Texas startup says it has batteries beat

Associated Press ^ | Tue Sep 4 | GRANT SLATER

[silentreignofheroes]

almost,,was an electronic tech for 31yrs. or so,amazing the conversations we’d get into,,was interesting..

[Condor51]

The DUmmies are on this too.

One actually did some calcs ...

An average car traveling 60mph requires (about) 45 horsepower. A 500 mile trip takes 8.3 hours. That's 373 hp-hrs. A horsepower is .75kw. The trip consumes about 280kwh. 500m/60mph * 45hp * .75 = 280kwh or 280,000 watt/hrs.

To recharge after this trip in 5 minutes, the plug would have to deliver power at a rate of 3400 KWH (280kwh*60/5). A 120 circuit can handle 15a. A normal 240 circuit as much as 60a. A specialized one, perhaps 100a.

15a @ 120v = 1.8 kw
60a @ 240v = 14.4 kw
100a @ 240v = 24.0 kw
This car requires 1400a of current at 240v to charge at the rate advertised.

Disregarding any efficiency losses, you'd have to install 60a breakers and run extension cords to 237 of your neighbors homes to supply the charging current.

Don't know if he's correct, but at least he seems to have a brain. Another DUmmie even went further. (they must be out of drugs)

[AlaskaErik]

Without a serious upgrade in generating capacity, the whole grid would collapse. And the ecofascists will do everything in their power to prevent any new electric plants from coming on line. So even if this technology works, we won’t be able to utilize it. It’ll be just like the Nazis in spring 1945. Lots of nifty gadgets, but no energy to fuel them.

[RS]

“Oh! aw right 30 minutes you ol poop.. and cables the size your FINGER.. for enough energy to get you home..”

I’m with old poop ...

Every car at this electric fillup station standing there for 30 minutes ... I guy ticked when the guy in front of me takes 3 minutes ! at 30 the line will always be down the block.

[hosepipe]

[.. I get ticked when the guy in front of me takes 3 minutes ! at 30 the line will always be down the block. ..]

When most fill ups occur at home(at night) there would be much fewer fillups away from home.. Who goes more than 500 miles daily?.. Not many I think.. This wouldn't happen anyway unless a few million Americans get nuked by terrorists in some of our major cities.. Could happen but probably not..

[dangerdoc]

Don’t trust a democrat with math.

It only takes about 6 hp to keep an average car at 55 mph.

The eestor is 50,000 watt hours.

Paying higher taxes is not the same as investing.

[robertpaulsen]

"This car requires 1400a of current at 240v to charge at the rate advertised."

He's off by a factor of ten -- 1400 times 240 equals 336kwh, not 3400kwh. 1400 amps at 2400 volts will do it.

Up the voltage to 5000 volts and you'll need 680 amps. 10,000 volts and it's 340 amps.

In order to carry 340 amps, you'll need four insulated 3/0 awg copper wires -- bundled together, they're about the size of your wrist.

Hey, not bad. In my post #23 I said 10,000 volts with cables the size of your arm. Arm, wrist -- close enough.

[Balding_Eagle]

I think the average 10,000 volt lines normally carries less than that, so if even 1 person started to draw 50 amps it would overload the line.

[dangerdoc]

I’ve seen estimates that if every car in America were run on electricity, it would add about 30% to our current electricity use.

It would require some planning but would not collapse the grid. If they can acually produce this product at a reasonable price, the result will be a more stable grid.

The biggest problem the power companies have is adjusting to the constantly changing power needs. Either large banks of these things at substations or a more widely dispersed system would allow the big plants to churn away at full capacity with the storage units covering peak demand and soaking up excess capacity.

Something like this would also make wind power practical. There is enough wind power in my state to power a quarter of the country. The problem is that you either have too much wind or too little. Electricity is a commodity, power distributers buy megawatt hour futures to be delivered at a certain time, wind cannot be sold on the futres market and is worth alot less on the open market. Statistically, you know how much power you will make from wind each month but not how much you will make day to day. If you could cheaply store electricity, wind power becomes a reliable commodity, you can sell futures, produce reliable income streams which allows you to find financing to build more power generation.

