On 2 Sep 2002, RossO wrote:
> John Waylan (who was interviewed in Wired a few years back) pulled out a
> 14.4 second run in the quarter mile (91mph), on a battery pack that
> hasn't been broken in yet. He expects to break his record next year
> topping his 13.1sec/99mph run a couple of years ago. He's shooting for a
> 12 second run.
Battery pack, huh what???
You dont use batteries for a 1/4 mile run, you use capacitors. MANY times
the energy density, and you can get the energy out fast enough. Note that
the battery packs are fully swapped out for recharging after each run
anyway, just like a gas dragster is refueled, so this wouldnt be cheating.
200 MPH should be no problem.
- Adam L. "Duncan" Beberg
http://www.mithral.com/~beberg/
beberg@mithral.com

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On Mon, 2 Sep 2002, Adam L. Beberg wrote:
> Battery pack, huh what???
>
> You dont use batteries for a 1/4 mile run, you use capacitors. MANY times
Actually, you use both.
> the energy density, and you can get the energy out fast enough. Note that
No, even best supercapacitors are a long way to go from reasonably good
electrochemical energy sources. But you can recharge and discharge them
very quickly, and they take lots more of cycles than the best battery.
Ideal for absorbing the braking energy and turn them into smoking tires
few moments or minutes afterwards.
> the battery packs are fully swapped out for recharging after each run
> anyway, just like a gas dragster is refueled, so this wouldnt be cheating.
> 200 MPH should be no problem.
I don't see any reason why EVs shouldn't dominate dragster runs. The
traction is the limiting factor, not motor power. You can basically put
the motors into wheelhubs mounted on a composite frame, and dump juice
into them until they melt, which will be some 100 sec downstream. Plenty
of time to smoke anything.
Of course, it doesn't roar, and spew smokage, so it won't happen.