Better Place's Breakthrough: Changing a Car Battery in One Minute

We might very well be looking at the future of the car companies... but God I hope not!

Cool, but will it work with my dream of having an electric monster truck? I want to convert my old '89 4runner.

mogleytheman are you always looking for dumbs to dump your OTC crap!?

unrepresented_american - Monday June 08, 2009 03:42PM EDT We might very well be looking at the future of the car companies... but God I hope not! ======================================== Why not? Takes less than a minute to "fill the tank", you can "fill up" at home, electric motors only have one moving part instead of the thousands of moving parts in and ICE, electric motors have tons of torque, and, when properly sized for the car, the acceleration is incredible. Electric cars are much different now than the odd-looking "hobby cars" of the '70's. I'm just curious as to your apprehension; I'm not trying to be a dick.

The robots are too much. It should be similar to the process of exchanging propane tanks. People will want to see the battery change to make sure it actually happens.

Battery powered cars are still not up to regular car standards and they do not travel as far on a "fill up". Also, what if you get a damaged battery on swap out? That robot isn't going to say, hey bub this battery won't last you 10 miles and you will be out of luck because that robot isn't going to come crawling after you to change it out on the side of the road.

How much will each battery change cost?I know it is not cheap.If it is cheap--it will be good.U change ur old battery for a new one for a few bucks more?

The amount of money required to accomplish this in a country such as the US is absolutely staggering. Not to mention the infrastructure disruption, that is, phasing out the existing gasoline distribution system while the battery distribution system is being established. Finally, look at the enormous variability in existing gasoline and diesel powered vehicles, mini Coopers to semis. Unless vehicles are available to suit all of the existing needs, the gasoline distribution infrastructure cannot disappear. Plug-in hybrids make sense, this plan does not.

What will be the impact on US power generation and distribution infrastructure when everyone an electric car?

srb8522 - Monday June 08, 2009 03:59PM EDT The robots are too much. It should be similar to the process of exchanging propane tanks. People will want to see the battery change to make sure it actually happens. ======================================== That would be nice, but the battery packs on cars weigh quite a bit. The Tesla Roadster battery pack weighs about 1,000 pounds and that's using Lithium Polymer batteries which have the highest energy density (watt-hours per pound) of any commercially available battery. A battery small enough to change by hand would make battery changes necessary every 30 to 60 miles. And it would take a lot longer than a minute to change out a battery by hand.

I see this as 'EVaaS' = Electric-Vehicle-as-a-Service. I think this company has a strong compelling case in terms of driving fuel prices down: gas-based fuel vs battery-powered cars.

unrepresented_american - Monday June 08, 2009 04:18PM EDT Battery powered cars are still not up to regular car standards and they do not travel as far on a "fill up". Also, what if you get a damaged battery on swap out? That robot isn't going to say, hey bub this battery won't last you 10 miles and you will be out of luck because that robot isn't going to come crawling after you to change it out on the side of the road. =========================================== I used to work in an electronic tech shop. Testing batteries is pretty easy; it either has a charge or it doesn't. A broken battery can't show energy that isn't there.

Sheldon - Monday June 08, 2009 04:22PM EDT What will be the impact on US power generation and distribution infrastructure when everyone an electric car? ============================================== Charging batteries at night helps balance the peak and off-peak hours of electrical usage on the power grid.

likestorun2003 - Monday June 08, 2009 04:19PM EDT ...Unless vehicles are available to suit all of the existing needs, the gasoline distribution infrastructure cannot disappear. Plug-in hybrids make sense, this plan does not. ========================================== This is a long-term plan that will take a long time to implement. Plug-in hybrids are a good intermediate step. Diesel trains are actually hybrids, so you have a point that this plan is not for every type of transportation need.

One of the reasons I would like to see a shift toward electric cars for consumers is a matter of national defense. If the average joe (us!) didn't have to burn gas, we can save that oil for use in the military. See, batteries have a long way to go before before they have an energy density comparable to gas, pound for pound. So, it's unrealistic to think that fighter jets, bombers, tanks, and other military vehicles could run on batteries. Therefore, we, as a country, keep importing oil, but we hoard it. So, when the other countries start to run low on oil and gas reserves, we still have plenty to facilitate our defensive capabilities. I'm not going to argue about Global Warming (maybe it's real; maybe it's not), but pollution is real. Look at the skies over Phoenix or LA sometime.

This is a great idea that can't work. Just like internet grocery shopping did not work due to infrastructure start-up cost. Besides, it would take 100 years to get all auto companies to agree on an "Industry Standard" for the batteries.

Correction: Electric motors have 3 moving parts, the rotor and the bearings on each end of the rotor shaft. (more if you count the individual bearings). As far as the infrastructure roll-out, we already have plenty of wires leading from the generating plant to the customers premises.

Lawrence T - Monday June 08, 2009 04:52PM EDT This is a great idea that can't work. Just like internet grocery shopping did not work due to infrastructure start-up cost. Besides, it would take 100 years to get all auto companies to agree on an "Industry Standard" for the batteries. ======================================== It will take a long time, but not 100 years. The HDDVD / BluRay fight didn't last very long. I know that's not a great analogy, but it is a similar concept.

There's gonna be a little bit of a transition here. Yes, the next generation of electric car and it's network will not be like driving a Range Rover across Australia. We don't have a choice and have to look for alternative energy. Nobody said it would be fun- we're trying to make the best of a retraction in our comfort and status. Let's see how well we do to bear it.

Seriously, if his idea doesn't work, at least it's an attempt that brings us closer to alternative energy, which we must do.