Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Re: [Electric Boats] Re: new lithium battery breakthrough?

 

Eric:
 
Edison should have added "for now".  I'm hoping my next car will be electric. Though my Honda Fit replaced a 1986 Mazda 323 with only 64,000 miles on it. So I expect my new Honda will be providing transportation for another decade or two for me. Though like the fellow in the TED talk said most people don't need a 100,000 Tesla roadster or even a $40,000 Volt.  I certainly don't. What I need is a small car like the Fit that I can put my folding Porta Bote dingy in and take it back and forth to the boatyard.   Give it a 50 to 100 mile range. Price it at $15K. I would expect someone could sell a lot of them as a second "local" car today.  If the infrastrucure for replaceable battery packs becomes available in the future even better. IMO waiting for the replaceable battery infrastructure before getting the cars on the road is wasting time. I hear some people say the same thing about electric propulsion "it's not there yet" maybe for some of the bigger boats that may be the case but, all I can say is I'm glad I did not wait before I installed it in my sailboat. Maintenance is way down and enjoyment is up and that's a good thing. 
 
Capt. Mike

From: Eric <ewdysar@yahoo.com>
To: electricboats@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2011 12:25 PM
Subject: [Electric Boats] Re: new lithium battery breakthrough?

 
Just to throw in some second hand data on the Prius battery life, a coworker drives her '05 Prius that she bought new. With more than 80k miles, the battery has shown no problems. I do know a few other people with Prius's (how does one say Prius in plural?) and even the person that is still driving their '02 Gen1 has had no battery issues.

It's well known in EV circles that Jay Leno's 1909 Baker Electric still uses some of the original alkaline batteries. "Thomas Edison invented the alkaline battery. My Baker still has some original alkaline batteries. These have lead plates and use acid; we wash them out and refill them regularly and I'll use them indefinitely. But even Edison realized the future of the automobile was elsewhere. Legend has it that back in 1896, at a dinner party, he passed a note to his friend Henry Ford. Essentially it said, "The electric car is dead." (Leno, 2007).

Of course at that time, nobody could imagine the technological advancements that would occur in the next 100 years, but for close to a full century, Edison appeared to be correct.

Fair winds,
Eric
Marina del Rey, CA

--- In electricboats@yahoogroups.com, Mike <biankablog@...> wrote:
>
> Don:
>  
> I was referencing my Honda Fit car. Which is different from my Honda 2000eu generator that I use on the boat. Both IMO are very reliable. The car "fits"  my needs perfectly. In four years I've managed to only put 16,000 miles on it. No, It's not electric sorry if I gave that impression. Though my lifestyle and driving needs is perfectly suited for an electric car if one was available and was was not crazily overpriced. It's also one of the reasons why I did not buy a Prius as it was not suitable for my driving needs. My point was the three year old car battery has already needed to be replaced while my boat's  48 volt AGM bank shows no signs of failing after four years. Yes, the boat bank does not get jared as much as the car so that's part of it. It's also a deep cycle compared to the  cars starting type. I also keep a closer eye on it and use solar and wind (though my wind generator was not installed this year) along with an occassional  AC
> charge to keep things topped up and in balance.  Not sure how well a Tesla car batteries hold up. But, I know of one Prius owner that needed her battery pack replaced under warrenty. Not sure why though. I think we are all still trying to see how long a battery bank (flooded, AGM, Lithium) will last in some of our electric boats.  I can't speak for others but, so far so good on my boat for four years so far.
>  
> Capt. Mike
> http://biankablog.blogspot.com
>  
>
>



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