Re: The Physics Behind the Spanish Blackout

On 11/06/2025 9:55 pm, David Brown wrote:

On 11/06/2025 12:16, Carlos E.R. wrote:

On 2025-06-11 09:05, David Brown wrote:

 

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Some ingenious engineer could design a generator and mechanics to attach to petrol or diesel cars and use that for electricity supply - as an emergency backup for the grid, it would be a huge improvement over using electric car batteries as it is much more scalable.  Apart from a few jerry-rigged setups in places far from reliable electric grids, it is never done.  So what makes you think using car batteries, in cars, is a realistic idea?

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That engineers thought of the idea as viable? :-)

 It seems Bill read it in a book somewhere.

Back in 2008. The idea has been around for a while.

And even if an engineer thinks it is viable - even if there are companies making money from selling the idea - that does not mean it is a /good/ idea.  But it might explain why Bill thought it was a good idea.

And David Brown thinks that it is a bad idea without advancing any reason beyond personal prejudice.

  It would make the cars more expensive, make their charge state unpredictable (and no one would accept that), fail to provide reliability for the grid as cars are often not connected, and wear out the absurdly expensive car batteries sooner.  It is a silly idea.

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I don't like the idea, if it involves my car. I wouldn't mind other people doing it :-D
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 And that is a big part of the point.  The world is not going to be saved by ideas that don't appeal to a wide audience.  And earning a few dollars from letting your car run out of battery before you need it is not going to persuade many people.

Predicting what the electricity companies will offer and what the market response will be does seem to require more background knowledge than you seem to have.

I assume that it would come with a rebate from the electricity companies.

Most people do seem to assume some sort of quid pro quo.
--
Bill Sloman, Sydney