SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
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: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday June 24 2022, @01:51PM (6 children)
I love trains. Until they bring zeppelins back they're the only civilized way to travel. Rail spurs do not, however, go everywhere I want to go the way that roads do. Nor do they travel at the times I want them to travel. And other passengers tend to get uptight when I pile all my camping gear in the aisle. And if my rambunctious kids annoy the crap out of me then they'll be even less appreciated by strangers; at least in my car society can be temporarily spared their energy.
Another thing to consider is that EVs don't take that much money to operate. There is very little maintenance involved, because they have vastly fewer moving parts.
It is a fact that EVs are still a little pricey. The prices are coming down, though, as more companies get into the game and the cost of batteries falls. Me, I'm waiting for the battery-powered TRON light cycle I've always craved.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Friday June 24 2022, @02:47PM (1 child)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Sunday June 26 2022, @11:17AM
Thanks for the link. I've been waiting for bikes to get to a level comparable with Teslas. The thing I loved about bikes is that you're part of the ride in a way that you never are in a car; it's almost like an extension of your body. Being able to do that on something that is totally silent would be sublime, like flying low over the ground.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Friday June 24 2022, @09:43PM (3 children)
Once you eliminate the idea of bringing a large metal box with you everywhere you go, there's a plan C available, namely bicycles. Which the Netherlands has demonstrated can absolutely be part of transportation in the civilized world.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Sunday June 26 2022, @11:28AM (2 children)
Absolutely they are. I have a folding mountain bike and a bike bag I can pop it into that I take on light rail and unfold when I disembark. I think it's a solution that would suit many commuters better than sitting in traffic.
But bikes and mass transit don't satisfy every use-case. When I was a single guy they did, but as soon as I had kids with all their accoutrements hauling them onto the Long Island Railroad every weekend got real old, real fast.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Sunday June 26 2022, @02:31PM (1 child)
They don't need to satisfy every use case to be incredibly useful. If, for example, you have a train route that a lot of people like to use for commuting, you've just pulled thousands of cars off the roads. Which makes things safer and easier for the people who do need to drive because they're hauling lots of kids and stuff around.
You kind of touched on another reason the US transit system is messed up, though: In a lot of the US, it's illegal to let your kids bike or hop on a bus or a train to go somewhere without you. Like, if you watch E.T., now imagine that in the aftermath the parents get arrested not for harboring an alien life form but for child neglect because their kids were able to travel around town without a supervising adult. Which encourages parents + kids to not use transit or bicycles as a practical way of getting around, which means kids don't develop the habit of it being an option, which means they think they need a car to be at high school or college.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday June 27 2022, @02:24PM
I agree.
School kids do ride the bus and subway unaccompanied in NYC and in some other places. They acquire the lifelong commuting patterns that calculate with mass transit in mind. In many places travelling by bike and foot are afterthoughts at best. Changing federal highway standards such that highway dollars require that bike & jogging paths be laid alongside them would ensure safe alternatives to car travel. Cycling in NYC has skyrocketed since Mayor Bloomberg started building protected bike lanes for commuters. City residents are probably getting healthier because of it, too.
Washington DC delenda est.