Hacking the 21st-Century Auto

I know that we have come a long way with technology for the electric car, but I also think the emphasis needs to be more focused on making the Batteries for the cars more efficient and affordable before you will see the wide use of these cars that we need!

I personally like the entire article. I'm not really going to critisize it though. I understand our position in technological advances, so I'm not going to tell them what they need to do, because eventually they will do it. But the rally car was really cool, and I wouldn't mind having one. And I would stay away from old cars like that. The way they are built basically turnes them into death traps.

Hackers have been moving from stripped downed hardware without much is in the early 50-60s, to automobiles, banking, networking, learning and more today. I think Hackers will have an increasingly political role in the future in terms of visibility and change (http://www.tiket.cl)

The one under power looks awesome, bet it would drive awesome too. But I'm going to laugh my ass off when someone gets hit from behind :P

I want to build my own car too!! And that intelligent Mazda looks good because I reckon I could actually do that.

Also Wired, you have to kill these spammers.

The rally racer is awesome, and I wish I had the money. Some people may be put off by having to pay to build it yourself, but that makes me want it even more. I have always wanted to learn more about building a car. This would be getting to do that and being taught by someone who is a pro at building cars, and making sure I don't mess it up. My goal is now to build my car there.

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Battery powered cars need to be produced in larger numbers to provide the money for further development. This is how the auto companies have paid for the development costs of future models. The long term cost of venture capital is one reason further development of automobile friendly Li-I batteries is slow.

The current Li-I battery technology has one major drawback - the very high operating temperature. It is not likely to be the long term technology used for future electric vehicles, but will serves as a stepping stone to one that will.

Once you have a motor on a frame, swapping the batteries is a no brainer.

Very interesting stuff, this hi-tech battery power...I am still some chagrinned, I, some years back, operated, as sales/service mgr. of an auto battery store. My concern is,I know from my training that any re-charge over about four-five amps. preferably overnight will do the least damage to a battery. The hurry-up fast charging done to most batts, due to time constraints, will degrade the old lead acid units much quicker.

I'm hoping these battery engineers are creating units that will in fact be quicker to charge, also, realizing that to run one down, causes the corrosion bugs to start, in affect degrading units also....I suppose I'm saying, the trickle chargers available today are the best method for preserving your units. O.K.@ 67,I'm no longer as impatient as I once was. Just wanted to air my concern! Thanks, Will Basham

The quickest way to long distance usage of battery operated vehicles is to design the battery units for easy swap. A battery array that is inserted into the vehicle on a track with rollers. You pull into the swap out station along the interstate - a a service tech rolls out a new set of fully charged batteries on a cart, pulls your old ones and rolls in the new ones. You pay your 20 bucks and head on your way. Faster than a petrol fillup. The tech then rolls the old ones into the charging bay adn hooks them up for recharge. The service stationn is equiped with a substantial onsite solar array that reduces the drain on the power grid and the environmental impact.

Cars driven by electric motors will be the future for the automotive industry. The writing is on the walls.

I highly doubt these cars will use Li-I batteries. I suspect they will be based on something more like a microbial fuel cell that can quickly be refilled. The Li-I technology is really just a transition technology.

There are already working models of batteries that use a genetically engineered microbes (microbial fuel cell) to generate power. Sounds crazy, but with the advances in Genetics we will be finding new ways to produce electric power from all kinds of microbes and chemical combinations. Someday we will have these fuel-cells in our homes to meet our energy needs.

The battery swap certainly sounds like an answer to the 'speed of recharge' issue. Rather like swapping your empty Calor gas bottle for a full one.
Maybe even a standard drive-over mechanism could be employed so you never even need to leave your seat - integrate that with a McDonald's drive thru and I'm there ..