A smart system for charging electric vehicles known as ELVIIS may leave the electric car industry all shook up - and for the better. The ELVIIS cross-industry research project would not only enable EVs to be recharged from any available outlet, but also use mobile and smart grid technology to establish the best energy deal for the consumer.
Short for Electric Vehicle Intelligent Infra Structure, ELVIIS is a research consortium including Volvo Car Corporation and Ericsson that aims to overcome the practical shortcomings of EVs that may stand in the way of mass market uptake, looking beyond the car itself to the spheres of mobile and smart grid technology.
As part of the ELVIIS project, a Volvo C30 Electric has been fitted out with a 7-inch color touchscreen from which the company's "smooth charging" concept can be controlled. Having plugged in, the driver uses the touchscreen (or separate phone or tablet) to choose between various presets for charge duration or total energy drawn. It's at the stage the mobile technology kicks in to optimize the process, invisibly from the driver's point of view.
First, the charge point is identified using GPS technology. The car will then communicate with the electricity grid based on user settings to establish the best energy price. The grid coordinates between connected cars (as well as other energy uses) to optimize the work it has to do.
This should mean that drivers needing a brief but urgent charge will be prioritized over those parking up for a some time - similar to broader strategies being employed in smart grids that seek to even out the peaks and troughs in energy consumption over the course of the day. This increases grid efficiency, and increases the usefulness and viability of renewable energy sources that aren't guaranteed to contribute at all times.
There are one or two other neat user-centric touches. The driver will be notified of any interruptions to the charging via a message sent to their mobile phone. And drivers will be able to have the bill of the charge redirected and added to their utility bill, which should ease suspicious minds when house guests ask if they can plug in their new EV.
The system will be fitted to a total of five Volvo C30 Electric cars and tested over the course of a year. Energy company Göteborg Energi and IT researchers the Viktoria Institute are the remaining partners in the ELVIIS project.
The ELVIIS-fitted Volvo Electric C30 is currently on display at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, so if you're in the area, it's now or never.
Putting permanent magnets aside form being massively expensive would reduce the fuel efficiency of every vehicle that moved through the field with the exception of carefully selected down grades.
If the people foolish enough to buy electric cars want to instal electromagnets that only come on under an electric vehicle provided they pay for the installation, the electricity, the necessary additional generating capacity, and me and every other person affected for the inconvenience while the road is under construction.
My fuel tank doesn't loose capacity with use and I can double the range by putting a few cans in the trunk. If I do run out of fuel I need a can of gas not a tow. my car weighs less and handles better as well. A full fill-up in five minutes doesn't hurt ether.
There is more untapped oil in the USofA than know oil in the middle east. Africa also has huge deposits that have been untouched but for good or ill the oil companies have learned about dealing with third world dictatorships.
Of all the replacements for fossil fuel for road transport (cars and trucks) stored electricity is in the bottom three. If you get a storage medium with a high enough energy density to be practical you are better off using it as an explosive than a mobile energy source. The worlds electrical grids are all ready overstressed and the people pushing electric cars are also blocking the building of additional generating capacity including the kinds they pushed until until they began to look practical. Plus batteries are environmental disasters.
Chemical fuel is not synonymous for fossil fuel. While farm grown bio-fuel is at least as bad of an idea as stored electricity waste stream derived bio-fuels is quite practical. Just look at the potential methane if every sewage treatment plant was maximized for gas production add yard waste and other uneaten bio-material and the process becomes quite economical. Fats can be separated to produce bio-diesel.
If not for the terrorist threat nuclear batteries (heat tapped from natural decay in enriched fuel) would be viable power source for motor vehicles; heavy but producing life of the vehicle power in most cases and after the batteries have reduced in out put below viable in cars the can still provide decades of stationary power before recycling. But alas terrorist render it moot.
I would be good with using electrically derived liquid ammonia as a motor fuel, but storage battery powered electric vehicles are pieces of junk.