The speed of race horses and human athletes has plateaued for decades. Any gains are fractions of a percent and are made at great cost . Like it or not there are also limits on batteries . There are no appreciable gains in rectifiers, inverters, conductors and motors . No worthwhile gains in aerodynamics if the vehicle is still supposed to meet the regulations for safety, lights and seating of humans.
I have long noticed that cars and small "SUVs" pretty much look the same. There is really no difference in how they look. See a variety of similar sized card stopped in traffic and only very subtle styling cues differentiate the vehicles/brands. Given that the care makers have the same performance requirements, aka, mpg regulations, they must all be of a similar weight, size, and aerodynamic shape.
The gains to be made in Lithium batteries is not in capacity, size, weight, etc but in cost. Lithium based batteries are falling in price and that will be the game changer for many, but not all, applications.
We want to buy a boat and travel. One of the big issues on boats is the house battery system. With wind generators and solar, one can generate a fair amount of power, but the problem is holding that power. Lead acid batteries are heavy, troublesome and have a limited life span and thus, an ongoing expense. LiFePo batteries are the game changer. For the house battery size we might need, it would take 10/12 batteries weighing almost a ton and costing about $10,000. A LiFePo house bank, with the same usable power capacity would only require four batteries weighing 500 pounds but would cost about $21,000. :shocked:
BUT, the higher INITIAL cost of LiFePo is a red herring, well, as long as one could afford the initial cost, because the long term cost of LiFePo is MUCH less than lead acid batteries. The per cycle cost of LiFePo would be about $10 but lead acid would be around $50! :shocked:
The problem with power usage on a boat, or a house, is the HVAC, fridge, freezer, water heater, clothes dryer and dishwasher. Now many/most boats do not have HVAC, or an electric water heater, clothes washer much less a dryer, or a dishwasher. The boats that do have some/all of these power hugs are almost exclusively having to run power from shore or a generator. There are some boats using higher capacity lead acid traction batteries, and maybe some with LiFePo, running some of these loads off of batteries but they are a minority. For now. As the cost of LiFePo batteries falls, one can install a huge battery banks that could run most of these power hogs without strain. HVAC and the clothes dryer being the more problematic power hogs.
The same power usage on boats apply to a house but if one had solar panels and LiFePo batteries one could have most of the house running off solar without an issue. The big power loads of HVAC, hot water generation and the clothes dryer could be met with the grid connection. If on lost power one could still function without too much inconvenience with the solar power via the LiFePo batteries.
As LiFePo costs drop, this stuff becomes more financially possible. If a new technology appears that allows one to store power it will have to beat lead acid and lithium batteries money wise to go anywhere in the market. Right now, most boats are still using lead acid for a variety of reasons but mostly because they are a known quantity and cheaper up front. Any new power storage technology has to make money sense, i.e., be cheaper than the alternatives.
Later,
Dan
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