walangij
D1 2010!
- Location
- Watervliet, MI
http://www.wired.com/cars/futuretransport/magazine/16-09/ff_agassi
Electric Avenues
AutoOS, the Better Place operating system, would transform the transportation grid. Here's how.
1. Charging A special key fob linked to the car indicates the status of the battery. If the logo is throbbing blue, the car is fully charged.
2. Heading Out The driver unplugs and heads out. The software analyzes the first few minutes of driving and guesses the destination based on past history: "Work?" it asks. The driver speaks a response and the system determines how much energy is needed for the day.
3. Driving During the commute, the location-aware system finds and displays three open parking spaces near the office that are equipped with Better Place charging spots.
4. Charging (work)An automatic arm extends to plug into the car. The spot then communicates with the control center, which anticipates the driver's energy needs so as to allocate power economically. It might, say, limit consumption during expensive peak hours. The driver gets a text: "80 percent charged."
5. Nagivating An unexpected meeting comes up. The driver enters a new route, and AutOS determines there is insufficient charge to get there. The driver orders a battery swap.
6. Swapping Battery AutOS finds the most convenient battery-exchange location and books a bay. The old battery gets lowered onto a hydraulic plate, and the car moves forward on a car-wash-style track. In five minutes, a fully charged battery is in place.
I think it is a brilliant idea. Long article. In essence, cars of the future (2015 and on) will come in an electric only option and later on will only be available as electric cars. You purchase miles like you do cell phone minutes, hence, you lease the battery. There would be an unlimited miles plan, 15k miles a year plan or pay as you go. The cost for the 15k miles plan would be roughly $1000, around $2000 less than the cost of gas for the equivalent amount of miles.
So you buy and own the car, but not the battery, that is leased through the purchased plan. So if you are running out of battery, and need a quick refill for a longer trip, you pull into a battery exchange location and your car's battery is replaced with a fully charged battery (just like filling your gas tank), in a less than 10 minutes you are on your way and your old battery recharges and is later on used in another car. This would work with AutoOS booking a slot in the exchange location in advance so there would not be long queued lines.
Why would people adopt this? Well, it would be cheaper than using gas in the long run. And it looks like Renault/Nissan are heading up the R&D for incorporating it into cars with Mercedes and GM following up behind (along with Chery the Chinese car company.) The testing ground is going to be Israel (no brainer since it doesn't want to import oil from direct enemies and is basically landlocked in all practical sense) and Denmark. They will promote this through heavy tax incentives (current tax in Israel on cars is 75%, for the electric cars it will be 10%).
Also, there have been floating around some plans to sell new cars for very very cheap by subsidized plans for only a few thousand dollars, and making up for the loss through purchasing of a plan, in the same way a cell phone company subsidizes phones.
I sure hope VW is paying attention also. With this, cars won't have to look funny, they would look just like the cars we use and will use. I think this would be a better way to get off of foreign oil and also use energy we already have (NG, Coal, solar, wind, ect) to power our cars. At the very least, it would be a great option for people who live in urban/suburban areas.
Electric Avenues
AutoOS, the Better Place operating system, would transform the transportation grid. Here's how.
1. Charging A special key fob linked to the car indicates the status of the battery. If the logo is throbbing blue, the car is fully charged.
2. Heading Out The driver unplugs and heads out. The software analyzes the first few minutes of driving and guesses the destination based on past history: "Work?" it asks. The driver speaks a response and the system determines how much energy is needed for the day.
3. Driving During the commute, the location-aware system finds and displays three open parking spaces near the office that are equipped with Better Place charging spots.
4. Charging (work)An automatic arm extends to plug into the car. The spot then communicates with the control center, which anticipates the driver's energy needs so as to allocate power economically. It might, say, limit consumption during expensive peak hours. The driver gets a text: "80 percent charged."
5. Nagivating An unexpected meeting comes up. The driver enters a new route, and AutOS determines there is insufficient charge to get there. The driver orders a battery swap.
6. Swapping Battery AutOS finds the most convenient battery-exchange location and books a bay. The old battery gets lowered onto a hydraulic plate, and the car moves forward on a car-wash-style track. In five minutes, a fully charged battery is in place.
I think it is a brilliant idea. Long article. In essence, cars of the future (2015 and on) will come in an electric only option and later on will only be available as electric cars. You purchase miles like you do cell phone minutes, hence, you lease the battery. There would be an unlimited miles plan, 15k miles a year plan or pay as you go. The cost for the 15k miles plan would be roughly $1000, around $2000 less than the cost of gas for the equivalent amount of miles.
So you buy and own the car, but not the battery, that is leased through the purchased plan. So if you are running out of battery, and need a quick refill for a longer trip, you pull into a battery exchange location and your car's battery is replaced with a fully charged battery (just like filling your gas tank), in a less than 10 minutes you are on your way and your old battery recharges and is later on used in another car. This would work with AutoOS booking a slot in the exchange location in advance so there would not be long queued lines.
Why would people adopt this? Well, it would be cheaper than using gas in the long run. And it looks like Renault/Nissan are heading up the R&D for incorporating it into cars with Mercedes and GM following up behind (along with Chery the Chinese car company.) The testing ground is going to be Israel (no brainer since it doesn't want to import oil from direct enemies and is basically landlocked in all practical sense) and Denmark. They will promote this through heavy tax incentives (current tax in Israel on cars is 75%, for the electric cars it will be 10%).
Also, there have been floating around some plans to sell new cars for very very cheap by subsidized plans for only a few thousand dollars, and making up for the loss through purchasing of a plan, in the same way a cell phone company subsidizes phones.
I sure hope VW is paying attention also. With this, cars won't have to look funny, they would look just like the cars we use and will use. I think this would be a better way to get off of foreign oil and also use energy we already have (NG, Coal, solar, wind, ect) to power our cars. At the very least, it would be a great option for people who live in urban/suburban areas.