We all know that hybrid cars still need gasoline to be completely dependable. Electric cars on the other hand, suffer from short range and require significant amounts of time to recharge their batteries. So what’s the answer? It’s really quite simple, a “modulized” electric car.
Picture yourself driving across the country in an electric car. After 200 miles staring at pavement, your battery gauge is nearing the recharge mark. It is time to pull off the interstate and find a fuel station. Fortunately, like most exit ramps, a gas station is right in the area. You pull in the driveway and roll right past the gas pumps. Instead, you continue up to an empty spot on a large rack where hundreds of identical depleted car batteries are sitting. You push a button on the dash and three seconds later your battery is disconnected and unloaded from your car. It automatically locks into the rack and begins recharging. The small auxiliary battery in your car is now powering the entire vehicle. You back out and then drive to a fully charged battery in the next rack. The batteries are constructed in a “V-shaped” fashion. You misjudge the drive-up alignment by over three feet, but the battery still slides into your engine compartment and locks safely into place. Once again you are fully charged and ready to role. The entire evolution takes half the time needed to pump a tank of gasoline. You wave to the guy who pulled off the interstate directly in front of you while he continues fueling his SUV. You will be miles down the road before he gets back on the highway.
How can the above scenario become reality? What if each new electric vehicle automatically came with two full size batteries? One is always in the car and a second in a charging rack anywhere in the country. If all the batteries were standardized to fit every type of vehicle, we could simply interchange them as needed with any other charged battery out there. Fuel stations could have racks upon racks of batteries being charged as they are swapped out. If we had 200 million cars on the road, there would be 400 million batteries to keep them moving. We could pay a nominal recharge fee to the fuel stations each time we took one.
Currently most of our electrical energy comes from burning coal. Fortunately the US happens to have enormous quantities under its soil. Power plants are currently using this resource along with cleaner burning technologies. It would not be practical to expect a “coal-burning car” to utilize coal cleanly, but a large power plant could. Converting this black energy to run electric vehicles would certainly help improve the environment and get us completely off imported oil. We could also install solar panels all over the exterior of these electric cars to help use a little of that, “green” free energy from the sun. Every little bit helps and it would have an immediate positive impact on our wallets. Just think, when your car is sitting in the driveway all day, it’s actually gaining fuel.
Obviously the logistics surrounding the batteries will need to be worked out. For example, it may be necessary to create a rule where a car owner cannot pick up a charged battery unless a depleted one is dropped off first, thereby keeping the stockpile of batteries up. Since the overwhelming majority of vehicles in this country are actually sitting stationary at any given time, the small percentage currently on the road will have an ample number of charged batteries for immediate use. Another issue may be in keeping batteries strategically placed around the country. We could give the oil companies something to do by moving them where needed.
The real trick behind all of this isn’t a car that practically changes the battery for you. Most auto engineers can probably design one in a matter of days. The trick is making a car that’s as convenient for us as gas-burning vehicles are today. It’s a statistical fact that we as consumers like things easy, so let’s keep that in mind while building the next generation of vehicles.
All right big three, I’ve given you the idea, now run with it before those countries on the far side of the planet scoop you for the second century in a row!
