He says: Imagine that now you're driving your car, and let's say its 40 percent or 50 percent empty," de Callafon said. "You would have to charge it. Here you could actually take, if you have 10 modules in your car, and take five out — those are the ones that are empty — and put five in and you're completely replenished." -So, he is using all the modules at once to power the vehicle. De Callafon is developing a control system that'll manage groups of batteries. The modules can be older and newer. They can be full or partially empty. His system will allow different batteries to work together to feed an electric motor. -So, all the modules feed the motor not just one at a time. The control system manages power from the modules. The car has more than a dozen individual battery modules that work together to feed the engine. Each can be pulled out and replaced in less than a minute. Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone -------- Original message --------From: brucedp5 via EV <[email protected]> Date: 5/1/16 6:07 AM (GMT-06:00) To: [email protected] Subject: [EVDL] EVLN: ?L3 quick charging or pack swaps, on long EV trips? (v)
http://www.kpbs.org/news/2016/apr/27/protopye-electric-car-could-point-way-future/ Prototype Electric Car Could Point The Way To The Future April 27, 2016 Erik Anderson [video flash audio https://kpbs.media.clients.ellingtoncms.com/audio/2016/04/27/20160427-SEA-CARBAT.mp3 Aired 4/27/16 on KPBS Radio News UC San Diego engineers plan to put an electric car through a challenging cross-country journey. They're covering a 2,500-mile trip in less than two days, which can't be done with current battery technology https://kpbs.media.clients.ellingtoncms.com/audio/2016/04/27/160427-Car_Battery-Midday.mp3 Aired 4/27/16 on KPBS Midday Edition Guest: Erik Anderson, KPBS reporter http://www.kpbs.org/audioclips/29177/#transcript transcript image https://kpbs.media.clients.ellingtoncms.com/img/photos/2016/04/21/battery_modules_t700.jpg?f40c0e74b997dbb01ce524758e0d04a31382c8af Modular batteries in the rear of Lou Shrinkle's electric Volkswagen car, April 11, 2016 / Matthew Bowler ] UC San Diego engineers plan to put an electric car through a challenging cross-country journey. They're covering a 2,500-mile trip in less than two days, which can't be done with current battery technology. Lou Shrinkle's Volkswagen looks like any other passenger car of its kind. But it's different: Every time he turns on the ignition, an annoying alarm goes off. The car warns the retired engineer that there's a problem with the engine. "Of course, there is," Shrinkle said, laughing as he examined his car earlier in April. "There's a fuel system problem." The vehicle's diagnostic system was telling him it couldn't find the proper engine fluids, which wasn't surprising to Shrinkle — the internal combustion engine has been removed and replaced with an electrical power plant. That isn't unusual, but how the car stores its fuel is unique. Shrinkle stood by the backdoor of the car and peeked inside. He leaned in and grabbed a suitcase-sized box. "OK, pulling the module connectors," Shrinkle said. He grabbed hold of the heavy battery so it slides out of the car. "Now this module contains 48 lithium, iron, phosphate batteries. It weighs about 30 pounds. Again, that's about twice as heavy as it needs to be." The car has more than a dozen individual battery modules that work together to feed the engine. Each can be pulled out and replaced in less than a minute. "Back in," Shrinkle said as he popped a clamp into place with a loud pop. "And it's now engaged." That modular battery system makes this car completely different from other electric cars. Most electric vehicles typically rely on one large battery, tucked away under the passenger seats or in the trunk, to store the energy needed for propulsion. That battery may need to be charged overnight, or with a fast charger be fueled up in a couple of hours. Demand for a new business model It is a business model that doesn't make sense to UC San Diego Engineering professor Raymond de Callafon, who's developing a new system that's going to be tested on Shrinkle's car this summer. Callafon called the reliance on refueling a single battery impractical. De Callafon said fast charging isn't a solution because speeding up how fast a battery can be refilled requires more energy. De Callafon thinks swapping battery modules goes a long way toward eliminating the refueling dilemma. "Imagine that now you're driving your car, and let's say its 40 percent or 50 percent empty," de Callafon said. "You would have to charge it. Here you could actually take, if you have 10 modules in your car, and take five out — those are the ones that are empty — and put five in and you're completely replenished." The system could operate like it does for propane fuel tanks used to fuel backyard grills, de Callafon said. Empty batteries could be exchanged for fully-charged ones. De Callafon is developing a control system that'll manage groups of batteries. The modules can be older and newer. They can be full or partially empty. His system will allow different batteries to work together to feed an electric motor. Think of it as a cruise control system for electrical power. Once standards are adopted, batteries could take on a variety of tasks. "To be able to have the flexibility of moving energy around — you see it now from people who like to store their solar (energy) in a battery in their garage. And then (they) are able to move it into their car, or move those batteries in other utilities, a lawnmower or any equipment you have," de Callafon said. Modular batteries in the rear of Lou Shrinkle's electric Volkswagen car, April 11, 2016. The concept has a chance to change the way people use electricity, and the system could completely upend the electric vehicle business. Car companies currently sell the batteries inside an electrical car. With modules, batteries could be bought from third party sellers and car companies would only be selling the vehicle. That could sharply reduce the cost of an electric car. Lab work is key to progress "The challenge is that the batteries have to work as a system," de Callafon said. "It's a system's way of thinking. They have to be part of the integration." That system research is what his team is working on in the lab. Ph.D. student Xin Zhao came to the UC San Diego after working on electric cars in China. "Here, I just want to turn on the power supply," Zhao said. "So we want to simulate the batteries. So (with) each power supply, I'm setting the voltage and current output of this." Zhao is helping refine the control systems that let the batteries communicate wirelessly. Complex algorithms manage each battery's voltage, storage capacity and ability to communicate with both the car and other batteries. Those control systems can also gauge demand and modulate the flow of energy to an electric engine. They will decide whether to tap into one or two or more battery modules. "Do we want to deplete a certain amount of modules rather than the entire battery pack? Or charge it back or so? If there's a chance that we can get this done, then the scheduling will be a good feature for this technology," Zhao said. The real proof of concept comes this summer. That's when a team of researchers, students and volunteers will take Shrinkle's car on a cross-country odyssey. The idea is to drive more than 2,500 miles from San Diego to Charleston, South Carolina. "If we're driving across the country we figure there will be about 20 to 25 stops," Shrinkle said. "That's plenty of work. And we're doing all that in a period of two days." The two-day trip is possible because there are no long charging stops. Battery modules will be swapped out in a matter of minutes and the car will continue on its way. It's a grueling 45-hour proof of concept that could have engineers swapping new ideas about how batteries power electric vehicles and other appliances. [© 2016 KPBS Public Broadcasting] For EVLN EV-newswire posts use: http://evdl.org/evln/ {brucedp.150m.com} -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/EVLN-L3-quick-charging-or-pack-swaps-on-long-EV-trips-v-tp4681805.html Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Read EVAngel's EV News at http://evdl.org/evln/ Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://lists.evdl.org/private.cgi/ev-evdl.org/attachments/20160502/cb4f910a/attachment.htm> _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Read EVAngel's EV News at http://evdl.org/evln/ Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
