Clare and I have just spent some time in Bilbao and visited the Guggenheim to see the Motion Automobile exhibition by Norman Foster. It was an excellent 3 hours learning about the history of motoring right from Gottlieb Daimler’s first powered vehicle to what we might expect in the future.
I thought his vision of the electric car era was excellent as long as everybody goes with “the plan”
The Plan
His idea is that all manufacturers use one of three identical batteries with identical mounting and connectors to the car
When the car arrives it will have a home plug in charger for use if you require it – but here’s the best bit. When your car is down to its last few percent of charge you call in to a local “fuel station” and drive up the ramp to park, enter a credit card/account card on the machine, the computer will know the card will only apply to a single car for security reasons, then an automated machine goes up under your car, unclips your battery and puts it on an underground carousel at the back for charging. The machine then selects a battery from the front of the carousel and clips it into your car, the traffic light goes green and you drive off with a fully charged battery which will take less than 5 minutes start to finish, Less time than filling with petrol now. Your credit card/account will be then debited a payment for the amount of charge you received to bring the car to a 100% charged state. The battery will tell the carousel when it is reaching “end of life” and will be automatically disposed of for re-cycling or bringing back to life
This is why you only buy the car and not the battery, it also resolves the issue of charging for people living in flats or where a local power source is unavailable to them
His other vision is to have most people in little electric personal cars or pods(smart car style) who would drive about for all their local shopping, dropping kids at school, getting to work etc. When you want a long journey, you drive to a railway or lorry hub station, drive onto the trailer sideways, the trailer then turns 90 degrees so you face forwards and that then takes you on your journey, you are automatically dropped off at the nearest railway/lorry hub, totally refreshed and then drive on to the last 4-5 miles to your destination.
You would be travelling at up to 150mph so long distance journey times should be much reduced without traffic jams etc.
I thought both ideas were excellent and shows sensibility for the electric car era
What about you – good idea or bad idea???????
kc
I thought his vision of the electric car era was excellent as long as everybody goes with “the plan”
The Plan
His idea is that all manufacturers use one of three identical batteries with identical mounting and connectors to the car
- For mainly commuting to work, shopping and the odd longer journey
- For mainly longer journeys on a regular basis
- Sporty high power version
When the car arrives it will have a home plug in charger for use if you require it – but here’s the best bit. When your car is down to its last few percent of charge you call in to a local “fuel station” and drive up the ramp to park, enter a credit card/account card on the machine, the computer will know the card will only apply to a single car for security reasons, then an automated machine goes up under your car, unclips your battery and puts it on an underground carousel at the back for charging. The machine then selects a battery from the front of the carousel and clips it into your car, the traffic light goes green and you drive off with a fully charged battery which will take less than 5 minutes start to finish, Less time than filling with petrol now. Your credit card/account will be then debited a payment for the amount of charge you received to bring the car to a 100% charged state. The battery will tell the carousel when it is reaching “end of life” and will be automatically disposed of for re-cycling or bringing back to life
This is why you only buy the car and not the battery, it also resolves the issue of charging for people living in flats or where a local power source is unavailable to them
His other vision is to have most people in little electric personal cars or pods(smart car style) who would drive about for all their local shopping, dropping kids at school, getting to work etc. When you want a long journey, you drive to a railway or lorry hub station, drive onto the trailer sideways, the trailer then turns 90 degrees so you face forwards and that then takes you on your journey, you are automatically dropped off at the nearest railway/lorry hub, totally refreshed and then drive on to the last 4-5 miles to your destination.
You would be travelling at up to 150mph so long distance journey times should be much reduced without traffic jams etc.
I thought both ideas were excellent and shows sensibility for the electric car era
What about you – good idea or bad idea???????
kc
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