IEEE Spectrum November, 2007 - 3

FORUM
"Whynotbuild
small,two-wheel
trailersequippedwith
batteriessufficient
todoubletherangeof
anelectricvehicle?"
-PaulGottfried
Batteries on
the Move

be attached to a trailer with
a small gasoline engine that
turned the car-trailer combination into a series hybrid.
However, production plans
for the vehicle were dropped
in 2003. For more: http://www.
acpropulsion.com/tzero.

it seems unlikely to me that
battery improvements in the
next decade will lead to production of electric-only automobiles with range sufficient
for more than relatively short
trips ["Lithium Batteries Take
to the Road," September]. It recharging r&D
also seems to me that there is
in "Power Up" [News, Septeman obvious solution.
ber], the new U.S. energy
W hy n o t b u i l d s m a l l , research agency ARPA-E is
two-wheel trailers equipped
criticized by congressional
with batteries sufficient to
sources as follows: "How can
double the range-or more? ARPA-E's mission succeed
Such trailers could be made when the means have not been
av a i l able for rent a l , p er- provided, in the form of money
haps at existing service sta- or the ability to turn its findtions. A driver who ran low ings into new regulations?"
on reser ve wou ld si mply Those words tell me everything
attach a fully charged trailer. I need to know about those
Another type of trailer-one
critics: they are not focused on
equ ipp ed w it h f uel ta n k , developing a technology that
internal combustion engine, will be taken up by the marketgenerator, and perhaps addi- place and grown countrywide
tional batteries-could make
through value delivery to the
it possible to use the basic
consumer. They are focused on
electric-only automobile for "new regulations."
travel across isolated areas
Hundreds upon hundreds
such as deserts.
of billions of dollars spent
Paul Gottfried
on energy research after the
IEEE Life Senior Member
nuclear build-out era ended in
Silver Spring, Md.
the late 1970s are beginning to
look like a lousy investment,
The executive editor responds: because no technology has
Between 1995 and 2001, Alan
emerged from all that work that
Cocconi, an electric-vehicle
can compete economically with
d e s i g n e r i n S a n D i m a s , fossil fuels. I realize we must
Calif., built a series of elec- invest in basic research, and
tric sports cars he called
it will not bear economic fruit
tzero. Some of these could
immediately. However, our

IEEE Spectrum | November 2007 | NA

entire national research process
will be endangered if we don't
soon get a major energy breakthrough that directly benefits
the taxpayers funding it.
As technologists, we have
a personal responsibility to
be honest w ith ou rselves
about the economics of our
work. It is dishonorable for
a researcher to abdicate this
responsibility. Marketplace
demand for an innovative
energy technology will fund
its rollout worldwide. Some
clever, honest researcher out
there is going to be immortalized like Edison. Where
are you?
Bruce Cavender
IEEE Senior Member
Murfreesboro, Tenn.

stUDying iss

i believe James oberg's review
of ISScapades [Resou rces,
September] should be required
reading for everyone who
works at NASA and at its many
contracting companies.
In the late 1990s, I worked
as a senior software engineer for LM Space Mission
Systems & Services on the
Hubble Space Telescope's
(HST) Vision 2000 project to
modernize the HST ground
systems. Eighty-hour weeks,
mostly without paid overtime, got me a nice plaque-
and even a US $1000 award.
Most Satu rd ay morn i ngs,

however, I was so exhausted
from the prev ious week's
work that I could hardly get
up by noon from the grueling schedules imposed by
management. All this work
was in anticipation of the
Second Servicing Mission, in
February 1997, by the Space
Shuttle astronauts.
During this time, I would
speak from time to time by
telephone with a former NASA
chief scientist appointed by
NASA Administrator Daniel
S. Goldin, who told me that
the policy established after
the Challenger disaster-that
of p e o p l e c h e c k i n g p e o ple-was then being relaxed
throughout NASA.
So, I guess, we now know
what that led to in space-as well
as back down here on Earth.
Joseph Roy D. North
Austin, Texas

reaD anD reMeMBer

i enjoyed the article "Bet
on It" [September], and was
struck with an eerie sense of
déjà vu! After a few minutes
perusing my bookshelf of classic science fiction, I found my
copy of Shockwave Rider, by
John Brunner. It's interesting to note that over 30 years
ago Brunner imagined Delphi
pools-another name for prediction markets-as an integral part of his fiction. It would
seem I wasn't the only person
inspired by Brunner's work.
Kenneth R. Jongsma
IEEE Member
Albuquerque

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Spectrum November, 2007