The Tesla battery recharges in 3 hours or less. It is a commuter vehicle.Gene DeMambro wrote:
How long would it take to recharge an all electric car's batteries? Would you relay on the kinetic energy of the car to drive a charger? Say one travels 150 or 200 miles on a road trip and makes a pit stop. How long would one wait while the car recharges to go the next leg of the trip? It might not be much of an issue for a daily commute and place to recharge overnight, but might require a paradigm shift for long range travel...which wouldn't be bad.
Just wondering.
The next generation of vehicles are "plug-in hybrids." One prototype is the GM Volt.
The idea with this type of vehicle - the next step from a hybrid - is to have the battery handle virtually all of the daily commute driving. The gas, diesel, or perhaps fuel cell engine kicks in on long trips.
As for kinetic energy... This is present day technology in a hybrid, Gene. "Regen" technology brakes a car with a generator that converts the kinetic energy to electrical energy that is stored in the battery. That energy is subsequently used in the hybrid's electrical engine.
The all-electric Tesla has regen. That helps give it a longer range on the same charge. Some of the kinetic energy is recaptured at braking, and sent right back to the battery so it can be used to get the car going again when the light turns green.
IMO, virtually all vehicles in a decade will have regen. It will be like the conversion from carburetors to fuel injection, break-point ignition to electronic ignition, or drum brakes to disk brakes. In the very near future, energy will be too expensive and precious to piss away (convert to heat) with conventional brakes.
- Bill
