Electric cars

I was recently reading an article on the Nissan Leaf. Being an electric only car, it needs to be plugged in unlike a hybrid, where if the batter power does deplete, the petrol engine kicks in and away you go.

The article I was reading was concentrating around the fact that you only have 100 miles, or 160 kilometres in my language, range from full charge. I would imagine this doesn't take into account aircon, playing music on the stereo, using lights. sitting in traffic, large hills and so on. Much like how fuel economy is derived with a car sitting in a giant conveyor belt and put through various "real" driving experiences. It'll be a stale test of how long the battery will last. And to be honest, I can drive 160 kms in a day quite easily. Sometimes 200 kms, which would require me to a recharging station.

And that's the crux of my post today. Recharging your electric car. The biggest issue is the infrastructure. Manufacturers are investing millions into electric cars, battery performance and life. However, when you mention charging stations, all of a sudden it sounds like a brick wall has been hit. An invisible barrier.

You mean we will have to install these charging stations everywhere? That sounds like too much effort. Yet when you think about it.... and you will once I tell you, it's not really that bad. Well, it kinda still is.... perhaps not as bad as you thought at first.

In Australia, we currently have a big debate over the roll out of a new Internet infrastructure. It's called the NBN, National Broadband Network. What it actually is, is fibre optic cables from the telephone exchange straight to your home. Bumping our currently theoretical maximum speed of 24Mbit (that's Mega bits) per second to a Japan and Korea equalling 100Mbit connection.

Meanwhile Japan is upgrading their infrastructure to go to 1Gbps (that's 1 Giga bit per second). If that means nothing to you, picture yourself doing 100 miles and hour (160 km/h). Now imagine yourself doing 1000 miles and hour (1600 km/h). It's a significant increase. And will aid our country in keeping up with the rest of the planet who are already on this technology because in a sad but honest way, the Internet and connectivity as a whole is where our future is. The world will continue to get smaller.

Now, the debate with the NBN is if our country really needs it. Or do we keep using the old infrastructure, which consists of copper telephone lines which have corroded since their installation back in 1948?

Much in the same way, we keep saying that charging stations are going to cost an arm and a leg to set up in every country, every state of that country, every city of that state, every suburb of that city and every home in that suburb. But it's imperative. It must be done in order to support our future mode of personal transport, the electric car, which sadly still has a dismal range before it needs charging, which means it won't be popular in Australia, because your next door neighbour can be 50 km in that direction, and your battery isn't going to last the drive home unless your neighbour gives you a couple of hours charging time as well as that sugar you drove all the way there for.

And do you seriously see a charging station in the middle of the Stuart Hwy? There are parts of that road that roadkill avoids.

But I'm here to shed a positive light on the charging station.

When countries started to develop, and I'm thinking Industrial Revolution here. They created infrastructure because it was needed. The cost was important, but it took a back seat because it was needed. Rail systems. They were needed. Yet when our government speaks of additional tracks on our current rail system. It costs us as tax payers billions of dollars. Yet, back then, it cost us, the general public nothing, because people found investors. And investors knew, it had to be done.

Power lines are just as new, if not newer than the rail system. Think of how much power lines cover the country. That's a lot of work. A lot of money. But guess what? It had to be done in order for everyone to have affordable power to their homes.

Infrastructure shouldn't have a cost associated with it. It shouldn't have a price tage to help determine if it's worth it or not. It should just be done because it will benefit. Charging stations will benefit electric car owners because they'll have convenient locations to top up their charge. As convenient as a petrol station is now.

If however, you find one every 10 kilometres in built up suburban areas, then there will be issues. Sure you can charge at home, but that's not really convenient when you're already out and about. You want to return home, and not have to head out again.

What happens when there's a black out? Brown out? Electrical storm? Surges?

Sorry, I just thought of that while I was thinking of all the positive aspects.

I really want to see a good electric car. One that will get me from Sydney to Melbourne on one charge just like my diesel car can now, on $45 dollars worth of fuel. That's 1100 kms and 13 hours of driving.

When will this likely happen? Maybe by 2040. The way manufacturers are currently claiming battery life, they're saying that 160 km is normal now. By 2015 they are expecting maybe 190 km per charge.

