Where Have All the EAB Aircraft Gone?

[rwanttaja]

I believe Tesla has a system that allows owner to quickly recharge and resume a cross-country flight...err, drive.

It may not be directly applicable today, but with development time a workable system can probably be deployed.

About 40 years ago, I was an Air Force shavetail operating early warning satellites. Those who might remember their history will recall that WWIII never broke out. This meant a lot of overnight shifts with nothing to do but wait for the satellite to break or the Soviets to launch a test missile.

I ended up reading a lot of Science Fiction. Especially some of Robert Heinlein's young adult books. Really liked one of them, but it had one aspect that I felt was completely unrealistic. "That would require a huge infrastructure to support. No one would EVER develop or fund such a thing."

The technology? The main character carried a telephone with him, that let him call anywhere in the world whenever he wanted.

So you rarely see me these days, claiming that some technology will never mature.

Ron "Space Cadet" Wanttaja

[Floatsflyer]

I believe Tesla has a system that allows owner to quickly recharge and resume a cross-country flight...err, drive.

It may not be directly applicable today, but with development time a workable system can probably be deployed.

So you rarely see me these days, claiming that some technology will never mature.

Ron "Space Cadet" Wanttaja

When the following events occur, I'll become a convert to 100% electric plug-in vehicles and buy one. Until then, I'll remain a skeptic:

-When they can eliminate range anxiety and travel for at least 600KMS(372 mi)between charging.
-When fully charged takes no more time than it takes to currently fill up the tank with fuel at the gas station.
-When a fully formed charging infrastructure exists in North America to support electrics in a manner that is as ubiquitous as gas stations for internal combustion engines.
-When the MSRP is drastically reduced(I believe this will happen when the above 3 things become commonplace and hence more electrics are bought by the masses).

[DaleB]

That's not called being a skeptic. That's called "not being an early adopter". Were it not for people being willing to be those early adopters, none of it would come to pass. And, while we're not there yet, it's amazing how far the state of the art and infrastructure support for all-electric vehicles have come.

One interesting thing I see is that electric charging stations don't require the extensive specialized infrastructure (underground storage tanks, fire suppression, etc.) that a gas station does... just a few square feet of space, a credit card reader, and some heavier electric cabling than you'd normally find in a parking lot. That means there's an opportunity to put charging stations in places where gas stations simply can't go - like parking garages, hotel parking lots, etc. I can see the day coming when there are more electric charging plugs than there are gas pumps.

Not that I'm going to buy a plug-in car any time soon. I'm a telecommuter, so I just don't drive in town much. If I were driving a few dozen miles a day, it would make sense. When I do drive, it's often round trips that exceed 200-300 miles, and believe it or not it's pretty hilly here in our part of the Great Plains. The current generation of electrics just aren't a good choice for me. My neighbor drives his Tesla daily... it's a viable choice for him. I'd just love to know what his electricity cost per mile driven is, and how it compares to the gasoline I buy.

[Airmutt]

It’s not just the price per mile I think you need to amortize the cost too. The base cost of a model S is like $71k. Then add another $10k for the extended battery and we haven’t even talked options. Just the cost of the extended battery buys the average car about 100,000 miles using $2.50 per gal and 25m/gal just to make the math easy. Assume that a new vehicle runs about $40k ya get an additional $31k for fuel which buys another 310,000 miles. For the same price I get a new car and 410,000 miles and you haven’t talked options for your Tesla.
Electrics = unicorns and rainbows.

[DaleB]

You do know there are plug-in electric cars other than the Tesla S, right? Tesla sells two models in the under-50K range, including the extended range battery. A Nissan Leaf S Plus with the larger battery lists at $36K. BMW's i3 lists for around $44K on up.

Yes, an all electric car is probably going to cost you more than an equivalently sized and equipped gasoline powered car. If you're not driving long distances in it -- like most people don't -- you get to skip all the gas station stops and oil changes. Nothing is perfect, and any developing tech like this will be more expensive for early adopters. That's just how it is, but a lot of people are willing to pay a little extra.

[rwanttaja]

When the following events occur, I'll become a convert to 100% electric plug-in vehicles and buy one. Until then, I'll remain a skeptic:

And ~125 years ago, my great-great uncle Einar said, "Automobiles will never replace horses until they can go all the way across country on the free grass they graze at the side of the trail, and breed free replacements for themselves on the way. Oh, and their emissions have to be good for my roses, too....."

Ron "That Uncle Einar" Wanttaja

[FlyingRon]

I told Orville and I told Wilbur, now I'm telling you...

[Airmutt]

Yup, 125 years ago inventors and manufacturers were not burdened with the mountains of regs and requirements that exist today. For example, I worked a program where DCMA rep prohibited soldering strain gage leads as he considered it a fire hazard in a hangar that was equipped with a deluge system. The acquisition cost for laying in the gages subsequently increased by about eight fold. And that’s just one small example.
Bet Uncle Einar wasn’t told that he had to do an emissions environmental impact study either.

[Mike Kitslaar]

Kind of strayed a bit off topic here don't you think??

[Airmutt]

Oh we took a left turn onto the dirt road along time ago.