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July 2009 Posts
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Join Bo, Ryan, and special guest host, Sebastian Blanco from Autobloggreen.com for a mind-blowing discussion and update on the EV industry. Is the EESU from EESTOR getting closer to reality? Can we soon charge electric cars through the air? Will the VOLT sell on EBAY? Will the Fisker Karma make it around a race track twice? Will MIT students break the 10 minute charging barrier? Will we actually answer any of these questions in this show? Tune in to find out!
Don't just listen to the EVcast -- experience and be a part of it! Join us at 1:00pm Eastern, M-F, in our live video broadcast and chat along with us!
Enjoyed the conversation about EEStor, gentlemen.
-EEStor Blogger
quote comment
Hi Bo & Ryan,
I am writing because you asked your listeners to send positive feedback, so I am sending one. I listen via the evcast website on my laptop. I listen to every webcast and always enjoyed it.
I have said some time ago that you may need some tech-guy that will do for you a research on any of the "tech" stuff, and you know, report once every two weeks or once a month. You then will not be at a lost when discussing the tech topics (e.g. inverse square law, power, energy, efficiency, etc.). This will add some more "depth", if I may say so, or variety, color or whatever you may call it. You may also then be able to respond better to the tech guys who are giving you feedback and to your listeners in general, which I believe a lot of them are tech guys.
Just a suggestion. As it is, you are doing fine. Keep it up!
John M
I prepared the transcription posted on http://www.TheEEStory.com . I live 2 towns over from Sudbury, MA.
Mr. Weir says it is June and he is putting together pre-production EESUs.
It's fairly apparent, if you follow the EEStor / ZENN saga, that this leaked audio of Dick Weir was in relation to ZENN's recent equity offering. Part of the selling of their CDN $9.275M stock issue, which was completed on July 14'th.
In addition, he points out the fastest ramp up customer he has is probably LightEV - the owner of the rights for 2 and 3 wheeled vehicles. The reason being almost no regulation / certification, in that market, as opposed to, for example, the auto industry.
You didn't mention he named the power circuitry company, Polarity, in California. Doing work for EEStor and ZENN, and apparently others (LEV?)
In addition, you didn't mention his discussion of having been working with UL, for 3 years, in preparation for getting UL Approval. Something that would likely be more than sufficient, for many markets. Such as the e-bike market.
The biggest shoe waiting to be dropped is ED (Energy Density).
If/when publicly certified / verified, it would be the end of doubt that EEStor is real.
Tom Weir, President of EEStor, said that would happen by September.
Keep your fingers crossed. :)
Anon Ymous thanks for the transcript. I enjoyed reading it very very sloooowly. The techies on eestory confirm that Dick is talking the right capacitor talk. It is unclear about the power to weight ratio like you said. Dick seems to be saying that he sees no barriers to implementation of preproduction models. Not surprising since it is his invention, but it doesn't mean their won't be any. He seemed to soft sell the cost and difficulty of assembly. And he didn't say he had a working model yet. Maybe that will be his next announcement. Do capacitors charge and discharge instantaneously like a battery? If you believe the spec sheet floating around then energy density is phenomenal. It would be the power of the Tesla battery in 2 cubic feet and 250 pounds.
I am still prepared to be disappointed...ha the ev world and dating have a lot in common.
Fred
Welcome back from Italy Bo;-)
Wireless electricity from Witricity - Beyond the safety issues, I can think of two other issues. One, how fast can this recharge a vehicle. I would guess not very fast. Second, and perhaps more important, how much efficiency do you lose- how much electrical energy do you sacrifice to transport it wirelessly? Lacking Rick's more precise understanding, my guess is too much, however. Still, those guys from MIT are pretty smart, so this may be something to watch at least. Hopefully, y'all can get an interview. Their web site:
http://www.witricitypower.com/
The Dick Weir Interview. Wow. Still, as optimistic as I am about EEStor, I would continue to take a wait and see attitude, especially if this interview was an optimistic point of view given to potential investors- even if he means to deliver the prototypes by the end of the year, there may still be barriers that can, and probably will given the new technologies involved, pop up. As I have posted elsewhere, this is still a high risk, high reward type of venture- but if I had a spare million to lose, I would invest in a heartbeat;-)
Oh no! My sentences tend to end on an up inflection! Maybe I'm part Canadian!!
For cars, Craigslist is better than EBAY- which I have used for other things, especially for computer parts. I think the 'sell the Volt on EBAY' is just a GM brainstorming idea- don't see it happening.
