Solving the Battery Problem in a Big Way

What's not to love about electric cars? No tailpipe pollution, fewer greenhouse gas emissions, and although the energy must be generated somewhere, doing so outside of the car (i.e. power plants, windmills, etc.) is generally cleaner and more efficient. And for all the car junkies out there, electric engines can actually provide much more torque and acceleration than conventional combustion engines (if you don't believe me look at this). To top it off, they're great for recessions since electricity is cheaper than gas and help use reduce oil dependence a hell of a lot better than all this codswallop about drilling ever will.

There is however, one little problem: the battery. What's really holding electric cars back is the fact that battery technology has not advanced far enough to 1.) charge quickly and 2.) store enough juice to go long distances. It's often been said that the person who can solve the battery problem will be a billionaire. Well perhaps this is the guy:

Driven: Shai Agassi's Audacious Plan to Put Electric Cars on the Road

The article above from Wired profiles the head of Project Better Place which is is trying to create an electric car reality that you can really envision. And they are more than just trying -- they are already going full steam in Israel and Denmark. Hawaii and San Francisco could be next. The basic premise is this:

-set up a network of charging stations
-computer in car tells you where to go to charge up during work, shopping trips, etc.
-for long trips when you can't wait around for the batter to charge, visit a car-wash-like battery exchange station and get a fresh fully charged
-you pay for the electricity you use through a payment plan, just like minutes on a cell phone
-the best part: You know how you can get a free or cheap cell phone when you get a new contract? well the same idea can apply here! Imagine getting a free car and just paying for the amount you drive it!

For enviros like me, the final kicker to all this is that not only does it solve the battery problem, but it could potentially solve the problem of renewable energy storage. Think about it -- the wind is not always blowing. So even though we all love wind it wont always produce power when we need it most. If only utilities could figure out some way to store that energy in a massive network of batteries -- oh wait!

While this seems by and large a great idea, I have a few qualms that are not addressed in the article. Mainly, what is the life-cycle impact of producing/manufacturing the batteries and infrastructure needed? My hunch is that it's probably less than the current impact for combustion engines manufacture and oil infrastructure, but it's definitely worth doing a little homework to find out the answer. For example, there was a myth perpetuated by the auto industry a while back that Hummers are more environmentally friendly than Priuses due to energy costs of manufacturing the Prius' battery, but that claim was largely debunked.