On Wed, 04 Jan 2006 19:16:12 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article ,
Andy Dingley wrote:
Or reliable long-life batteries on a swappable pallet. This isn't
completely infeasible.

Hmm. Given they're likely to cost several thousand pounds the logistics
sound horrendous. You might as well just operate a vehicle pool.

So why not? Vehicle pools are borderline practical too (in sensible
mainland European countries). Have you seen the recent publications
from MIT (that's in Boston, the European quarter of the USA) on concepts
for poolable urban podcars?

The Prius already effectively has a pooled battery, because of the high
capital cost and the extensive warranty this entails to make it
affordable without excess risk on each owner. As batteries generally age
better when being used rather than ignored in storage (measured as total
energy stored over their lifetime) then a circulating pool with good
charging techniques and centralised maintenance when needed could even
increase their useful lifespan enough to make their pooling economic
overall. Integrated cell monitoring is already well-enough developed to
allow reasonable charging-by-use, and for preventative replacement to
make on-road failures insignificant.