100 year old electric car gets 100 miles per charge. 100 years and no progress.

[Blind_Io]

http://www.popularmechanics.com/auto...html?nav=RSS20

All the current interest in hybrids and other vehicles with some sort of alternative powertrain is kind of amusing to me. Oh, don't get me wrong. I'm all for pursuing other ways to power cars. (Click here to visit Jay's Green Garage!) But I smile because I've owned three alternative energy cars for years. The newest was built in 1925; the oldest, 1909. Each one is a rolling manifestation of a brilliant idea. Sadly, they were all way ahead of their time and all three makes failed.

My Baker Electric dates back nearly 100 years — and it's a late model. By then, the company had been selling electrics for more than a decade. Unlike other early cars, the Baker Electric needed no cranking, had no gasoline smell and was essentially maintenance-free. Not surprisingly, it was marketed to women. The interior of my Baker is rather froufrou, complete with a little makeup kit. Even though it's almost a century old, the car drives totally silently — like any modern electric vehicle. In fact, when I take it up into the hills, I have to be extra careful of deer. They usually just stand there and look in the windows, which makes the Baker my wife Mavis's favorite car.

I also own what can be considered an ancestor of today's hybrids, an Owen Magnetic. First seen at the auto show in New York City in 1915 — just about the time that Baker Electric gave it up — the Owen Magnetic has a gas engine and an electric generator.

This drivetrain was the brainchild of George Westinghouse. The engine powers the generator, which creates a large magnetic force field be-tween the engine and drivewheels. There's no mechanical transmission. The driver moves a rheostat through four quadrants — a lot easier than shifting, and grinding, the straight-cut gears of the day — and the car moves ahead progressively, giving occupants that odd feeling you get when you try to push similar-pole magnets against each other. Both Enrico Caruso and John McCormack drove Owen Magnetics.

Owens were expensive and really sophisticated. They had an advanced, 24-volt electrical system when most cars had only 6 volts. And Owen Magnetics had a black box called "the brain." There's a big warning label right on it that reads, "Do not attempt to fix this or alter it. Only the factory can do this." Of course, the factories were located in Cleveland and Wilkes-Barre, Pa. That was a big help. And so the Owen Magnetic failed in 1921.

My newest alternative fuel car is a 1925 Doble steamer. When it was built, it seemed that Abner Doble had solved all the problems that plagued steam cars of the day. Before the Doble, you had to be part engineer, part plumber to drive a steamer. First, the boiler had to be lit off with a blowtorch; then it took time — and more time — for the steam to build up enough pressure to do anything.

When he was only 19, Doble surprised the Stanley brothers, of Stanley Steamer fame, by inventing a modern condenser for his first steam car. The car uses 525 ft. of steel coil (the height of a 50-story office building) and one spark plug. Turn the key and an electric motor forces air up through a venturi, then through a carburetor, which throws gasoline in the middle of the huge coil, and the spark ignites it. The real genius is that in the bottom of the boiler there's a metal tray with a row of quartz rods. As heat increases, the tray expands, pushing the rods forward and shutting off the burner. As everything cools, the quartz rods contract and the burner cycles on again. It's dead reliable. Thanks to the Doble's astronomical torque, something like 1000 lb.-ft., there's no need for a clutch or transmission, and the car can go nearly 100 mph. And — get this — my Doble even meets today's emissions standards. Because it's a closed system, with 2 million BTU, combustion is complete: It burns everything.

Dealing with the original alkaline batteries in the Baker Electric — as invented by Edison — doesn't require an engineering degree. But then again, replacements aren't readily available.
But every car was really a prototype. Abner Doble would turn one out, and his investors and board of directors would say, "This is great, Abner; it's perfect." But he would always want to change something. So in 1931, in the midst of the Depression, Doble went out of business.

People ask me what I think is the future of the automobile. Well, let's see what's out there. Hybrids are interesting because they make their own electricity and use it at the point of generation. But a hybrid has to carry two drive systems, which adds weight and complexity and seems counter to the whole purpose.

I'm not too bullish on electric cars as the way of the future. Modern electric cars go roughly 100 miles on a charge, about the same as my Baker; so I don't see much progress there. I think electricity is a great power source for a car. But the problem is, how do you get it?

Thomas Edison invented the alkaline battery. My Baker still has some original alkaline batteries. These have lead plates and use acid; we wash them out and refill them regularly and I'll use them indefinitely. But even Edison realized the future of the automobile was elsewhere. Legend has it that back in 1896, at a dinner party, he passed a note to his friend Henry Ford. Essentially it said, "The electric car is dead."

How prophetic was that?

[Donington]

I bet it drives better than a Prius

[Whappeh]

Interesting read.

[thedguy]

It may have gone 100miles but how fast could it go doing it? I bet the new Tesla Roadster would out pace it every which way possible

Interesting read none the less.

[American TG Man]

More fun than a Prius, and more jaws hitting the ground.

