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Re: New Tech

Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2022 10:02 am
by In2ition
Bonus!

Re: New Tech

Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2022 7:13 pm
by Superbone
In2ition wrote:
Thu Apr 21, 2022 10:02 am
Bonus!
However, you also get lazy, lose your job, sit around the house all day playing video games, and stop paying your mortgage! :shock: :P

Re: New Tech

Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2022 7:54 pm
by In2ition
Superbone wrote:
Thu Apr 21, 2022 7:13 pm
In2ition wrote:
Thu Apr 21, 2022 10:02 am
Bonus!
However, you also get lazy, lose your job, sit around the house all day playing video games, and stop paying your mortgage! :shock: :P
Maybe the THC is out of it.

Re: New Tech

Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2022 11:06 am
by Nodack
Remember when I said we should be able to charge our electric cars on the road like smartphones do without plugging in? You would never have to charge your car because it’s charging as you drive on the road. Apparently someone else thought of it too.

What If the Highway Could Charge Your Electric Vehicle?
https://news.yahoo.com/highway-could-ch ... 45605.html
People avoid buying electric vehicles out of fear. Many worry the charging infrastructure isn’t adequate, that they’ll get stranded between charging stations—a concern known as range anxiety. But now a pilot program in Michigan could ease that tension.

Next spring, the nation’s first mile of public road that can charge electric vehicles as they drive over it will go online in Detroit.

A joint venture between the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) and Israeli mobility startup Electreon, the road is the centerpiece of a $5.7 million program to study how charging roads in dense urban environments affect everyday life.

People avoid buying electric vehicles out of fear. Many worry the charging infrastructure isn’t adequate, that they’ll get stranded between charging stations—a concern known as range anxiety. But now a pilot program in Michigan could ease that tension.

Next spring, the nation’s first mile of public road that can charge electric vehicles as they drive over it will go online in Detroit.

A joint venture between the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) and Israeli mobility startup Electreon, the road is the centerpiece of a $5.7 million program to study how charging roads in dense urban environments affect everyday life.

The technology is the same used to wirelessly charge a smartphone—on a much larger scale. A box connects magnetic coils embedded into asphalt to the power grid, and those coils then emit a magnetic field that is picked up by a receiver mounted to an EV’s chassis. The road isn’t meant to bring an EV back from empty: It charges at 20 kilowatts, roughly the same consumption rate an EV uses at highway speeds. The receiver can be installed on the assembly line or as an aftermarket accessory, and will work both in motion and while the vehicle is parked.

Re: New Tech

Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2022 11:25 am
by In2ition
Wouldn't it be nice if the cars could charge anywhere on the planet, off the earth's own magnetic field...for free?

Re: New Tech

Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2022 11:56 am
by Indy
That is a very strangely written story. They talk about the power being delivered by the road as "20 kilowatts" and says that is how much a typical EV uses at highway speeds. But that is a measure of power and doesn't mean anything without knowing the rate. Like do they mean it provides 20kW/h? And is that in an ideal state? The distance between the charger coils and the charging coils is extremely impactful on transfer rates and an inch or two could cut that in half or quarter. And every EV is going to have a different distance from the charging coil to the ground.

It also says it won't actually charge the car, because the car uses the as much power as it gives. But I guess knowing your charge level won't go down is good as long as you are cruising at highway speeds.

I hope they can figure out a way to do that and make it cost effective. With as much road construction/maintenance that goes on in Michigan, they have plenty of opportunities.

Re: New Tech

Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2022 12:10 pm
by Nodack
It also says you can just park on it and charge without moving. They didn’t give out all the tech specs for the thing. It’s the very first experiment of doing this. Just like with anything they will have set backs and breakthroughs along the way and after this experiment they will have gained enough data to improve the system. If it works I am sure all new electric cars built will be compatible. This system seems the most logical to me for the future.

Re: New Tech

Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2022 12:27 pm
by Indy
Not the first, but this is the first US public road to have it in it.

I get that it would be great to have, but even if you just did it on federal roads, there are 161,000 miles of them. I am not sure if the costs of this one mile in Michigan are indicative or not, but even if they cut that down by 10X, it would cost 80 billion dollars to just install it. If they don't cut the cost, it would be nearly a trillion. And again, that is just federal roads.

We need a way to keep EVs charged, I am just not sure hard infrastructure based on technology that changes annually is the right way to do it. It seems it would be a lot more feasible to have removable batteries (that could be swapped out for full at a 'gas' station like we do with propane tanks) or even solid state batteries that can charge so much quicker than current ones so it could be done as fast as you fill your tank today.

But I am all for trying to as many things as possible until we can settle into something that works.

Re: New Tech

Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2022 12:34 pm
by Nodack
I don’t like the battery swapping idea at all. I can see where trying to make every mile of federal roads electric would be very costly. Most likely it would be done in major cities freeways first before going rural. I am sure they would get better at it and bring down costs eventually. Like every other experimental project in history the pilot project is always the most expensive by far. Once they get the process down and start doing it on a large scale the costs per mile start coming down.

Re: New Tech

Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2022 12:38 pm
by Indy
In cities would be good, but doesn't take away the biggest fear people have of EVs--range anxiety. They want to have the ability to just get in a drive. For us in Phoenix, that means a quick trip to San Diego or Vegas or Rocky Point. Right now that pushes the limits of most EVs.

Whatever we end up doing, it will need to be something that gets people over that fear. (In reality, almost no one makes 400 mile one-way trips more than a few times a year, so it is mostly an irrational fear.)

Re: New Tech

Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2022 10:26 am
by Nodack
I get it. Wheels are in motion to remedy that.

