Walter C. Baker, drove this aerodynamic bad boy to an official speed of 104 miles an hour in 1904. Histoire de la Voiture Electrique
Several years ago I wrote a research paper on alternative fueled vehicles for my master`s degree in business administration. It was titled. “The Future Automobile: A Research Survey of Technology in Zero and Low Emissions Transportation, Its History, Its Recent Technological Origins, the Current State of Technology and Its Feasible Future.” In the report I reviewed the beginnings of independent, non-animal driven autonomous person carrying vehicles (automobiles).
What I discovered in my research was that gasoline won because of various factors, none of which was because ICE was superior technology.
On the contrary, electric vehicles were far more reliable and capable. The problem with electrics then was that the solutions to make the vehicles competitive with ICE at the time were held by different people and companies, all of whom failed to understand that without coming together to produce a competitive product their days were numbered. Many of the solution holders had monopoly on the brain. Others were not thinking of a time when vehicles would travel much faster than horses or for longer periods of time, and others never imagined people owning their own transportation. Only rural people and the rich owned their own horses, most people relied on a livery stable. A livery stable was a place where you could keep your horses for a fee. They were feed and taken care of until you needed them, or you hired what was available as you needed it. The livery stable concept was recreated into the central charging station concept by a huge concern called EVC (The Electric Vehicle Company), that hoped to monopolize the automobile industry and never sell a single vehicle (a modern example of this was lease that GM imposed on the EV1 electric vehicle produced in the mid 1990s). This concept was poorly carried out with bad products, bad service and poor visionless management. EVC resorted to extortion using the Selden patent to leverage over the up and coming manufacturers that allowed for personal ownership. The EVC and the livery stable concept were swept away by personal ownership and a challenge by Henry Ford of the Selden patent. The EVC collapsed destroying the investment money of thousands who had hoped that electric vehicles would be the future. The activities of EVC worked to associate electric vehicles with poor products, poorer management, monopolists and extortionist. The Electric Car and the Burden of History: Studies in Automotive Systems Rivalry in America, 1890-1996, David A. Kirsch
The technologies of the day were:
1898, Ferdinand Porsche, at age 23, built his first car, the Lohner Electric Chaise with hub motors to reduce mechanical resistance.
1900, BGS Company, holds the distance record for an electric vehicle when it drives 180 miles on single charge with its proprietary batteries.
1903, Krieger, first production electric-gasoline hybrid car
1906, Stanley Steamer`s “The Flying Teapot” records 127 6 mph Ormond Beach, FL
1907, Battery swapping stations concept explored by EVC, to little to late
1910, Commercial of Philadelphia, builds a hybrid truck with a gas engine to power a generator that charges batteries or powers the electric motor.
In many ways we are at the same point in history again. Even many of the innovations of the 1900s are the same. The technology exists to make pollution free or very low pollution vehicles practical and available to all who want them, but again, as in the beginning of the 1900s the technology is in the hands of various persons and companies.
The main focus for technology in the last decade and a half has been to overcome the short comings of batteries. To do this efficiency in all other systems had to be made. The number two most intractable problems with the batteries were long charge times and relatively short range, (the distance that can be traveled on a single charge). Since these two problems seemed to be too difficult to overcome, the other factors affecting range needed to be improved. In the last decade major strides have been achieved in overcoming these other problems.
Aerodynamics – Which is a fancy way to say overcoming wind resistance. Wind resistance is the amount of energy lost while trying to pass an object through air.
IN THE MARKET SOLUTIONS – New aerodynamic shapes designed in wind tunnels have reduced wind resistance to minimal effect. The best example was the EV1 by GM that had the similar wind resistance to an F-15 fighter jet. plugitin.co.uk
Coopertire`s C120 Boasts Low Rolling Resistance for Light Trucks
Rolling Resistance – Energy-robbing friction between the tire and road.
IN THE MARKET SOLUTIONS – Thanks to high gasoline prices and hybrids almost every manufacturer is producing a low rolling resistant tire. Advances in rubber and silicate chemistry and engineering have helped reduce rolling resistance. Some examples are Goodyear Invectra and E-metric LRR tires.
TM4`s In-Wheel Motor
Mechanical Resistance – Energy lost through gears due to friction.
IN THE MARKET SOLUTIONS – With electric propulsion it is possible to move the motors into the wheel hubs thereby eliminating most mechanical resistance. Mitsubishi MIEV (Motor In-wheel Electric Vehicle) uses this approach and TM4 has an in-wheel motor.
The Phileas is a 60-foot articulated vehicle composed of light-weight composite materials.
Inertia and Weight – Heavy objects require more energy to get moving.
IN THE MARKET SOLUTIONS – Composite materials and greater use of Aluminum in vehicle structure and a move away from lead in batteries have reduced weight and therefore reduced the amount of energy required to overcome inertia. (Making a vehicle move after it has been stopped)
NGM Makes Electric Motors for Solar Challenge Races and more.
Motor Efficiency – Internal combustion engines only use about the 30% of the energy of gasoline and then go on to loose most of that energy in rolling, mechanical and wind resistance. Electric motors are much more efficient users of energy then ICEs, however, not efficient enough to overcome the shortcomings of batteries.
IN THE MARKET SOLUTIONS – With new technology coming from companies like New Generation Motors energy efficiency of motors is pushed upward of 95% to 98% or more.
A screen in the center of the 2004 Prius dashboard shows it charging the batteries during regenerative braking.
Friction Brakes Friction brakes are the functional equivalent of taking a piece of wood and rubbing it against the moving wheel until it stops. It converts the momentum energy of the wheel into heat energy. All the energy put in by the motor to move the car is then turned to heat and vented into the air.
IN THE MARKET SOLUTIONS – Regenerative breaking – This ingenious trick of capturing the energy needed to stop a vehicle and then using it to overcome inertia is brilliant and a very efficient way of using energy. Regenerative braking should in the near future be advanced enough to eliminate the need for wasteful friction braking.
Toshiba Markets a Fast Charge Battery
Long charging times What causes batteries to take a long time to charge is the time it takes for the chemical solution to return to its fully charged chemical set. One of the chief factors in charging taking a long time has been the internal resistance of the chemicals themselves.
IN THE MARKET SOLUTIONS – Nanomaterials and low internal resistance – A One minute charge time for advanced Lithium-ion batteries has been achieved. These batteries are already in the process of being produced for products in cell phones and computers. For EVs this eliminates the last technological hurdle that electric vehicles needed to overcome to be a practical alternative to the regular gasoline powered automobile.
The very last hurdles are not technological ones but economic ones. They are for production to go up and for the prices to come down. With the advent and popularity of hybrid electric vehicles all of the components needed to produce an all electric vehicle are incidentally now being mass produced. We are experiencing a demand spike and a price spike for these components, however, in time more and more suppliers will enter the market and prices will drop. All of the above advancements are leading us to an all electric vehicle as a popular and standard form of transportation. All we need to do now is to take the various innovations and companies and have them work together to produce a market viable vehicle.
