Good article from MIT press. Taking on established battery makers and making electric vehicles mainstream will require far more radical advances. http://techre.vu/X8f4bt
I have been making this argument for some time. Conventional thinking about batteries and energy efficiency will not get us anywhere close to meaningful carbon reduction.
As I have blogged before eVehicles may be the ideal energy storage
and transport medium, as they enable the concept of "packetized energy"
to retrieve power from renewable sources along roadways and deliver it
to specific destinations. An eVehicle energy distribution system would
be a lot smarter than today's dumb electrical grid and its tight
integration with dirty power plants. Just as importantly they also
address the demand for individual transportation in the developing, as
well as the developed world.
Large scale automobile ownership and road infrastructure is seen
as the epitome of first world living standards. Most people,
regardless of where they live in the world aspire to the freedom
and flexibility of owning their own car. eVehicles powered by renewable
energy may be the answer. But rather
than charging the eVehicle from stationary charging systems at home or
business using dirty power from the utility grid as is done today, a
simpler architecture would be charge the vehicle as it moves, either
through induction coils, or ultra-capacitor discharge plates embedded in
the road bed every few kilometers or at stop lights and drive-through
fast food restaurants or banks.
To
date the deployment and adoption of electric vehicles has been hindered
as they been simply seen as a one to one replacement for the
traditional gas vehicle. But if the eVehicle could also be used not only
for transportation, but as a low cost alternative to the utility grid,
then it might have a much greater take up rate, as well as eliminating
range anxiety. Imagine if your car could be used to deliver free, or
almost free green power, from remote stranded power sources such as
windmills and hydro facilities, not only to power the car, but also upon
arrival at your destination, to power your home or business as well.
The
advent of autonomous vehicles means that when the eVehicle is not being
used to transport humans it could continue to be used, in off peak
times, as an energy transport system transferring renewable power from
remote locations to homes and businesses within cities. Less complex "on
the move"charging systems could also be deployed.
For more details please see:
Green Investment Opportunity for small business - on the move electric car charging
http://green-broadband.blogspot.com/2010/04/green-investment-opportunity-for-small.html
How California suburban sprawl could be the answer to global warming
http://green-broadband.blogspot.com/2010/12/how-california-suburban-sprawl-could-be.html
Pathway Charging and Why Energy needs to be Free to reduce CO2
http://green-broadband.blogspot.com/2011/01/why-energy-needs-to-be-free-to-reduce.html
Electric roads and Internet will allow coast to coast driving with no stopping and no emissions
http://green-broadband.blogspot.com/2011/05/electric-roads-and-internet-will-allow.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+GreenIt%2FbroadbandAndCyber-infrastructure+%28Green+IT%2FBroadband+and+Cyber-Infrastructure%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher
This blog is about using ICTs to develop climate change preparedness solutions built around Energy Internet and autonomous eVehicles
Energy Internet and eVehicles Overview
Governments around the world are wrestling with the challenge of how to prepare society for inevitable climate change. To date most people have been focused on how to reduce Green House Gas emissions, but now there is growing recognition that regardless of what we do to mitigate against climate change the planet is going to be significantly warmer in the coming years with all the attendant problems of more frequent droughts, flooding, sever storms, etc. As such we need to invest in solutions that provide a more robust and resilient infrastructure to withstand this environmental onslaught especially for our electrical and telecommunications systems and at the same time reduce our carbon footprint.
Using autonomous eVehicles for Renewable Energy Transportation and Distribution: http://goo.gl/bXO6x and http://goo.gl/UDz37
Free High Speed Internet to the Home or School Integrated with solar roof top: http://goo.gl/wGjVG
High level architecture of Internet Networks to survive Climate Change: https://goo.gl/24SiUP
Architecture and routing protocols for Energy Internet: http://goo.gl/niWy1g
How to use Green Bond Funds to underwrite costs of new network and energy infrastructure: https://goo.gl/74Bptd