First US "Electric Highway"

[PoLiX]

Read this in the paper the other morning at work. Found it kinda interesting.

 

http://www.good.is/post/washington-gets-america-s-first-electric-highway?GT1=48001

 

With the Chevy Volt and the Nissan Leaf on the way, a new crop of electric cars is just about ready for America. But is America ready for them? We'll need places to charge them, right?

 

Well, residents of the Pacific Northwest will be in good shape. Washington state is planning to line a long stretch of Interstate 5 with seven-to-ten Level-3 fast-charging stations, which can juice up a Leaf in as little as 15 minutes. Early adopters will be able to travel from the Canadian border to the Oregon state line without depleting their batteries. It's being touted as America's first "electric highway."

 

Washignton's plan is just one part of the $230-million EV Project, which will install 15,000 charge stations in Washington, California, Arizona, Tennessee, and Washington, D.C.

[op2rules]

Yess! This is the future my friends. Although I don't get how it works, as you drive on it your battery charges wirelessly? It has charging stations along it? Edited July 10, 2010 by op2rules

[Dr Brain]

Electric cars are far less efficient than internal combustion engines, and pollute more than you're average car (unless you're taking the energy from nuclear, which is sadly uncommon).

 

Op2rules, wireless power transfer is so bad that it'll never even be considered.

[MikeTheNose]

One can say wireless power is worse than pollution. Look it up

[Dr Brain]

My job has a focus on the development of wireless power systems. Specifically resonant induction. The magnetic ones are perfectly safe for humans. On the other hand, they waste power like nothing else (perhaps that's what you meant?).

[Yupa]

What happened to the idea of just swapping out the batteries and not stopping at all?

 

But, yeah, the whole idea of cars is problematic, no matter what they run on.

[op2rules]

Agreed, cars fail at transportation. The idea of needing to encase yourself into a box to move around is already bad, but then needing not one but 4 wheels, and the whole thing weighs more than a sumo wrestler? Gimme a break. A bicycle now THAT'S efficient a car? go eat a monkey with sifilus.

[MikeTheNose]

My job has a focus on the development of wireless power systems. Specifically resonant induction. The magnetic ones are perfectly safe for humans. On the other hand, they waste power like nothing else (perhaps that's what you meant?).

 

Effect on wildlife in water. Any other adverse effects?

[Corey]

This topic makes me wanna have a hummer H2 race with 10 other people... Whos in?

[Dav]

I don't think electric cars need to be counted out just yet. Unfortunately though as the power is usually generated from fossil fuel burning they actually pollute more as stated above.

 

I think at this point it is proving that they can be practical that is important. It will be the case that most energy is produced in a low carbon way in the future and burning fuel to power a car will be impractical. Thankfully these early pioneers will mature the technology allowing the switchover to be pretty much seamless when the time comes.

 

This of course is provided that hydrogen doesn't become dominant in the medium term.

[»Lynx]

It seems they're getting much further creating more economic combustion engines, these electric/hybrid cars just seem like a gimmick to help people feel like they're being more green. =/

[Dr Brain]

My job has a focus on the development of wireless power systems. Specifically resonant induction. The magnetic ones are perfectly safe for humans. On the other hand, they waste power like nothing else (perhaps that's what you meant?).

 

Effect on wildlife in water. Any other adverse effects?

 

Wireless power doesn't work well near conductors, so people would tend to keep it away from water. If someone did put it near water, it'd just warm the water (very slightly, it takes *huge* amounts of energy to warm water).

 

The green movement is a scam. There's no real science behind it. If you look beyond what's on the surface, you'll see it for what it is. Take compact fluorescent light bulbs, for example. They're so toxic that it's illegal to produce them in the USA, yet the green movement would have us use them in every home. Hybrid cars lose whatever they gain in gas mileage by the fact that they don't last nearly as long as regular cars (and don't forget that cars take energy and material to produce).

[»D1st0rt]

Also we're transitioning from a dependence on foreign oil to a dependence on foreign rare earth metals

 

It's cool though, Afghanistan has huge lithium deposits

[Cheese]

My job has a focus on the development of wireless power systems. Specifically resonant induction. The magnetic ones are perfectly safe for humans. On the other hand, they waste power like nothing else (perhaps that's what you meant?).

 

Effect on wildlife in water. Any other adverse effects? BIRDS

 

Wireless power doesn't work well near conductors, so people would tend to keep it away from water. If someone did put it near water, it'd just warm the water (very slightly, it takes *huge* amounts of energy to warm water). 4.122 KJ/C*MOL - why do i know this D:

 

The green movement is a scam. There's no real science behind it. If you look beyond what's on the surface, you'll see it for what it is. Take compact fluorescent light bulbs, for example. They're so toxic that it's illegal to produce them in the USA, yet the green movement would have us use them in every home. Hybrid cars lose whatever they gain in gas mileage by the fact that they don't last nearly as long as regular cars (and don't forget that cars take energy and material to produce).

 

 

as per wireless power transmission, didnt nicholas tesla delve quite deeply into this?

i remember he lit up an entire field by sticking light bulbs in the ground.

he also had a little black box he plugged into his car with two wires sticking out of it.

he had a power emitter in his back yard or something.

unfortunately noone knows how it worked because he took the secret to his grave...

[Dr Brain]

Yes, Tesla was the first, and perhaps the greatest.

 

unfortunately noone knows how it worked because he took the secret to his grave...

Um, no. Maybe you don't know how it works, but there are plenty of people that do.

[Yupa]

The green movement is a scam.

The green movement isn't a scam, the presentation of existing (and yes, most new) manufacturers as being participants is, because, well, that's how they make money. Unfortunately most people are easily appeased. "Coal is bad!" "What? Check out these newish lights with NEUROTOXIN IN THEM, they use less energy (which is irrelevant because we're constantly burning as much coal as we possibly can) AND LOOK WE ADDED A GREEN-COLORED LABEL!" "Oh, RE-sult!" LEDs might be a decent alternative soon, if they really can make them without the toxic parts. Incandescents are so lovely, though — you can make them from the most inert, most prevalent elements, they just need a decent energy source, like everything else.

[L.C.]

The green movement is full of crap. Why? In my opinion, all that "green" stands for is making current architectures and designs more efficient and optimal. This should, being Captain Obvious right now, be a natural step in engineering and works.

 

:X

 

Just my two cents. >.<

 

EDIT: To me it seems more that "being green" is moreso a political and marketing scheme. Hehehe.. After all, it would be politically correct nowadays (with the way things have slid around on the table) to "be green," and it reinforces to the consumer the "betterness" of a product (thus the way to market products for this decade). Maybe 2010s will be the decade of "being green" and "efficiency." haha. "Being green" is the hip now.

Edited July 13, 2010 by L.C.