TED演讲:一项关于电动车的大胆计划(3)

 Now that last mile, last foot, in a sense, is the first step of the infrastructure¹. 现在想想这最后一英里，最后一步，在某种意义上，是迈向基础设施的第一步。

The second step of the infrastructure needs to take care of the range extension. 基础设施的第二步便是解决扩大范围的需要。

See we're bound by today's technology on batteries, 我们被现有的电池技术限制，

which is about 120 miles if you want to stay within reasonable space and weight limitations. 在适当的空间和重量限制范围之内，汽车只能行驶大概120英里左右。

120 miles is a good enough range for a lot of people. But you never want to get stuck. 对大部分人来说，120英里已经是一个足够的范围。可是，没有人愿意被现有的限制束缚。

So what we added is a second element to our network, which is a battery swap² system. 因此，我们为我们的网络添加了第二个成分，这便是一个电池交换系统。

You drive. You take your depleted³ battery out. A full battery comes on. And you drive on. 你驾驶。你把已耗尽的电池取出。换上一个全新的电池，你继续你的旅程。

You don't do it as a human being. You do it as a machine. 这并不是体力劳动。这是全自动模式。

It looks like a car wash. You come into your car wash. 这跟自动洗车一样。你把车开入自动洗车系统。

And a plate comes up, holds your battery, takes it out, puts it back in, 一个钢板将你的电池取出，换进一个新的电池，

and within two minutes you're back on the road and you can go again. 两分种之内，你便可以上路，继续你的旅程。

If you had charge spots everywhere, and you had battery swap stations everywhere, how often would you do it? 如果任何地方都有充电站，任何地方都有电池替换系统，你会多久换一次电池，充一次电？

And it ends up that you'd do swapping⁴ less times than you stop at a gas station. 其实这样下来，你换电池的频率比你加油的频率要低。

As a matter of fact, we added to the contract. 我们甚至把这个事实加入到我们的合同里。

We said that if you stop to swap your battery more than 50 times a year we start paying you money because it's an inconvenience. 我们规定如果你一年停车替换电池多于50次，我们会补偿你，因为这样停车换电池非常不方便。

Then we looked at the question of the affordability⁵. 然后我们审查了消费者能否负担的问题。

We looked at the question, what happens when the battery is disconnected from the car. 当电池与汽车分离，不再是车的一部分会怎么样呢。

What is the cost of that battery? Everybody tells us batteries are so expensive. 电池究竟是花多少钱？别人都告诉我们电池很贵。

What we found out, when you move from molecules⁶ to electrons, something interesting happens. 我们发现，当你从分子过渡到电子，有趣的事情便由此产生了。

We can go back to the original economics of the car and look at it again. 我们再回到最原有的汽车经济原理，重新考量。

The battery is not the gas tank, in a sense. Remember in your car you have a gas tank. 电池，在某种程度上，跟油箱不一样。还记得你的汽车里有一个油箱。

You have the crude oil. And you have refining and delivery of that crude oil as what we call petrol or gasoline. 你有原油。把原油加工，运输，便成了我们现有的汽油。

The battery in this sense, is the crude oil. We have a battery bay. 电池，从这个角度看，就像原油。我们有电池海湾。

It costs the same hundred dollars as the gas tank. 费用大概是几百美元，跟油箱一样。

But the crude oil is replaced with a battery. Just it doesn't burn. 但是原油被电池取代。电池不会燃烧。

It consumes itself step after step after step. 它只会耗损自己，一步接一步。

It has 2,000 life cycles these days. And so it's sort of a mini well. 现有电池有大概2000个寿命循环。就像一个小型的油井。

We were asked in the past when we bought an electric car to pay for the entire well, for the life of the car. 过往当我们决定买一辆电力车，我们必须付那口井的全部费用。

Nobody wants to buy a mini well when they buy a car. In a sense what we've done is we've created a new consumable. 买车的时候，没有任何人想购入一口小型井。在某种程度上，我们创造了一个新的消费品。

1 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

2 swap   

n.交换；vt.交换，用...作交易

参考例句：

• I will swap you my bicycle for your radio.我想拿我的自行车换你的收音机。
• This comic was a swap that I got from Nick.这本漫画书是我从尼克那里换来的。

3 depleted   

adj. 枯竭的, 废弃的 动词deplete的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• Food supplies were severely depleted. 食物供应已严重不足。
• Both teams were severely depleted by injuries. 两个队都因队员受伤而实力大减。

4 swapping   

交换，交换技术

参考例句：

• The slow swapping and buying of horses went on. 马匹的买卖和交换就是这样慢慢地进行着。
• He was quite keen on swapping books with friends. 他非常热衷于和朋友们交换书籍。

5 affordability   

可购性

参考例句：

• Performance-Based Logistics Affordability: Can We Afford Categorical Conversion to Performance-Based Acquisition? 基于性能的后期的可承受性：能否担负得起向基于性能的采办的无条件的转变？
• There would be no crisis of affordability, as't for food or clothing. 就想食物与服装一样，因为供给没有危机。

6 molecules   

分子( molecule的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The structure of molecules can be seen under an electron microscope. 分子的结构可在电子显微镜下观察到。
• Inside the reactor the large molecules are cracked into smaller molecules. 在反应堆里，大分子裂变为小分子。