Electric cars, batteries exchange, infinite power and the open road

Here’s an idea for the electric car future: instead of cars having permanent batteries that need recharging (making the car inoperable at that time), the batteries should be replaceable at a charging station. All electric cars would standardize on a uniform battery size which could be replaced by a service station attendant in less time than it takes to fill a tank of gasoline.

The service stations themselves would be solar power centers, using the surrounding area to collect electricity which charges a stock of uniform batteries. You pull into a service station and the attendant pops your hood, pulls out the depleted batteries and inserts newly charged ones. The depleted batteries go into a charging rack to be refilled and given to a later customer.

The battery is no longer tethered to the car; the battery is a discreet power source which can be used in any machine. Small cars might have 2 or 3 batteries for a range of 150-300 miles. Large cars or trucks might have 6-8 batteries. Identical batteries could power farm machinery, lawn mowers, and golf carts.

Just as vehicle manufacturers long ago standardized on gasoline, so too could they standardize on a uniform battery supply. Consumers could buy any kind of electric vehicle they want; larger less efficient vehicles would simply use more batteries or need their batteries changed more often than small efficient vehicles.

The notion of stopping to fill up on gas is replaced by stopping to fill up on fresh batteries. Batteries, presumably large and heavy, would be handled by attendants, just as a few decades ago gas was pumped by attendants.

Technorati Tags: batteries, electriccars, globalwarming, hybrid, oil, petroleum, prius