Comments on: Are Lithium Air Batteries the Future of Electric Vehicles?

By: BOB THE BUILDER

BOB THE BUILDER — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:03:59 +0000

YA BUDDY

By: M.O.R.T.

M.O.R.T. — Fri, 21 May 2010 02:22:59 +0000

It is very little that will give the government, this is something which would have to invest hundreds of millions, and not just in America, if not in the whole world!…

By: ex-EV1 driver

ex-EV1 driver — Thu, 20 May 2010 04:30:24 +0000

Sharky,
Its definitely the unicorn dust you speak of, however, there at least might be a payoff with these technologies:
Don't you think that broke people might be better off if their cost of living was less impacted by those who control oil prices?

By: caffeinekid

caffeinekid — Thu, 20 May 2010 00:29:04 +0000

Are all of these government grants being made from real money, or are they the product of unicorn dust like the rest of the $13trillion in US insolvency?

I am not sure that any of these technologies are of any use if so many people are broke and have such limited employment prospects as they are pitted against a hungry 3rd world. What ever happened to Ford's vision?

By: oldevguy

oldevguy — Tue, 18 May 2010 03:30:41 +0000

mis21,
The Volt is programed to start the ICE on a regular bases to keep the gaskets in good shape and insure the engines many systems stay healthy.
That is why I'm going for the Leaf. Why carry all that weight, engine, transmission, and gas tank, around when you really don't want to use them.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 18 May 2010 02:33:16 +0000

sounds like this would need air supply which results in some sort of emission?

By: mls21

mls21 — Tue, 18 May 2010 00:49:56 +0000

CBDunkerson your comment about the Volt got me thinking about something I hadn’t come across before. Perhaps it has been raised already on this site, but just in case: what if you are a person who buys the Volt and drives it almost exclusively around town on short hops (electric motor only) and then charges it up at night? If you were to leave gasoline in the tank for an extended period of time is there a way to force the car to run the gas motor to make sure the gas doesn’t go bad in your tank?

Sorry to raise this question about the Volt in an article about the Nissan Leaf. The Leaf is awesome

By: Samie

Samie — Mon, 17 May 2010 20:43:49 +0000

The first time I heard of this was from Bruce (The Great) a few years ago on this site. Good idea as long as we don't get into the nightmares of patent hogging like the NiMh battery technology from the EV past.

It should be a no brainier but as with anything and everything technological, someone will always try to gobble up most of the Li air battery patents. Corporate Entities, Universities, Politicians, and Bureaucrats need to balance rewarding those who take risk in developing new battery technologies with the real threat of those who are always wanting to deliberately control technology and its distribution.

By: 4r4nd0mninj4

4r4nd0mninj4 — Mon, 17 May 2010 20:07:15 +0000

If you are going to drive around with a near-empty tank you may as well take the whole range-extender and drop it on a trailer. That way you just have to hook it up when you need it and you are not carrying around extra weight. I have seen a few of these in the works on various sites, but it would be nice to just rent one from say Budget or U-Haul for when ever you need more than 80-100mile range. The nice thing about so many EV’s and PHEV’s coming out is that there is something for just about everyone, and with firmware, and battery upgrades, the car you buy today can only get better the longer you own it.

By: CBDunkerson

CBDunkerson — Mon, 17 May 2010 18:21:57 +0000

A 500 mile all-electric range would be great… but really if they could just make a Volt or Karma style ‘electric with gas backup’ with 80 or 100 mile electric range (as opposed to the current 40 / 50) and the backup gasoline engine that’d be fine by me. With that kind of configuration I could leave the gas tank EMPTY except for the handful of times a year I drive more than 60 miles in a day. The technology obviously exists now… as can be seen from the 100 mile electric Leaf or the 225 mile electric Tesla Roadster. Unfortunately, NONE of the cars coming out seem to have this ‘enough electric range to leave the gas tank empty 95% of the time’ mentality… they all assume you’ll be driving around with gas in the tank all the time and just use it less than currently.