Video: MIT working on rapid recharging for electric vehicles

MIT's electric vehicle prototype may be a long way off from being completed, but if we let that stop us from discussing EVs, we might never talk about them. The headline ambition of the elEVen project is a full recharge within 10 minutes, which would eliminate somewhere between four and ten hours of waiting. Speedwise, the Electric Vehicle Team is aiming for a 100 mph top speed from a 250-horsepower / 187 kilowatt AC induction motor, and a not unheard of 200-mile cruising range. To achieve their rapid juicing aim, the students will strap 7,905 lithium iron-phosphate cell batteries from A123Systems to a gutted 2010 Mercury Milan Hybrid body. The batteries' low internal resistance is what makes things possible, but further hurdles, such as finding a sufficiently powerful energy source, would have to be overcome before any sort of widespread use may occur. Video after the break.

[Via PC World]

[tmarks11 Posted Jul 23rd 2009 12:12PM]

And of course, when working with acceleration and friction calculations, with the English system you have to remember to throw in that crazy g-m conversion constant.... never have that problem with SI.

If you ask the engineers and scientists to do calculations, 99.9% will prefer to do it in SI. the other 0.1% are just lying or incompetant.

What is SI? International System of Units. What was called "metric" when I was a kid.

[therealmusashi Posted Jul 23rd 2009 1:12PM]

Aw dammit, someone let these greenwashed clowns ruin a classic Porsche 914. Can't they ruin something less rare? Like a Fiero or something? Sheesh.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 23rd 2009 1:20PM]

Must be nice to be MIT, $150k in battery cells donated to them by A123. How sad would it be if a college develops a better electric car than major car companies (which is most likely to happen because there are no politics at a college, just straight development).

[trois Posted Jul 23rd 2009 2:00PM]

LOL, no politics. It would seem to me that the clear winner here is manufacturing, who save millions by getting ambitious college kids to do their R&D. no politics at college, indeed

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 23rd 2009 4:33PM]

This is interesting, reminds me of another project I saw from the University of Ontario (http://www.uoit.ca/ecocar) where they are converting a 2009 Saturn Vue into a Full Function Electric Vehicle with a range of about 400 km.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 23rd 2009 4:42PM]

Electric cars are not really worth going for to be honest. I mean the get a perfect tech and solve the recharing is an issue but for now u be banging out power from power station so whats the point? of switching to power when u going to increase the power of power stations?

Hydrogen cars atm too me makes the most sense. I mean we have them out already and all we need is more gas station holding this points so people refuel there cars. I can't remember but I think Norway is pushing for this and opening more points. Funny thing is Oil company I think are the ones going to provide this any way.

So the comment about oil company's paying Top Gear to make it look bad just a moron who doesn't really watch Top Gear. Top Gear pointed out the good about electric cars but just showing the limits of the car etc.

Another thing! Infrastructure is an issue but Government will need to lead this to encourage people and company's to change there ways. Otherwise no one else will and we just have high gas prices all the time. So all we have to do is build a infrastructure for the Hydrogen cars and I sure we get there sooner. For now I think we are way off for Electric as we have issues with battery's and recharging.

[rj7855 Posted Jul 24th 2009 3:53AM]

Electric cars DO make sense or at least as much as Hydrogen cars. Both can be used with wind or solar power (Electrolysis of water provides Hydrogen and Oxygen) Many Hydrogen cars actually use the hydrogen to produce electricity to power the (electric) motor. A combination of batteries and hydrogen would even more interesting. hydrogen for long distance and fast refueling, batteries for storing energy for immediate availability (instant start, power boost, storing energy from braking.... hey why not cover the roof of the car with solar cells so it top up while it´s parked)

If I had the money I would already bought an electric car, for me the tech would already be usable; I drive 20Km each time between home and work, that boils down to 200km/week (124 miles/week for non metric people) so a 200mile per charge vehicle would be more than sufficient for me

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 24th 2009 8:13AM]

When will an "on-demand" power grif be developed? A good bit of the energy sources ( coal, gas electric etc) for electricity generation are wastes. Any electric use shoul be calculated in the BTUs ( sorry for the Imperial measurement) use to create each K-watt. When electricity goes on the grid and goes unused. its wasted. I like the idea of battery replacement stations which continually charge and thus store energy from the pwoer grid. Then, with a rapid battery replacement, vehciles woul not need to be "charged" while waiting. The battery cartridge supplier woul update the batteries as they age and users would get teh freshest batteries possible. For home use, two sets of batteies would be used. Every electric vehcile shoul be required to have a "solar skin" to constantly trickle-charge the batteries. IMHO

[JDam4131 Posted Jul 24th 2009 10:26AM]

bloody brilliant

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 25th 2009 1:42AM]

Makes me miss my 914. That would be a good car for turning into an electric one - trunks in front and back to hold batteries, decent engine compartment underneath.

Having no exhaust pipes would freak people out a bit too, along with lack of that VW-bug-like sound.