The Oil Drum: Europe | The high potential of plug-in hybrids

212 comments on The high potential of plug-in hybrids

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step back on December 5, 2007 - 10:15am

Might sound good, but I don't think it (V2G) will work.

The ultimate V2G grid will have noncontact charge/discharge ports at every stop sign and every red light.

As you brake, excess energy is moved to an on-board flywheel.
When you reach the stop sign and under-road, noncontact charge/discharge port, your flywheel energy is discharged into the grid. When you are ready to accelerate, the grid pumps energy back into your on-board flywheel. That energy could be coming from the cars and trucks braking at the very same intersection or at other intersections.

Maybe we need to stop counting pennies and start accounting for how we will save the (habitable) planet.

_________________
The planet will sustain itself fine, just not as a habitable habitat for those pesky human critters perhaps.

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Bellistner on December 5, 2007 - 12:41pm

A better (and simpler) method is the 'Regen' facility provided by all AC EV equipment (and some DC equipment). Regen captures the energy in braking and stores it in the on-board batteries. Regen extends the range of an EV by as much as 40% (in slow-moving traffic. Typically, it's less than 10%).

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Oilcanboyd on December 5, 2007 - 5:59pm

I agree I don't think it will work due to battery life time reduction costs. That is, the charge discharge cycles are increased through the grid connection. So the consumer(car owner) will have to replace the battery more often than a separate dedicated example. Now, if we could plug that car into a PV or wind gen apparatus, that would be even better.
But only time will tell.
Regards,
OCB

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step back on December 6, 2007 - 9:04am

Oilcanboyd,

One good point by you,
One (I believe) misunderstood point.

First your good point. Yes indeed we can couple PV-generated and Wind-generated electrical power to the vehicle from an under-the-street contactless connection point. Excellent point.

Accordingly, after the car/truck stops at a red light and over a contactless connection point, we can download the PV-generated and Wind-generated electrical power into the car/truck just as the light turns from red to green. The downloaded energy is used for acceleration of the car/truck out of its stopped mode.

The point I think you missed is that a "chemical" battery (with its limited charge/discharge times and cycle lifetimes) is not the only way to store energy. A flywheel could be used for temporary storage.