The following scenario focuses on all-electric cars, not hybrids. I'm making the assumption that eventually hybrid-cars will be completely replaced with 100% electrical systems.
I seem to recall Mike Carrell once cautioning the Vort readership of the fact that there is a practical limit as to how fast batteries can be recharged. Pushing too much juice within a finite amount of time could cause our auto batteries to vaporize. Granted, plugging an electric in at night for the slow charge is the best solution for preventing the dreaded UBVs - Unwanted Battery Vaporization. However, when one is driving long distance one will eventually be forced to recharge out on the HiWay. Complete 100% recharging needs to be completed within a minimum amount of time, say 15 minutes maximum. That's just about enough time for me to stretch my legs, clean the dead bugs from my windshield, empty my bladder, and pay the cashier for the electricity I purchased. Recently I purchased an impressive new brand of rechargeable batteries (AAs) that charge to 100% capacity within 15 minutes. I bet many Vorts have already seen these marvels sold at stores like Battery Plus. The accompanying 15 minute charger is an impressive unit as well. It includes an air cooled fan that keeps the device from over heating. You can definitely hear the fan whining away when it's charging batteries. It makes an impressive amount of noise for its tiny size. You can feel plenty of heat exiting the charger's exhaust vents too. I understand new developments in battery technology will soon reduce the recharging time to five minutes or less. I can only assume that the new five minute chargers will come with an accompanying bigger fan and heat sinks! I'm curious, just how much juice (throughput: amperage and voltage) are we talking about that would have to flow through an electrical cable in order to recharge battery storage sufficient to run a family sized car another 200 - 300 miles? How thick and cumbersome would the electrical cable have to be designed? How would we handle grounding? How about recharging on rainy days? I'm also curious as to how efficient the recharging process itself is. How much energy is simply lost as unrecoverable heat? Regards, Steven Vincent Johnson www.OrionWorks.com
