Electric Vehicle charging at Walt Disney World

flynnibus

flynnibus

Premium Member
ddrongowski said:
AWESOMNESS!!!!





2:12 goodness


Lesson? Don't do stupid things with li-on batteries or they will not play nice with you.
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Yes - li-po batteries without the right protections are very dangerous ( ask the RC hobbies ). But the vehicles built for consumers have a ton of safety built into their designs to address it.

Same way you laptop battery has inherent risks, but we ignore them due to their implementation
 
ddrongowski

ddrongowski

Well-Known Member
flynnibus said:
Yes - li-po batteries without the right protections are very dangerous ( ask the RC hobbies ). But the vehicles built for consumers have a ton of safety built into their designs to address it.

Same way you laptop battery has inherent risks, but we ignore them due to their implementation
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My laptop has a battery? RUN FOR THE HILLS!!! WE"RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!!!:brb:
 
flynnibus

flynnibus

Premium Member
It has been my view that people need to look at ev vehicles as task specific cars. It makes it easier to build out the supporting infrastructure and mitigates most complaints.

There is nothing wrong with having a car that is just your commuter car. The cars would be cheaper as well. Win win win
 
ddrongowski

ddrongowski

Well-Known Member
Fuel from Algae
Corey P said:
Cost is the major problem for now. Some new head way has been made with graphene super capacitors that may be the wave of the future. http://www.extremetech.com/computin...ing-process-rivals-lead-acid-battery-capacity Researcher have been fooling with that and are actually making good progress to making it useable but ??????

A low cost commuter EV would probably catch on pretty fast but it's just not in the cards right now. Always a problem with range, charging, price etc. etc. The Tesla Model S is really the first functional car that is addressing all the problem except it's to expensive for most people. Also cost effective it is not. Other end of that is a golf cart, doesn't function like a car it's to low speed. They make some nice golf carts that top out at 35 MPH have lights and all the road legal stuff but those are limits to 35 MPH or less roads. Something in between is needed but I don't think a hybrid is such a good idea. Hydrogen??? Forget that one.
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What happened to Fuel from Algae. The stuff grows like a out of control plant.;) It is a renewable resource, and no wars over it, etc... Plus I can use it in my existing "owned" combustion vehicle, that is well proven, and the fuel station infrastructure already exists.
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/409654/fuel-from-algae/
 
Master Yoda

Master Yoda

Pro Star Wars geek.
Premium Member
Corey P said:
I just point things like that out because many people are clueless when it comes to EV's. If you ask a 100 people I bet a sizeable amount will tell you that you could build in a couple of PV panels and that would run the car. I have actually had a person say that to me and that is just not true. From the point electricity is generated a large amount of it is lost along the way right down to what gauge cable you use and what amps you charge your car with. It makes the whole green part of EV's questionable when you figure in the energy used to make the batteries etc. Hybrids are even worse to try to come up with numbers because it varies so much based on use.
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You will get no argument from me on that point. I'll never forget having to explain to a resident why we could just not fill in one of the retention ponds with dirt and build a playground on it when I was on the board of my HOA.

In the end it all comes down to cost per mile and environmental impact per mile. When we look at fuel consumption alone, the electric cars have great cost and impact per mile numbers. The problem is that the actual cost of the vehicle negates almost all of the savings, but both of those things will change in time. If we keep up the research the production of the cars will become cheaper and cleaner, the efficiency will be higher and electric cars will reach a point where you are a fool not to get one.
 
ddrongowski

ddrongowski

Well-Known Member
Master Yoda said:
You will get no argument from me on that point. I'll never forget having to explain to a resident why we could just not fill in one of the retention ponds with dirt and build a playground on it when I was on the board of my HOA.

In the end it all comes down to cost per mile and environmental impact per mile. When we look at fuel consumption alone, the electric cars have great cost and impact per mile numbers. The problem is that the actual cost of the vehicle negates almost all of the savings, but both of those things will change in time. If we keep up the research the production of the cars will become cheaper and cleaner, the efficiency will be higher and electric cars will reach a point where you are a fool not to get one.
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But what about flying cars, I remember being little and being told that I would have a flying car. Still waiting...... sadly.....
 
