On Mon, Dec 10, 2007 at 12:12:35PM -0500, Alex Harford wrote:
> As I was scraping the ice off my windows this morning, I was thinking
> about how things would change if I were using a plug-in electric car.
> When thinking about car issues, I remind myself of what a great tuner
> I knew told me about testing cars: "When GM tests their cars, they
> assume that you can drive from the Rocky Mountains in the winter, into
> the Nevada desert in the summer, all in the matter of a few hours.
> Everything in the car needs to handle that situation."

That's absolutely right. That's also the reason that most cars have huge
high horsepower engines too.

> 
> Warming the car up would be great, because an electric heater + fan
> could be used to warm up the interior and defrost the windows, and it
> could be on a timer (to and from work) or on remote (for shopping
> trips, etc).

Preheating the car would be a good idea. Still need to work on heat while
running around. Any thoughts on something lightweight that has good heat
storage characteristics?

Snip...
> Cooling the car would be a different story.  Driving a traditional air
> conditioner via electric motor would probably drain the batteries
> quite a bit.

Absolutely.

>  Again the cooling system could be on a timer to bring
> the temperature down while still plugged in but even maintaining a
> cool temperature might be difficult for an electric car.

That's why most current electric cars simply ditch the AC.

> A tank of compressed air, filled while parked, could be used to drive
> a turbine for a cooling pump, and the temperature drop of the tank
> itself could be harnessed as well.  An onboard air compressor would
> probably be a maintenance nightmare though.

And heavy too which is also a problem.

> 
> I wonder if a Peltier device would work.  I keep meaning to find some
> at a surplus store so I can experiment with them.

Again they suck up power. Let's think about something simpler:

Carry around an insulated container filled with a combo of water and dry
ice. Run a fan through the container into the cabin. The dry ice will keep
everything colder longer because dry ice freezes at a lower temperature.

BAJ
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