Batteries

Brian Vaughan writes of the problems with batteries.   Too expensive to put in
anything larger than small electronic devices.

I completely agree.  My experiments with designs using batteries found them
totally unusable for nearly all applications.  The diesel electic subs I've put
on the TML are horrendously expensive due to the cost of batteries.

I remember I designed a TL 5 small coastal submarine and it cost 1.5 times as
much as a Dreadnought of the same TL.  My attempts at TL6 were a little better.
A US WW II 'Gato' Class fleet type sub cost only equal the amount of a TL6
battleship (Bismark class)

I also remember Rob Dean's electric buggy (TL 5?) that could seat 2 passengers
and cost something like a million credits?  Geez!

Now all of this was done before the Naval construction rules came out and said
that TL 5 and 6 batteries should weigh 5 times as much as the others (Not sure
about this, I don't have any of my trav stuff with me.)  Well, all I can say is
that GDW really goofed up here.

Also, The article by George Gannon in the latest challenge, about nuclear
fission shows that he never has done any designs using fission as the power
plant.  My calculations showed that a nuclear sub (using MegaTrav fission
rules) would burn up from as low as 60% to as much as 200% of the total mass
of the sub during it's stated cruising range.  The USS Nautilus, the first
nuclear submarine was refueled after 2 years.  There is no way you can build
a ship that can do that using the Megatrav rules.  You have to cheat.  I use
the hourly fuel consumption for fission plants for one year.  Comparing this
to the figures I have on the fuel consumption of the US Savannah, this is
within the ball park of reasonableness.  (Don't have the figures at my finger
tips, but I can look em up if ya want 'em)

Solutions for batteries?  Well, my car battery is about 5 liters in volume
and cost $30.  It is TL 7 technology.  (Doesn't help a lot, but it's a start)

Scott Kellogg

> Has anyone a table, for use in Traveller, of price and storage
> capacity for large-capacity batteries such as these applications
> would require?

Why use batteries when you can used closed fuel cells? There are many
variations on these; basically you burn hydrogen and oxygen to produce water
and energy, in a closed loop. Whenever required, you use external power
(utility grid, solar panels, ship fusion reactor) to crack the water back
into hydrogen and oxygen, so that it can be reused.

These are currently available, although expensive; certainly even slight
increases in TL will make them cheap and small.

If my information is correct, current fuel cells are *much* more efficient
than any currently available batteries, for size/weight.

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