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Study shows electric vehicles could be charged on the go via peer-to-peer system
Every day, Americans see more battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) on the road. According to Fortune Business Insights, the market for electric vehicles in the U.S. is expected to grow from $28.24 billion in 2021 to $137.43 billion in 2028. [...]
However, one drawback has made some consumers wary of purchasing a BEV — limited range. Unlike those plentiful gas stations, charging stations for EVs still can be few and far in between, and recharging a BEV's lithium-ion battery might take hours, making EVs impractical for some long-range road trips.
Now, a researcher at the University of Kansas School of Engineering has co-written a study in Scientific Reports proposing a peer-to-peer system for BEVs to share charge among each other while driving down the road by being matched-up with a cloud-based control system.
[...] A cloud-based system would match the two BEVs in the same vicinity, likely along major interstates. Like bicyclists in a Peloton, the two matched cars could travel close together, sharing charge en route with no need to stop for hours at a charging station. The cars would drive at the same locked speed while charging cables would link the vehicles automatically.
[...] "We'd have a complete cloud-based framework that analyzes the charging state of all participating vehicles in the network, and based on that the cloud tells you, 'Hey, you can actually pair up with this car which is nearby and share charge,'" Hoque said. "All of this has to be controlled by cloud infrastructure, which has algorithms to efficiently charge all the different BEVs."
[...] Hoque said the initial setup of a peer-to-peer charging infrastructure likely would require support from a major manufacturer of BEVs but then could expand organically.
"People who have electric vehicles will have this incentive of selling charge and earning extra money — these two things will work in parallel to grow this idea," he said.
Journal Reference:
Prabuddha Chakraborty, Robert Parker, Tamzidul Hoque, et al. Addressing the range anxiety of battery electric vehicles with charging en route [open]. Sci Rep 12, 5588 (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-08942-2
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 23 2022, @07:26PM (13 children)
This is such an easy problem. If you want extend the range of an EV, attach a range extender. It can be as simple as a trailer holding a battery. Rent one with a full battery and return it a few hundred miles down the road when the battery is empty. If you have further to go, rent another one. In a world where we rent cars and bicycles and scooters and propane canisters, why do we keep coming up with such complex unworkable solutions for EV charging?
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 23 2022, @07:31PM
Put that range extender on the blockchain and you've got a workable solution.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 23 2022, @07:37PM (1 child)
So much simpler than stopping at any gas station and filling up the tank!
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Thursday June 23 2022, @09:23PM
Simpler?? Have you rented many autos or trucks lately? Takes a lot longer than pumping 10~20 gallons into your tank and also taking a pee and grabbing a snack and a drink before hitting the road to continue your journey.
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 23 2022, @07:39PM (2 children)
If you put a gasoline-powered generator in the trailer, your range is unlimited (with occasional 5-minute fill-ups). Since the generator only has to provide an average amount of power sufficient to produce a net increase in the battery level, it can run at a constant speed and be made more efficient.
I always thought that made sense for EVs (especially the pre-Tesla ones that had terrible mileage per charge). For day-to-day use, you leave the trailer at home. For long trips, you attach the trailer and take advantage of the hundreds of thousands of gas stations.
Of course, this lack of purity will make environmental wacko's heads explode, so that's another advantage.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 23 2022, @07:58PM
You may actually be able to make it with a turbine, or even an external combustion heat engine like a Stirling engine.
Then, to save on the aerodynamic factors, you could build that into the main body of the car and permanently attach it to the charging system.
Serial hybrid for the win.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 23 2022, @07:59PM
It seems that what you describe is basically a plug-in hybrid like the Chevy Volt except with the gas generator in a detachable trailer rather than integrated into the car.
Plug-in hybrids are actually really effective for road trips because you get very good gas mileage on sustained-high-speed freeway driving, and also get the benefits of the EV for the low speed portions of the trip. The use of a trailer will hurt mileage a bit but maybe not a huge amount, particularly if the car and trailer are designed together.
