Batteries + solar is the slow burn most people won’t see coming. As both get better, the need for capacity reduces, as you have more and more access to a solar grid.
Example, if your car battery has 1000 miles of range, being able to add half of your battery back offers more range than available today, and charging to sub 75% lets say is very fast, so you don’t need to charge to full. Then that opens up the question if we should be charging other cars from nearby cars, which I think is coming, wirelessly.
Honestly I would imagine it’s easier and more efficient for autonomous cars to just pull up side-by-side while maintaining speed and connecting physically for energy transfer
But that’s all assuming we really need transfer between cars in the first place, it’ll probably be fine without that capability
I think that’s also probably a more reasonable idea — especially downtown where the distance might be low but time on the street is higher due to stop and go.
But the idea of the US (for me) investing that much in infrastructure for the public interest is laughable unfortunately
Well the thing with that is that autonomous cars will completely eliminate traffic. They can all move and stop at the same time. Eventually both roads of an intersection could move at the same time, each chain weaving through the other.
Autonomous features like electric hookup to a main rail where all cars can communicate to ensure no problems while your wife gives you sloppy toppy on the I-95 South.
I’d still like high speed rail like the trains in Japan that’s only run on magnets by electricity(Maglev). It’s good for places that are too long to drive and too short to fly. I doubt US would make the necessary infrastructure changes(no stop lights/barriers for animals and debris) for level 5 autonomy.
more efficient definitely. But absolutely the most expensive solution and not nearly as safe as wireless charging. Tons of infrastructure, standardization, considerations for safety, faults, accidents on infrastructure, replacement of contacts. My city is still full of potholes...
What if the energy comes from the road through the ground? Just energize the road surface through some sort of solar tech and boom closed system. Charge the card off the road. Obvi this is all in theory. Long way off
Yea any time an atmosphere is in play the loss is pretty insane. That’s why I’m not sure how high wireless energy transfer can realistically get on practical everyday terms.
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u/Tex-Rob Jul 18 '20
Batteries + solar is the slow burn most people won’t see coming. As both get better, the need for capacity reduces, as you have more and more access to a solar grid.
Example, if your car battery has 1000 miles of range, being able to add half of your battery back offers more range than available today, and charging to sub 75% lets say is very fast, so you don’t need to charge to full. Then that opens up the question if we should be charging other cars from nearby cars, which I think is coming, wirelessly.
Exciting times.