Hyatt Builds Charging Station for the Tesla Roadster

18 Responses to “Hyatt Builds Charging Station for the Tesla Roadster”

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   Steven B Says:
   August 31st, 2007 at 10:52 am

   This is cool. It’s something that companies were actually going to do 100 years ago during the dawn of the automobile, but it’s cool that it’s happening now. I think I prefer the on-board range-extending design of E-flex cars better, but I still like this. It’s cheaper and more sensible than hydrogen highways.  
   
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   Dave Says:
   August 31st, 2007 at 11:17 am

   It is cool. Makes one wonder if GM should start partnering with a chain. Marriott perhaps?

   PR certainly, but it gets people excited. I’d be willing to bet all Tesla fans are now more willing to stay at a Hyatt.  
   
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   Brian Says:
   August 31st, 2007 at 12:39 pm

   I’m not an electrical engineer, so I don’t know if this would work, but here it goes:

   What if you split the 16 kWh battery pack in the Volt into 4 different 4 kWh packs. Could you charge them all simultaneously, thereby cutting charging time by 75%? Again, I don’t know if this makes sense or not; it seems like probably not or they would already be doing it.  
   
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   Steven B Says:
   August 31st, 2007 at 1:41 pm

   That’s not necessary. Also, the limitations on wall-charging for the Volt are the result of the limitations of the wall socket itself, not the battery. The range-extender has higher direct input to battery (more amp-capacity) and is able to put in a full 53kw. The wall socket is a 110 volt 15 amp connection. That means that the input is about 1.5kw of power. One thing that is a possibility is for the Volt to either have a built-in capacity for recharging higher than 1.5 kw or to have it rewired after purchase (if GM allows it without voiding the warranty), and then to have a wall socket in your garage upgraded to a higher power output. If the re-wiring doubles the voltage to 220 volt (and some garages already have a higher output socket for power tools) then the recharge time could be cut in half. But personally, I’m totally fine with ALL specs as they have been presented. The idea is to recharge overnight, anyways, and hopefully you get to sleep more than 6.5 hours.  
   
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   Don Says:
   August 31st, 2007 at 2:07 pm

   The Tesla roadster is an impressive vehicle. Their buyers are extremely well heeled and quite a few will be celebrities. Hyatt certainly is wise to market themselves to these very wealthy individuals and to gain by basking in the publicity garnered when they stay at their hotels.

   But let’s face it, unless the average American can be convinced to buy one car to use daily drives and to have another car (or to rent one) for longer drives, full BEVs are close to practical in America. Even Tesla’s sizable battery, several times larger than most need for the vast majority of the typical American’s daily commutes, is inadequate for a real road trip. Okay, get the recharge time down to 10 minutes rapid charge in widely available charging stations and get 250 miles down between charges, then maybe. But you are still left with a battery 3X bigger than you need most days and with that weight and cost and nonrenewable material usage/production pollution to consider.

   The Volt way is more reasonable. Build a BEV with a range adequate for 95% plus of daily commutes and, rather than rent or own a different car for longer drives, have the ICE generator to provide that rarely used but requisite functionality of distance. How reasonable of an approach is it? So much so that even Tesla is considering it as they go down-market with a planned $30K car with the project name of Blue Star: “If necessary, the company would be willing to use a small gas engine to boost Blue Star’s range and broaden its appeal.” -BusinessWeek as in http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/07/21/businessweek-profiles-tesla-motors/  
   
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   Tom Says:
   August 31st, 2007 at 2:36 pm

   I have recently done a survey in my area of office buildings and find that most of them will be willing to accomodate us for charging while at work. If you are paying for parking ( I’m not) the fee will be very nominal.In some cases it is an inticement to future tennants to rent office space with this gratuity included. In any case this would then give you the capacity to increase your round trip milage to 80 miles without using any gas. In my case I can charge at the office and when I return home my charge time will be much less.I really believe this is going to open up a whole new business field that should be quite lucrative for charging stations and people who embrace the idea of electric autos. I totally support the VOLT program and wish they were available NOW !  
   
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   ROMI Says:
   August 31st, 2007 at 2:50 pm

   I am glad to see these charging stations show up. I think it is really important however, that a standard be set with charging stations. In 4 years I don’t want to walk up to a charging station and see 12 plugs, one for GM, one for Tesla, one for Ford etc. Or worse, companies get into bidding wars whereby Hyatt has Tesla stations and Hilton uses the GM plug but Starbucks will only use the Ford plug etc. I think it would be reasonable to have maybe two different plugs, one with lower voltage and another for high voltage.

   Also, with concerns related to the amount of time the Volt takes to charge (6.5hrs). We need not worry. The Hyatt is the first example of businesses meeting the demands of their customers. I am sure, not long after Volt/Tesla type vehicles hit the streets, various malls, movie theaters, your place of work, will start installing charge stations. Even if it is a simple cluster of extension cords place by a few parking spots. I mean you don’t have to be home to charge your car, electricity is everywhere. As the time gets closer to production, we should start making phone calls or otherwise notify businesses that we would like to see free charge stations available.  
   
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   Dave G Says:
   August 31st, 2007 at 3:38 pm

   Brian – Splitting the batteries up (putting more cells in parallel) will decrease the battery voltage and increase the current (amps). Higher amps means thicker wires (more cost and weight). Less voltage probably means less horsepower in the electric motor, but I’m not 100% sure on that.

