Electric Car Etiquette

[Niftyons]

At a time when we're being urged, forced even, to reduce electricity consumption and the Government is allowing suppliers to play fast and loose with the contractual terms and conditions of consumers, it totally escapes me why anyone would make themselves reliant (ha!) on a mode of transport that depends on electricity!

Not to worry Rodney. By this time next year we will be millionaires.

[RobertArthur]

In the USA: How friends help friends charge their EVs.

[Polarengineer]

I don't understand why batteries for electric cars can't be standardised, and fitted where they can be quickly changed.

You could then have stations where cars could pull in for a quick battery change, taking a few minutes instead of spending several hours charging, or dragging an engine around in the car to charge its battery as in the hybrid concept.

Batteries would be rented, payment made at a flat rate, but adjusted at each exchange, on the basis of how much power was used between changes, monitored by recording equipment in the car.
If charging at home the flat rate would cover provision of and deterioration of the battery, adjusted according to the charging regime also recorded by the car.

It would also be possible to have rates depending on the age of the battery being rented, so when being used mainly for short local trips, older, cheaper, batteries could be used, and newer ones used when making longer journeys.

Brilliant nomoss, but lots of problems to overcome.
It is similar to my idea of train toilets being built as a cartridge to slot in fresh at main stations, but this idea has much fewer problems. Train toilets are a serious health hazard and toilet exchange stations would solve this and the cartridges could be universal to all trains.

[Loup-garou]

I had a battery powered car, and it was remote controlled too, when I was six. Changing the battery was a doddle - a six year old could do it!

[curtis]

Having been involved in motorsport since I was 18 (and still competing), I sincerely hope I shall never be obliged to have an electric car.

[Nomoss]

I don't understand why batteries for electric cars can't be standardised, and fitted where they can be quickly changed.

You could then have stations where cars could pull in for a quick battery change, taking a few minutes instead of spending several hours charging, or dragging an engine around in the car to charge its battery as in the hybrid concept.

Batteries would be rented, payment made at a flat rate, but adjusted at each exchange, on the basis of how much power was used between changes, monitored by recording equipment in the car.
If charging at home the flat rate would cover provision of and deterioration of the battery, adjusted according to the charging regime also recorded by the car.

It would also be possible to have rates depending on the age of the battery being rented, so when being used mainly for short local trips, older, cheaper, batteries could be used, and newer ones used when making longer journeys.

Brilliant nomoss, but lots of problems to overcome.
It is similar to my idea of train toilets being built as a cartridge to slot in fresh at main stations, but this idea has much fewer problems. Train toilets are a serious health hazard and toilet exchange stations would solve this and the cartridges could be universal to all trains.

Thanks, I'm pleased everyone doesn't dismiss ideas out of hand because of what they see as unsolvable problems.

None of the problems need any technology which doesn't really exist on the required scale (such as carbon capture)

Like your train toilets, it requires legislation forcing companies to comply, which is very difficult to get past lobbying by vested interests.

Once that is in place, to provide the logistics required, companies will be falling over each other to set up, or convert to, the new stations, as happened when motor vehicles needed fuel in the last century.

[Nomoss]

I think the three days needed to take the whole car apart to change the batteries might make charging the faster option.

The reason for that is the way cars are made these days.

It seems that designers decide the outside shape and appearance of the car, then the engineers and production people try to fit the actual machinery etc. into it.

[Vallie]

https://www.powersystemsdesign.com/arti ... /145/18891

[niemeyjt]

It seems that designers decide the outside shape and appearance of the car, then the engineers and production people try to fit the actual machinery etc. into it.

I always assumed it was the laws of physics - keeping the heavier things like batteries low down and in the centre of the vehicle to lower the centre of gravity.

[Nomoss]

From Vallie's link:
I think IEEE put it best in a scathing critique of battery swapping when it said that “The design of each automaker’s batteries is deeply entwined with unique vehicle architectures… none are designed for one-size-fits-all or easy removal and reinstallation.”

That's a rather defeatist attitude, but really just a vague generalisation. Their "unique vehicle architectures" whatever that means, hasn't prevented radical changes in design over the years.

As I think I mention/implied above, manufacturers have to be forced into different thinking.

They have somehow managed to accommodate all the massive regulation of vehicles over the years. Crash testing, impact protection, passive and active passenger protection, fire prevention, endless emission restrictions, .......................

All of those required changes in their vehicles' unique architecture.