Maybe I'm asking for too much, I'm being too harsh on the chemists who are playing with the chemicals used to make battery technology improve. Maybe too many people have been nice to them for too long and they're too comfortable in their cushy labs. Maybe someone needs to light a fire under their arses and get things cooking.

I'll let the early adopters buy the first, second and maybe third generation electric cars. I'll wait until I can genuinely replace my diesel with electric power that can last 13 hours of driving. Not one hour.

YAY! Steam engines are back!

I hope so anyway. When you look at the design of a steam engine, it has to be one of the best man-made things to exist. Unfortunately, due to progress and lack of environmental consciousness, combustion engines took over and steam died.

Now they might be back, and I'm really excited if this takes off.

Take a look here at what this guy talks about with the engine. It's a bit of information overload but if you're mechanically minded, you'll get it.

I went to the website to have a look for more information. Much of it is repeated from the video but there are pretty pictures and a bit more background.

Steam engines are good because they have 100% torque from the start. This design reduces reliance on fossil fuels while still utilising a small amount for heat production. The system's Ace of spades is that much like your refrigerator, it's a closed loop system that requires little to no maintenance. The water that's heated for propulsion is recycled from vapour back into water and used to not only propel the vehicle its powering, but to lubricate the moving parts in the engine.

I think it's back to basics, it's simple. It's efficient, well, more efficient than a petrol otto cycle engine. The heat it produces isn't wasted, it's actually used for forward motion. The high levels of torque eliminate a gear box with multiple forward gears so only forward and neutral is needed. For reverse, the engine can turn the other direction.

It's brilliant. I love it. I want to see it in action.

It cost how much?

Over the last few years there have been a lot of buzz words zooming around in the media, on the web and in your face, just like in this entry today. I'm going to use as many buzz words as I can to see if it actually works. What am I talking about? Sustainability.

It's become one of those cool things people talk about. But the sad truth is, it's pretty much out of reach for most Australian's. Why so?

Firstly, most of us have full time jobs and can't really be expected to come home to attend to our veggie patch... keeping in mind that a patch big enough to sustain you year round will have to be massive and constantly looked after.

Fine, you say. What about your water? Sure, there are those water storage tank shops that have sprung up all over Sydney. They're not cheap and neither is the installation. Speaking of cheap... Solar panels are not, and you would be silly not to think about installing the and supplementing them with a couple of nice neighbour friendly windmills because it's generally windy when it's cloudy.

Earlier this year the Australian Government announced and implemented a cashback scheme for anyone purchasing solar technology for their homes. We're not talking a few hundred dollars either. We're talking thousands and on most occasions, tens of thousands of dollars to install. So when the Government implemented this extraordinary scheme guess what happened?

Solar panel installation prices went up.

What happened when the scheme was shutdown due to its significant popularity thank to sucking the Government dry? Solar installations went back down in price by a significant amount of money.

So, were customers who took advantage of the scheme taken advantage of? I would say yes. Much in the same way flat panel television sets went up in price when the Government announced the $900 rebate they handed out to every one, including dead people.

I have an inkling suspicion that everyone, deep down wants to be more sustainable and more considerate towards the environment. But how can anyone be expected to obtain a large enough solar panel array to support their household's electronics?

How is anyone expected to be able to afford the technology that has been around for a very long time now and should be expected to have significant reductions in costs?

Most technologically advanced devices get cheaper over time due to the simple fact that it gets cheaper to manufacture and market saturation. Since it isn't cheap, the market isn't taking it up, if the market doesn't take it up, the price stays up.

Talk about a double edged sword.

As a child I remember watching that brilliant show called Beyond 2000. Sadly most, if not all the things they showed haven't actually been invented. However, solar panels were shown on the show. I constantly hear and read about advances in solar panels, bringing up their efficiency and bringing down their price by a significant portion.

The verdict? I haven't seen them yet. And believe me, I've been looking. I'm looking because I am planning on building a new house soon and I want it to be as green as possible. Since I run my own server in my business from home, it's a device that's always on and I'd like to have it powered off the grid. Infact, I'd like to invest a great deal of time into making sure my house relies on the grid as much as possible. I know that it may be impossible to have it completely off the grid. But I want to have the least amount of reliance as possible.

This goes for water too. I plan on installing some large tanks, probably underground for water storage.

I'm open to hear about any other alternative energy suggestions you may have for a house in the suburbs of South West Sydney.