Tesla-Powered Cobra Racer

[olddog]

The following is assuming 100% efficiency, for simplicity.

Ok let's assume it takes about 15 KwH to move a light car 75 miles - I'm being generous.

The goal is a 600 mile range.

600 mile / 75 miles * 15 KwH = 120 KwH

Recharge in 30 minutes or 0.5 hr.

Charging rate is 120 KwH / 1/2 H = 240 Kw.

Normal house hold power in America is single phase 240 volts.

W = E * I

240,000 W / 240 volts = 1000 amp.

So to charge your battery in 30 minutes with the most common power in this country, you need a 240 volt 1000 amp charger.

Most people have 200 amp service or less. Hmm.

Ok let's go to 480 volt 3 phase power.

1000 amp / 2 / 1.73 (square root of 3 for 3 phase)= 166.7 amp.

Now let's get real, a typical gas station has a dozen pumps. Let's say I can fill a gasoline car in 5 minutes and an electric takes 30 minutes. So to handle the same volume of cars, I need to be able to charge 6 times as many electric cars. So I need to be able to charge 72 cars, at a time, to handle the same volume of electric cars as gasoline cars. So, I need to build a 12000 amp 480 volt 3 phase electrical station.

Clearly I need to invest well over a million dollars to build this charging station. Any buisnes man wants a 3 year return on investment. So how much of a premium are you willing to pay me above the cost of electricity to make it worth my time to invest in this charging station you want some one to build for you???? And we would need millions of these charging stations. The power grid will need to be more than doubled and the power plants too.

Today we pay about a 65 cent tax on a gallon of gasoline to support highways and bridges. Electric cars have gotten a free ride. The cost to maintain this infrastructure is not going to go away and the Electric cars will have to pay that as well. So add 2 or 3 cents per mile for the highway up keep.

I am not closed minded, at all. I have fact checked the wild blue sky assumptions from the people who closed minded believe this is the way of the future. On what facts do these people believe we will be able to charge a battery in 5 min or 30 min or an hour?
Based on what? What is the advantage to making this change? In the end we still have to generate the power. It is not a clean energy solution.

The technology of electric cars has existed almost as long as the internal combustion engine. It is not new. What irritates me is people want to use my tax dollars to prop up and make viable a technology that no one will invest in on their own.