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9 hours to go 130 miles in an electric car


GaryH

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Harry's vid is very revealing, took as long to add just 26 miles worth of juice with the fast charge as it takes to fill an ICE fuel tank

 Banbury has only just got electricity so should be possible to get the full fast charge in other parts of the UK 🤔 but to speed it up requires a radical jump in battery technology, like something not invented or commercially available yet. 

Or could always use dry ice to cool the batteries like the Formula E teams, a couple of years ago each team spent €30k on dry ice per race event just to keep the batteries cool enough for charging. The organizers hid the smokey old generators hidden around the back of the grid away from the sponsors/public 😉 

 

 

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On 29/11/2020 at 09:25, Jonny Hart said:

Housing density in the city is the bigger challenge but It’s hardly the engineering challenge of the century.   If you can put in a street lamp or a parking meter then you can install a charge point.  

See how many places in this country  still don't even have fibre broadband 🤔

On 29/11/2020 at 11:05, Jonny Hart said:

^ Have you been to Florence?   The entire waste disposal system is underground.  No bins in the street unlike UK cities where giant wheelie bins take up lots of parking spaces. 

Brighton (which is supposedly a ‘green’ city)


image.jpeg.f86d4e4f2cd0d3bcfbecf7366e1b7005.jpeg
 

Italy:

That’s a historic city with tiny streets and they managed that.   


We need to prioritise our environment.

Need vs actually will. 

Don't hold your breath. 

(Btw, Brighton and Hove now has one of the lowest recycling rates in the country - thanks Green Council) 

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On an infrastructure standpoint , so it takes roughly 80-100kw to charge your Tesla and the household uses 4000kw a year.  Let's say you charge your Tesla 3 X a week. 

Unless I've got my figures mixed up here you can see where I'm going with this. How will the various energy suppliers cope with this and in urban areas. Will the substations support this and where is this infrastructure going to spring up from. 

Porsche Portsmouth recently had a right faff getting suitable power setup for the high power chargers for the taycan.  

I know these 'instant chargers ' won't be available for most but equally I can't see how electric cars as a long distance traveling prospect are going to work for everyone. Inner city commuting for sure, it works. Short distances no ptoblrm, milk floats have been doing this for years. 

I think long distance travel will have to change as a whole if we're to move away from fossil fuel. Forget cars for anything but local commuting. 

 

 

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Why isn't it a legal requirement to have a roof of solar panels. More to the point why aren't manufacturers doing this anyway?

Bonnet, boot lid etc etc. Surely that would extend the range and reduce the need to recharge.

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2 hours ago, World Citizen said:

No more convertibles then!

I think that cost will be a big barrier to adoption. We had a 4kw system installed on the house 5 years ago. Cost was approx £7.5k, we had a battery system installed this year to soak up the excess rather than sending to the grid, the installer said that cost of a 4kW system is still about £7.5k, though the efficiency of the cells has improved over the 5 years.

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Think manufacturers have enough technology, design, manufacturing, logistic and cost obstacles to over come before getting into adding more complexity to their EV cars which aren't really quite there anyway

EV cars are way too heavy so I'd have thought the better approach would be to take weight out not add more weight on for something that only adds a measly 27 miles to the range when the sun is out and the car is clean, how often does that happen in the UK?

 

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4 hours ago, Phill said:

Why isn't it a legal requirement to have a roof of solar panels. More to the point why aren't manufacturers doing this anyway?

Bonnet, boot lid etc etc. Surely that would extend the range and reduce the need to recharge.

I have solar panels on the roof of my house. House is on the sunny south coast, faces almost due south. Best case the panels generate about 26Kw on a sunny March or April day (efficiency drops as the ambient temperature gets higher and the skies get hazier in the summer). But... they take up 22 sq metres. Solar panels on a car are more a marketing exercise than a practical one; the area available is too limited and with the majority of suitable surfaces being horizontal the orientation is less than optimal.

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37 minutes ago, sopor said:

I have solar panels on the roof of my house. House is on the sunny south coast, faces almost due south. Best case the panels generate about 26Kw on a sunny March or April day (efficiency drops as the ambient temperature gets higher and the skies get hazier in the summer). But... they take up 22 sq metres. Solar panels on a car are more a marketing exercise than a practical one; the area available is too limited and with the majority of suitable surfaces being horizontal the orientation is less than optimal.

Doesn't really matter does it? If the purpose is to save the planet then all available options should be adopted. After all if the government is saying that electric cars are the saviour then they should be as efficient as absolutely possible. There are no half measures when it comes to saving the planet otherwise it makes a mockery of the whole premise. After all, if you applied your argument it would mean electric cars are simply not effective versus cost and environmental damage in the manufacturing process?

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Not sure where you get my having said anything about electric cars not being effective? I only commented on the efficiency of solar panels and their suitability for the exterior of a car?

And it does matter, I think. We don't have infinite natural resources or infinite amounts of money to throw at problems - both need to be spent efficiently and with consideration to consequences and side effects. Design studies and proof of concept tests are a necessary step but not all of them will be suitable for production.

 

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 Emissions could be halved easily in my view  but  car manufacturers and governments always take a short term view .  We develop more and more efficient engines and instead of banking that efficiency we put them into bigger fatter heavier  cars . It pains me these days when trying to park sandwiched between overly  bloated and relatively  cheap financed modern vehicles.   Do we all really need 4x4s  and people carriers ...       dont think so . 

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While I agree with the pointlessness of 4X4s/SUVs/people carriers, the increase in bulk in ordinary cars is not done on a whim.  You want something with 5* EuroNCAP crash results or not?  The strength needed to achieve that needs steel and big sections to achieve it.   Side impact requirements mean thick heavy doors and big door pillars to take the impact loads.  Legislation now requires 75mm minimum between the surface of the bonnet and any hard point like the top of the engine or the servo underneath it, to protect pedestrians in the case of hitting someone, so he front of the car has to get chubbier.  It goes on and on....

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