adeyadey's Journal: Electric cars & alternative power..

This article appeared on BBC news that set me thinking again about the case for electric cars. Even with current technology, the worlds best selling electric car, the Gem, runs at a cost of about 0.25p/mile - compared to 30p/mile for a typical petrol car.

The technology just needs a bit of a push to get the milage between charges up, and volume manufacture costs down. My own idea is that batteries be "leased" from garages, so that you drive into a garage and swap for a fully charged one instantly, for some sort of fee. No new technology needed for that, just some basic mechanics. That really sorts out the biggest drawback for electric cars - lack of range.

But electricity comes from fossil fuels you say? The UK has enough offshore wind-power to generate all our energy needs several times over - just use spare unused off-peak power to charge our cars up - that helps solve one of the major objections to wind-power - variability. New wind-power farms can supply electricity at £0.03/kw/hour - pretty cheap. (British Wind Energy Association page)

I will also add that I think the turbines are objects of beauty that do not detract from the landscape (especially compared to coal/gas/oil plants) - and that most of the "environmental" objections come from wealthy NIMBY land-owners..

Once people get off the treadmill of buying new petrol cars and realise how cheap electric cars can be, volumes go up and the prices will drop..

It also makes sense to stop pouring money at such a rate into unstable middle-eastern coutries - would there *really* have been this war in Iraq if not for oil (think of the long term for that answer)? Money spent on wind-power & new electric cars will generate local employment and wealth. Those oil reserves should be kept for future generations for things that are much harder to make, such as plastics, airplane fuel, and so on.

Ok most of this is old news in a way - but it all makes sense - doesnt it?

Unfortunately, it doesn't.

[Tau Zero]

Most ideas aren't new; lots are very old. Case in point:

My own idea is that batteries be "leased" from garages, so that you drive into a garage and swap for a fully charged one instantly, for some sort of fee. No new technology needed for that, just some basic mechanics.

This has been kicked around since the 1970's, if I am not mistaken (and perhaps even before, but the heydey of the electric car was around the turn of the 20th century and I wasn't paying attention to anything then). The idea founders on