The Portland Daily Citizen

In my previous post I discussed why electric cars are the best solution for energy independent personal transportation, but I know your asking, “If you hold all the answers and sit so high and mighty on your electric car than why aren’t electric cars here today? Why don’t I have one?”

That’s an easy question to answer. There are two ingredients that we are waiting for before electric cars trump gasoline cars and become affordable. Electric cars already outperform gas cars, the refueling infrastructure is already hear and easier than gasoline but gas is still king.

The first ingredient we are waiting for is batteries. The main reason why people are reluctant to buy or build an electric car is the limitation of batteries. Batteries are measured in range, the best batteries are lithium ion and can deliver upwards of 250 miles of range, but their short fall is recharging. A gasoline tank has the same 250 mile range limitation, but when you run low on gas, you can easily find a gas station and refill in under ten minutes. An electric car with batteries is quite different. The expectation now is that your total round trip is 250miles or less, other wise, where will you fill up if you’re not at home? Even if you could find an outlet donor, it would take between 2-8 hours depending on your charger. This means no road trips for electric cars, which is why electric cars have thus far been billed as commuters and neighborhood vehicles.

A recent push in battery technology could change ALL of that. I’ve been reading about A123 Systems and their work on nanotechnology with lithium ion batteries. Effectively what they have done is made the lithium ion batteries much better. Their batteries charge much faster (about 10 minutes) and don’t have the tendency to heat up or explode if over charged or punctured, which is really nice. They can be dropped on concrete and nothing happens. This recent advance in battery technology will solve the away from home refueling problem that troubles all current electric cars.

Another advance in battery technology is the development of less expensive high capacity… capacitors. Some researchers at the Tokyo University School Of Engineering have used such capacitors to build a small electric neighborhood vehicle that can travel at 50km/h for 20 minutes on one charge. Doesn’t sound like much, but here is the kicker, the small one man car can be recharged in 30 seconds. You could charge it from any normal 110ac outlet and hit the road.

As lithium battery and capacitor technology develop, I expect to see a car that uses both to give quick recharge times, power, and performance at a minimal cost. When batteries develop, electric cars will become a much more inexpensive and practical alternative to gasoline cars, and as prices come down, the initial switch might be less expensive than a gasoline car. Already, entry models of the Tango are expected to go for $18,000. Once they mass produce the cost will fall even further.

The second, but less crucial, ingredient we are waiting for is hub motors. A hub motor is an electrical motor on opposite day. In a conventional electric motor, the outer motor is bolted down and the axle spins. An electric hub motor spins the outer motor and the axle is stationary. now in your mind, picture the fixed axle, the rotating motor part, and now throw a rubber wheel on that. That’s the concept. The resulting motor is extremely efficient, upwards of 95%. An electric car utilizing this technology would have no need for an axle or transmission, cutting down on total weight and increasing room for battery placement. A few pro’s for this model:

1). Four motors instead of one.
2). Reduced possibility of break down (if you lose one motor, you still have 3)
3). The possibility of tank-like turn on a dime maneuverability.
4). All wheel drive – one wheel drive traction control.
5). 4 different motors, four different ‘gears’. One motor for power, one for top speed efficiency, the other two some combination of the middle ground.
5). No transmission loss, increased efficiency means a drastic increase in range for the same energy input.
6). High recovery rates for regenerative breaking.
7). You could burn all four tires at once!

You can find more information about electric hub motors from Google, YouTube, and from PML flight link’s website which has a lot of tech specs on their motor. As far as I can tell the motors are not being mass produced and are still really expensive at about $20,000 each. There is an open source hub motor development project but as far as I can see, there is still a long way to go. There are electric hub motors placed in electric mopeds (like my Phantom 4 by the company Electra/Voy that went out of business a few years ago), electric bicycle conversion kits, and I have seen one in a motorcycle, but still none for cars. This is crazy. Right now the process to convert a car to electric is largely complicated. You have to remove the old engine and adapt a high powered electric motor to the existing transmission. Then you have to find room for the batteries, controller, and converter. A hub motor could make the process as easy as changing your tire and placing batteries.

Expect to see great advances in battery and hub motor technology. When they happen, and mass production brings the price down, mark my words: Electric cars will be everywhere.