One thing to keep in mind is that battery technology is slowly improving and will continue to improve, as we rely on batteries more and more in our daily lives. The Leaf doesn't even use the best technology we currently have available, never mind what will be available in 50 years.

I mean, look at the batteries we were using just 20 years ago vs. what we're using today. The first battery powered drill I bought I got so frustrated with the lack of power and need of constant charging that I ended up running over it with a D6 bulldozer on purpose. Now, I've got Lithium-ion powered drills that have lighter and smaller batteries, which are much more powerful and last longer between charges....and that's in a $250 drill, never mind a $25,000+ car.


If you look into the research on battery and ultra-capacitor technology, it's quite promising.

It might be worthwhile looking at the chart for rechargeable battery technology and comparing the Edison technology for his EV (i.e. using NiFe) and the Nissan Leaf (100 years on in battery technology) compared the the Lithium Titanate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rechargeable_battery

The differences are not all that striking.

For example energy density per kg (Wh/kg) only sees 80% improvement.

NiFe - 50 Wh/Kg
Li titanate - 90Wh/kg

When you take into the account the cost and lifetime factors between the 2 battery technologies then Edison's 110 year old NiFe technology actually has some marginal benefits especially when you realise that the mass of the vehicle occupants over the same time has probably increased by the same 80%



This technology certainly has some promising technological advantages i.e it improves on the charge time for the vehicle but once again it is only a electron storage device and the quicker you charge the vehicle the fatter the copper pipe has to be to transfer the charge energy.

i.e. If Ultra capacitors are used with the same capacity as the Nissan Leaf (24kWhrs) and can be charged in the space of say 2 minutes (the same as filling up a normal vehicle tank with petrol) then you are going to need a charging station/cable which has to handle around 1 MegaWatt of electrical power, which at say 200V needs a cable which can handle 5000 Amps. There are going to be some long queues at those charging stations. And the electronics within the vehicle to handle the 5000 Amp charge will end up weighing more than the charge storage device itself.

The Edison Car 1912

The 2010 Nissan Leaf

If they take that long to recharge, the answer is to make batteries cheap enough that you can have a couple charging while out driving. Get home, just put the discharged battery on your charging rack and install a fresh one in the car. A small pipe for the electrons but much more time.

Really though, series hybrids seem to be a much better idea. All electric drive with a very efficient generator to keep the battery charged. The generator itself can be gas, diesel, CNG, whatever the fuel of choice happens to be . . .

Here is an interesting film called 'Who killed the Electric Car'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39K36Rw7LYc

Although this link might put things into perspective

http://www.allcarselectric.com/blog/1049744_thomas-edisons-1912-electric-car-gets-a-chance-to-shine



Vehicles like the Chevy Volt and the Toyota Prius (Hybrid vehicles) although they do improve overall efficiency in the combined driving cycle mainly due to lack of engine idling when driving in city environments still cannot square the petroleum circle.

Reprocess the fuel rods... Current reactors do not utilize ('burn') all the uranium in the rods. Closest analogy I can think of would be burning wood to the point of charcoal, then putting the fire out and storing the charcoal...

Yes, there are political issues with reprocessing, but there is no technical reason for claiming a limited supply of fuel for reactors.

The main problem with electric cars is they use electric. We either burn fuel in our cars or burn fuel to make the electricity while people argue over which one is slightly more efficient than the other.
I was able to find a place next to my work so I don't have to burn fuel to get to work. I'm close enough to everything else that if the city would build sidewalks, crosswalks and lower the speed limit a little it would actually be safe to. Right now a 45mph two lane road with no sidewalks, stop lights or crosswalks is dangerous enough to drive on, people pulling right out in front of you from all the side streets ( in their defense they have to, too much traffic to ever get an opening), let along walking.

The actual gains from such a change in operation wouldn't gain you very much extra energy.

If you wanted to run nuclear power long term you, IMHO, really need to get into breeder reactors but even there the raw material needed is lowered per unit energy output but it isn't eliminated. And it does nothing to change the basic fact that there are limited supplies of raw materials, few mines, and they tend to be in unstable parts of the world.

Breeder reactors are a proven technology for extending the available fuel supply but it is not a complete solution. Even as a partial solution they have issues because they produce weapons-grade materials. Weapons-grade materials open up a whole kettle of fish in terms of politics, international relations, security, NIMBY, and potential danger. Light-water energy generation plants really can't blow up, as in a mushroom cloud. They may melt and leak, making a huge mess, but they generally don't explode like a nuclear weapon. Breeder reactors are working with and produce materials which can go up like a weapon. Thorium-cycle reactors make some sense but they remain on the drawing board.

I really suspect that natural gas fuel cell units are more promising as a generation system than nuclear as it is done presently. Fuel cell units are practical, adaptable (they can be turned off and on to handle peak loads), and scalable. They are becoming commonplace as backup, or uninterruptable power, for large data/server systems.

As I pointed out there isn't any real need to build any more power generation to accommodate electric cars in the next ten years. All-electric vehicles are not expected to be the majority for decades and the early adopters will naturally be in and around urban areas where daily mileage is low. For most commuters the electrical load and cost is on par with running a standard electric heater, about $1.25 a night. A bit less than what they spend on gasoline now.

A good percentage of the 'electric' market in vehicles is gas/electric hybrids that use no energy from the electrical grid at all. They use gasoline, just like regular cars, just a little more efficiently by storing the excess power from the gasoline engine to charge a battery bank.

Europe has shifted from gasoline to small diesel engines.

There is a quiet revolution coming but because it is going to take decades to play there are few large shocks to the system. There will be shocks, but these are being manufactured. Saudi-Arabia has committed to making up any difference in amounts of oil pumped to keep the supply stable. The present run-up in gasoline prices is a result of speculation and gouging, not anything going on in Egypt, Libya.

A good example of gouging was spotted near Tampa where Shell gas stations near the interstates and airports are charging over $5 a gallon and simply not posting the price. People have got into the habit of assuming that all gas stations sell at the same price plus or minus a few cents. People don't often check the price on the pump. So they assume it is $3+, whatever the going price, and they pump a tank full. When they go to pay, assuming they don't just shove the card in without looking, ... surprise!!.

I currently walk the 7 mile round trip everyday to work, using old railway tracks long since long gone (one of the worlds first passenger train routes), through park land, past city garden allotments, quiet residential streets and past some old Victorian era industrial buildings (some being derelict). The more you walk through parkland listening to birdsong in the morning the more you begin to start to hate the internal combustion engine. I got sick and tired of the half dozen sets of traffic lights with the space of mile and the cost of parking the damned thing once in the city centre using car transport. In 1982 we didn't even have any traffic lights in Dundee. Walking is a lot less stressful and there are no delays and takes about 45 minutes either way. I actually enjoy the walk.

This google Street view is one of the most dangerous road crossing points on my route.

For those of you who have lost track about what is happening in the Middle East, here is a handy guide about who is fighting about what and what effects it may have on the globe. The cheerful title belays some rather grim possibilities.
Handy Guide to Middle East Revolts

Oh, after reading that guide THIS bit of news is cause for some concern. It seems Friday's day of rage in Saudi Arabia has resulted in Saudi police opening fire on protesters.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, fuel prices are going to get ugly(ier).

-Blast

Yep, so much for the Saudi's picking up the slack in the oil supply.