Monday, April 27, 2009

Question of the Day



The question is a practical one and asked in all seriousness :











Any thoughts or information to share?


pandora said...

Tricky situation, and I don't have the answer. Here's a positive spin... yet another industry waiting to spin off electric vehicles.

My first thought was stations - like parking meters, only more attractive - placed on city streets. That's off the top of my head, so I haven't really considered how it would work.

Good question.

Tyler Nixon said...

We may find EV's are best limited to fleet uiage and suburban dwellers, where charging can be done in your driveway.

The stations you mention is an obvious solution, but not easily deployed everywhere, nor cheaply. Just think of Wilmington...who would pay for it, and how would you access it if you are the whim of available parking near these stations?

This a huge problem inherent in tying mobile devices, especially of large energy replenishment demands, to a type of energy that can neither be "pumped in" quickly nor is detachable from its source (such as a fuel tank allows).

In the big scheme, just think of trying to charge your cell phone away from home, out and about, and multiply such an impact far more profoundly...and more expensively, given the amount of electricity demanded to charge EV's.

I do agree with you that it could spin off novel solutions and innovations as the industry develops...

pandora said...

I see you points, Tyler, and agree that EVs may be limited to fleet usage and suburban dwellers... in the beginning.

If demand is there, someone - somewhere - will figure out how to meet it! I just can't see a potentially profitable new industry writing off entire sections of the population - especially a demographic (city dwellers) that's an easy buy in for their product.

How this will happen, I have no idea. Then again, I had no idea that post-it notes would one day consume so much aisle space at Staples!

Anonymous said...

One idea I've read about is to have service stations that sell/install a charged battery for the depleted battery, kind of like a netflix exchange.

Perry Hood

Nancy Willing said...

Perry, one idea I've read about was having 'exchange stations' where you just take a few minutes to dump the battery needing a charge for one that's ready to go.

Tyler - good article. The significant roadblock of city parking/plugging in isn't mentioned any where else I've seen.

Delaware Watch said...

Great points, Tyler. Proof that sometimes the devil is in the details.