New Approach to Electric Car Charging

This kind of induction power was developed in Germany about 35 years ago if I recall it right. They had a test road somewhere and it was said to be the future. Then fuel prices fell again...

http://www.pmlflightlink.com/

I have seen induction charging on other things too, like mobile phones. You just have a tray where you put it.

Here is more on this topic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inductive_charging

K1W1, if you read my link you should have found all about it....

Bertram Yacht, and likely a lot of other manufacturers, were using isolation transformers for their shorepower circuits in the larger models (46ft. +) back in the '80s.
As I understood it, they utilized the inductive transfer of electrical energy mentioned in Lars' Wiki link. The smaller models were 'hard-wired', so I'm certain this was not inexpensive.
The major benefit, per the engineers, was that this meant no more reverse polarity (remember the red & yellow lights on the main distribution panels?) to worry about.

Sorry didn't mean to toss in a non-sequitor. But just to clarify, the electric motors in the PML setup are directly in the wheels. They had a Mini Cooper as a test platform. about 200 miles on a charge, with a small gasoline motor
to charge the batteries to get a total of about 1,000 km range. 640 HP from the 4 wheel motors! Between 65-85 mpg.

Specs here:

http://www.pmlflightlink.com/pdfs/mini_qed1.pdf

My question is, can we power a boat this way?

Do you mean having Plus in the Atlantic and Minus in the Pacific and charge in the Panama Canal?





(Sorry, couldn´t resist)

Wouldn't that just make the Panama Canal the worlds largest short?

What about the bathtub murder stories then...?

This is another sterling example of how these guys use the figures to make most readers believe they have accomplished transportation miracles.

They don't say what the battery capacity is, they don't give any figures for current or voltage to the motors, they just claim this incredible performance and most readers probably, not unreasonably, assume that the claimed performance is measured just like all the other cars they have ever read about.

Given the size of the car, how many batteries do you think it could carry? Enough to provide 640 horsepower for 200 miles? Does each wheel on that little car carry the unsprung weight of a 160 hp electric motor?

Maybe 640 hp is what it takes to accelerate that car to the speed claimed in the time claimed but can the battery deliver and the motors maintain the current required for more than a few seconds at that power level before melting down?

I wish the general public had either a higher level of technical literacy or a much greater level of skepticism about the claims that are being made in this latest craze for things electrical.

All good points of course. Mitsubishi abandoned it's "motor in wheel" efforts because of weight/suspension problems. If memory serves me PML-flightlink used a LiOn battery pack similar to that of a Tesla. Volvo has developed a concept car using PML's in it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmJTsHcZMFQ

and

http://www.gizmag.com/go/7975/

Tesla specs:

http://www.teslamotors.com/performance/tech_specs.php

This thread has turned into something shocking, nay, re-volting. Conducting this further may meet with resistance and result in being locked up in a dry cell, eh watt?

Well, there shouldn't be too much reactance. Any well-grounded reader should be able to avoid the impulse to flip-flop on the issue. There is already too much distortion because of the crossover nature of the topic.

And you used all the good terms so all there is left are some low-order harmonics ...