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).

Hmm. I'd like to see some real world figures. Somehow I can't see a
general pool system working in the legacy of Thatcher Britain.

Have you seen the recent publications
from MIT (that's in Boston, the European quarter of the USA) on concepts
for poolable urban podcars?

No - but concepts often are just that.

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.

Err, it's done by Toyota being happy to lose money on each Prius they sell
- subsidised by the sales of their conventional vehicles. Which can't go
on for ever.

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.

I'm probably just a cynic but I can't see it working for general use.

--
*Work like you don't need the money. Love like you've never been hurt.

Dave Plowman London SW
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