Developing Infrastructure to Charge Plug-In Electric Vehicles
https://afdc.energy.gov/fuels/electrici ... cture.html


President Biden, USDOT and USDOE Announce $5 Billion over Five Years for National EV Charging Network, Made Possible by Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
https://highways.dot.gov/newsroom/presi ... v-charging

Re: New Tech

Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2022 10:34 am
by Indy
That is great!

It would also be great if they brought back incentives for EVs. And some standards with the incentives going towards fuel efficient EVs. I mean, the Ford Lightning is awful when it comes to fuel efficiency, but people think it is an EV so it is good. We need to develop the talking points we have around MPG for EVs so people know what they are buying.

Re: New Tech

Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2022 10:54 am
by In2ition
I don't have an EV, so I don't know the cost of charging it. All I have his an electric bike.

Does it cost a lot to charge one?
Would these charging stations charge per...whatever?
Would that price be set, or could it be manipulated and changed?
How long does it take per charge...on average?

Re: New Tech

Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2022 12:30 pm
by Nodack
We have a Bolt and a Volt. The Bolt is 100% electric and goes 200+ moles on a charge. The Volt goes about 32-50 miles on a charge before switching to gas depending on your driving speeds.

I am not sure how much it costs to charge at home since there is no meter telling me other than my electric bill that doesn’t itemize. My vehicle came with a 110 charging chord that takes about 8 hours to charge. I installed a level II 220 charger and that charges to full in about 4 hours. They also have a fast charge thing that is another level up charger that charges even faster. Also, for some reason topping off a battery charge takes extra time. I believe they can go from 0% to 80% in an hour or something like that on a fast charge system and then the last 20% takes awhile longer.

They have a lot of pay and free charging stations out there. I was at a resort and they wanted $8 to charge. Other resorts have free ones. All of them are cool because you get a close parking spot that only electric vehicles can use. I won’t pay to charge. It seems more expensive than gas. ChargePoint is a pay charging company. You set up a sort of credit card you use when you go to use one. My wife works at the airport and mostly uses their free chargers there in the employee parking. She almost never charges at home.

How Much Does it Cost to Charge an Electric Car?
https://www.kbb.com/car-news/how-much-d ... rge-an-ev/


eGallon
Department of Energy
https://www.energy.gov/maps/egallon
On average, it costs about half as much to drive an electric vehicle.

Re: New Tech

Posted: Thu Apr 28, 2022 10:48 am
by Nodack
Parkinson’s patient first-ever to receive brain implant that reverses symptoms
https://www.braintomorrow.com/2022/04/2 ... -symptoms/
A British hospital is the first in the world to implant a brain device that reverses the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. Now, its test patient is gushing over the results and says he’s gotten his life back.

Surgeons at Southmead Hospital in Bristol are implementing a tiny deep brain stimulation (DBS) device into the skull. It overrides the abnormal brain-cell firing patterns caused by Parkinson’s.

“Before the operation I went for a walk on Boxing Day with my wife and I got 200 yards (182m) from the actual car,” he tells South West News Service. “I had to turn around and go back because I just couldn’t walk. Then after the operation, which was 12 months later, I went on Boxing Day again and we went for 2.5 miles (4km) and we could’ve went further. It was amazing.”

Re: New Tech

Posted: Thu Apr 28, 2022 10:55 am
by Indy
I really hope that pans out. Sounds amazing. To go from needing 4 minutes to tie your shoes and hardly able to walk, to playing golf.

Re: New Tec

Posted: Sun May 15, 2022 2:25 am
by Nodack
This has nothing to do with new tech, just sharing. I woke up several days ago and go to my back window to look out into the back yard and see a mother duck and 8 ducklings swimming in my pool. Wtf? I did some research and I guess this is fairly common. We have been in the same house for well over a decade and never saw a duck. Now we have a family of them. In my research I found out they cannot survive in my backyard without assistance. I saw the mother and father ducks landing in our pool a few times. I thought it was cute until I saw the poop stains they left on the bottom of the pool. Then they were gone until the day before I saw the ducklings and it was just the mother in the pool acting weird.

Ducklings jump right in the pool but, they can’t jump out and can drown. I had to quickly build little boat ramps into the pool so the ducklings would be able to get out of the pool. I contacted a duck rescue place and they are severely understaffed and recommended I relocated the mother and her ducklings myself. I called another one several times and it was always busy and it said you can’t leave a message. We figured out how to feed them so they won’t die. Dried meal worms thrown into the water works great. We have given them oats too.

My first attempt to capture her failed. They hang out by her near the water. Any time anyone approaches she goes in the water and they follow making capturing difficult. I tried an under water assault surfacing next to her on the side of the pool and trying to grab her as she flew into the pool past me. A per store lady convinced my wife to make a net to throw ofer her. We did but haven’t gotten close enough. I decided to make a trap out of the netting we bought and it is laid out in the area she rests at the end of the day. I hope it’s just her in the trap area when I pull the string and I hope I don’t injure her or she injures herself in the process. There is a pond at a golf course near here with lots of trees and grown around it that I think would make a good home. I am going to scope it out to make sure no other ducks have claimed the spot. I read that can lead to competition and violence.

If we can’t catch her, her ducklings learn to fly in about 50-70 days. I’ve had my pool filter turned off ever since to keep the chlorine level down because it irritates their skin. As much as a pain in the ass this has become, those little ducklings are so freaking cute.

Re: New Tech

Posted: Sun May 15, 2022 7:27 am
by Indy
I love this story, Dack.

Re: New Tech

Posted: Sun May 15, 2022 12:22 pm
by Superbone
Reminds me of the first episode of the Sopranos which I watched in the last 3 months but didn't pull me in. Good for you and your wife, Dack. Doesn't sound like an easy job to trap them all and transport them.

Re: New Tech

Posted: Sun May 15, 2022 8:33 pm
by Nodack
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