Help with thesis idea

[Night Train]

Hiya,

I am studying the Architecture, Environment and Energy MSc at the Centre For Alternative Technology and I need to present a Thesis subject very soon.

My last idea was discounted as I defeated the object of a thesis in my presentation Q&A.

What I would like to do is to look at a transport related theme but I am getting stuck on the sort of question to ask. It also need to not be too big a question as I only have 14,500 words to fit it into and I have to do the primary research while working full time.

I am keen on looking into EV issues so I may ask a lot of research questions here too. I am tending towards issues of energy and resources rather then any mechanical aspects of the vehicles themselves.
Energy storage
Car to grid
Materials resources for batteries
Grid supply for battery charging
Charging/battery changing for journey range

Any suggestions for Thesis questions would be welcome.

Thank you.

[nino500]

Hi,

How about the question of whether it is more energy efficient to keep an old ICE car on the road or to build a new EV, bearing in mind the energy required to manufacture the steel components etc. ?

Or, maybe, whether to build new or convert old vehicles?

Just a couple of thoughts that sprang to mind. Is that the kind of question you are looking for? If not, perhaps you could narrow it down with an example. What was your original question, which was discounted?

Nino.

[geekygrilli]

I think Nino has some great ideas, I would have love to have done some thing like this as a thesis or disertation (I did do a 5000 word project of whether wind farms are a worth while investment - but that was 10 years ago)

I'd be very interested in reading a thesis looking at the following:-

Is it more environmentally/finacially friendly to keep an 8yr old car going for 10 more years, or build and run a new one.

and further...

Is it enviromentally/financially beneficial to covert an exisiting 8 yr old car from ICE to electric, using off the shelf parts?

I suspect you wo't get much help from the car manufactures, though.

Keep us posted!

[NickJ]

I have always thought that a detailed appraisal of the effects of widespread EV use on grid infrastructure, stability and capacity as well as looking at the possibility of grid interactive EVs (such as AC propulsion had in mind with the T Zero). I work with grid linked renewable energy systems and the issue of grid linked microgeneration is often "controversial" with some of the "old Guard". A properly conducted review of evidence on these related issues would be a good MSc dissertation, imho!

I hope this helps

I work just down the road from CAT curiously enough!

[Night Train]

Thank you.

Nick, that sounds scarily complicated, I'm not that good.

I think the comparison of keeping old cars on ICE, doing conversions and buying new is a good one. I may do some preliminary research on that to see how much info is available.

My original idea was the use of flywheel batteries for powering public transport.
Flywheels have long storage capacity, high discharge over a short period, very high cycle life and require no complex chemicals or metals. They can also be recharged very quickly. I figured on the idea of replacing the ICE powerpack in buses with a flywheel motor generator packs as an almost direct replacement and then running them on electric.
The down side is the short range but this can be resolved with infrastructure investment in building recharge points at every bus stop in advance of rolling out the conversions. The flywheel and ICE buses can still share routes until all are converted. The range could be only 10-15 miles but with bus stops in London for example being around 200-300 yards apart top up charging could be done while loading passengers.

Other local commercial and and local authority large vehicles could then be converted to use the same charge points and then additional charge points could be installed at loading bays and parking bays.

The problem with it as a thesis was there was no actual question other then 'Why aren't we doing it?'.

[Jeremy]

Years ago there were flywheel powered buses operating for at least a short time, I think. I've no idea how effective they were, but do recall reading about them many years ago - I have a feeling that they were a wartime invention. I believe they used an electric drive system as well, but their range was low; they relied on recharging the flywheel at bus stops, I think.

Jeremy

[EVguru]

http://www.parrypeoplemovers.com/

[Night Train]

The first flywheel bus was an extension of the Swiss tram service in 1940. There have been a lot of attempts to run trials but I think the missing link to make it work is installing the standardised charging system first and then swapping the bus's ICE power pack for a standardised unit. It can be a perfectly practical system had our government not decided on the hydrogen route.

I have already resolved how the charging system should work, how to dump a lot of energy into the bus, how to buffer the electricity supply from huge power surges and how to monitor and meter the energy supplied to each bus. Even the gyroscopic effcts of the flywheel are not a problem if there are two counter rotating ones.

Sadly it really leaves nothing for the thesis.

[ChrisB]

Years ago there were flywheel powered buses operating for at least a short time, I think. I've no idea how effective they were, but do recall reading about them many years ago - I have a feeling that they were a wartime invention. I believe they used an electric drive system as well, but their range was low; they relied on recharging the flywheel at bus stops, I think.

Jeremy

I was once offered one of these many years back after a trial came to the end and one of the buses never managed more than 500 miles from new before it broke down

Had to turn it down .............where the heck does one store a 55 seater bus

ChrisB

[Night Train]

Ok, I think I will look at the environmental costs of personal transport.

It will be a simple area of research looking at the options available to most users:
Keeping an old ICE vehicle on the road. Examining the environmental costs of fuel, fuel types and ongoing maintenance.
Keeping an old ICE vehicle on the road but with a conversion to electric. Examining the options available to the average person in the form of DIY and commercial kits, battery types and disposal of unwanted parts.
Buying a new electric vehicle. Examining the disposal of a whole existing vehicle and the manufacturing costs of new vehicles, batteries etc.

There will need to be some investigation into the types of fossil fuel replacements for the ICE and the reasonable range of motors, electronics and batteries available to the converter and the manufacturer.

This is about as small as it can be and it is still quite big.

What do you reckon? I will have to have a proposal written and presented in about 10 days.
Thank you.