Kaido
Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
- Feb 14, 2004
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What they need is a standardized battery pack that can be plugged in AND swapped. Otherwise, I don't see electrics being universal. Eight hours is a long ass drive, but I've done over 500 km in a day (stupid job...) over 10 hours, cops/emergency services might need even longer range. It takes a minute or two to top up a gas car (assuming you have a canteen in the back) if the shit hits the fan. Standardized battery + charging stations with exchangeable batteries = all set.
Heavy as hell though...
Yeah, but they can't though, because of different car designs. I'm surprised they're even using the same battery in the upcoming Tesla Model X SUV, because the larger car will be heavier and will give you less range on the same pack. Maybe it'd be possible to make them modular, but look at the Tesla Model S's battery pack - it's basically the entire frame of the car:
http://teslarumors.com/News-2012-02-25-013_files/Model-S-Battery.jpg
So to get the capacity (and thus range), they basically use thin batteries across the bottom of the car. And because it's a full-sized car, it gets better range than say the Honda Fit EV, which does the same thing, but is a compact car, so you only get 82 miles out of that pack instead of 265.