Posted by: Lynne Bly in transportation, electric cars, driving, clean cars on May 14, 2009
Dusting off the crystal ball, it looks as though we'll have electric vehicles coming to market in the next few years. Some require owners to plug in the vehicle for battery recharging - either at home, work, or at publicly accessible charging stations like those recently installed in San Jose California. (Here's a link to a related story and photos; scroll down to the January 14 entry.)
Others are working toward a system based on a "filling station" model. Drivers arrive, have their depleted battery swapped for a fully charged unit, and then go on their way. Better Place has released a video of its demonstration battery swapping station. Elapsed time was about 1.5 minutes (faster than a typical stop for a tank of gas).
Then again, why bother with a battery swap if you can just run your car on air? Compressed air-powered vehicles are in the works too!
