Here I've taken the liberty of posting the complete story:
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The Neglected Philosophy of Electric Vehicles
By Gordon Dower and Shelley Damewood
A century after being the most popular type of car and then waning into oblivion, the electric car is undergoing a rebirth with predictions that it will supplant its CO2 - emitting rival within the next decade or so. As the energy-storage capacity of the battery approaches that of the gasoline tank, the rugged mechanical simplicity of the battery electric car becomes an increasingly appealing successor to the fuel-burning automobile we have welcomed as part of the family. But if we treat the battery electric car as merely a car with different works we shall deny ourselves some of its greatest advantages that spring from a different philosophy underlying our attitude toward it. It’s all common sense but not obvious and therefore not so common after all.
In a curious yet rather quaint way, looking to the future involves looking to the past, to the time before there were automobiles, only “horse-mobiles” where the motive module was distinct from the containing module but these were not thought of as modular vehicles. There are many different names for the modules (coach, dray, jitney, surrey…and bay, gelding, percheron, hack…) but there is no word for the composite conveyance, although it may be contextually implied as in “Your carriage awaits.” Obviously there must be horsepower! A non-modular horse-mobile would be absurd because of the totally different requirements of its two parts.
Automobiles were often built as separate body and chassis modules that were permanently assembled before use but the concept of modularity as a useful feature was not envisaged. Indeed, it is entirely lost in today’s unibody construction. There was no philosophy for it until what was subsequently called a “ridek” was patented. Even then, the philosophy came later. The title of the patent was “Modular Vehicle Construction and Transportation System.” The idea came from changing the battery pack in an electric car without disturbing the batteries or their contacts, just as stagecoach horses were changed in a journey that exceeded their range. This is easy to do if the pack lies in a “modek” or motorized deck, and the modek is exchanged for another one containing a fully charged pack. Riding on the modek is the “ridon” that carries the driver and passengers who may remain seated during an exchange that takes just a minute or so, to continue their journey in the reconstituted ridon/modek, or ridek.
Batteries have greatly improved since 2000, when the patent was granted, and 300-mile ranges with 10-minute recharging times now lie within the compass of today’s technology (a decade later) so that the original impetus for ridek quick-change modularity has disappeared, especially with the advent of the hybrid gasoline-electric car. However, three road-licensed ridek prototypes and numerous papers have not only established the practicability of ridek modularity but have also given rise to a hitherto neglected philosophy underlying the electric vehicle, a philosophy that applies to the economic underpinning of cars of the future.
A philosophy begins by asking questions such as: what are the possible advantages of modularization? Where has it been demonstrated? How can it reduce the cost of car ownership? What inconveniences does it mitigate? Can it reduce waste and improve safety?
A prime example of modularity is the railway train, by far the most efficient form of land transportation. Another is the modularization of containers that can move between ship and rail—and also road, leading to semi-articulated trucks. These were jointed or articulated to negotiate corners. Modularity of their traction and containing elements came later and they are still called “semis” rather than modular trucks although their widespread use provides all the evidence we need of the value of modularity in the trucking industry. These developments occurred gradually as business practice showed the advantages of inter-convertibility and exchange. Similarly, we should expect to see advantages of modularizing the battery electric car coming to the fore as it comes into use. This philosophical approach will attempt to foresee some of those advantages.
The greatest single expense of car ownership is depreciation and the greatest depreciation takes place over the warranty period because people tend to change the car when the warranty expires even though it may be running well. This creates a collaboration of interests between the dealer and manufacturer where the dealer holds the inventory of new cars and the manufacturer facilitates a servicing and warranty repair system that gives the dealer sufficient income to sell his cars more competitively. Competition protects the consumer but the system is intrinsically inefficient and unnecessarily expensive because of lack of standardization. Of course, the customer deserves a choice and free enterprise ensures he has it but the economic dictates of mass production deny him the customization that the early coachbuilders could provide—and could be provided by the ridon builder.
It takes a great deal of money to bring out a new car model and an assurance of a production of perhaps 50,000 copies. Producing modeks would cost much less, especially those with electric drives, because they would be standardized to fit existing ridons. Improvements would continually occur but they would be within the overall modek design and many of them could be implemented as updates of modeks already in service. In contrast to the 12-year lifetime of the average car, the modek’s life expectancy, given its robust electric drive and easy maintainability, would be more like 30 years. Almost no original buyers would keep a car so long but in any business plan such a long service life should be taken into account. This leads inevitably to a new philosophy about the private automobile, a vehicle that is often so personal and even loved by its owner that it declares the self-image he would show to the world. That it must perform well and reliably goes without saying. Happily, reliability and impressive performance happen to be the hallmarks of an electric drive.
