MacGuffin
Forum Addict
- Joined
- Mar 29, 2008
- Messages
- 8,329
- Location
- Wilhelmshaven, Germany
- Car(s)
- '17 Ford Mustang GT Fastback
My doubts about batteries go beyond range and charging time (not to mention the production process, which is hardly ecological).
I'm thinking of winter. 5 o'clock in the morning, -15? C or even colder. Your electric car is parked outside, because you live in an apartment and don't have a garage. You need to drive to work, which takes about twice as long in snow. You want the car heated, defrosted, need to switch the lights on and still be able to drive the 50 km to work and back. Maybe having some music on the stereo, too.
I'm sorry but in 125 years of automobile history they haven't even come up with a starter battery, that can reliably cope with those circumstances for more than a few winters. Worn-out batteries are by far the #1 reason for breakdowns in winter in cars today.
Maybe one day they crack this problem (and still make the battery-powered cars affordable) but I don't see that happening in the next 10 or 20 years. Not when better alternatives (like the fuel cell) are waiting at the ready.
Yes, there are technical obstacles. But I see no reason, why they cannot be surmounted in the coming decade. Maybe that cooperation between Daimler and Linde is the first spark.
I mean, think of it: When Bertha Benz took her husband's car for the first 106 km drive from Mannheim to Pforzheim (and back) in 1888, there also was no infrastructure whatsoever. She had to buy her fuel in a pharmacy (this one actually).
It took decades (long into the 20th century) to build the necessary infrastructure and that couldn't stop the success of the car. Today we have an existing infrastructure -- we simply have to modify it. All it needs is the will of all involved. Money isn't the problem, when companies see the potential and future profits.
Who knows? Maybe Linde becomes the Standard Oil of the 21st century?
I'm thinking of winter. 5 o'clock in the morning, -15? C or even colder. Your electric car is parked outside, because you live in an apartment and don't have a garage. You need to drive to work, which takes about twice as long in snow. You want the car heated, defrosted, need to switch the lights on and still be able to drive the 50 km to work and back. Maybe having some music on the stereo, too.
I'm sorry but in 125 years of automobile history they haven't even come up with a starter battery, that can reliably cope with those circumstances for more than a few winters. Worn-out batteries are by far the #1 reason for breakdowns in winter in cars today.
Maybe one day they crack this problem (and still make the battery-powered cars affordable) but I don't see that happening in the next 10 or 20 years. Not when better alternatives (like the fuel cell) are waiting at the ready.
Yes, there are technical obstacles. But I see no reason, why they cannot be surmounted in the coming decade. Maybe that cooperation between Daimler and Linde is the first spark.
I mean, think of it: When Bertha Benz took her husband's car for the first 106 km drive from Mannheim to Pforzheim (and back) in 1888, there also was no infrastructure whatsoever. She had to buy her fuel in a pharmacy (this one actually).
It took decades (long into the 20th century) to build the necessary infrastructure and that couldn't stop the success of the car. Today we have an existing infrastructure -- we simply have to modify it. All it needs is the will of all involved. Money isn't the problem, when companies see the potential and future profits.
Who knows? Maybe Linde becomes the Standard Oil of the 21st century?
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