On the last post, I attempted to shed some light on the energy transfer rate from the common AC outlet into a storage device like a lithium Electric Vehicle Battery. We discovered that we can transfer the equivalent of one third of a gallon of diesel in electrical energy over a ten hour period.
No doubt, most of us can guess that this amount of energy won’t get us very far in a practical family car that is capable of carrying groceries home. But as I mentioned in the last post, we have environmental concerns to address as well. Add to that, we have we have head lights tail lights, turn signals, brake lights, and of course head lights are significant loads all by themselves. Heating is a heavy load, and I doubt that heated seats is going to make it practical to drive when the outside temperatures are well below freezing. I would expect your breath to freeze on the inside of your windshield and side windows too, and soon you’d be looking through frosted glass.
Here’s one bit of trivia that may help adjust the horizion as it relates to the practical family Electric vehicle.
“The power necessary to operate a vehicle air-conditioning compressor is significant . It can be greater than the engine power required to move a mid-sized vehicle at a constant speed of 56 km/h (35 mph).”
So where did we get this figure? Answer: The Department of Energy “DOE”
Here’s the link Look in the introduction for the quote.
I once jokingly mentioned the wood stove accessory for the 20xx EVs, but that might be a practical solution, just get up early, stock the fire box.. by the time you get a shower, eat breakfast, and finish the second cup of coffee, you might have enough heat to keep the glass clear even in Wisconsin.
I can hear the gears in your head… “we got this firebox, why not add some tubiing, heat a little water, and make some steam!” There was a man that lived not far from me that owned Howard Hugh’s Steam Car.. It made steam in about 90 seconds and would do over 100 MPH.. It was far cheaper than the Chevy Volt, and some would say it ran on free water.
For us realists… we know that 1930s dollars were worth a lot more.. we also realize that we got to heat that free water…. Reality sure sucks… doesn’t it?
It seems there’s many among us who hate hydrocarbons, but the more you talk to these people, the more apparent it becomes that they don’t have a clue how far away we are from having a practical electrical storage device or a way to charge them IF a large percentage of us had them.
It should be readily apparent to anyone who lives in a city of steep hills, or a place where it gets hot or cold, or even a place where it rains a good portion of the time, that the pure electric vehicle is going to be challenged even if we are able to double the energy storage and cut in half the charge time.
For those who don’t understand the difference between steady state driving and stop and go traffic, the later is a huge battery drain. The reason it is so easy for the masses to believe the Electric Vehicle is ready for American families is because they don’t have a clue how much energy is in a gallon of gasoline.
