Re: Nothing like oil?

"Sean O'Hara" <seanohara@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message 
news:61sovjF20oanfU1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> In the Year of the Earth Rat, the Great and Powerful AJ declared:
>>
>> "Sean O'Hara" <seanohara@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message 
>> news:61s4ktF2067emU1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>>>>
>>> Let me know when there's a battery-powered car that can go as far on a

>>> full charge as a modern car can on a full tank of gas, and which can
be 
>>> recharged as fast as a tank can be filled.
>>
>> Let me know when I'm going to go more than the distance it takes to 
>> charge down on a daily basis.
>
> All the battery operated cars I've read about barely have enough charge
to 
> cover the distance of a long commute, let alone a long commute plus 
> errands.
>
> And even if the battery is enough for your daily commute, most people
make 
> longer trips often enough for it to be an issue -- 
> people aren't going to settle a battery-powered car if they have to rent
a 
> gasoline driven one any time they want to go to the beach, or skiing, or

> camping, or if they have to take their kid to college on the other side
of 
> the state, or attend a wedding three states away.
>
> -- 
> Sean O'Hara <http://diogenes-sinope.blogspot.com>
> There are more fools in the world than there are people.
>    -Heinrich Heine

Aside from the OP asking about oil alternatives for 2 to 3 centuries in
the 
future, in which a 300-400 mile battery seems plausible, switching over to

battery powered cars would be plausible--even if the batteries take
several 
hours or even an hour or half an hour to recharge--but require some 
significant changes:
--The battery itself would have to be much lighter from 30-50 pounds to 
maybe about 5-15 pounds, preferably no more than 10 pounds. The range
would 
have to be 300-500 miles and cost $30-$60 (or lower) adjusted for
inflation.
--Gas stations would have to also become power stations. You'd have 
basically battery "pumps", vending machines to sell car batteries. Even 
better, you turn in your old battery and get a major discount (just like 
when we could turn in glass pop bottles for a discount or deposit). The
old 
batteries would be recharged and resold. Imagine battery "pumps" where you

put get a new battery, but also have a slot to put in your old battery for
a 
discount. The old battery would be automatically lowered underground and 
automatically plugged into a recharge slot out of sight and then sent back

out on some kind of conveyor system back to the pump when someone wants to

buy a new fully-charged battery (like bowling balls at a bowling alley).
--Cars would have to be significantly altered also. No more of the open
the 
hood, disconnect the terminals, power first then ground, lug out the
battery 
and the reverse to put in a new battery. You'd have to have battery side 
doors akin to gas tank side doors where the batteries would have to as
easy 
to swap out as video tapes or dvds.
--Oh and if you want to go on a trip but your battery say half-charged, 
that's okay because you get a bonus discount depending on the level of 
charge left in a battery on top of the discount for turning in a battery
in 
the first place. It would be akin to "topping off" a partially full gas 
tank.
--The battery stations would have to have a large inventory of batteries
in 
various states of recharge for people coming in for batteries. Over time 
they'd learn what's the proper level of batteries to have in stock, 
initially estimated from the number of cars that come to gas stations to
gas 
up. Worse case scenario after an unexpected burst of sales you run out of 
fully-charged batteries, you put up a sign that indicates how many minutes

until the next battery will be recharged.

-- Ken from Chicago