Whereas modek design is a matter for conventional engineering, ridon design extends engineering to an art as in architecture, and must interface with people, and the prospective owner. Modularity allows this to happen. The ridon may be as ruggedly utilitarian as a military vehicle or as romantically elegant as…well, use your imagination!
So much for philosophy, how about administration?
From the foregoing it is clear that ridek quick-change modularity calls for the divided ownership that only it can allow. Whereas the ridon might be privately owned, the modek would be provided as needed from a pool of modeks through a system of modek exchange stations. That is the plan, now for the devilish details:
1. The ridon owner has no concern for maintenance of the modek (the more expensive component of the ridek); he merely exchanges it for another fully serviced modek, in just a few minutes. He need not transfer himself or his possessions to a courtesy car or concern himself with warranty matters, though these may apply to his ridon. Neither need he concern himself with the age of the modek because only its wheels show beneath the ridon.
2. The license plate, registration and public liability insurance of the ridek vehicle go with the ridon, which must also meet operational requirements under the modek exchange contract.
3. Billing for various services such as parking, tolls, road use, and electricity can be handled by meters in the modek.
4. Modeks operated under a city’s auspices can carry traffic control devices that enhance safety.
5. The simplicity of the electric drive, modek standardization and accessibility when not carrying a ridon greatly facilitate servicing and the training of technicians and minimize the inventory of spare parts.
6. Modek design provides plenty of space for battery storage well away from the ridon passengers. This is safer than packaging specially fitted batteries in very limited space among the passengers. It allows the modek battery pack to be large enough for a range of several hundred miles when a long-range modek is called for at a modek exchange station.
7. Modek exchange allows the size of the battery pack to be varied by adding or subtracting batteries so that the size required for daily urban use—often only 50 miles—may be relatively small compared to that for a much longer range. This is could be an important economy because a long-range battery pack is heavy and expensive.
8. The cash outlay for the prospective ridek driver covers only the ridon because the modek belongs to a pool of serviced modeks.
9. The operating cost of the modek should be low because it is inexpensive to manufacture and maintain, and has a very long service life. A ridon that is stored or used seasonally would not incur modek charges if its modek were returned to the pool.
10. Modek exchange requires little real estate or equipment. Jacks that retract into the ground are sufficient to lift the ridon off the modek so that the modek can roll out for a freshly serviced and charged modek to replace it. The jacks then lower the ridon and a rejuvenated ridek drives away. The main inventory of the exchange station would be a stock of modeks and this would be readily adjustable with other stations, according to demand. The investment would be very small compared to a gasoline station. Analogous to receipts for gasoline, there would be a charge for electricity and the exchange service. Arrangements would allow for modek redistribution among modek pools.
The above advantages are summarized in the Ridek Modularity Concept Map and accompanying key. Other advantages will emerge. For example, a plumber who cannot work without his vehicle containing the tools of his trade, would be unemployed if he drove a non-modular vehicle and had to leave it in the shop for servicing. A courtesy car would not help but a ridek would allow him to keep his ridon and his tools. It is easy to predict that the convenience and economy of ridek modularity will trump the non-modular vehicle.
Reduction to practice
The following is a description of a design for an urban ridek based on experience over a decade developing three rideks. Figure 1 shows a chassis model for a modek 11 feet long. It consists of two longitudinal chassis elements providing attachment for the front and rear motorized axles (details of the suspensions are not depicted). The mid-section is comprised of a rectangular box made of laminated carbon fiber. The floor of the ridon forms the lid of this box and gives great rigidity. The available volume of the box is 508 liters. If only three quarters of this space is used for batteries, the storage capacity could be 100 kWh, to give a range of about 400 miles. Motors are shown between the front and rear wheels but two are hardly necessary. Motor controllers and cooling system are not depicted but there is sufficient room for them
In the three road-licensed ridek prototypes mechanical links carry steering and braking controls across the ridon/modek interface. Ridek III implements automatic alignment and latching of the ridon and modek modules and demonstrates the practicability of the ridek quick-change modularity concept. It is easy to predict that the convenience and economy of ridek modularity will trump the non-modular vehicle.
Fig. 1. Modek chassis design. Ridek III prototype
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