Delta Wing Road Car?

[blackeagle603]

On the subject of production car battery swaps...

Kandi designed their little city car from the ground up for battery exchange (pulls from the side). Looks like they adapted industrial robots for this proof of concept demo video

Tesla has some at it after the fact with a demo system that bolts/unbolts from an equipment set built into a pit charging station. With a 265 mile range as it is they've already done a lot to ease range anxiety for the suburban consumer.

Here's a Tesla demo vidshowing two vehicles swapped in less time that to fuel a comparable ICE powered car.

[Precision]

But how do you carry the battery and how do you recharge the second on a cross country trip?

[Greg]

But how do you carry the battery and how do you recharge the second on a cross country trip?

Or, the other way that this could he done.... you get a fast charge by physically trading your discharged battery for a charged up one that's sitting there at the charging station. Which has issues of its own.

There's no way in hell that I'd be willing to swap out my 'known-good-because-it's-part-of-the-car-I-bought' battery pack for some unknown quantity fraud pack (or mistreated lithium incindiary pack, etc) that was sitting on the charger at the charging station.

[Aglifter]

You'd have to have some kind of leasing arrangement for the battery packs, or some way of checking them each time they're charged.

But, frankly, electric cars just won't work, aside from urban areas, where they actually make sense.

[blackeagle603]

That's a problem to be worked out with Tesla's "own your battery" model.

Kandi is set up different from the git go -- it's a leased type thing.

In either case, you're getting a battery that's been run through a commericial test and charge setup.

[blackeagle603]

But, frankly, electric cars just won't work yet, aside from urban areas, where they actually make sense.

The calculus is changing with current production vehicles like Tesla having a 265 mile range. Charge stations build out along major corridors would (will) have to happen. I don't know if that would be more of a problem or less of a problem than gas/diesel/CNG in terms of permitting/enviro's resistance/servicing.

[Aglifter]

The electric grid isn't able to support that kind of demand - I pay more in demand charges than I do for electricity, and the most my, very small, plant can draw is 67 KW.

To hook up a bunch of rapid chargers everywhere would require a complete reworking of the electric grid.

Its just not built to distribute that level of energy - and its a very expensive type of energy to produce, and costly to distribute.

CNG stations are very simple - already being used quite a bit for fleet stations, etc - its just a matter of a gas line, and an on-site compressor.

[HTRN]

the lack of usable room in EITHER seat would be a plus (certainly compared to the OLD DAYS of kids taking out the station wagon or customized van)!

There are many reasons I like driving 'burbs. This is one of them..