Suddenly, the free market kicks in and the market fills the need.

Don’t let the eco weanies scare you. We have plenty of energy resources, we just need the technology to unlock them.

[roaddog727]

“I haven’t run the numbers but that claim implies a very high charging rate. I’d suggest standing back, way back.”

The thing is, that’s what capacitors do.

I have been toying with that Idea for a long time. Looks like someone else did too and put it into practice. We shall see if it actually works in a commercially acceptable means.

[dangerdoc]

Lets see.

50 kw over 5 minutes is 600 kw

divide by 10,000 volts that is 60 amps for a 5 minute recharge.

at 240 volts/60 amps will recharge in a little over 3 hours. If you drive 100 miles a day, it would recharge over a lunch break.

[Bob]

The thing is, that’s what capacitors do.

Yes, that's true. When they're discharged, though, caps present (almost) a short circuit load to the charging circuit. That initial load can cause a huge in-rush current to flow. I'd like to see the specs on that 5-minute charge time.

[roaddog727]

“I’d like to see the specs on that 5-minute charge time.”

You and me both.

[RipSawyer]

I was a Navy ET back in the stone age, when Frank Morris and crew broke out of Alcatraz I was attending the Navy electronics school on Treasure Island within sight of the rock.

[silentreignofheroes]

Tube theory,,those were the days..worked on shipboard electronics when I got out of the Army..All my solid state experience came from a NRI course and working on boats..met alot of people,retired from it in ‘04,but everytime I talk aboout elctronics I want to get back into it.,,taught me alot..

[FreedomPoster]

Just think of what would happen if all that highly-flammable gasoline caught fire in a crash.

Any system that can take a vehicle a worthwhile distance, has enough potential energy of one sort or another, that if things go wrong, it can get ugly. We accept the risk with petroleum-fueled vehicles. Why not with something else?

[Ditto]

He had way too much faith in our politicians. Nixon had no interest in the manned space program, since it was a Kennedy/Democrat invention (in his eyes - it actually started under Ike). This was, IMHO, his greatest failing outside of the character flaws that did him in with Watergate. We DID have the technical capacity for the base and the regular trips, and we’d be far better off materially if we had done that.

My friend, with all due respect, the fact is we simply could not (and still can't) afford "Clark's vision."

The 'bang for the buck' just isn't there --- at least not yet.

Don't get me wrong. I was a big fan of the manned space program. July 20, 1969 is a day I will always remember. In fact, I'm one of the thousands who made a 'reservation' on the PanAm 'Space Shuttle' like they showed in the movie. (Yes you could reserve a seat just by calling -- I was number 1200 and something in line.

The only reason we were in a race to the Moon was because the Russians were. It was Cold War propaganda/political calculations that drove that race, not the interests of science, technology or the betterment of mankind. The costs were unsupportable over the long run which is why the Russians backed out first -- they just couldn't afford to keep up.

Clark was just fine on dreaming up cool stuff from his plantation in Ceylon, but the guy never understood the basics of economics or how to get a measurable return out of all that cost in any reasonable time frame.

As a personal aside, I found Clark to be an egotistical jerk.

[FreedomPoster]

It’s amazing how many miss the point that petroleum fuels are both A) suitable for energy for transportation and B) an energy source. Energy storage systems such as the topic of this article are A) only (assuming this isn’t vaporware).

[Boiler Plate]

Let’s do the math.
It takes about 12kw to move a car down the road at highway speed(60mph).

500miles/60mph = 8.33hrs

12kw x 8.33hrs = 100kwhr

5min/60min = .083 hrs

100kwhrs / .0833hrs = 1200kw

1200kw at 600 volts dc = 2000 Amps

So in order to charge you vehicle in 5 min you will need to darken the surrounding neighborhood. And yes, plug in a cable the size of Hillary’s thigh.

I would not recommend doing this in the rain.

[FreedomPoster]

You’re a little too harsh on Clark. Folks are making a bundle on his concept of the geosynchronous telecommunications satellite.