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Problem: the batteries on a Tesla Roadster weigh about 400 lb. Have fun lifting that! If you want a battery that one man (or more to the point, one woman) can
by hugh3 16y ago
Problem: the batteries on a Tesla Roadster weigh about 400 lb. Have fun lifting that!
If you want a battery that one man (or more to the point, one woman) can lift, you'll have to settle for a drastically reduced range.
Alternatively, you could have twenty easily-removed 20 lb batteries to swap out. It'd still be a bit of a workout, and beyond the capabilities of your average grandmother.
- Groxx 16y agoTrue, I wasn't considering the added amount of batteries in electric cars. But at that point you bring in the machinery, maybe loading from the bottom of the car, for precisely the for-people-who-can't reason. Someone would win a lawsuit, and they couldn't allow the average person to do it any more.
- alabut 16y agoThey're not meant to be replaced by hand - it's an automated process that swaps the batteries after you pull the car into the proper position, sort of like pulling into a car wash.
- hugh3 16y agoHmmm, by the point at which you're hot-swapping a 400 lb battery pack using a robot, maybe it'd be better to just hot-swap the entire car and be done with it? You could buy an electric car subscription, like Zipcar except you get to (or rather, must) keep the car at your own place, and swap it out whenever the battery gets low.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- alabut 16y agoEasier to stock up on extra batteries at a recharge station, harder to stock up on extra cars. I'm personally thinking of the one use case that keeps me from buying an EV car - driving from SF to LA to see in-laws. And that's only if my wife and I were to use the EV as our only car, which it doesn't need to be if we add it on as a second car in addition to our current p.o.s. Civic. Or if we pony up for car rentals instead. So yeah, I'm actually considering getting an electric car in the next year. It's possible. I'm guessing that's exactly how EVs will start to take off next year, as second cars and viable replacements for the daily commute.
- HeyLaughingBoy 16y agoApparently you're not an engineer! Here's my proposed solution based on current technology and about 10 seconds thinking about the problem: - Battery is in an externally accessed compartment mounted on a sled with a pair of clips. - Driver opens compartment door and backs into "battery loading bay" at gas station. - Clips engage matching latches that sense battery and extract it from car, then rotates a new, charged one in place and loads it. - Driver pays and drives off. None of this is more complicated than filling up your car with gas and the mechanisms are cheap and easy to build.
- hugh3 16y agoHey, I never said there weren't solutions, I just wanted to point out the problem in the parent's "pick it up by the handle" approach.