Newsgroups: ba.transportation,ca.environment,sci.electronics
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Fuel efficiency
Message-ID: <1990Oct1.151930.16531@zoo.toronto.edu>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
References: <8220@ptolemy.arc.nasa.gov> <34284@cup.portal.com> <38826@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> <1990Oct1.055518.21205@amd.com>
Date: Mon, 1 Oct 90 15:19:30 GMT

In article <1990Oct1.055518.21205@amd.com> phil@brahms.amd.com (Phil Ngai) writes:
>Hm. My car battery is about 600 WH and costs about $30. I think you'll
>find the economies of scale that car battery manufacture has to be
>very hard to beat. So you'd need to invest about $500 in the
>battery array...

If you're into using batteries in bulk, truck batteries would be better.
It is indeed hard to beat them as a cost-effective storage system; one
of SDI's experimental railgun projects saved quite a bit of money by
powering the thing from a building full of Sears DieHards rather than
the high-tech homopolar generator originally proposed.
-- 
Imagine life with OS/360 the standard  | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
operating system.  Now think about X.  |  henry@zoo.toronto.edu   utzoo!henry