New Airstream self powered trailer

[Mike G]

Someone needs to invent a for-real Tardis. The perfect traveling/camping vehicle, provided it has an awning of course...

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by HABBERDABBER

What if you put the electrical lines embedded into the roadbed? No dorky overhead masts needed to get a connection, no unsightly power lines to mar the view. What could go wrong?
Do the energy transfer with induction.....we charge our cell phones that way, don't we?

Clearer thinking folks than me can set me straight, I trust, with this notion.
But..........is something like this possible? Probable?

And when do I get my jetpack?

inductive power transfer over real world distances is very inefficient. and if people are freaking out over 'smartmeters' and wifi and such causing health side effects, what are they going to think about megawatts of inductive power ?

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by JeffreyG

Those roads everyone is driving on now cost insane amounts of money to build and maintain despite no mechanism to ensure each user pays exactly, to the penny, for their own usage.

I don't see why the energy in a catenary would need to be any different.

Because everyone on the road uses the road, and only a tiny fraction of vehicles on the road would use the energy from this system. And the cost of that energy is directly proportional to the use by those vehicles, unlike road construction and maintenance costs.

Originally Posted by JeffreyG

How can we pay to power all these trucks on the highway? Probably the same way we built the highway in the first place.

Imagine if you proposed changing the model for fuel delivery to giving everyone as much as they want, and paying for it all with a tax of the same amount charged to every vehicle... including electric vehicles that don't use fuel. Yeah, there's a reason that no one would seriously suggest that.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

... I grew up in San Francisco which still has a large fleet of trolley busses that use dual trolleys, and I remember wire derailments being a daily occurance, driver having to hop out, and reseat one or the other trolley pickup back on the appropriate wire. Doing this on freeways? Chaos!

Same here - that is, I didn't grow up in Edmonton but the trolley buses were still falling off the wires often when I moved here... they're long gone now. The overhead wires only work well with the vehicle following a fixed path, as a train does on a track.

On the other hand, a modern system for road use would be far more sophisticated than the old trolley buses; it would have to be capable of engaging the wires at high speed, it would only extend when properly lined up with the wires, and would automatically retract if it ran off-track. Since it would only be an optional power source for a battery-equipped vehicle, the vehicle would continue to drive normally after leaving the lane; it would not be stranded like the trolleys.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

Imagine if you proposed changing the model for fuel delivery to giving everyone as much as they want, and paying for it all with a tax of the same amount charged to every vehicle... including electric vehicles that don't use fuel. Yeah, there's a reason that no one would seriously suggest that.

especially considering a lot of those roads were paid for by fuel taxes... yes, I realize the fuel taxes haven't kept up with the road maintenance expenses.

a system that tracks you on the road would raise privacy issues, many people inherently do not want the 'state' knowing everywhere they've been and when.

I suppose one way to do it... every e-car has a secure e-power meter, sealed by the state, and you pre-pay for KWH. charging at home/superchargers/etc bypasses this meter (or is counted separately by it) as you're already paying for that power. hacking these meters is a federal offense.

[JeffreyG]

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

Because everyone on the road uses the road, and only a tiny fraction of vehicles on the road would use the energy from this system. And the cost of that energy is directly proportional to the use by those vehicles, unlike road construction and maintenance costs.

Seems to me that free fuel would be a really good way to encourage people to move from gasoline vehicles to BEV. And doing it while solving the range anxiety problem of BEV at the same time would be a double win.

Here in the US we've extended a $7,500 credit to people just to buy a BEV. That's equivalent to free fuel for about 5-6 years for an average driver.

I get what you are saying, and yes, people can have strong reactions when they consider concepts of 'fairness'. But it's also worth stopping a second to think about how a lot of things are paid for so unevenly.

This catenary plan, suppose it allows freight to move with no cost for fuel. That would make shipping cheaper, but then, everyone uses things that moved on trucks.

But......a lot of that is because we already decided to build a huge highway system for trucks. Why do trucks get subsidized roads? Why do railroads build their own track (on land that was essentially given to them)?

We heavily subsidize oil and gas exploration.

Why are K-12 schools a public good, but college is a luxury expense?

There are a million things funded unevenly like this. Most of them get a pass because "it's always been that way."

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by JeffreyG

Seems to me that free fuel would be a really good way to encourage people to move from gasoline vehicles to BEV.

Sure, and just giving people free EVs would be very effective... but even more stupid, and even more temporary. Getting people into EVs is transitional, and subsidies are only viable for the very early part of the transition; powering them is forever, so the problem of payment for power would only be delayed, not eliminated.

The more rational EV subsidy programs are limited, and do not apply to luxury vehicles because there's no need to give stuff to people who can afford to buy it. Free power on the highway would be a strong disincentive for efficiency.

The "oil and gas are subsidized" argument for unlimited government expense on EVs is an excellent example of doing something because "it's always been that way."

[gbaglo]

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

Free power on the highway would be a strong disincentive for efficiency.

Traffic is bad enough now.