terrorist420x (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

Torpedoes are more demanding an application than cars. An electric car with Li Ion batteries has a weight penalty under 500 lbs over its gasoline counterpart, for ~250 mile range @ 70 mph. Easily engineered around. Li Ion/NiMH operate fine in cold weather. Li Ion life ~7 years and/or 100k miles. NiMH 10+ years(probably 20) and 150k+ miles(some estimate 300k; SCE's electric RAV4s are at 150k on first pack with no capacity loss yet). Chevron is preventing large AH size NiMH from seeing use in EVs.

SCOTSDOC (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

The Admiral should explain why the USN spent $70+Billion on finding reliable propulsion for torpedoes and in the end gave up on batteries and fuel cells and settled on an internal combustion engine as most reliable and most range within the weight limitations.

terrorist420x (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

We don't need better batteries. NiMH of the 1990s gave pure electric cars like the Toyota RAV4 EV 120 miles range, GM EV1 150 miles range, Solectria Force(rebodied Geo Metro sedan) 200 miles range, Solectria Sunrise 350 miles range. The Sunrise had something the others did not: it had a very aerodynamic body. Addressing aerodynamics could even allow us to have 40+ mpg V8 musclecars. Aerodynamic body doesn't cost more and is a technology we had since the 1920s.