I love the idea of coal burning electric cars but the range is not practical for anything but urban errand running.
An Israeli company just made things interesting -- from the Canadian Broadcasting Company:
Electric car with massive range in demo by Phinergy, Alcoa
Imagine making the 19-hour, 1,800-kilometre drive from Toronto to Halifax in an electric car without having to stop for a recharge.
That's theoretically possible with a special kind of battery being demonstrated this week in Montreal by Israel-based Phinergy and Alcoa Canada.
The partners have refurbished an "ordinary car" to use a special "aluminum-air" battery.
The battery can extend the range of an electric car by 1,600 kilometres when used in conjunction with the vehicle's regular lithium-ion battery.
The technology is not rechargeable by the end-user:
The batteries are "charged" not from the electrical grid, but from hydroelectric power generated at Alcoa's smelter in Baie-Comeau, Que., Tzidon said. When they are full-charged, they are thick, heavy panels made mostly of aluminum.
The energy is released via a chemical reaction that draws oxygen from the air and uses water fed into the car by the user to turn the aluminum into alumina (similar to the reaction that turns iron into rust). This reaction happens naturally when aluminum is exposed to air, but then, the alumina layer on the surface stops the reaction from penetrating deeper. Phinergy's technology includes an electrolyte that dissolves the surface layer, allowing the reaction to continue.
Very cool -- this would be perfect for large UPSs for computer datacenters. Infrequent use but heavy current draw when needed.
Here is their five-minute overview: