Posted
9/05/2007 05:33:00 PM
by Douglas
The quest for the perpetual motion machine continues
unabated. Again, say it along with me: You can't get something out of
nothing.An Austin-based startup called EEStor promised "technologies for replacement of electrochemical batteries," meaning a motorist could plug in a car for five minutes and drive 500 miles roundtrip between Dallas and Houston without gasoline.
By contrast, some plug-in hybrids on the horizon would require motorists to charge their cars in a wall outlet overnight and promise only 50 miles of gasoline-free commute. And the popular hybrids on the road today still depend heavily on fossil fuels.
Ok, so you're going to use high efficiency capacitors instead of batteries. Sounds like a great idea, but where do you think electricity comes from? Fossil fuels.
The technology also could help invigorate the renewable-energy sector by providing efficient, lightning-fast storage for solar power, or, on a small scale, a flash-charge for cell phones and laptops.
Perhaps if photo-voltaic solar cells ever become viable, you can use them to charge these capacitors during peak solar load times, then maybe this would work. But until electricity starts coming out of the ground, you're still stuck with the same problems electric cars have now.