Just perfect! no other word!

 

no way. unless and until batteries can be fully recharged in 5 minutes, the internal combustion engine will not be gone.

 

Oh, that'll happen in the next 10-15 years, no doubt about it. It'll be charging stations instead of fuel stations. The whole infrastructure and everything will take 25-40 years to fully transform. At that point, those of us still holding onto our old-school ICE cars will have to go to the special fuel stations to top off our rides. ICE cars will still have a special place in automobile enthusiast's hearts, but think about it. The weird combustion sounds, the smell of fuel, black nasty oil, the vibrations, exhaust fumes, bleh. Who wants that crap?

It'll be really, really sad when a great Ferrari, Lambo, high strung 4 banger (i.e. S2000), Vette, ICE sounds are part of history, but it all moves on. I wouldn't mind a 500hp equivalent electric motor that has insta-torque and rockets me to 100mph in 6 seconds. No vibration super-power.

 

Or till the cost of petroleum based fuel hits the tipping point.

 

I'm not sure super fast recharging batteries are needed. The other alternative is some kind of way to quickly remove the battery pack and insert a new one. I know a standard battery pack config is being worked on that can be removed quickly. That way it could take 8 hours to recharge them as long as the 'refilling' station had charged ones ready to go you would be fine. It has it's own challenges, no doubt, but so do magic super fast recharging batteries that have even close to gasoline energy densities.

 

oh the torque of electric motors!!

 

[QUOTE=s2kpdx01,Jul 5 2010, 12:44 PM] I'm not sure super fast recharging batteries are needed.

 

Hydrogen better fits their business model (big oil). You'd still have to go to a filling station and luckily we have one on almost every single block.

 

This is a good idea that is being developed and is already implemented in a few select test markets. Other options like opportunity charging and 10-minute recharging have been demonstrated effectively, but are still cost-prohibitive for the passenger vehicle market.

 

Interchangeable batteries is an idea that has been discussed for many products. It's doesn't always work out. The problem in this case is the batteries for this application must be very large. That means the shape of the battery and vehicle are rather tightly mixed. Look at a laptop computer as an example. A while back Duracell tried to push a few standard laptop battery designs. The advantages were obvious but the concept never took off. Laptops, like cars, are tightly packaged. The battery layout that works for one car/computer works poorly for another.

With respect to cars consider, how will you remove the battery? Will it side out the side, the bottom, or perhaps the back? You can't just put the battery anywhere in the car given it's weight and size.

I just don't see a few standard battery sizes being a viable solution for the market. It does work well in some applications. Many warehouse forklifts use interchangeable batteries. In the end I think purely electric cars will be a small percentage of the car market until people can reliably get 150-200 miles out of the things (that means even in less than ideal conditions). I also think the Volt style system makes a lot more long term sense as a total product since it removes the biggest limitation of a pure EV.

Personally I think the Tesla would be a very frustrating car. I would always want to take it on a long weekend drive.