Can all-electric vehicles take charge?
We all know there is lots of work and R&D going on to develop better
car batteries, working towards the goal of the all-electric vehicle
which may complement or supplement the standard gasoline/diesel fuel
car. I don’t know if or when the breakthrough in batteries will come; or
it may require some developments we can't presently envision (most
radical improvements are that way). So try to do some basic analysis of the car situation, starting
either at the sourcing end or the load end. At the sourcing end, figure
you have 15- or 20-amp line recharging the batteries for "x" hours, and
work over to the load: how long can this amount of stored energy run an
electric motor of the size you think you'll need in the car? Or go the
other way: if you have an electric motor size and run time in mind, how
much energy does it require for the run, and how much charging will that
require? (Remember: one horsepower is about 750 watts.) Of course, you
should also use a derating factor of two (or 50%) to account, roughly,
for the system losses between charging connector and actual delivered
power. (For this first-level rough assessment, ignore any other loads
the all-electric vehicle may have, such as a heater or air conditioner
or multimedia system, but you know that they can only make things
worse.)
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