Free Electricity for Electric Cars ??

[herm0016]

Don't have to yell... was only asking. :/

I have bought just one new car in my life, so it wouldn't apply to me buying one of these. Not a huge fan of electric cars anyways. I could maybe use it as a spare, not a primary. No SUV yet that I am aware of. I still enjoy the noise and smell of my DD car too much.

not yelling, i just end up in capslock for my job all the time. you should go test drive a volt. maybe you will change your stance. SUV's are coming. check out the new volvos.

 

[Ackmed]

not yelling, i just end up in capslock for my job all the time. you should go test drive a volt. maybe you will change your stance. SUV's are coming. check out the new volvos.

I was kidding. I may in the future, just not yet. I saw the Volvo, looked nice. Almost bought one earlier this year, but went with a Benz SUV. I got it just for the kids. My DD is a '68 Mustang that is just too much fun to give up. I love everything about it, except it does get about 8mpg. And I use 93, 100% on it.

Some time in the future I may go electric, but it has a ways to go before I will commit.

 

[LTC8K6]

Drive 300 miles.
Eat lunch while your vehicle charges.
Drive another 300 miles.

What EV can do that now? Go 300 miles, and get 300 miles worth of charge in 30 minutes?

You'd need a supercharger station where you eat lunch.

To do that, for me the vehicle would need a 350 mile range at least, because you wouldn't want to get close to the range limit.

There would also need to be a system in place for people who actually do run out of charge on the highway. It needs to be similar to someone bringing you a couple gallons of gas so you can get going again.

 

[ALIVE]

What EV can do that now? Go 300 miles, and get 300 miles worth of charge in 30 minutes?

You'd need a supercharger station where you eat lunch.

To do that, for me the vehicle would need a 350 mile range at least, because you wouldn't want to get close to the range limit.

There would also need to be a system in place for people who actually do run out of charge on the highway. It needs to be similar to someone bringing you a couple gallons of gas so you can get going again.

well as proposed from many
you should be able to change batteries int he charing station for faster
or stay thee waiting to recharge

tesla is announcing charge stations where you can charge for free or pay to change battery in 1 min
the process is automatic
so changing battery is faster than filling your tank with gas anything else??

 

[Jeff7]

I understand businesses offering charging stations, that can make sense from a PR standpoint.

But my point about these "public" charging stations is - Why should anyone, other than the drivers of the electric cars have to pay for the electricity and cost of installing a charging station.
We, the public are paying for that.
I don't see any "public gas stations" where I can fill up for free.
I have to pay for the product (gasoline or diesel) and infrastructure to deliver it.
I can't even ride the bus for free.

Why should we be paying for electric car drivers to recharge their cars?
That makes no sense at all.

Edit: posted this before I saw thomsbrain's post.
btw - is that actually true, can someone confirm?
ultimatebob indicated that was not true in Connecticut.

I pay taxes for roads I'll never drive on.

 

[Brovane]

I saw EV Charging stations recently at Disney World. The other kicker is that the stations are up near the handicapped parking...so if you have an EV, not only do you charge it for free, but you park much closer too. I guess that's more incentive to buy one before everyone else gets one.

Usually the proper electrical infrastructure for charging stations is near the front of a business so the spots are not going to be far out in the parking lot.

 

[lxskllr]

Could photovoltaics be a benefit to an electric car, or would the extra weight negate any energy scavenged? Thinking of a work type situation, where you drive kind of far, but the car sits outside for ~8 hours. While you wouldn't get a full charge, you could extend the range.

 

[Ruptga]

Could photovoltaics be a benefit to an electric car, or would the extra weight negate any energy scavenged? Thinking of a work type situation, where you drive kind of far, but the car sits outside for ~8 hours. While you wouldn't get a full charge, you could extend the range.

On a whim I found 100W panels that are about 4ft by 2ft, you could probably fit two of them on a sedan's roof (maybe not, I'm eyeballing this stuff). The Volt's battery capacity is 18.4kWh, which means that at 200W/h it would take three days and 20 hours to fully charge IF the sun were in the noon position for 92 hours straight. You could get more mileage out of it by putting a panel on the trunk and maybe 2 of them on the hood, but no matter what you do a major problem will be that the panels can't gimbal to face the sun directly.

That's not to say that it would do no good, but you'd be much better off with a proper solar install feeding a large battery at your home.

 

[NoTine42]

Could photovoltaics be a benefit to an electric car, or would the extra weight negate any energy scavenged? Thinking of a work type situation, where you drive kind of far, but the car sits outside for ~8 hours. While you wouldn't get a full charge, you could extend the range.

I'm thinking HVAC would be the current biggest benefit, keep the car closer to an enjoyable temperature so the batteries don't have to work as hard when you get in to drive.
There are the 100% solar "cars" that universities build for competitions, but I think they use every aero and weight trick (with no comfort) in the book to drive.

 

[lxskllr]

On a whim I found 100W panels that are about 4ft by 2ft, you could probably fit two of them on a sedan's roof (maybe not, I'm eyeballing this stuff). The Volt's battery capacity is 18.4kWh, which means that at 200W/h it would take three days and 20 hours to fully charge IF the sun were in the noon position for 92 hours straight. You could get more mileage out of it by putting a panel on the trunk and maybe 2 of them on the hood, but no matter what you do a major problem will be that the panels can't gimbal to face the sun directly.

That's not to say that it would do no good, but you'd be much better off with a proper solar install feeding a large battery at your home.

With blocky panels, you'd also create drag which would reduce mileage. Isn't there a flexible panel that could be put on like a skin? Years ago, I heard a material was developed that was flexible, and could be cut. The use case stated you could use it as a shingle material for a roof. I guess that didn't pan out, or couldn't be made cheap enough?

 

[herm0016]

There are flexible panels from several manufactures. Bottom line though is that there is just not enough surface area on a car to produce enough energy. The 4200 peak watts on my roof cover something like 300 to 400 Sq feet.

 

[Childs]

I'm thinking HVAC would be the current biggest benefit, keep the car closer to an enjoyable temperature so the batteries don't have to work as hard when you get in to drive.
There are the 100% solar "cars" that universities build for competitions, but I think they use every aero and weight trick (with no comfort) in the book to drive.

I think its an option on the Prius...at least I remember something about a solar panel where the moonroof would be that powers the AC.

 

[herm0016]

The prius solar package just ran a small vent fan for the cabin to do what you describe.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

What EV can do that now? Go 300 miles, and get 300 miles worth of charge in 30 minutes?

You'd need a supercharger station where you eat lunch.

To do that, for me the vehicle would need a 350 mile range at least, because you wouldn't want to get close to the range limit.

There would also need to be a system in place for people who actually do run out of charge on the highway. It needs to be similar to someone bringing you a couple gallons of gas so you can get going again.

http://www.teslamotors.com/findus#/bounds/49.38,-66.94,25.82,-124.39?search=supercharger&name=us

For anywhere I'd ever want to go I'm good.

LA to Vegas
LA to San Fran