But I guess plug-in hybrids are not that popular since Chevy discontinued the Volt. There may also be practical obstacles to hauling a trailer full of gasoline and a running engine.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Thursday June 23 2022, @08:03PM (6 children)
The battery trailer is a "too obvious" solution for EVs.
Contemplating an EV sports car for application in short duration racing, the battery-trailer is basically the only viable solution - there's no reason to be lugging around 100x more battery capacity than you need to achieve the objective.
Same applies in real life. Sure, we all want a car that we can hop in in Miami and drive to Vancouver non-stop on a single charge, but when 90% of trips are in the local area less than 60km traveled between leaving home and returning, and 90% of the remaining trips are moderate excursions less than 150km between charging opportunities, why would we lug around batteries capable of 1000km trips all the time?
Answer: don't. Maybe it's not a trailer, maybe it's a battery pack that slides in to a compartment under the middle of the vehicle. The vehicle can have a 100km capable battery hardwired onboard, and space to attach up to 6 additional 100km modules low and central in the vehicle. We already know that SUVs sell, so seat those passengers high up in the air where they can
block everyone else's viewget a good view of the road ahead. and seat them over the removable/exchangeable battery packs. Or. if we can't agree on what an exchangeable battery pack looks like, just hook on a trailer with all the battery you need, or possibly even a fuel powered generator.🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Immerman on Thursday June 23 2022, @10:51PM (1 child)
Of course, a taller vehicle = more wind resistance = lower efficiency - so you might need most of those expansion batteries just to have the same range as a shorter car.
Some sort of modular battery system could be handy - but personally I'd want that space available for cargo when not using the battery. I'm kinda fond of something in the trunk, etc. that works with batteries that are small enough to be swapped by a person - if you need heavy equipment to move a battery that fills the space under the rear seats it makes everything far more complicated and expensive.
I like something like a mini server rack that takes pizza-box batteries - you could stick a few racks under seats, in the trunk, etc. Heck, if you're not doing frame-integral batteries you could make them all that type, and relatively easily swap them out as they wear. Ideally with a controller that can direct the majority of abuse to the most marginal batteries that will need to be replaced soon anyway.
A trailer has much to recommend it though: You're most likely to need the extra range when you're on a road trip - for which you'll also likely want as much cargo capacity as possible, and really regret losing it to batteries. A trailer can add both. And of course it simplifies fuel-based power as well, which generally has much less flexible shape constraints.
Of course the flip side is that many/most people are kinda incompetent at pulling trailers safely - and dragging what is basically a big bomb behind them through traffic might have... unintended consequences.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Thursday June 23 2022, @11:46PM
Nothing says it has to be an articulated trailer. Something that clamps to the back of the vehicle with a single central caster support wheel should be simple enough to maneuver, especially with backup cameras, and better aerodynamically too.
The problem is: it looks weird, and the majority of the buying market doesn't do weird. Politicians don't support weird. Weird needs protection from discrimination and new car designs making exestential threats on the establishment won't be getting that protection.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Friday June 24 2022, @03:11PM (3 children)
We do? What kind of stimulants are you taking that you're okay with 52 hours straight of driving, and where can I get some?
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday June 24 2022, @03:33PM (2 children)
I drove Manhattan (New York)->Coral Gables (Miami) in 22.5 hours once... didn't intend to initially, but around Myrtle Beach I changed my mind about stopping for the night. Somewhere around Jupiter, FL I started seriously regretting the decision, but by then it was too late - too close to the goal to quit then.
Of course, in the brave new world of self-driving cars, we'll just lay the seats flat for the night shifts.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Friday June 24 2022, @03:48PM (1 child)
You probably made pit stops in amongst those 22.5 hours though, right? I know I couldn't drive more than 6 hours at a time without getting out to stretch my legs and wake up.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday June 24 2022, @04:03PM
Took a 45 minute meal break somewhere in the afternoon, obviously stopped for gas more than once, mostly just snacked on the road otherwise, but the last hour into Miami I did stop a few times to get out and jog around the car to make sure I wasn't falling asleep.
🌻🌻 [google.com]