This is my second article about Shai Agassi but I think it gives more information than the first one, and it is clear that he has made even more progress in developing charging stations for electric cars. I didn't think it would be possible to make such significant changes and in only 2 and a half years!
I think it is interesting that he has two separate strategies for charging electric cars. For day-to-day commuting usage, charging does seem more desire able. It would be convenient if everybody had a garage with a charging station but a lot of people don't have garages. This probably will not be an issue because people could run charging cables from their houses to their driveways. In a city, the chargers could be attached to or coming out of the parking meters.
When driving over 100 miles, Agassi predicts battery switching stations will be necessary. I wonder if this means they will only be located on busy highways. If most people are charging at their home, their work, or retail stores, there may not be very many battery swtiching stations. This may be a problem on busy holiday weekends when many people are driving long distances.
I also thought the thing about teenagers unplugging everybody was pretty funny.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Electric Cars for All! (No, Really This Time) (11)
This article was at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/19/technology/personaltech/19pogue-email.html?adxnnl=1&pagewanted=4&adxnnlx=1237492803-IV9cQ/erklwloS1W7JWFZg.
This is my second article about Shai Agassi. This article is actually an interview of his revolutionary plan to make cheap electric charging stations across the globe. He says that charge spots "will be everywhere, like parking meters, only instead of taking money from you when you park, they give you electrons. And they will be at home, they'll be at work, they'll be at downtown and retail centers." He compares the process to buying cell phone minutes.
"We sell miles, the way that AT&T sells you minutes. They buy bandwidth and they translate into minutes. We buy batteries and clean electrons--we only buy electrons that come from renewable sources--and we translate that into miles."
He says that this will cover any typical drive that is less than 100 miles. For long distance drives he explained his switch stations again.
"You want to go from Boston to New York. And so on the way, we have what we call switch stations: lanes inside gas stations. You go into the switch station, your depleted battery comes out, a full battery comes in, and you keep driving. It takes you about two, three minutes--less than filling with gasoline--and you can keep on going."
Agassi has already made progress in Israel, Denmark, Australia and Hawaii. He is even going to Ontario, the capital of cars in north America. He said, "It's about 2 and a half years of testing, from now till the mass release...For a transformation of this magnitude, it's immensely fast."
The charging stations will cost from $250 to $300 to install in a garage. A regular plug would work just as well but in the long run Agassi's station will save money because it pre-pays for the electricity and only charges customers for the miles.
When asked, "How do you stop teenagers from just walking by and unplugging everybody?"
Agassi replied, "No, you can't just plug it out. You need your keychain...It has a mechanism in there to avoid vandalism."
This is my second article about Shai Agassi. This article is actually an interview of his revolutionary plan to make cheap electric charging stations across the globe. He says that charge spots "will be everywhere, like parking meters, only instead of taking money from you when you park, they give you electrons. And they will be at home, they'll be at work, they'll be at downtown and retail centers." He compares the process to buying cell phone minutes.
"We sell miles, the way that AT&T sells you minutes. They buy bandwidth and they translate into minutes. We buy batteries and clean electrons--we only buy electrons that come from renewable sources--and we translate that into miles."
He says that this will cover any typical drive that is less than 100 miles. For long distance drives he explained his switch stations again.
"You want to go from Boston to New York. And so on the way, we have what we call switch stations: lanes inside gas stations. You go into the switch station, your depleted battery comes out, a full battery comes in, and you keep driving. It takes you about two, three minutes--less than filling with gasoline--and you can keep on going."
Agassi has already made progress in Israel, Denmark, Australia and Hawaii. He is even going to Ontario, the capital of cars in north America. He said, "It's about 2 and a half years of testing, from now till the mass release...For a transformation of this magnitude, it's immensely fast."
The charging stations will cost from $250 to $300 to install in a garage. A regular plug would work just as well but in the long run Agassi's station will save money because it pre-pays for the electricity and only charges customers for the miles.
When asked, "How do you stop teenagers from just walking by and unplugging everybody?"
Agassi replied, "No, you can't just plug it out. You need your keychain...It has a mechanism in there to avoid vandalism."
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