Steve wrote:
> Forgive my ignorance, but could someone clarify whether Toshiba's recent battery breakthrough actually means that an all-electric car is actually feasible, or would some form of a hybridization still be the norm? Hybridization. > > What struck me as most poignant was one of Mike Carrell's original comments stating that charging a large vehicle friendly mass of these batteries at maximum warp speed (at your local "service" station) would likely vaporize them! I would also think that the electrical cables themselves would have to be pretty thick to accommodate the amperage. A typical driver making the connection to his car might feel a tad intimidated considering how much juice would have to be flowing through the bottleneck for the next couple of minutes. He should be. My example was all electric on a long trip, making a pit stop at a turnpike filling station, worst case. > > What if it's a rainy day? Doesn't matter. Any such delivery system would be designed to work under wet conditions. Current automotive systems work at 12 volts, which is quite safe. Advanced systems with electric drives would be more like 48 volts, which is lethal if you are all wet and get a good contact, like a sweating welder building a ship. Hacking a hybrid to use house current recharging can make sense if sensibly done. Toyota and Honda may omit charging sockets to emphasize that the hybrids are not plug-ins. Providing an engineered connector system makes some sense as discussed here. But in the larger eco-sense, you have ot consider the whole system and what fuels are being burned to provide that electricity, and the system losses involved. Locally, it provides the advantages of an electric, and you don't have to buy another car to visit Aunt Matilda in the next state. The maximum discharge current for the Toshiba battery is not stated. With lead acid batteries you can get a very high current drain, as for auto starter motors. to be used for transportation, the Toshiba batteries would have to dleiver high peak power for acceleration, and accept full energy in dynamic braking. They will be more costly than other betteries, but may deliver a significant advantage to cars designed for them. Regards, Mike Carrell
