http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1096683_advances-in-lithium-sulfur-batteries-offer-promise-for-electric-carsSo, this is an article that is a bit off-topic, but the comments section is interesting.
Here's my question:
What would the feasibility be of using an Al-Air battery in the space for the power tank in a form factor that could be added or removed for cross-shipping and remanufacturing purposes? If the capacity for Al-Air is ~10x a battery using the chemistry of the existing PT, but it has to be remanufactured when it is exhausted rather than recharged, would it be possible to use such a battery in the following way:
Charge the existing on-board main monolith battery from the outlet, and when the motorcycle is parked, it can be charged internally from the Al-Air battery.
This would allow for a longer commute without access to an electrical outlet. So, in the situation where someone has to travel ~100 miles to work and cannot plug in at work, they can just let the bike charge itself over 8 hours, and then go home.
Actually, that seems like it could get rather expensive quickly. 10x the existing capacity would be something like 400 miles or so correct me if I'm wrong, and that would be consumed in a week or two in that scenario. It might be good for long-distance trips if it's possible to use it for runtime rather than just recharging, but that's about it I guess. Either that, or the remanufacturing process would have to become a commonly accessible local business, at the level that gas stations operate now, perhaps on a subscription basis with core credits or where no one owns the batteries themselves but they're leased. This would require uniformly-sized units across many platforms, a widely-used standard, to be viable, not something that a single motorcycle manufacturer could support or justify. Perhaps a way using a standard-sized "cell" that could be crammed into the form factor, like 36 D-cells of that chemistry mounted in a frame and pre-grouped like on an old cordless phone, would work.
What about just being able to quickly unplug the powertank and carry it to charge it somewhere else? 50lbs isn't that big a deal for that.
Sorry for the pie-in-the-sky gibberish.
