Miracle Capacitor for Elec. Car or Hoax

[BobRip]

When it sounds 'too good to be true', it must be 'too good to be true'. Three mils investment is extremely small regarding that type of products. There exist too many real world problems for that technology to be implimented in a working car as a reliable power source.

You're probably right, but I hope not. This would be a great boon to mankind. I have read some articles earlier on that nano particles could make a super cap 10 times better. Maybe it's real.
On the other hand I have found what Edison said to be very true ("If your are talking about batteries, then you are lying") most of the time.

 

[cp1969]

The only time my power company cuts me a break is in the winter, and that is because I have a heat pump. It doesn't care if it's night or not--I pay the same.

Anybody calculate the amperage to recharge this critter in 5 minutes?

 

[BobRip]

The only time my power company cuts me a break is in the winter, and that is because I have a heat pump. It doesn't care if it's night or not--I pay the same.

Anybody calculate the amperage to recharge this critter in 5 minutes?

I have a friend in Tennesse who gets a low rate at night for electric heat with thermal storage. I have seen this in Germany also.

Anyway the current would be about 1600 amps. That's a lot but take 20 minutes and that's 400 amps. My house has that much current available.
30 Kilowatt hours/220 volts = 136 amps to charge in one hour
Multiply by 12 = 1636 amps. I think this is only needed when on the road. At home I think you could normally take an hour or eight.

 

[cp1969]

I'm curious as to how you arrived at your figures and what assumptions you had to make.

I did it using a 50mpg car as the baseline power requirement and got something like 7200 amps for 5 minutes to recharge. I think I assumed a 100V battery in the car.

 

[MossRoad]

Hmm.. amperage is amperage. if the cap stores enough charge to do those 500 miles.. then that 5 minute flash charge must be hooked to a pretty hefty dc supply rail.. Not you average house electrical outlet..

I'm not saying bunk.. but I wouldn't hold my breath just yet..

Soundguy

Hee, hee. Just take your arc welder out and clamp it to the "charge recepticle" on the car!

 

[Soundguy]

When it sounds 'too good to be true', it must be 'too good to be true'. Three mils investment is extremely small regarding that type of products. There exist too many real world problems for that technology to be implimented in a working car as a reliable power source.

I guess you'd need LED headlamps!! ( and tail lamps too.)

Soundguy

 

[Soundguy]

Hee, hee. Just take your arc welder out and clamp it to the "charge recepticle" on the car!

Might have to have a big industrial one.. or 2-3 of them laying around so that when one hits it thermal cutout you can kick another on.. and so on.

Might even need a solar cell on your roof helping out too.. plus wind generators.. and then you'd still probably lack some!!

Soundguy

 

[Tom_H]

IF the thing actually did pan out, I'd expect to see "charging stations" spring up similar to gas stations. That infrastructure would be easier to build than setting individual houses up to flash charge. You might be able to slow charge at home overnight and flash charge at a charging station while out on a long trip.

 

[jdbower]

I'm actually thinking that having a second slow-charge device as a sort of docking station could also help. In essence this thing would charge 24x7 off standard AC and be able to give off a flash charge in 10 minutes - or when some little kid sticks a fork in there.

Note that all the cars seem to be fantasy - they're just pitching the ultra-cap. 500 miles per charge could be a car loaded with these things while the 10 minute charge could be another mythical car that's only designed for a 10-minute drive. I also question the concept that cars are bursty - I do a lot of bursty local driving but my wife's commute is all steady highway driving.

 

[BobRip]

I'm curious as to how you arrived at your figures and what assumptions you had to make.

I did it using a 50mpg car as the baseline power requirement and got something like 7200 amps for 5 minutes to recharge. I think I assumed a 100V battery in the car.

I used a 30 Kilowatt hour battery (I think that was mentioned in the news article). I figured on using a 220 volt circuit. This charger in the car would convert it to whatever the battery needed. To get the current you divided the watts by volts (Amps = Watts/volts). So 30,000/220 = 136.36 amps. This is the current to charge in one hour. To get five minutes 60/5 = 12. So you need 12 times the current = 1636 amps. I don't know that the 20 Kilowaty hour battery is enough. Seems kinda low. At 60 miles and hour youl would drive for 8.33 hours, which means you would use 3.6 kilowatts to maintain speed. That's 4.8 horsepower. I am assuming 100% efficiency, which is impossible of course, so actaul current would be higher. I am just trying to get a rough idea, to check for credibility. Even at only 1636 amps, the wiring and charging circuit would be very large and I doubt that they would build that.