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Technology Stocks : Energy Conversion Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Michael Latas who wrote (3899)	8/5/1999 9:22:00 AM
From: Ray	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 8393

Michael, my mind is not entirely at rest over the electrocution issue re 42 volt auto electric systems. Remember, air bags were supposed to be safe; but there have now been about 140 confirmed deaths from them. Auto manufacturers and regulating agencies can make mistakes. My questions are: Is a seven year old child, say, safe if he touches a 42 volt line while standing in a puddle? Or, is he safe if he is leaning against a wet car when he touches the cars 42 volt wires? As far as ENER, or any other auto battery supplier (either technology or actual batteries) is concerned, it does not matter much if the system is, say, 24 volts or 48 volts. The need is for so many watt-hours of energy storage, and one gets the same watt-hours from two parallel stacks of 16 each 1.5 volt cells as from one stack of 32 each 1.5 volt cells of the same capacity. (Watts simply equals volts times amps, for direct current systems at least). I think the reason the auto mfgrs want the higher voltage systems is that lighter, and probably more efficient, motors and alternators can be made using higher voltages. And some "appliances", like arc lighting, for example, need higher voltages. These higher voltages can be generated from lower voltage batteries, but there is some loss of energy in the conversion. Incidentally, it is by no means certain that NiMH will be the technology of choice when the high voltage auto systems arrive in a few years. Lithium Polymer is definitely a contender, and we should follow the status of that technology closely. Ray