Any lithium type battery can catch on fire. The second generation battery, uses less solid metal, so it has a much lower chance of catching fire. The lithium is like magnesium or sodium. The starts on fire by being shorted out internally. That's the you tube video battery fires. Drive a nail through it. The short reaches 2,000 degrees and the battery starts burning. The original lithium batteries could short themselves out by growing tiny lithium metal dendrites that would reach out and short a neighboring lithium layer. The newer lithium are no where near as bad, but they still do catch on fire occasionally for no apparent reason. The "exploding" gas tank from a car crash is still a concern with electric cars as the battery can get physically damaged and the short circuit happens. Some batteries are made better than others.
I have seen internet blurbs, apparently for a serious company,
Form Energy Company for a iron air battery. It uses the oxygen in the air to rust the iron. The other half of the power cycle unrusts the iron. Very similar to the way the lead acid battery works, only cleaner. The battery is being touted for use in storing power in the power grid so I guess it is less powerful than the lithium, though it stays charged longer, possibly also bigger and heavier. Now if the electro magnet industry could have some kind of breakthrough for more powerful magnets with less power consumption, maybe that would push events along to smaller batteries. Ironically the standard iron magnet has been made more powerful over the years by the addition of rare earths into the iron alloy. Maybe the metals needed to do the trick will be found in the asteroid belts.
Charging the batteries through todays power grid is going to definitely blunt the eco advantages of lower emissions by the cars. Putting massive mufflers on the smokestacks is a pipe dream. Using carbon credits that are virtual changes is little more than smoke and mirrors.
If we want the emission savings, the power grid for charging cars has to be alternative, or nuclear. Otherwise we all get a windmill to install on our roofs to trickle charge our cars at night. I don't know if an apartment building roof could supply enough solar cell power to charge all the vehicles of the people living there.
No matter what kind of vehicle it is, they will all still be merrily spraying toxic windshield wiper fluid all over the landscape wherever they go.
As the race to lighten the body weight of electric vehicle bodies continues, I think they will get more lego like in construction making working on them easier than current steel body cars. The electronics can definitely be reduced to the point where it is all plug in modules that anyone could replace, though of course, the parts will be computer encoded to work which means the ordinary person won't be able to do it.
Each electric vehicle company might have to open up their own local garages to fix their own cars to start with. With no gasoline tanks, and limited charging capacity, they could probably put them anywhere. As the regular garages got more proficient they could handle more different models of electric vehicles. If they don't adapt, I guess they go out of business, like everyone else screwed over by the internet. Even doctors aren't immune to this. The big corporate doctor offices with 2 dozen doctors and a waiting room the size of a gymnasium with big screen TVs on the walls, sometimes reminds me of the car dealerships waiting rooms.
The onboard computer could tell the tech which module isn't working. The onboard computer could even communicate with the corporate computer and the car could drive itself to the repair shop when it wasn't being used. Or it could call for a pickup. I wonder if on board car computers ever get depressed. Imagine complaining to the onboard car computer about how much money it spent in the repair shop today.
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