The 10 minute charge will mostly work- as you pointed out Bo, you are going to charge up your car at night for all of your in-town driving- where you will need the quick charge is on trips. Most people on trips spend at least 10 minutes at the gas station: going to the bathroom, buying their next big gulp (so they can spend 10 minutes at the next gas station going to the bathroom), trying to find their wild children running around the parking lot releasing all the pent up energy from two hours of confined space. And not too far down the road, I bet there will be a two-minute charge for EV's.
I must agree- I do not get the Brammo- ugly:-( And let's hope someone will buy the Vectrix and rescue it.
EV world and dating parallel- very funny Fred:-) On that note, it is now past midnight- so it is Wednesday, the 29th of July- this is the 20th anniversary of my marriage to my most wonderful better half:-) How much better? She lets me stay up in the wee hours of the morning of our 20th anniversary listening the EVCast! In fact, I'm pretty sure that the gift theme for 20 years is electric transportation;-) Now where in the garage do I fit that cable car...
"FULL" Weir audio interview 38 min
http://www.4all.com/uploads/DW_Confcall_jun2009.mp3
Happy anniversary Paul! Just a correction, the WiTricity website is actually http://www.witricity.com
Several ways to transmit wireless. Laser beams can be used and do not suffer from distance squared losses. Laser power requires line of sight tracking systems. Microwaves can also be transmitted. Chances have it that Nissans inductively coupled system is not resonantly coupled. It likely wastes energy by the distance squared into free space like a transformer. Two years ago MIT students sent 60 watts 9 feet at 45 % efficiency around their bodies at resonant frequencies (Megahertz) to illuminate a 60 watt incandescent. Input 133 watts, Output 60 watts. From what I understand all objects are sensitive to a certain frequency. When you take two inductors (wound wires), seperate them say 7 feet, and send electricity through them at a certain frequency (Hertz) only objects sensitive to THAT frequency will receive energy. In this case, the designed inductors.
There are numerous problems with using radio waves or light to charge EVs. Let's start with the inverse square law.
The inverse square law applies to all parts of the electromagnetic spectrum and light is part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Its simply false that laser light is exempted from the inverse square law. Light just has a much shorter wavelength then radio waves. If you double the distance for any field from 60 Hz AC on up to X ray radiation you will have quarter the field strength. Laser light is just a small fraction of bandwidth in the visible red part of the light spectrum. An example of the Inverse square law and light in action is demonstrated by the intensity of light radiation at Mercury at 9140 watts per square meter and earth at 1370 watts per square meter. Even photographers and theatrical lighting professionals have to apply the inverse square law to determine how to postion lighting for optimal illumination of their subjects.
Then there is the need to provide enough power to get a reasonable charge time and typical charge power levels on 120 volt AC based battery chargers tend to reside around 1800 watts. If you charge a car wirelessly with that much power you're going to need to have to get permission from the FCC to use a spectrum of radio frequencies since this is not a part 15c device, (a legal unlicensed low power communications device like a WIFI router, cordless phone, garage door opener or FRS handi talkies) because it will undoubtedly cause interference to license radio services. The FCC's decision would also be subject to congressional oversight. Using the 2.4 GHz band would be especially problematic since it would interfere with wifi routers and ham radio operators. Undoubtedly any such device would have to receive an FCC id to insure that it did not interfere with licensed communication services.
The power levels used at any radio frequency at 1800 watts will undoubtedly require precautions to insure there is no long term exposure to RF radiation from the shortwave spectrum up to microwave frequencies depending upon which frequencies are selected for this device. Ham operators are required to follow guidlines when using power levels of this magnitude on shortwave frequencies and above. It would be naive to believe that it would be different for wireless EV car charging.
Lasers present their own special set of problems. Lasers, by their very nature are directed energy devices. They would require careful aiming from the source laser to the receiver. There is little margin for error and it is unlikely that the average user has the patience to put up with aiming the laser beam to the receiver on board his car. There is no suitable solar conversion panel that is ideally suited to convert laser light at exceptable efficiencies due to the laser's highly directed and focused beam of visible red spectrum light. The possiblity of permanent injury to the eyes and the body from an 1800 watt laser beam cannot be underscored enough.
Finally if such a system were developed it would have to accept excrutiatingly slow charge times due to reduced power levels to avoid interference and be heavily shielded from the user and from inteference to other legally licensed services.
Rick, from the oil capitol of the world, Houston, TX.
The Fisker Karma looks the most promising. Nissan recently joined the EV party with its Leaf electric car. EV is the future, without a doubt.