   Steven B – We already know from this post:
   http://www.gm-volt.com/2007/08/29/latest-chevy-volt-battery-pack-and-generator-details-and-clarifications/
   that the generator will not really charge the battery much, as doing so would cause over-heating. So it’s safe to say that the battery will not handle a 53kw charge. We know from the Opel version that the battery will handle a 220v charge, which is around 3kw. So where the exact limit is – who knows?

   Don – I agree. I believe totally electric cars will never reach mass appeal. So charging stations will most likely be a very niche market. By the way, thanks for the BlueStar reference!  
   
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   omegaman66 Says:
   August 31st, 2007 at 3:39 pm

   A different angle.

   There are ONLY few places on earth that will have the capability to charge a Tesla! NOT a selling point more of a deterent. The Tesla has a much bigger battery which therefore takes longer to charge. No ICE so you are stuck with keeping track of where you are and how far you can go.

   Tesla is pushing the envelope from one end (the cutting edge elite) GM is pushing the envelope from the other side.

   When they meet in the middle watch out. Electric car will quickly become the standard and the ICE will almost overnite be relegated to niche markets.  
   
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    StevenT Says:
    August 31st, 2007 at 4:24 pm

    I think the future of the auto is murky. Given the depletion of oil reserves I believe the Volt power-train will become the choice in the near future. Depending on what alternatives fuels come along will decide whether or not electric vehicles catch on. If research on ultracapacitors finally pans out, we may well see an electric car future if recharging can be done safely and fairly quick. This can be done with ultracapacitors. I personally believe electric is the way to go, whether all electric or vehicles such as the Volt. I guess only time will tell.  
    
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    omegaman66 Says:
    August 31st, 2007 at 5:14 pm

    Right, worst case senerio you have the serial hybrid as the future. Best case and I think most likely (assuming nuclear war doesn’t break out) is eventually turning to all electric and totally ditching the ICE.

    More improvements and utilization of battery technology and a charging infrastructure at gas stations is all that is required to go all electric.  
    
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    Estero Says:
    August 31st, 2007 at 9:39 pm

    Somehow all the car manufacturers will need to come together to create a standardized plug-in adapter, just like the nozzle at gas pumps have been standardized.  
    
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    Drake Says:
    August 31st, 2007 at 10:15 pm

    I agree that they need to standardize the plug NOW. The longer they wait, the more plugs will be out there.

    Concerning the power stations- man talk about a business opportunity. Once 60k Volts rush onto the market, people will be willing to pay for electricity.

    Just look at how fast broadband was implemented in Hotels- it is odd now for the average hotel NOT to have broadband. We all witnessed that revolution. I remember Best Western was the first hotel chain to announce that they were putting broadband in all of their hotels a few years back. It was a pretty big deal for nerds like me and I know electricity ports will be too.

    Given that most hotels have access to the electrical grid (lol) I don’t see this as a major, or expensive, addition. Each hotel would start out with maybe 3-5 charging spots and then expand as needed. Heck it would even be profitable- (gee, do I want to pay   
    
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    Drake Says:
    August 31st, 2007 at 10:16 pm

    … less than $1.00/gallon equivalent for an electrical charge or the regular $3.00/gallon). For road warriors this could add up to a lot of money really fast.  
    
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    Don Says:
    September 1st, 2007 at 12:24 am

    Well, it seems that the $30K mark is doable, even all electric:
    http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/08/30000_electric.php
    120 mile range with 80mph top speed in a real sedan. If Miles can do it with all batteries (I wonder who they use and it must be about 45-48kWh, or three times as large as the Volt’s to get that range) then GM can do it with a 16kWh battery pack and a small ICE.

    And while I stand by my statement that most of America won’t compromise on range, I gotta say that this car will tempt me.  
    
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    Steven B Says:
    September 1st, 2007 at 8:43 pm

    Couple of things I want to point out: reduced voltage in electric motor that was mentioned earlier reduces voltage (which means lower torque, not necessarily horsepower) and ultracapacitors may replace batteries at some point in the future (near or distant) but I think the e-flex design is still liable to be a winner. One of the densest energy sources is gasoline to be used in an ICE, more batteries or even more ultracapacitors means more weight, reduced performance and reduced efficiency. One more thing, the plugs for EV’s in modern vehicles are standard three-pong plugs with maximum current draw. The adapters are like in cell phones, the connection to the device is different in each, but the connection to the wall socket is the same.  
    
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    ug Says:
    September 4th, 2007 at 4:28 am

    “Build a BEV with a range adequate for 95% plus of daily commutes and, rather than rent or own a different car for longer drives, have the ICE generator to provide that rarely used but requisite functionality of distance.”

    Note that having the ICE generator onboard with its extra weight will require more batteries to reach the same EV-only range as a BEV with the same range would. So there are tradeoffs.

    Also, having an ICE onboard means committing to long-term maintenance issues which are not applicable to BEVs.

    So you can’t really say serial hybrids are better than BEVs. Each have their pros and cons depending on what’s important to you.  
    
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    Russell Nelson Says:
    June 18th, 2008 at 1:45 pm

    BEVs are great, but need to be dual-mode like the RUF. http://www.ruf.dk/ which powers / recharges / drives the vehicle for long-distance journeys.  
    
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