Comments on: Longer-Lasting Lithium-Sulfur Batteries Developed For Use In EVs

By: Kevin Adams

Kevin Adams — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 18:35:00 +0000

Tesla is using that area for a frunk (a front trunk), it is pretty sweet.

By: Zachary Shahan

Zachary Shahan — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 06:11:00 +0000

possibly the most underrated benefit of electric cars.

By: anderlan

anderlan — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 13:36:00 +0000

You’re absolutely right. EVs are *already* a better proposition than gasoline. They don’t have to even approach those gasoline numbers. It’s just fun to see how close we are and to think about how incredible better the world might soon become.

By: Jouni Valkonen

Jouni Valkonen — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 07:12:00 +0000

Electric cars can be recharged, when they are parked. With gasoline engine you need to waste 15 minutes of your life every time you are going to refill at gas station.

By: anderlan

anderlan — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 04:52:00 +0000

You’re totally right. I had the gasoline kwh/kg correct, then I looked at it again and for some reason set 1 gallon = 1 pound instead of 8 pounds. Fixed it back the way it was just now. Thanks. 10kwh/kg is way less than 74kwh/kg.

By: Bruce Miller

Bruce Miller — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0000

The battery pack or super-capacitor bank in my electric can take all the space and weight left over from the gasoline power train. My electric car will have hub drive motors on 30″+ rims? The whole area under the hood will be empty? or filled with power storage?

By: Bruce Miller

Bruce Miller — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 23:54:00 +0000

Higher voltages for nano carbon super capacitors will yield the higher and desired power density?” For a moment: a ten fold voltage increase on current super caps would do the job? and with zero internal resistance as found in batteries? Gasoline engines hardly approach 25% efficiency today?

By: Cowboyleland

Cowboyleland — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 23:11:00 +0000

The Solar Impulse plane has been flying since 2010. Its captain is even named Picard. The posibility is closer than you think.

By: Kevin Adams

Kevin Adams — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 22:04:00 +0000

I think you gasoline figure is a little high. Did you account for the heat losses? When compared to an electric battery a gallon of gasoline (roughly 4.5 liters) weighs approximately 6 pounds
(just less than 3 kilograms), occupies a mere 230 cubic inches but contains the
equivalent of 36 kWhs of electrical energy. That would be closer to 12,000Wh/kg for gasoline (which is just under 2 orders of magnitude higher than the Tesla pack)

By: anderlan

anderlan — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 21:19:00 +0000

Ah, dreaming about dense batteries.

Fun figures:
Equivalent power level of a gas pump filling your car: 1MW
Highest power charger (Tesla proprietary): 90kW (0.09MW)
Energy density of gasoline: 10kWh/kg.
Energy density of Tesla pack: 132Wh/kg (0.132kWh/kg)

Those are the targets, folks. Heh, just 2 orders of magnitude for both charging and density. Call me a techie dreamer, but I think they could fall before I get too elderly. We’re talking about nano structures and electronics. How long does it take an IT resource to become 100 times better? 20 years? The question is, do we want the targets to fall, or do we want to keep things the way they are? It’s a lot of work to do yet. We ought to be pushing with all we can.