cush wrote:
information on batteries is VERY hard to find....
well the important stuff.. like price and life cycle....
especially on those thundersky's..
I did a calulation.. with a 25 litre tank @ 1.70 (current average) that's $42.50 pertank and lets say that lasts a week.
then the batteries would still have another 3-4 years in them at which point they price would have dropped significantly for new ones*
and that's purely economic, but i can't quantify the value of the reduction of emissions.
Isn't it great that Texaco own the rights to NiMh batteries. Why would they want that, i wonder?
*until nickel, lithium and copper start running out and we're in the same mess all over again..
Well, Cush... Take a look around
here, here, and
here. I think you'll find there's some decent (not perfect, not 100% complete, but usable) information on batteries (including ThunderSky) and life cycles there. I think the numbers they portray tend to be conservative, too. They've also got running cost (excluding the conversion cost) comparison calculations.
I vaguely recall reading something about a patent on some form of Lithium battery running out in 2010, too, which should further lower the price of Lithium batteries. And the Chevron/Texaco patent on NiMH batteries runs out in 2015, so we'll see what happens then.
I don't think we'll have major dramas with running out of nickel, copper, lithium, etc, because it can be recycled (at least where it's used as cabling - wait a few years, then rip out your old phone line,
if we ever go FTTx
), and because there are already alternatives... There are electrolyte-charge batteries, where the charge is taken from an electrolyte, like the Vanadium Redox battery (Google it - Australian design, pretty cool). We just need them to be commercialized...
In terms of price comparison, even if we ignore the value of emissions (because most of us can't get access to that sort of power supply emissions free), it's reaching a breakeven point. Then factor in further rises to petrol, then the carbon tax/Emissions Trading Scheme (which we'll all pay for, because we are all consumers - I don't know a single person who is close to carbon neutral (without paying for it already), let alone carbon negative - boy I hate using 'carbon' in such an inaccurate way), rising coal costs (they've quadrupled in the last eight years)...
Wombat wrote:
Solar panels on the roof and bonnet
Sorry Wombat, but Phill would have the same issues with Solar Panels as with Regen from an Alternator - every little bit helps, but it will only help a little bit. There's some maths on it
here.cooper69 wrote:
Talking about batteries I have come across a company called eestor in usa, and they are now claiming a energy storage device which can hold about 50kw/h in a capacitor which weighs about 150kg from memory and will cost about $2500 to produce.
If true this will revolutionise the automotive industry. 50kw/h would allow me to drive my mini for about 700-800km before charging, and they claim charging can be done in 5 min.
The only problem with these would be that the average person doesn't have a power supply that would charge them in 5 minutes.
Pretty cool if they do what's claimed though.
Sorry if I sound like a know-it-all, I don't mean to, I've been reading about it a lot... I like what I'm reading, too! Although my personal (not short term) preference would be AC power...
