Is it possible to charge a Taycan using an electric eel?

SWORDER

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I was watching this show called "Naked and Afraid" the other night and one of the contestants found, killed, and eventually ate an electric eel. The show's narrator mentioned that the eel generates 600 volts of electricity and some eels can generate up to 1000 volts. So presumably there are eels out in the wild that can generate 800 volts, or could be trained to do so. Now as it turns out, the Taycan expects to receive 800 volts when it charges and it got me to thinking...

If one were to gather up like maybe ten or twenty electric eels and train them to output 800 volts, how long would it take the group of them to fully charge a Porsche Taycan? What kind of machinery would be required to convert eel-generated current into something an EV could use, and what would be the rate of charge (in kW per eel)? Would the cost of feeding the eels over their lifetime exceed the value of the electricity they produce?
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daveo4EV

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I was watching this show called "Naked and Afraid" the other night and one of the contestants found, killed, and eventually ate an electric eel. The show's narrator mentioned that the eel generates 600 volts of electricity and some eels can generate up to 1000 volts. So presumably there are eels out in the wild that can generate 800 volts, or could be trained to do so. Now as it turns out, the Taycan expects to receive 800 volts when it charges and it got me to thinking...

If one were to gather up like maybe ten or twenty electric eels and train them to output 800 volts, how long would it take the group of them to fully charge a Porsche Taycan? What kind of machinery would be required to convert eel-generated current into something an EV could use, and what would be the rate of charge (in kW per eel)? Would the cost of feeding the eels over their lifetime exceed the value of the electricity they produce?
need to know teh "amps" - eels are going to be DC power - but unregulated - and they will eventually form a labor union and demand full benefits - also they are slimy

but we need to know both voltage and amps (current flow) to translate to watts - but yeah feeding DC power into a battery is what this stuff is - and eel's are DC power source if you could tap it…but the amps may be low - so the wattage might be disappointing.
 

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I was watching this show called "Naked and Afraid" the other night and one of the contestants found, killed, and eventually ate an electric eel. The show's narrator mentioned that the eel generates 600 volts of electricity and some eels can generate up to 1000 volts. So presumably there are eels out in the wild that can generate 800 volts, or could be trained to do so. Now as it turns out, the Taycan expects to receive 800 volts when it charges and it got me to thinking...

If one were to gather up like maybe ten or twenty electric eels and train them to output 800 volts, how long would it take the group of them to fully charge a Porsche Taycan? What kind of machinery would be required to convert eel-generated current into something an EV could use, and what would be the rate of charge (in kW per eel)? Would the cost of feeding the eels over their lifetime exceed the value of the electricity they produce?
Sounds like a project for Elon!
 

Trogdors_Peasant

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Lol…. It seems they produce about 1 amp per discharge, or about .12kw. Your issue is going to be that it’s a defensive “shock discharge” and not a continuous current. Might need thousands of them, and then some way to piss them off on a regular cadence.
 

daveo4EV

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SWORDER

SWORDER

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Lol…. It seems they produce about 1 amp per discharge, or about .12kw. Your issue is going to be that it’s a defensive “shock discharge” and not a continuous current. Might need thousands of them, and then some way to piss them off on a regular cadence.
How does the math work on this? I thought the formula was:

Watts = Amps * Volts

So wouldn't an 800 volt eel generate 800 watts (.8 kW) @ 1 amp? Seems that would imply we'd need 338 eels to charge at 250 kW (250/.8). That's a lot of eels to be sure.

...and I guess you're right, the insurmountable problem is convincing them to emit electricity continuously rather than only when they're angry. On the TV show I watching, the eel got angry when threatened physically. It would be interesting to know if eel's are also angered by verbal threats as well (e.g. insults, mockery, etc.).
 

Trogdors_Peasant

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How does the math work on this? I thought the formula was:

Watts = Amps * Volts

So wouldn't an 800 volt eel generate 800 watts (.8 kW) @ 1 amp? Seems that would imply we'd need 338 eels to charge at 250 kW (250/.8). That's a lot of eels to be sure.

...and I guess you're right, the insurmountable problem is convincing them to emit electricity continuously rather than only when they're angry. On the TV show I watching, the eel got angry when threatened physically. It would be interesting to know if eel's are also angered by verbal threats as well (e.g. insults, mockery, etc.).
hah! You think I put a lot of effort into the correct watts value from an eel? 😬. I was looking at generic electric eel outputs, probably picked one that gets angry at a much lower voltage.
 


Jrkennedy37

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Maybe you can get out of spec on YT to test this out.
 

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You may check to see if it voids the warranty. But if you insist, consider getting a surge protector in case the eels get really agitated.
 
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I was watching this show called "Naked and Afraid" the other night and one of the contestants found, killed, and eventually ate an electric eel. The show's narrator mentioned that the eel generates 600 volts of electricity and some eels can generate up to 1000 volts. So presumably there are eels out in the wild that can generate 800 volts, or could be trained to do so. Now as it turns out, the Taycan expects to receive 800 volts when it charges and it got me to thinking...

If one were to gather up like maybe ten or twenty electric eels and train them to output 800 volts, how long would it take the group of them to fully charge a Porsche Taycan? What kind of machinery would be required to convert eel-generated current into something an EV could use, and what would be the rate of charge (in kW per eel)? Would the cost of feeding the eels over their lifetime exceed the value of the electricity they produce?
The amps are more relevant than volts which I'm guessing you've figured by now.

Are eels producing AC or DC electricity??

Pointless albeit a slightly humorous post (yeah I know, bah humbug).
 

daveo4EV

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The amps are more relevant than volts which I'm guessing you've figured by now.

Are eels producing AC or DC electricity??

Pointless albeit a slightly humorous post (yeah I know, bah humbug).
DC - to my knowledge AC power can’t occur naturally - welcome correction\
apparently there can be AC power in nature - I was wrong - moving on now.
 
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Jhenson29

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The amps are more relevant than volts which I'm guessing you've figured by now.
Amps are not more relevant than volts.
You need to know both, and even the it’s not sufficient because they don’t tell you how much energy which is what you are putting in your battery.

So what’s really relevant is how much energy an electic eel can expend.
 

Jhenson29

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DC - to my knowledge AC power can’t occur naturally - welcome correction
Cursory google search suggests they can be either.

I would be surprised to find no naturally occurring AC given the general ubiquity of waves in nature.
 

daveo4EV

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Cursory google search suggests they can be either.

I would be surprised to find no naturally occurring AC given the general ubiquity of waves in nature.
then I stand corrected.
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