Comment Re:With the best will in the world... (Score 1) 486
The suggestion I made is to use technology to be sure you would be confident you would have a battery when you need it. With GPS on board your vehicle and Wireless communication battery exchange stations would be in communication with your vehicle, know the state of your battery and could expect when you would show up. While driving you would be informed that you needed a battery in plenty of time and where to get it. There might be several choices where you could stop, too, and with a GPS map, you would get directions and distances. Useful on a long trip in case you might want to stop for more than just a battery change such as the call of nature, stretch your legs, find food or a place to stay over night.
One other advantage of this system is that you could be sure of the range of your vehicle. As batteries age their ability to hold charge tends to decrease and in this case the system could cycle out older batteries so any battery you have on your trip will give like new performance. I think your analogy of the battery is like gasoline is a good one. You really only borrow or rent gasoline one tank fill at a time. Here, the stored energy in the battery is the gasoline or fuel. How do you feel about recycling the batteries in a battery powered device even if they're rechargeables? Or the tires on a car that wear out? I expect you don't have a very strong affinity for them.
You'll not doubt pay more for this service than if you just paid for the electricity at home but if you charged on the road you'll not only pay for the electricity but also something for the cost of building the charging station and its maintenance. Another advantage could be that you might want to exchange batteries when at home so as to prevent a big surprise when your original battery won't hold charge any more and you would have a several thousand dollar expense getting a new one. Likely this cost will be spread out over the life of the car rather than in one big gulp.
One other advantage of this system is that you could be sure of the range of your vehicle. As batteries age their ability to hold charge tends to decrease and in this case the system could cycle out older batteries so any battery you have on your trip will give like new performance. I think your analogy of the battery is like gasoline is a good one. You really only borrow or rent gasoline one tank fill at a time. Here, the stored energy in the battery is the gasoline or fuel. How do you feel about recycling the batteries in a battery powered device even if they're rechargeables? Or the tires on a car that wear out? I expect you don't have a very strong affinity for them.
You'll not doubt pay more for this service than if you just paid for the electricity at home but if you charged on the road you'll not only pay for the electricity but also something for the cost of building the charging station and its maintenance. Another advantage could be that you might want to exchange batteries when at home so as to prevent a big surprise when your original battery won't hold charge any more and you would have a several thousand dollar expense getting a new one. Likely this cost will be spread out over the life of the car rather than in one big gulp.