While converting my car to electric sounds cool, the lead-acid battery range of 40 miles would be a tough limitation. One-way to my last job was 22 miles. Mike's communte is currently 35 miles one-way...and I don't think his building would pay for the electricity to recharge his car's batteries.
Plus, have you looked to see where your electricity comes from? As in, how it's made? At home here, our electricity is generated by burning natural gas or oil (look at all the Dumfries stations). So using electricity to charge batteries may not be cheaper per mile, and definitely doesn't reduce the use of petroleum products.
Improved batteries need to be developed. "nickel-metal-hydride and lithium-ion, [need] to become more affordable. Those batteries can provide more power with less weight for increased range, but currently cost $10,000 to $20,000 per set, compared with about $2,000 for lead acid batteries."
"What people don't always realize is that the average person only drives 20 miles per day," he said.
Riiiiiight....no one in the metro DC area drives a total of 20 miles per day, lemme tell you.
Since I drive a mommy van, could I just mount solar panels on my huge roof?
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Very nice Skywatch!
Cheers, Klaus
P.S.:Can you do the Skywatch Team a favor and refrain from placing commercial links into comments to fellow Skywatchers? We're strictly non-commercial! Thanks! :)
Post a Comment