SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Automotive World reports that European demand for Alternative Fuel Vehicles (AFVs) has risen rapidly in the first quarter of 2015, with plug-in electric vehicles leading the charge with a rate of increase of 117.9%. While the USA leads in total numbers of EVs registered, its rate of growth is slightly lower at 69%. Interestingly, the UK was responsible for the greatest increase in Alternative Fuel Vehicle purchases in Europe (64.2%), with the most popular vehicles being the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, followed by Nissan's Leaf, and the BMW i3.
Now that ACEA has discharged these numbers, it's clear that resistance to electric vehicles is falling, and there's solidly grounded potential for better AFVs to galvanize buyers off their current fossil fueled cars. Regulators are doing their part to overcome reluctance, and to prove EVs have the capacity to operate on all roads and open circuits.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Saturday May 02 2015, @03:47PM
Have a look at the supercapacitor break through [soylentnews.org]. I suspect capacitor technology will be the technology of the feature. It can be charged fast and is essentially temperature resistant.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 02 2015, @04:00PM
Yes, super capasitors are the future. Hopefully it really can be made into a real, affordable product for vehicles. Until then it's not an option.
(Score: 2) by TrumpetPower! on Saturday May 02 2015, @08:33PM
Actually, batteries currently lead supercapacitors in terms of charging / discharging rates and internal resistance, the thing that supercapcitors are supposed to be good at. And batteries don't suffer significant rates of self-discharge, have much better power:weight and power:volume ratios, and significantly better performance:price ratios, and on and on and on.
Granted, the batteries that outperform supercapacitors aren't cheap...but they're cheaper than the supercapacitors.
Check out A123 for a good example. There are, for example, street-legal drag race cars with batteries that can output a megawatt (roughly 1,000 HP) and only weigh a couple/few hundred pounds yet still have about as much range as a Chevy Volt in electric mode.
b&
All but God can prove this sentence true.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Saturday May 02 2015, @09:00PM
You have to separate technology implementation from the physical possibilities involved. It's like telling the steam manager at the local electricity plant that nuclear power is way more powerful. Only to get the answer that steam works and they have never heard of something so ridiculous that small atoms has any power inside them.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by TrumpetPower! on Saturday May 02 2015, @09:55PM
In this case, the way it's playing out is more like the fusion folks telling the fission plant operators that they'll be obsolete in fifteen to twenty years -- same as they have been for the past century.
Besides, supercapacitors are always going to have that pesky self-discharge problem. And their discharge voltage profile isn't all that great, either.
The best-case theoretical automotive scenario for supercapacitors is for regenerative breaking, with the surge being captured and fed back to the batteries...but today's batteries already outperform supercapacitors for that and are as good as you'd ever need. Adding a supercapacitor, even an hypothetical doesn't-yet-exist awesome one, would just add unnecessary weight and complexity and cost to the system.
For better or worse, lithium has won the electrical energy storage prize, at least for the next few generations of products. Especially with Tesla's Gigafactory coming online soon, the economies of scale are such that nothing else can compete, even when lithium is technologically inferior.
Perfect example: nothing can beat an Edison-style nickel-iron battery when it comes to stationary storage requirements that need to last forever with minimal service. You can't kill them, and, if you do manage to somehow kill them, they're pretty easy to resurrect. Thing is...Tesla is already taking pre-orders for batteries that you can hang on your wall for a fraction of the price you'd pay for a nickel-iron battery that would need to be put on a concrete-supported floor. So what if the Tesla battery is probably only going to be at 80% capacity in 30 years while the nickel-iron battery will still be at full capacity? That Tesla battery is still going to be "good enough," and, by then, if you really need it, you'll be able to supplement it with something much cheaper still.
b&
All but God can prove this sentence true.