General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTesla Patents Next-Gen Electric Car Battery that Gets 400 Miles on a Single Charge
Over the years, one of the biggest obstacles to widespread electric vehicle adoption has been the issue of how far the car can travel on one charge. Cars that can only travel 100 miles without plugging in might be okay for your commute to and from work, but since charging stations arent as easily-accessible as gas stations, longer distances pose a problem. Thats the issue Tesla Motors is trying to solve with an innovative new type of battery it has just filed to patent a hybrid lithium-ion and metal-air battery pack that could extend the range of the companys electric vehicles to 400 miles between charges.
http://inhabitat.com/telsa-patents-electric-car-battery-that-gets-400-miles-on-a-single-charge/
intaglio
(8,170 posts)Because that is where the big money lies
joshcryer
(62,265 posts)And hope to expand that even further. They're trying to completely corner the entire market on Li-ion batteries.
Elon Musk talks about Tesla's "truly gargantuan battery factory of mind boggling size" here: http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000193143
Tesla is going to dominate completely (as will other tech partners like Samsung, Panasonic, etc, obviously).
longship
(40,416 posts)But Elon Musk could almost make me a believer. (Relax, I'm not about to start worshipping Ayn Rand, or any of here similarly named evil spawns. I am a socialist liberal.)
I like what this guy is doing with his fortune.
joshcryer
(62,265 posts)And Tesla Motors as well as SpaceX do almost everything in house (Solar City is more of a service provider than a manufacturer but that may change as cell costs drop).
Elon Musk is actually an ardent loyalist-type capitalist. Unions are a big no no in his companies. He believes if you "believe in the company" you'll do great. In some ways it is Galt-esque, but in reality it wouldn't work unless the employees were making bank (they make $80k a year at Tesla). Galt would literally require everyone fuck off and work for half that because the almighty owner dictates it. In that vein Elon Musk is treading a fine line between forcing workers to cede to lower wages and keeping them on as loyal workers.
And I think it's achievable because he does everything in-house, almost everything, anyway. Oh, and there's a lot of automation, a whole crapload of it. When you're building everything in house you're not limited by the globalized supply chain, and the labor of your workers isn't competing with those outside suppliers. By doing everything in house you can lower the cost with automation. A robot might cost more than 10 years worth of Chinese slave labor doing the same task, but after 10 years you're making absolute profit because it's paid for itself in relative terms. Now your workers, which you might have fewer of, are able to get paid what their labor is worth as opposed to being hurt by the globalized supply chain and slave laborers who aren't able to get paid at all what their labor is worth to the consumer (we have no connection to those slave laborers and don't care).
So it's by some bit of luck that Musk's working environment is successful (without automation neither Tesla or SpaceX would work, imho). If you read reviews of his companies on GlassDoor, you'll get a really mixed response to how the companies are run. They're either nightmarish or they're heaven. There's no middle ground with this sort of management style. You either love it or hate it.
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)All we need is the batteries, the motor technology is already there, listen to the prop tear the air molecules into shreds as this thing screeches by at about the 0:53 mark.
Some language NSFW, the spectators are excited and impressed.
hobbit709
(41,694 posts)400 miles is great but if it takes all day to recharge then a cross country trip becomes impractical.
Once a recharge is a s fast as refilling your gas tank, then long haul is easily accomplished.
srican69
(1,426 posts)A station and change your car battery in 30 seconds.
DetlefK
(16,423 posts)srican69
(1,426 posts)but as later event proved - it was too far ahead of its time ... Better place declared bankruptcy recently - Nevertheless ..It's an idea with a terrific potential .... you dont own the battery - you just rent it and pay for the power used. It also takes out the risk of battery failure from the equation for electric car owners
It must be making oil companies quake in their boots - the biggest challenge is delivering the necessary power to the stations without frying the grid ... ( Gasoline is extremely energy dense ) and delivering that much energy over wires is no simple task.
Existing gas stations can be retrofitted to a battery station .. the underground gas tank void could house the robotic equipment to replace the car battery from below... while the station is connected to a high voltage power grid.
BadgerKid
(4,541 posts)if recharge rates of home batteries like AA's are any indication. Basically, the faster you recharge them, the shorter their lifespan.
srican69
(1,426 posts)the battery - the car/utility will maintain the batteries ... hopefully they will charge it at optimal rates
Autumn Colors
(2,379 posts)They're planning to offer back-up batteries with solar panels to their customers, I believe, starting in 2015 so that people use the solar coming in during the day and what's stored on the batteries at night.
daleo
(21,317 posts)They are getting $40,000 worth of solar panels installed on their house and barn roof, for a grid tie-in system. I could see them going electric, as costs come down.