Now here is an idea that could be a contender in the charging infrastructure space

[MikeSharp01]

Just read about this and found a BBC review of it. Charge your car Scalextric style while driving along - power is only on where the car if over the track - creative thinking at the very least. 

[markc]

HV conductors in the road and all the necessary switchgear and cabling in ducts too. If only a short length is energised at a time so the car covers it, that’s a lot of switchgear to be constantly maintained. Then the car can only be directly over the conductor so swerving to miss other cars, dogs, cyclists etc. isn’t going to go too well.

[MikeSharp01]

21 minutes ago, markc said:

If only a short length is energised at a time so the car covers it, that’s a lot of switchgear to be constantly maintained. Then the car can only be directly over the conductor so swerving to miss other cars, dogs, cyclists etc. isn’t going to go too well.

There are down sides to everything but suppose you had this along the kerbside in residential streets you could charge any cars that where parked there and solve the training leads problem that presents. Most of the time on motorways you are in one lane and sticking to it so you could easily get 30 minutes of charge along the way - it does not have to be perfect just enough to spark interest and then you can improve it.

[ProDave]

Why not overhead lines and a catenery built into all EV's aka high speed trolley bus.

[ToughButterCup]

8 minutes ago, ProDave said:

Why not ...[a] ... high speed trolley bus.

 

Always knew you were off yours Dave. 

 

 

Getting me coat, its OK. 😔

[MikeSharp01]

43 minutes ago, ProDave said:

Why not overhead lines and a catenery built into all EV's aka high speed trolley bus.

Hmmm - you will be suggesting bumper car technology next a pole and a wire net suspended above. Some rather basic elementary morphological analysis would, I hope, show that overhead and further below is much more complex than directly underneath in the road surface. There is almost nothing going on, a few sensors here and there perhaps, in the 300mm of the road surface while there is loads below and above. So in the surface becomes the ideal place to put it. Every parking spot in the services could have it, every parking spot everywhere in fact. It probably uses a version of, something like, the power handshake that PoE uses so the power supplied is agreed and then supplied in microseconds.

[SteamyTea]

21 minutes ago, MikeSharp01 said:

suggesting bumper car technology next

Top Gear did that in 2011, when they tested the Leaf and the iOn.

 

[Buzz]

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/environment/2018/apr/12/worlds-first-electrified-road-for-charging-vehicles-opens-in-sweden

It has been tried and tested in the scandi countries for quite a few years.

[FuerteStu]

I've said this for over a decade now.. 

 

The only viable solution is suitcase batteries, charged at the redundant petrol stations by renewables. 

 

You pull in, swap batteries, drive on. 

 

But the industry was allowed to split itself and compete rather than cooperate. 

[RobLe]

LiFePo4 cells are 5kg per kWh; how heavy would this suitcase be ?

[SteamyTea]

17 minutes ago, FuerteStu said:

The only viable solution is suitcase batteries, charged

Only viable for low capacity i.e. 30 kWh in reality, can't see a tonne of batteries being swapped over quickly.

So about 100 miles, or not enough for me to get to Exeter. Tesla have a super charger station near Camborne, one of the poorest places in Europe. Plenty of capacity to charge up there in a few minutes.  Can get to look at young students as it is in the college grounds.

[FuerteStu]

7 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

Only viable for low capacity i.e. 30 kWh in reality, can't see a tonne of batteries being swapped over quickly.

So about 100 miles, or not enough for me to get to Exeter.

 

They're isn't many places in the country with more than a hundred miles between petrol stations.. 

 

Small price to pay filling up more often if its cheaper and cleaner. 

[FuerteStu]

1 hour ago, RobLe said:

LiFePo4 cells are 5kg per kWh; how heavy would this suitcase be ?

How heavy is is 70ltr fuel tank on a family car.... Diesel is 1kg per litre?

 

Several modules make it manageable. 

 

It's all relative. 

[ProDave]

1 hour ago, FuerteStu said:

 

They're isn't many places in the country with more than a hundred miles between petrol stations.. 

 

Small price to pay filling up more often if its cheaper and cleaner. 

I can drive 500 miles on a tank of fuel.  Why would I choose a vehicle that meant I had to fill up 5 times as often and each stop would take longer?

[ProDave]

13 minutes ago, FuerteStu said:

How heavy is is 70ltr fuel tank on a family car.... Diesel is 1kg per litre?

 

Several modules make it manageable. 

 

It's all relative. 

You don't swap your empty fuel tank for a full one which would require you to lift a 70Kg lump.  Instead you just pour some liquid fuel into the one you have.

[FuerteStu]

12 minutes ago, ProDave said:

You don't swap your empty fuel tank for a full one which would require you to lift a 70Kg lump.  Instead you just pour some liquid fuel into the one you have.

3x25kg batteries.. Perfectly manageable.. 

 

In fact, consider the weight of a Combustion engine >150kg

 

You could have a reasonable range on the same time refuel/swap. 

 

In fact, I've seen videos of automated battery swap by machinery.. Its not unreasonable