Master Yoda

Master Yoda

Pro Star Wars geek.
Premium Member
ddrongowski

ddrongowski

Well-Known Member
MissM said:
LOL Exactly. It's like people who freak out about using hydrogen as a fuel source because it can explode. It's like, um, do you do realize gasoline explodes too right? :p
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O² is the problem here. Get rid of it....o_O after all if it stops just one fire and saves a childes life, it should be done.;)

What, was that to much of a knee jerk reaction?
 
Master Yoda

Master Yoda

Pro Star Wars geek.
Premium Member
Corey P said:
No not really. Gas in pretty stable compared to other fuels that's why it was chosen years ago to fuel vehicles. Take hydrogen compared to gasoline, for the same amount of BTU's hydrogen will give you a much bigger bang. Everything they use in rockets is crazy explosive, a rocket engine just controls the explosion. It's all controllable but gas is fairly easy to make safe for day to day use. Yes light a cigarette while you are fueling something up and you very well could have a problem. I'm not going to go into details but you have common materials around your house which when combine would make a much stronger explosion than gas.
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I have to disagree with that. From a straight scientific standpoint, hydrogen does carry the bigger punch. However, hydrogen wins by a mile in the practical ways that they would both would meet with an ignition source in an auto accident.

Gasoline vapors are heavier than air. When a gas tank is ruptured, the flammable vapors spend a good deal of time on the ground and spread out from the leak. That results in what you see in the video below for an ignition sources that could be a good distance from the leak.



Hydrogen is lighter than air. Is dissipates into the atmosphere quite quickly. About the only way you can get an ignition is if the ignition source is almost directly next to the leak.

The video below is old, but is shows a great example of what happens when a ruptured hydrogen tank, gas tank and propane tank meet an ignition source. The testing starts at about the 1:20 mark.

 
GoofGoof

GoofGoof

Premium Member
Corey P said:
You have wonder what the collateral effects of mass producing algae would be??? I know someone wanted to dump a huge amount of iron in the ocean to basically seed the algae but environmentalist didn't like that idea at all.
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There were some test projects done in the power industry to use algae to essentially eat carbon. You take a coal burning power plant which produces a lot of CO2 emissions, separate the CO2 from the emissions coming out of the smokestack and pump it into a control area where you are growing algae. The algae eat the carbon and grow. You could then harvest the algae and convert it to biodiesel. It worked pretty well on a small scale model. The problem was bringing it up to scale. The amount of water needed to grow the algae was prohibitive to making the project work. Water is a scarce resource in most parts of the country.
 
blueboxdoctor

blueboxdoctor

Well-Known Member
GoofGoof said:
I know of at least 1 company who offers a monthly rate for unlimited charging. They will install a charger at your home and they also have a network of charging stations that are available to customers. Right now just in TX and CA but planning for growth.

Others have a pay as you go system charging you by the KW for the power. Thet have a credit card swipe or an account number with pin. Since its new a lot of places are offering free charging. For instance a number of NFL stadiums installed chargers linked up to their solar panels which are free to use. As more people get electric vehicles that may change.
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Thanks for the info, I've always been curious how the charging works in regards to cost. About how long would you say it takes to get a full charge?
 
GoofGoof

GoofGoof

Premium Member
blueboxdoctor said:
Thanks for the info, I've always been curious how the charging works in regards to cost. About how long would you say it takes to get a full charge?
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Depends on the charging station and the car. This is based on the Leaf. You can charge the battery from empty to full with a 240 volt home charger (has to be installed at your house) in about 4 hours. Most people charge overnight. The car also comes with a 110 volt charger that can be plugged into any regular outlet that takes around 6 to 8 hours to fill. The quick charging stations usually have a 480 volt charger that can quick fill about half the batteries charge in less than an hour. With a quick charge it would damage the battery to fill it too much too fast so you are limited to about half full. For a Leaf the quick charge gets you about 75 miles or so.
 

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