[British_Rover]

Originally Posted by thedguy

It may have gone 100miles but how fast could it go doing it? I bet the new Tesla Roadster would out pace it every which way possible

Interesting read none the less.

Well it is purely a city car but that is what all electric cars will be for the foreseable future.

[edkwon]

The reason theres no real progress is the auto companies arent convinced they'll make substantial money from it, once they do, trust me, LOTS of progress will ensue.

[vanMould]

It's a bit like comparing the 25 mpg of the Model T with the 25 mpg of the Mondeo ST220.

[sonza68]

Exactly. Cars have gained alot of comfort and safety items over the years, all of which adds weight yet acceleration and top speed have also improved. It takes a lot of progress to maintain the same fuel economy while lugging around more weight more quickly.

[chaos386]

Plus, think of all the maintenance he has to do just to keep the cars running (he has to wash and refill the batteries regularly). That may be fine for Jay Leno, but it wouldn't work for the masses.

[British_Rover]

Originally Posted by vanMould

It's a bit like comparing the 25 mpg of the Model T with the 25 mpg of the Mondeo ST220.

Not really because in the case of the electric car it emits less pollution now then it did a 100 years ago. The Model T makes just as much pollution now as it did then but the electric car doesn't since power plants have advanced.

[vanMould]

Originally Posted by British_Rover

Not really because in the case of the electric car it emits less pollution now then it did a 100 years ago. The Model T makes just as much pollution now as it did then but the electric car doesn't since power plants have advanced.

Fair point. Although the Model T ran on leaded gasoline 100 years ago, so it has probably gotten cleaner as well.

[0497]

The biggest impediment to an electric car are its batteries. Battery technology hasn't improved as much as car technology has. Those batteries in the Prius are exactly the same as the ones you'll find in a mobile phone.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/07/au...rssnyt&emc=rss

January 7, 2007
Detroit Auto Show
All the Technology Needed for 100 M.P.G. (Batteries Not Included)
By LINDSAY BROOKE
Correction Appended

WHEN General Motors unwraps the Chevrolet Volt for the press today at the North American International Auto Show, it will be revealing much more than the latest fantasy from its styling studios.

Beyond its striking coupelike lines, the Volt is also a declaration of G.M.’s intent to mass-produce a new type of hybrid-electric vehicle, one that can drive up to 40 miles on batteries alone and recharge itself with an onboard generator — or by plugging into a standard 110-volt household outlet.

The Volt is also less than it appears. The batteries to make it roadworthy do not yet exist, a shortcoming G.M. acknowledges.

This squat four-seat hybrid sedan previews a new family of plug-in electric drive systems that G.M. calls E-Flex. The system, which the company plans to begin installing globally when the battery technology is mature, will be capable of delivering the equivalent of 100 miles a gallon or more in urban driving, G.M. officials said. The Volt’s total range is 640 miles using the combined capacity of fully charged batteries and a built-in gasoline-powered generator.

Plug-in hybrids have drawn a great deal of attention recently, and several automakers have built prototypes to test their feasibility. G.M. announced last fall that it was developing a plug-in version of the Saturn Vue hybrid and last week awarded contracts for advanced lithium-ion batteries.

But the E-Flex design goes further, and it differs from any gasoline-electric hybrid in showrooms. While hybrids like the Toyota Prius can drive short distances on battery power and make longer trips using a thrifty gasoline engine — and if needed, draw on both power sources — the Volt’s gas engine is not connected to the wheels. It turns only a generator to charge the battery pack, a design typically called a series hybrid, and operates in a narrow r.p.m range for maximum efficiency.

In the Volt, the E-Flex drive system consists of a small three-cylinder gas engine, a 53-kilowatt generator and a long lithium-ion battery pack that forms a spine down the center of the car’s floor. The battery supplies electricity for the 120-kilowatt (160 horsepower) motor that drives the car’s front wheels.

To maximize battery life, the engine that drives the generator automatically kicks in when the battery’s charge falls below 30 percent of capacity and shuts off when the battery charge reaches 80 percent of maximum; at that point E-Flex reverts to pure electric mode.

“We’ve dubbed this feature a ‘range extender,’ ” said Robert A. Lutz, G.M.’s vice chairman for product development. “It also provides a steady flow of electricity to get the vehicle home or to the nearest charging plug,” he said, as long as there is fuel in the Volt’s twin six-gallon tanks.

Mr. Lutz added that for the 78 percent of commuters in the United States whose daily round trip to work is 40 miles or less, according to the Department of Transportation, a Volt-size vehicle with E-Flex would make the commute using only the battery, “without burning a drop of petroleum.” Some type of fuel will be consumed to generate the electricity, of course.

For a 60-mile round trip, Mr. Lutz reasoned that the Volt would get the equivalent of 150 m.p.g. over all; the first 40 miles in pure-electric mode and the last 20 miles with the gas engine sipping fuel at a rate of 50 m.p.g. as it charges the battery.

