Re: (ET) Gas Prices and alternative power

[Daystar Energy Services <daniel laser net>]

Another opinion on why the ET stumbled.

Batteries are large, heavy, expensive, mysterious black boxes of magic.
Just about everything that can happen to them shortens their life,
including using them and not using them.

Harry Homeowner is accustomed to opening the gas cap and pouring in gas
until it spills out across his shoes. Replace Harry's gas tank with a
$400 battery pack, a voltmeter with an E-F-charge scale whose needle
jumps all over the scale depending not only on charge but temperature,
and load, and age, and an ammeter with two equally cryptic scales and a
needle that again jumps all over the face of the meter and Harry is
overwhelmed. Now replace Harry's siphon hose and gas can with a brute
force charger on a timer, calibrated in start, A, B, C,... and tell him
to "just plug it in."

Don't expect Harry to even try to understand why a 36v battery reads
from 35.5v to 38v, much less specific gravity, temperature compensation,
equalization, etc. Hell, he can't be bothered with adding water to his
car battery.

A successful EV for the masses, in my opinion, needs an expensive, "plug
and play," intelligent charger and a semi-accurate "fuel guage."
At $350 to $400 to replace the batt, Harry will learn to water and maybe
even push the equalize button when performance drops, but don't expect a
lot more.

Dan