Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
This is a particularly vexing issue for the electric car industry. Although the electric car
is widely regarded as the vehicle of the future, it has actually been around just as long as its
gas-guzzling counterpart. In fact, many of the early speed records were set by electric cars,
prompting the
New York Times
inNovember 1911toextol their virtues. Atpresent, thebest
small electric vehicles can only run for about 200 to 300 kilometres between charges, and
charging takes several hours. For electric cars to replace conventional cars, another great
Large-Scale Storage
So, if batteries are not capable of storing energy at an industrial scale, what other options
do we have? At present, elevated reservoirs of water are the most economically viable way
of storing large amounts of energy. This method is already used in hydroelectric power
plants, where huge quantities of water are stored in reservoirs. The most difficult part of
this operation is accomplished by the sun, which raises the water from the oceans to the
mountains through evaporation and precipitation. With pumped-storage hydroelectricity
(PSH), humans assume the role of the sun, pumping water uphill to build up a reservoir of
potential energy (see
Figure 2.7
).