G.M. engineers, who estimated the Volt’s performance using computer simulations, said charging the battery from a 30 percent level would take about a half-hour while under way and up to 6.5 hours when plugged into a standard 15-amp household outlet.

Similar overall ratings of more than 100 m.p.g. are claimed by advocates of plug-in hybrids. According to CalCars.org, the Web site of the California Cars Initiative and an independent advocate of plug-ins, 30 miles of battery-only driving at the average cost of 9 cents a kilowatt-hour in the United States would cost 81 cents, compared with the average $2.40 gallon of regular gasoline required to propel a relatively miserly conventional car the same distance.

The Volt’s estimated annual fuel savings of about 500 gallons, compared with a similar size 30-m.p.g. vehicle driving 15,000 miles a year, equate to $900, even considering the cost of the electricity, said Tony Posawatz, an engineering manager in the Volt program.

He added that while switching the United States to plug-in hybrids over time would increase overall electricity use and that rates would increase, the price of powering vehicles from the grid during off-peak hours would be roughly one-third the equivalent price of gasoline.

G.M. is planning to offer E-Flex power systems in all major world markets, according to Jonathan J. Lauckner, vice president for global vehicle programs. He said the company’s next-generation compact-car platform, due in 2009, had been designed to accept an E-Flex battery pack, generator and related hardware.

For some applications, E-Flex would not require any range-extending engine. Instead, it could be a pure-electric vehicle used for local deliveries and charged directly from the power grid. G.M. is also developing a hydrogen version, with a small fuel-cell stack replacing the combustion engine for electricity generation.

While development of the new electric drive system has already begun, the company cannot set a production schedule until the proper batteries are ready, said Nick Zielinski, the Volt’s chief engineer.

“We believe lithium-ion will begin replacing today’s nickel-metal hydride as the battery chemistry for hybrid use around 2010,” he explained. Lithium-ion offers two to three times the energy storage and power density of nickel-metal hydride, said Martin Klein, engineering director of Compact Power, a division of LG Chemical of South Korea that is developing lithium-ion batteries.

He said achieving the Volt’s goal of 40 miles of pure-electric operation was feasible. But Mr. Klein said he believed the challenge would be in developing small, light batteries that still met the target for driving distance between charges.

Battery weight, the Achilles’ heel of hybrids, hurts vehicle performance, so G.M. is keen to trim some of Volt’s hefty 3,200 pounds. Mr. Zielinski winced as he noted that early projections for Volt included a 400-pound battery pack, though that is still less than half the weight of the nickel-metal hydride batteries used in G.M.’s EV1. G.M.’s cancellation of its EV1 electric car stirred up environmentalists, but Mr. Lutz said the project’s results were paying off.

“The EV1 was a great engineering achievement, but it was severely limited in operating range by its battery,” he said. “We learned that customers did not want to plan their lives around the next battery charge.”

Battery development and production costs are likely to add thousands to the price of the early E-Flex vehicles, G.M. admitted. But the company was optimistic that incentives offered by local governments and electric utilities would help drive sales.

Skeptics include John German, environmental analysis manager for Honda in the United States. In Congressional testimony last year, he said that a business case for plug-in hybrids would not exist unless fuel prices were above $3 a gallon, shortages had occurred, technology was subsidized or a breakthrough in energy storage emerged.

None of that deters Mr. Lauckner, the G.M. vice president. “This program is not a public relations ploy,” he said. “We are dead serious about taking this technology into high-volume production.”

[AutoMX]

The Prius uses NiMH batteries, not Li-Ion like most modern phones. Li-Ion batteries would be more than fine for a car (the Tesla uses them) but their limited lifespan and cost is still the big factor that keeps them from being used on a big scale. The Tesla people I think said the batteries (in small clusters) have to be replaced after about 100 000 miles, so halfway through a car's lifetime you would need to spend a crapload of money to make it run once more.
NiMH is cheaper but heavy, and Li-Ion has much more capacity and is thus lighter in most uses.


The reason we don't have alternative fuel cars is pretty obvious, it's too much trouble/money to make a completely new engine design when you can market slightly more efficient gas engines for which you have thousands of designs.

Why do we have DSL and cable internet? Because old cable and phone lines are everywhere, and satellite or fiber optic or wi-fi all need a new infrastructure. Money money.

[OldSkoolGP]

The Volt is also less than it appears. The batteries to make it roadworthy do not yet exist, a shortcoming G.M. acknowledges.

Actually, they do exist. And GM used to own controlling shares in the company that makes the batteries. But for reasons I can't fathom, they sold the controlling rights to Chevron-Texaco, who no longer allows the company to make the batteries. Nice going GM.

[thedguy]

LI-ION batteries also have another problem: They aren't as recyclable as NIMHs. NiMhs can be fully recycled.

I think GM is BSing about the battery technology for the volt. They just don't want to encourage an electric car again.