Nanosolar Blog Entry: "Going All-Electric"

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.nanosolar.com/blog3/

Going All-Electric

August 7, 2008
By Martin Roscheisen, CEO

The following is one of my favorite charts: A comparison of the distance a car can drive based on either of the following forms of energy, each produced on 100m x 100m of land (2.5 acres):

How come that biofuel does not really cut it? Electric cars are about four times more energy efficient than fuel based cars, no matter whether they are based on biofuel or other fuel. This is because any fuel engine mostly creates heat and thus wastes the majority of the available energy units. Combine this with plants not being very efficient solar energy harvesters relative to semiconductor based solar electricity, and the result is this huge difference.

In other words, it is clear that if the goal is to maximize energy efficiency, the end point to go after is all-electric cars everywhere. Moving all of transportation to all-electric would essentially cut in half our overall energy consumption while delivering the same distance.

I for one have vowed that the Prius I bought six years ago will have been the last fuel powered car I’d buy in my life. (Given that I may very well own the highest-mileage Prius on the planet, this probably reflects my confidence in the quality of this vehicle and the near-term readiness of electric car technology…) Presently, it is baking in the sun all day while I’m at work. My future all-electric car would charge up while idling under a solar carport.

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

1. Ahh now something really important posted on DU, thank you !

[kristopher]

2. It's important to make the distinction

It's important to make the distinction between transportation sectors. Personal transportation needs to go electric. I don't think we have a substitute yet for the energy density of liquid fuels in the area of commercial transport and heavy hauling. We need biofuels for those sectors.

[lumberjack_jeff]

3. A VW tdi bug can go 116,000 km on an acre of algae biodiesel.

(tdi bug 40mpg. Algae lipid yield, 1800 gal/acre)

An electric car can only go the distance which the batteries will store and half the distance away from the vast overkill multi-million $ solar array.

Most people's driving pattern is to recharge at home overnight and commute to work during the day.

A residential PV array in a grid tie setup is a good idea - but the solar cells aren't really charging the car, merely "banking" the daytime excess for nighttime charging from the grid.

Don't get me wrong, I'm going to build an EV in the next year, very similar to this truck, but I'll only get a useful range of (optimistically) 40mi. Luckily it's only 15 miles to town so that should accomodate 80% of my driving needs. The other 20% requires liquid fuel.

[kristopher]

4. I didn't know VW's came with an 1800 gallon tank...

Doesn't carrying all that fuel have an effect on your mileage?

Since your point with electric seems to be the amount of energy stored in the vehicle during refueling, that is what you're saying by making that comparison in that manner, right? That the VW doesn't need to refuel...?

Current generation EVs are expected to deliver 120-150 miles per charge; a newly introduced EV sports car (the Lightening) in England touts 200 miles on a 10 minute charge; and battery technology in the manufacturing development stage is expected to deliver 800-1000 miles per charge.

http://www.lightningcarcompany.co.uk/nanosafe.php

http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2008/january9/nanowire-010908.html (press article)

http://www.nature.com/nnano/journal/v3/n1/full/nnano.2007.411.html (original technical article)

Good luck with your home made version, it sounds like fun.

[lumberjack_jeff]

5. I see what you're saying.

My primary point is that biodiesel has a much higher yield per acre than the OP indicates. My second point is that unlike a car which is refilled with liquid fuel, the electric car is limited by its range from it's home port, (solar array, in this case) and the time required to refuel.

The battery technology required to yield 150+ mile range in a normal size car is grossly expensive. The tesla roadster appeals to a small niche. The builders aspire to eventually build a car which has broad usefulness (4 seats and a trunk), at an accessible price, but revolutionary changes are required to get them to that point.

The pickup I linked to *could* be powered with lightweight LiPO4 batteries instead of the readily available but bulky lead-acid ones, but the cost would be about 10x as much for the same KWh.

[kristopher]

7. Consider the larger picture

I agree that algae is very promising, but we are going to need all of our biofuels dedicated to the operation of large, heavy machines such as ships, aircraft, earthmoving equipment etc. Personal transportation doesn't require that kind of energy density. One question that I have is about the 1800 gallons; is that the indoor hanging bag type facility or the outdoor pond type?

Your belief that revolutionary changes are required in battery technology to make them affordable isn't correct. The industry is hampered more by rapidly advancing technology than anything else. In order to bring the price down investment in manufacturing facilities is required. With the current and predicted future price of petroleum, the biggest thing hindering that investment is, I believe, that manufacturers are reluctant to put a lot of money into a technology that will be outdated before it pays for itself. The 10X batteries are thought to be about 8 years away, for example. There is no other real obstacle to bringing the price down. I hope to see policies that will allow for very rapid depreciation of such manufacturing investment so that we can get things rolling now instead of waiting for a plateau in the development of storage.

I see your point about the solar array, but applying that only to the EV isn't really valid. With our electric grid the electricity is no more bound to the geographic spot it was produced at than is the biofuel. In fact, I'd argue it is more mobile since the infrastructure to transmit and distribute it is largely built and much less expensive to operate than trucking around liquid fuels.

I look forward to hearing of your progress on your truck; be sure and keep us posted.

[tinrobot]

6. But who is actually manufacturing algae biodiesel?

As far as I know, nobody has commercialized it quite yet. Only when they ramp up to commercial scale will they know true yields.