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Originally Posted by sendler
Do we have enough Lithium? Cobalt?
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Maybe I'll find it again. But according to a recent report, there is enough lithium that's already found to replace every single vehicle in the whole world with a Tesla and still have plenty of lithium left over.
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Originally Posted by redpoint5
It seems silly to have battery backup for the home. Excess solar can be sold back to the grid, so that negates the need for storing excess production.
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The idea of battery storage is to move completely off of coal, nuclear, etc. and to move to renewables. If there is no way to store energy from wind and solar then they are only good when there is sun or wind.
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Originally Posted by JockoT
Never mind the batteries and the Lithium. What about the mains electricity to charge them all? Bye bye hydrocarbons, hello nuclear.
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Of course the future is unclear. But theoretically, the same battery technology being developed for EV's will also help energy storage. Solar panels are at an all time low price and are expected to get even lower. If a cheap way to store solar comes about then solar could be the cheapest way to make electricity. In other words, if there ever is an EV revolution, it could mean a solar revolution as well.
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Originally Posted by redpoint5
I'm still against chemical storage. Seems it would be more efficient to use pumped hydro or other potential kinetic energy storage such as your railcar suggestion.
How efficient is decomposing water into H2? This is one of the few chemical storage solutions I could see being practical.
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H2 is terribly inefficient. Hydro storage takes up lots of land and returns very little. A better alternative right now would be flywheel storage. But supposedly as EV technology progresses, the technology will be much cheaper and available for other purposes, such as grid storage.
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Originally Posted by oil pan 4
Yes save the world by strip mining it for battery materials.
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Agreed. There is no perfect answer. I may sound like I'm advocating lithium ion technology for every use imaginable. But in reality, with so much propaganda from every angle, who knows what's best for the environment other than banning vehicular travel altogether.
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Originally Posted by MorphDaCivic
Also what about the super capacitor cars?
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If only they were cheaper and held more energy. Still, super caps technology is in the same race as lithium ion. Who knows what the next discovery will be. If someone finally figures out a cheap way to manufacture graphene the future could be super capacitor batteries instead of chemical ones.
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Originally Posted by sendler
Better streamlining and smaller frontal area will help reduce battery requirements. But I don't see anyone headed anywhere near there yet. As a matter of fact, many of the new concepts are full size crossovers.
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I know, right? It just goes to show that the economy is not based on what is best for society or the environment. It's based on a market to sell and make money. Most people still think 30mpg is great fuel mileage.
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Originally Posted by redpoint5
If a person regularly needs to travel more than the range of an EV, then it's the wrong tool for the job. It costs much more than gasoline to quick charge an EV, and it takes much longer to "refuel", and you have to stop more frequently.
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Yes, but what range would that be? I've done several 140 mile daily trips in my Leaf. I drive 70 miles to work, let it charge off L2, then drive back home.