Electric car solution.

I don't see anything particularly novel here. Photo-voltaic costs still need to drop substantially to make them worthwhile, and you wouldn't get a decent charge from using the car roof area at present efficiencies. Perhaps it may work as a niche product in Hollywood, with more sun and money than sense!
 
Well it seems Dyson is looking to improve on the existing G-Wiz which gets 40 miles on an 8 hour battery charge now. He is also looking into putting solar panels on garages thereby improving the dependency on charging from the main circuit at the house.

Engineers at the entrepreneur’s Wiltshire HQ are developing a lightweight electric motor that could power a family saloon for hundreds of miles.
The battery would be charged by solar panels mounted on the vehicle’s roof, or on the roof of a garage where the car is kept.
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There was a hybrid car knocking around for a while, it had a fairly small engine that powered the car out side the city limits. This small engine drove a electrical generator that powered the car on electricity and charged the batteries for when it was driving through the town. In town it would switch off the engine and use battery power, and should the batteries run low then you could revert to the engine. This seemed a logical way to go
 
perseus said:
I don't see anything particularly novel here. Photo-voltaic costs still need to drop substantially to make them worthwhile, and you wouldn't get a decent charge from using the car roof area at present efficiencies. Perhaps it may work as a niche product in Hollywood, with more sun and money than sense!
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A bit dismissive of Dyson there, Perseus. He has a track record, credibility amongst manufacturers, scientific approach. I do not think he would volunteer to waste his time or his reputation. He wants a car manufacturing partner for development, and despite reluctance, he will only need one to set the ball rolling.

I give you - again - my two old favourites. 'Necessity is the mother of invention' and 'Cometh the hour, cometh the man'.
 
I hope he is successful since I'm a great fan of electric car development. Just stating the factors that have prevented widespread photovoltaic use. Electric cars themselves are dogged by expensive heavy batteries. There may be a niche in the top end market but I cannot see photovoltics in production cars yet.
 
Yes, I am a fan too, but I know nothing about it except that the technology has been in the background for a long time. But Dyson is probably just the right sort of guy to address the engine and charging issues, at least to hurry things along. i hope for success - boy, do we need it. I posted it because I thought it was about time we had a little potentially ( Aah - that word 'potential', always just out of reach) good news.
 
perseus said:
I don't see anything particularly novel here. Photo-voltaic costs still need to drop substantially to make them worthwhile, and you wouldn't get a decent charge from using the car roof area at present efficiencies. Perhaps it may work as a niche product in Hollywood, with more sun and money than sense!
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You are quite correct, for the moment it's a gimmick, there is nothing new here, however I do like to see that someone is trying to do something.... so long as it's not just another money raising scam.

We do know that photo voltaics are not the answer as it takes more energy to produce a cell than it can ever generate in it's lifetime. Until this is rectified they are a non event. Batteries are also a stumbling point at the moment with a new set of batteries being needed on an average of 3- 5 years. The cost making it almost cheaper to purchase a new car,.. well nearly. Once again we live in hope that this will be overcome.

There are benefits to be had from wind turbines although this is only evident in those of commercial size. Suslon a Swiss company has just completed erecting 48 of these on a nearby range of hills, I was told by the manager that they have the potential to pay for themselves in a little over six months of (continuous) operation, although the practicalities will draw this out to about double that. They have a life expectancy of 10 years without more than minor maintenance and a possible lifespan of 50 years with rebuilds every ten years or so. These are what is known as peak load generators which will supplement the load in times of peak load, as they can be bought on line or removed in a matter of minutes unlike Thermal power stations.

Power generated from sources such as this are ideal for charging the batteries in electric vehicles. I feel in my water that they are the way of the future, at least for city use. Longer range and faster recharging will be necessary before they are a practical reality.

This problem need serious government investment.
 
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In the UK we have all the wind we need (in more ways than one) getting planning permission for the turbines are the problem (not in my back yard syndrome). We may have to build more offshore, but these are more expensive. There are also worries about them affecting radar.

Agree that electric cars would be ideal for matching supply to demand from renewables. Found this graph of wind power production in Denmark over the year.

wind-power-denmark.jpg


http://bp2.blogger.com/_mJmwQtPmusk...UU/9sfC9DMrdAU/s1600-h/wind-power-denmark.jpg
 
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We had a small amount of resistance to wind farms here in my state, but none at all in the area where I live.

Now, having seen the towers and turbines I am definitely a supporter, in fact you cannot go out to the area where they are without seeing people stopped by the sides of the roads taking photos. Everyone i have spoken to is of a similar opinion, saying they are very graceful and add great interest to what was otherwise a range of low hills only suitable for grazing.

The dark blur at the base of the tower is a section of the jib of the crane used to construct the 800 ton capacity lifting crane for the turbine assembly and blades. They don't weigh anything like that, but there is a high safety margin.
P0001937.jpg
 
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senojekips said:
You are quite correct, for the moment it's a gimmick, there is nothing new here, however I do like to see that someone is trying to do something.... so long as it's not just another money raising scam.

We do know that photo voltaics are not the answer as it takes more energy to produce a cell than it can ever generate in it's lifetime. Until this is rectified they are a non event. Batteries are also a stumbling point at the moment with a new set of batteries being needed on an average of 3- 5 years. The cost making it almost cheaper to purchase a new car,.. well nearly. Once again we live in hope that this will be overcome.
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Of course this will be a commercial project, rightly so.
All of these issues have longg been identified and are precisely what Dyson aims to surmount.

Windfarms are a-coming. $200 Billion of 'em.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...windfarms-EU-Labours-greatest-act-lunacy.html
 
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My concern is all of the traffic jams from stalled vehicles on the roads due to their batteries dying out. Their going to have to make a system that can charge the battery on the fly. Holy freakin crap thats gonna suck.
 
Electric vehicles do have metering on their battery capacity just the same as petrol driven vehicles have a gas gauge.

Also as with the Prius, you have a petrol backup which will not only power the vehicle when needed but will also recharge the batteries at the same time. However it would be more economical to wait until you get home to plug in.
 
Obviously you haven't bought chaff recently or had a horse shod. :smile:.

It would enable us to employ a lot more street sweepers though.
 
Chaff? Horse shod? Holy crap. What are they?

I assume I'll have to purchase a a larger pooper scooper too.
 
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I have always hated relying on batteries for any project. People don't realize how many ways a battery, no matter what the electrolyte and plates are made of, can fail. Until that elusive phenomenon, perpetual motion is attained, every means of propulsion is expensive, dangerous, unreliable, and composed of pure unobtainium. Just look at the deisel engines required to run the electric drive motors on a locomotive.
 
I do agree - but this is a new worls situation and we have to be led by necessity. that is why I am pleased that guys such as Dyson are applying themselves.
 
Missileer said:
I have always hated relying on batteries for any project. People don't realize how many ways a battery, no matter what the electrolyte and plates are made of, can fail.
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True, but engines are also complex. So are are you saying they are inherenty worse, or they need the same resources allocated to developing IC engines over the years to make them competitive
 
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Who was it who said, "if the same effort had been expended improving the internal combustion engine, as has been put into the development of the desktop computer over the last 30 years, you could drive your vehicle to the moon and back on half a pint of peanut oil"

I might not have it exact, but the gist of it is right.
 
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