's not easy, but it is a necessity."
The Volt concept car was unveiled at the 2007 Detroit Auto Show.
For many Americans, especially those who live in urban areas, this car could work. For those who have to commute long distances, it would not. But there are certainly a goodly number of people who could use something like this and lessen demand for other fuels. But there is - as there always is - a catch. The demand for electricity will grow - rapidly - if large numbers of these cars go into service. The demand for reliable generation of electricty is going to skyrocket. Intermittent supplies will not cut it when people are depending on the power to be there when they need to charge their cars to get to work.
In other words, reliable power plants need to be ready to go on line to meet this demand. The planning had better start very soon. It takes years to build a coal plant, even more to build a nuclear plant. If we do not start very soon, there will be a crunch that will be enormous.
By David Moelling, Friday, 4 April , 2008 @ 7:43 am
I also work in the power industry and am consistently amazed at the degree to which our political class is content to play with toy power plants like wind and solar. We will need large amounts of reliable central power plants. The editorial in the WSJ today on the war on coal in Kansas is spot on. Here is a plant that is popular in its neigborhood meets all environmental requirements yet is blocked by a political apparatcnik on climate impact! Not only is there no law governing this but no law empowering him to do this. The REA has placed a moratorium on finance assistance for rural coal plants due to congressional interference.
During the 1980’s we lost several nuclear plants that would help today because of the political aspirations of Dukakis, Cuomo and Gov. King in maine. This is truely special interest pandering with the publics money.
By BubbaB, Friday, 4 April , 2008 @ 10:06 am
It always irritates the tar out of me when I hear that a plug-in hybrid gets "so many miles to the gallon." Bull.It is not like the electricity is generated magically. That requires fuel of some sort, and it costs money. Granted, it is more efficient than most cars on the road, but it still costs money to recharge an electric car.
By Uncle Pinky, Friday, 4 April , 2008 @ 11:17 am
It is not like the electricity is generated magically.
Of course it is. Electricity is made when unicorns eat cotton candy and jelly beans at the same time. They then blow bubbles (pink) containing happy excited electrons.
Gaius worked in the industry, just ask him. Though the Purina Unicorn Chow and Jelly Belly shipments he gets lead me to believe he might be in the pocket of Big Cotton Candy and Pop Rocks Inc.
By martian, Friday, 4 April , 2008 @ 11:22 am
"But there is - as there always is - a catch. The demand for electricity will grow - rapidly - if large numbers of these cars go into service. The demand for reliable generation of electricty is going to skyrocket. "
That was my thought, exactly as I read through the article. It’s wonderful to have such a car that uses so much less fossil feul to run. BUT, it’s not going to run on wishes - you have to get the power from somewhere. Thus, Gais’ point is spot on - if they’re going to produce these things for mass consumption, we would need to more than double (possibly more than triple) our production of electrical power almost overnight. Somebody had better get busy!
By lynndh, Friday, 4 April , 2008 @ 1:11 pm
Lithium Ion batteries can be dangerous and do get very hot when recharged. Hope anyone who buys one of these understands that in a car crash the battery could explode.
By OldeForce, Saturday, 5 April , 2008 @ 12:23 am
TV report recently here in Colorado on the training EMTs need to deal with "electric cars". [Most hybrid cars do have a separate cut-off switch in the rear trunk area of the cars.] Interesting comments from a Ford mechanic who helps advise the EMTs: when he has a hybrid in his work area, he marks the area off with orange traffic cones and leaves an insulated rescue hook just outside the work area.
By ted goldman, Saturday, 5 April , 2008 @ 9:42 am
Same old, same old from the politicians.
Better schools; energy independence; immigration reform; blah, blah….
What we get are bridges to nowhere.
By Sam, Saturday, 5 April , 2008 @ 2:25 pm
When the battery runs down, you can switch to the engine powered by clean burning corn ethanol, right Gaius? ;o)
By bill-tb, Saturday, 5 April , 2008 @ 5:23 pm
lithium-ion power density is still not enough … And in actuality is not much better than NiMH. A quick comparison — You can buy a rechargeable NiMH 1.5 volt AA for about $2 at Walmart. It delivers about 2500 maH of energy — or about 3.75 Watt hours. A Li-ION cell, 14500 — AA size, costs about $5 and is a 3.6 volt 900 maH cell, or about 3.2 Watt Hours. Both occupy the same volume, and do not have appreciably different weights. Roughly the same stored energy, because higher capacity NiMH are now availble. My guess is the NiMH will last longer in service, since anyone who has a cell phone knows the Li-Ion batteries start downhill after about six months to a year of use.No one wants to talk about battery cost, replacement or recycling, and the energy lost to that process. They prefer the rose colored glasses approach to saving the planet.The money would be better spent on developing and deploying nuclear power plants. I have two houses, one gets power from a nuclear power source, one from natural gas. One is charged 10 cents/KWH the other is charged 3 cents/KWH — Guess which is nuclear?As a EE engineer, I would never buy an electric car for anything other than golfing use.
By Gaius, Saturday, 5 April , 2008 @ 5:42 pm
But, bill, surely you know by now that the rose-colored, kindergarten-level reasoning is the law of the land.
I wouldn’t buy one, either. I drive 100 miles each day to work round-trip. The 40 mile range is not even close to workable for me. And the sycophants better hope people like me can still get to work to keep the power on. Otherwise, reality is going to bite pretty fast.