tireman63

Rapid Transition to Grid Enabled Vehicles Not Possible or Desirable

The Saturday Houston Chronicle reported the recent visit to Warren Buffett by a group of Rice University grad students. Buffett told them we will have all-electric cars in twenty years. I remember reading that gasoline engines replaced the electrics in the early 1900s due to the invention of the self starter and the widespread availability of cheap oil. As JP would put it, these were advances in physics (mechanics?) and geology. I wonder what fantastic improvements are in the wings on battery technology. Somehow, I still foresee that piston engines will not all be gone when I near the century mark (hopefully).

A123 vs. BYD and Other Irrational Battery Investments

I remember reading something in the WSJ years ago about paying high multiples of present earnings on the expectation of future growth. The point was that paying a premium of 3 or 4x present earnings was discounting the future. However, if you pay ten or twenty times present earnings, then you are discounting the hereafter. At 78, I am getting closer to joining the choir silent than most of your readers, so I prefer larger secure present income streams than extravagant promises. Still buying annual subscriptions to the WSJ, though. Every time I read your articles and the comments, I learn something. Keep on truckin'.

On EESAT and Energy Storage Opportunities on the Smart Grid

John, I followed Advill's next big future.com/2009 tag and then read a few of the Disqus comments. There is a fellow known as GoatGuy that has one of the most sensitive BS detectors I have ever seen. I hope you can take a look at some of his comments.

On EESAT and Energy Storage Opportunities on the Smart Grid

John,
Have you published any figures on the individual loads that either EVs or PHEVs will put on your garage at home or your workplace? A standard battery charger with a 40 amp charge rate for 12 volt systems will not overtax the standard 30 amp fused breakers. Of course,if you have to have a dedicated 220v outlet, that would be a different story.

Battery Investing for Beginners, Part 4

I met a fellow car nut from Silicon Valley who lives about 2 km from the Tesla facility. He sees these cars on a daily basis and knows several owners. I asked him about driving range, and he said the 200 mile range drops to about 60 in stop and go driving with the air conditioning. Another aha! moment, don't you think?

Welcome to the New Normal

Curious cat will probably go through several of his or her nine lives before those rosy predictions come to pass.

Toyota Tests and Rejects Lithium-Ion Batteries for the Prius

Renim's remarks about Nissan/Renault being the most electrically pro-active of the majors resonated with me. I have the greatest respect for Carlos Ghosn, which dates back to the years when he ran Michelin North America. He went as far as he could with the tire company and their top management family inbreeding, and then left for greener pastures. Both the Japanese and French car concerns are the better for it.

Toyota Tests and Rejects Lithium-Ion Batteries for the Prius

Now that Priuses (Priuii?) have been out a few years, what do we know about battery life and replacement cost? I have not seen any negative reports from Consumer Reports or anyone else. Still have to wonder how much the Japanese gov't is subsidizing the Toyota Prius. Given the tremendous (for Toyota Motor) profit loss on 2008 car sales, I don't think they are doing anything all that risky anymore.

By the way, it has been two years now since Firefly Energy won the Wall St. Journal Invention prize for technological achievement.
What is going on now, do you know? The silence is deafening.

Buy or Sell This Week's Natural Gas Rally?

On a purely local level, the natural gas storage phenomenon is responsible for the 4th Spindletop oil boom here in Beaumont. The first was the Lucas Gusher in 1901, the second with Yount-Lee Oil in 1928, the 3rd was with Texas Gulf Sulphur years later, and today with the hollowing out of the salt dome caverns for NG. It may not be as dramatic as the 1901 gusher, but the money is still welcome.

How PHEVs and EVs Will Sabotage America's Drive for Energy Independence

Fred Linn--I live in Jefferson County, Texas, where we make about 10% of the gasoline and diesel in the US. Your statement about the sulphur being refined out of crude oil entering the waste stream is false. Thee are a couple of raw sulphur companies making a good living using this refined sulphur from the refineries. The product coming from Exxon/Mobil, Valero, Motiva, and Total here is far purer than the old Frasch process used to generate from the mines in Freeport, Spindletop, and Carlsbad areas.

Forget 'Cash for Clunkers': Try 'Dough for Dumps'

Fran:

If you read the instructions to auto dealers in the"cash for clunkers" program, you will learn that the engines are filled with a sodium silicate solution and run for a minute or two until the engine seizes up. It is worthless after this, and the transmission is not allowed to be salvaged either. Uncle Sam wants the vehicle to be recycled as scrap metal, not as usable spare parts. Not too much winds up in the landfill under current recycling methods. You are right when you say hat you do not see too many scrap/salvage yards going bust.

Exciting Times as ATVM Loan and ARRA Battery Grants Announced

I wonder what DRich meant when he said "customers expect a better than 0.25% failure rates during years of service"? Does he mean that they expect a greater rate of failure than one in 400? I have not found either OE or replacement vehicle batteries to be that good. With all of the sophisticated electronics and monitoring systems in new cars, a marginal battery can set codes and do all sorts of mischief that a fully charged quality unit will not experience.

Why Lead-Carbon Batteries Will Deflate the Li-ion Bubble

I think that all of us will agree that conventional ICE will power the majority of vehicles in the US for the next five years. (you can substitute plurality if you don't like majority) That said, I do not see US auto mfgrs using anything but a conventional lead acid battery as original equipment. OE bean counters are only interested in components that will outlast the warranty periods. They do not want a 100,000 mile battery any more than the tire companies want a 100,000 mile treadwear tire. In fact, the radial tires currently supplied by Michelin do not deliver the same mileage as the units originally introduced in the 70's. The belt package has been modified, along with the aspect ratio, and the tread wear rate has gone up, not down. Incidentally, do the PbC batteries lose as much cranking power at low temperatures as the conventional types? I understand that the new units are more resistant to overcharge and elevated temperature damage, and that they can be recharged at a higher rate. I do not know about zero degree cranking power loss. What can you tell us about that drawback to conventional lead-acid units?

Cash for Clunkers May Cost Up to $45,354 Per Vehicle

Won't someone please tell KMF his story will not hold water. If each man gave the room clerk ten dollar bills and he refunded a single dollar to each, then the cash register had $27 in it. If he kept $2, then the cash drawer would be down to $25. A second grader would know that.

Two U.K. Bank Sinkholes

BOUGHT RBS LAST YEAR--MUST HAVE A FECALITH IN MY CIRCLE OF WILLIS