On Saturday, 13 July 2019 22:59:47 UTC+1, Steve Walker wrote:
On 13/07/2019 11:15, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Steve Walker wrote:

Better still, standardised voltage and standardised packs where a small
town car may use one, while a larger, longer range car may use two or
three. Make the packs so they can be slid in or out - it doesn't matter
if each car puts them in at different locations, in different directions
or around different obstructions - and "battery stations" could use
robot arms, pre-programmed for all different models, to swap out
discharged batteries for fully charged ones. The service paid for at a
fixed sum, plus a rate for the increase in charge level.

That makes recharging an electric vehicle as fast as a petrol or diesel
one from the driver's point of view and ensures that failing batteries
are removed from circulation, with the cost spread amongst all drivers
rather than an individual being hit by a high fee.

It would also mean that as battery technology improved, all cars would
benefit, not just the latest model.

Which would require cooperation between every maker in every country.
Just the thing all the Farages and Trumps of this world are dead against.
How dare anyone tell us how we should do things. And so on.

We manage to agree on the standards of petrol that cars have to be able
to run on now. We manage to impose (although not police) emissions
standards. Standards are not the same in every country, but someone
supplying from outside has to meet the standards in force in the UK.
There is nothing wrong with countries co-operating on standards - only
in having them imposed externally.

SteveW

There's a big difference between specifying externals like emission limits & specifying design-critical elements subject to rapid technological development like batteries. The latter is an effective way to stop progress & waste money.


NT