Interchangable battery packs

[razor02097]

Originally Posted by Cobb

An electric cherry picker? Mike Debrowski 2000?

errm.. no old as **** crown order pickers.

[Ryland]

Originally Posted by razor02097

I thought I would put my two cents in since I am probably one of only a few that actually has experience CHANGING an EV battery on a regular basis.

That's the issue that I have, people who bring this stuff up and argue about it tend to be people who haven't even DRIVEN an EV let alone delt with swapping batteries or charging, they tend to be the people who will "buy one when they have a 1,000 mile range" or whatever they feel they need their vehicle to have.

[oil pan 4]

I see rentable liquid fuelled push trailers or liquid fuelled electric booster trailers catching on way before swappable packs.
I think electric booster trailers would be the simpler way to go.
They could be fuelled with biodiesel or ethanol.

[Cobb]

That looks a lot like a fork lift to me. I was picturing something like the electric or phone company uses. MD2K has one he made electric and Ive drooled over the photos on his website.

I like to think in real terms myself and hate it when someone comes along and says this will work for 99% of the population when I know in fact it wont.

Well, at least one person likes my trailer idea.

[Xist]

I had thought about this, in my mind, the batteries would be leased and when swapped, there would be certain guarantees. I just cannot imagine a standardized size. If you only make short trips, why would you want all of the cost and weight of a long-distance battery pack? What about the differing needs of a bus and a one-person vehicle?

Well, don't battery packs consist of dozens of individual battery "sticks," with three cells attached together?

What if you had a quick way of swapping out those "sticks?"

[oil pan 4]

Lets use the example of 1kwh sticks, because that seems easy to work with.
A 1kwh battery stick will contain at least 12 pounds of lithium battery materal (LiFePO4), thats not counting the caseing, conductor and any electronics contained with in.

You would need to figure a way to idiot proof a few dozen sticks weighing at least 15 pounds each, make them easy to get at and quick to change out for people that may not be very strong or young.

[Cobb]

I guess one option is a buddy pack. You know enginer had a buddy pack for the Leaf that supplemented the range by charging the main battery from its own.

Another option would be a portable fuel cell and tank of hydrogen. You plug this into your batttery pack and turn on the valve and it supplements the power like the above.

[fb_bf]

I agree with Ryland. Range isn't that big of a deal. The people that are discussing this stuff don't drive an EV or they wouldn't be worried. You simply find a different way to get where you're going on that odd day you need to go farther than your car can drive. On all the rest of the days you just plug your car in when you get home. I'm at a point I only plug in every 3rd or 4th day.

[oil pan 4]

Originally Posted by Cobb

Another option would be a portable fuel cell and tank of hydrogen. You plug this into your batttery pack and turn on the valve and it supplements the power like the above.

Hydrogen is very expensive, and fuel cells are insanely expensive.
I don't see this happening.

[Ryland]

Originally Posted by fb_bf

You simply find a different way to get where you're going on that odd day you need to go farther than your car can drive. On all the rest of the days you just plug your car in when you get home.

Right, just like I don't need to own a pickup truck, that doesn't mean that I don't haul stuff in a pickup truck, I just don't own one because I don't need to use one often enough to justify owning it, if my electric car wasn't 31 years old with collector plates on it that prevent me from driving it in the winter it would most likely be my only personal vehicle.
Two of my neighbors don't own their own cars at all so they bike a lot, that doesn't mean that they never drive, but what it does mean is that when they do drive they borrow the correct vehicle to fit their needs for that day.