Does Alaska already have the infrastructure to support an electric vehicle market?

Question

Most places already have outlets to plug in block heaters which are necessary in winter there. So it would be very easy to plug in your car just going to the store.

Answer 1

By using some of the newer super-capacitors and diodes in our vehicles charging system we could easily recharge a vehicle in a short time. Electric vehicles can also be equiped with a very efficient electric water heater for generating heat for passenger comfort and for defrosting/defogging.

The problem lies not in infrastructure, but rather in mentality.

We had electric vehicles from the very beginning of the automobile. The electric lost out to gasoline because of the difficulties of finding just anywhere to recharge (electricity varied from street to street in both the current and in wether it might be AC or DC making it impossible to go too far) Gasoline was cheap (maybe 8 cents for 5 gallons) and gasoline could be found on almost every corner (almost like 7-11 stores today). Electric vehicles were very, very dependable (gasoline vehicles could barely make street corner to street corner without overheating or having some sort of mechanical malfunction).

Had we continued on with electric vehicles rather than gasoline power, the developement of the electric would now be around where the developement of the gasoline engine is today.

Today we have chosen to "re-invent" the electric vehicle when in fact we should rather just build what had been a hundred years ago and begin to make some modern improvements.

Did you know that the batteries in a 1908 Detroit Electric had anestimated range of 20 miles?...or that Tomas Edison developed a battery that could power that same vehicle almost 80 miles and that battery was in production (used by railroads for power back-up) until late in the seventies or eighties? Did you know that Jay Leno has an early Electric vehicle that still has the original Edison battery...it's almost 100 years old and still is in good working order?

Did you know that there is a lot we can do with electric vehicles but that we will probably never do because enough of the right people just ain't going to make money because of it?

Answer 2

No.  A lot of the electriciy comes from deisel generators.  That's one of the most exspencive ways to make electricity.  No way the pwoer grid could handle a lot of electric cars being plugged in.  I imagine that would be a problem in most places if electric cars became commmon, the power grid in North America is old and decrepid.

Answer 3

The "plug-ins" that are in many Alaskan parking lots work fine for block heaters and battery heaters.  But they are only 15- or 20-amp 120-volt circuits.  So they are limited in the wattage they can deliver.   But 1.5 kW is better than nothing.  And it's free.  To recharge more quickly, you'd usually have a 230-volt circuit of higher amperage.

Anywhere in Alaska "on the grid" would be similar to the 48-states for supporting electric vehicles.  You'd have to run a high-amperage circuit out to a garage or exterior outlet to charge faster.  Or charge slowly on 15/20-amp outlets.  

Contrary to another poster, most electrical power in Alaska is NOT generated from diesel generators, although many small bush towns have that.  Most all of the population get their power first from natural gas followed by some hydro projects plus some coal around Fairbanks (in Healy).

Many batteries are limited by temperature.  Certainly partially charged lead-acid batteries are prone to freezing in Alaskan temperatures. Parking it in a heated garage would be one possibility.  Or using lithium batteries or nickel-metal hydrides which are less sensitive to cold temps.  But any of them would put out less current when cold, so that works against them in winter.

And gasoline and diesel cars are heated with waste heat.  In an electric car, there is no waste heat from an engine but at -20F, you really want a little cabin heat.  That too would make electric cars tougher to utilize in Alaska.  Not impossible, just tougher.

Answer 4

What are you gonna use for a heater in your electric car? Brrrrrr!

Answer 5

Sure, anywhere connected to the power grid (virtually everywhere) has the infrastructure to support electric vehicles.  That's the beauty of EVs - no additional infrastructure is necessary, except maybe to install high voltage rapid recharge stations.

Answer 6

It is my understanding that extreme cold weather reduces the efficiency of batteries. Not sure how much. This may be a negative for sing them there. Other than that, they should be good for city driving there.