Abstract :
Electric (battery-powered) automobiles continue to be an elusive practicality. This paper discusses the main reason for the disappointment, namely, the effort to build high performance into an electric car that can travel a long distance before the batteries are depleted, an objective that is inherently impossible with today´s battery technology. However, with an infrastructure of electric outlets for charging EV batteries where cars are normally parked, electric automobiles could be introduced rapidly into the population of automobiles with existing technology. The key to the practicality of EVs is to design for the fact that most usage of road vehicles, except buses, taxis and long-haul trucks, is for short trips. When the EV is not being used, the batteries could be charged (a process called biberonnage), if there were networks of electric outlets where vehicles are normally parked. This subject is discussed qualitatively and quantitatively. Examples are given of experimental charging when the EV is not in use, where ranges of 160 km or more per day were obtained. The paper also shows that in most applications of the use of any car, the intervals between the vehicle actually being driven is more than 1/2 hour. This represents an interval long enough to charge the lead batteries sufficiently to drive the EV over 130 km per day. The problem of making EVs practical is political, not economic nor technical.
