Timeline for Why are car batteries still so heavy?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
27 events
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| Nov 21, 2016 at 6:24 | comment | added | v7d8dpo4 | @AnderaKo I only meant that capacitors (such as ceramic capacitors, not supercapacitors) do better than batteries in the max current they can handle. Not that they're better for powering a car. | |
| Nov 20, 2016 at 12:54 | history | edited | Marcus Müller | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Nov 20, 2016 at 12:53 | comment | added | Marcus Müller | @LightnessRacesinOrbit good point. will drop. | |
| Nov 20, 2016 at 12:50 | comment | added | Lightness Races in Orbit | @barbecue: When we say "what we use" to do a thing, and "we" is the entire human race, and the answer is something still used by only a handful of people and on a massive decline versus a newer technology that is used by a substantial majority of that human race .... well, let's just say I think we interpret the original statement under discussion quite differently, and leave it at that. :) I would agree it's probably easier to just drop that particular example from the answer. | |
| Nov 20, 2016 at 0:53 | comment | added | barbecue | I also question just how significant the distinction is between one fossil fuel and another. Coal, gas, or oil, all come out of the ground, and none of them are new or innovative. | |
| Nov 20, 2016 at 0:50 | comment | added | barbecue | @LightnessRacesinOrbit "relatively uncommon" does not equal "no". Kerosene heaters are quite popular here. I use mine every year. | |
| Nov 19, 2016 at 19:43 | comment | added | Lightness Races in Orbit | For the record, see page 47 graph 6b here to see just how little Oil we use to heat our homes compared to other forms like Gas. | |
| Nov 19, 2016 at 19:34 | comment | added | Lightness Races in Orbit | @MarcusMüller: Meh, to me those numbers say "oil is relatively uncommon" ;) | |
| Nov 19, 2016 at 19:24 | comment | added | Marcus Müller | @LightnessRacesinOrbit Germany here; Oil is relatively common. see slide 9 of this federal agency for energy report; says about 25% Oil, 50% gas of the households. <8% electric heatings. | |
| Nov 19, 2016 at 19:19 | comment | added | Lightness Races in Orbit | @MarcusMüller: In the UK, oil heating is considered archaic. Gas is common, followed by inefficient electric heaters. I can't remember what we used on Krypton; it may have been krypton. | |
| Nov 19, 2016 at 18:58 | comment | added | Marcus Müller | @LightnessRacesinOrbit well, not everyone burns oil, indeed. But it's still a very convenient, save, reliable and cheap way of heating, and thus, very common. (maybe not where you are from – outer space – (or where your SO avatar is from – Krypton)) | |
| Nov 19, 2016 at 18:53 | comment | added | Lightness Races in Orbit | "we still burn oil to keep our homes warm" Well, no.. | |
| Nov 19, 2016 at 13:15 | comment | added | Marcus Müller | @v7d8dpo4 that is simply, and plainly wrong. Of course, a cheap capacitor has a high current rating. But if you want to build a capacitor bank large enough to store energy to start your car, you will have an expensive day. Batteries are far cheaper per energy than supercaps! | |
| Nov 19, 2016 at 12:07 | comment | added | AndrejaKo | @v7d8dpo4 Please provide some examples for your claim! Supercapacitors with large short-circuit currents (say 100 A) suffer from large volume, high cost and low energy density. | |
| Nov 19, 2016 at 11:41 | comment | added | v7d8dpo4 | "No other technology came near the low cost per Ampere" There's a technology called capacitors that do much better in cost per ampere than about any battery. | |
| Nov 18, 2016 at 21:00 | comment | added | Marcus Müller | @BrianDrummond exactly! by means of power consumption, classical pressure-difference heat pumps are more efficient than the Peltier effect in practice. And in practice, with respect to cost, car batteries are more efficient than e.g. LiIon. I agree, I should've used a more efficient technology that's still not in widespread usage nowadays, to keep the series consistent. | |
| Nov 18, 2016 at 20:55 | comment | added | user16324 | Compressing fluids for a fridge - OR your car's AC - is still several times more efficient than Peltier refrigeration. | |
| Nov 18, 2016 at 19:40 | comment | added | Marcus Müller | @Johnny I assure you, I've never replaced a car battery after 1-2 years, and I've never spent $150 on one, and I don't think that's the production cost of a battery :) | |
| Nov 18, 2016 at 19:14 | comment | added | Johnny | I wonder if lead-acid batteries are really cheaper then other technologies if you take the lifetime cost into account? A car battery lasts 5 - 7 years, so might need to be replaced 3 times over the lifetime of a car. So a $150 battery actually costs $450 over the lifetime of the car. Is there another technology that costs $450 for a battery that lasts 15 years? | |
| Nov 18, 2016 at 15:06 | comment | added | Marcus Müller | @Museful funny, that's why I wrote the other answer that answers the "why" that OP didn't really ask :) | |
| Nov 18, 2016 at 14:01 | comment | added | AndrejaKo | This answer gets a +1 from me due to Mg reference. | |
| Nov 18, 2016 at 14:00 | comment | added | Museful | You should think a little more about the meaning of "why". It is unavoidably subjective, depending on the asker's starting viewpoint/premises. Why is the book in this position? Because John placed it there. Because it hasn't been put back on the shelf. Because I'm lazy. Because the table is 1.2m high, else it would have been at a different height (and therefore position). So many different "correct" answers. To truly answer a why question, you first have to know why* it was asked, and for that you have to somehow detect and understand the asker's perspective. (* yes yes..) | |
| Nov 18, 2016 at 13:35 | history | edited | Marcus Müller | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Nov 18, 2016 at 10:00 | comment | added | Marcus Müller | @pjc50 you're right. Reduced the snark. Moved the snark to my second answer | |
| Nov 18, 2016 at 9:59 | history | edited | Marcus Müller | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Nov 18, 2016 at 9:55 | comment | added | pjc50 | You're right, but the snark is a little unnecessary. | |
| Nov 18, 2016 at 9:39 | history | answered | Marcus Müller | CC BY-SA 3.0 |