Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
require much better batteries than exist today. A
-mile
range will require a battery capacity of seven and a half
times that of a PHEV
, a formidable development task.
However, many all-electric cars are on the market today
with driving ranges from about
miles to well over
miles. One of the problems with all-electric drive is
the time it takes to fully charge a depleted battery. Even
with a
-volt electrical source, charging time will be
many hours with present battery technology.
This is not
the sort of time a driver is likely to want to spend having
lunch while his battery is recharged during a long trip.
A new company has announced a venture to have a bat-
tery exchange program
drive up with your discharged
battery and have a full one installed in a short time. There
is an advantage that PHEVs have over all-electric: very
long trips can be completed on gasoline. If for example, all
light vehicles were PHEV
-
s, batteries would only need
to be two and a half times as large as PHEV
% of all
daily driving could be accomplished on electricity, and
gasoline use would decrease by
s,
%
-
not bad if you are
for energy independence.
The Electric Power Grid
If the economy moves to PHEVs or all-electric vehicles,
the electricity has
to be produced somewhere and
The Tesla car uses
watt-hours per mile according to the company.
In
miles of driving it uses a total of
kilowatt-hours. Recharging in
minutes would require a
kilowatt power source, in
hour a
kW source, in
hours a
kW source. A typical house has an
electrical feed of
minute recharge at home is a fantasy, but is
achievable with special charging stations.
kW. A
