Electric cars

[Alibi]

On 10/18/2021 at 11:43 AM, er yir macaroon said:

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/uk.motor1.com/news/462860/ev-drivers-wouldnt-return-petrol/amp/

It’s hard to imagine anyone who’s experienced owning an electric car ever going back to petrol or diesel and the above backs that up. 

I think if they can sort out the range business - which I suspect they will do to some extent, given the advances that have already been made in the last couple of years - then electric cars may become mainstream.  If there was a way to do a quick swap of battery packs in a few minutes, they'd be sorted.  I still think that hydrogen cars might be the long term future due to the major problem of providing charging facilities and the need for massively more generating capacity.  I do agree that having electric motors would be a good thing as it gives excellent performance figures, standard automatic transmission in effect, and reduced noise, easy 4 wheel drive and a lot of other benefits, but it will still always hinge on practical factors, of which range is the biggie.

[phart]

35 minutes ago, Alibi said:

I think if they can sort out the range business - which I suspect they will do to some extent, given the advances that have already been made in the last couple of years - then electric cars may become mainstream.  If there was a way to do a quick swap of battery packs in a few minutes, they'd be sorted.  I still think that hydrogen cars might be the long term future due to the major problem of providing charging facilities and the need for massively more generating capacity.  I do agree that having electric motors would be a good thing as it gives excellent performance figures, standard automatic transmission in effect, and reduced noise, easy 4 wheel drive and a lot of other benefits, but it will still always hinge on practical factors, of which range is the biggie.

they have in some countries for the mopeds they use. Just take out in your own batteries at charging status, then put in charged ones.

Edited October 19, 2021 by phart

[er yir macaroon]

2 hours ago, Alibi said:

I think if they can sort out the range business - which I suspect they will do to some extent, given the advances that have already been made in the last couple of years - then electric cars may become mainstream.  If there was a way to do a quick swap of battery packs in a few minutes, they'd be sorted.  I still think that hydrogen cars might be the long term future due to the major problem of providing charging facilities and the need for massively more generating capacity.  I do agree that having electric motors would be a good thing as it gives excellent performance figures, standard automatic transmission in effect, and reduced noise, easy 4 wheel drive and a lot of other benefits, but it will still always hinge on practical factors, of which range is the biggie.

Range anxiety tends to be a thing for people before they buy one. It quickly falls from the agenda because you soon understand what your car can and can’t do. 500 miles will be the norm soon enough though.

I think the biggie in terms of environmental footprint will be battery technology. Calcium instead of lithium-based batteries being one aspiration. Green energy is obviously being massively ramped up so I do think it is coming together. Car battery technology may well find use in storage of green energy (for when the wind did stops blowing etc). More subsidies for buyers would be welcome. 

I can’t stress enough how much more engaging electric cars are to drive. Someone asked about sluggish, automatic-type performance. As far as I can work out there is only one gear. You just put the foot down and it goes like the clappers. 

[thplinth]

Just curious but what about if you kept a portable generator in your boot e.g. this or something more powerful

...would you be able to get a meaningful charge into the car in a 'run out of leccy' in the middle of nowhere situation?

[Alibi]

16 minutes ago, er yir macaroon said:

Range anxiety tends to be a thing for people before they buy one. It quickly falls from the agenda because you soon understand what your car can and can’t do. 500 miles will be the norm soon enough though.

I think the biggie in terms of environmental footprint will be battery technology. Calcium instead of lithium-based batteries being one aspiration. Green energy is obviously being massively ramped up so I do think it is coming together. Car battery technology may well find use in storage of green energy (for when the wind did stops blowing etc). More subsidies for buyers would be welcome. 

I can’t stress enough how much more engaging electric cars are to drive. Someone asked about sluggish, automatic-type performance. As far as I can work out there is only one gear. You just put the foot down and it goes like the clappers. 

Only needs one gear (and doesn't really have a gearbox, more just a reduction gear) because electric motors generate pretty much the same torque no matter the revs, and they can rotate at very high speeds as they are so smooth.  Combustion engines only work within a certain rev range and the torque and power output varies.  That's why they need gearboxes and clutches, so that the engine speed can be kept within the working range, usually from idle at about 800rpm to a few thousand rpm depending on the degree of tuning.  With electric motors, as soon as you press the go pedal, you have access to the maximum torque and power that the motor can produce, so performance can be sensational.  In essence you can have a motor at each wheel and no actual engine, so the design of cars could evolve as a lot of the mechanical stuff is no longer there - no engine block, no heavy gearbox, but a lot of weight in the batteries which can be distributed differently within the footprint of the car.  current electric cars tend to be more like conversions of current models but given a clean sheet of paper, designers could come up with radically different cars, packaged differently.

[Orraloon]

20 minutes ago, thplinth said:

Just curious but what about if you kept a portable generator in your boot e.g. this or something more powerful

...would you be able to get a meaningful charge into the car in a 'run out of leccy' in the middle of nowhere situation?

How about one of these?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/254833128071?hash=item3b553cf287:g:A~UAAOSwEwlf~fOY

[er yir macaroon]

11 minutes ago, Alibi said:

Only needs one gear (and doesn't really have a gearbox, more just a reduction gear) because electric motors generate pretty much the same torque no matter the revs, and they can rotate at very high speeds as they are so smooth.  Combustion engines only work within a certain rev range and the torque and power output varies.  That's why they need gearboxes and clutches, so that the engine speed can be kept within the working range, usually from idle at about 800rpm to a few thousand rpm depending on the degree of tuning.  With electric motors, as soon as you press the go pedal, you have access to the maximum torque and power that the motor can produce, so performance can be sensational.  In essence you can have a motor at each wheel and no actual engine, so the design of cars could evolve as a lot of the mechanical stuff is no longer there - no engine block, no heavy gearbox, but a lot of weight in the batteries which can be distributed differently within the footprint of the car.  current electric cars tend to be more like conversions of current models but given a clean sheet of paper, designers could come up with radically different cars, packaged differently.

Interesting. It does feel much like a dodgem car. 

[thplinth]

14 minutes ago, Orraloon said:

How about one of these?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/254833128071?hash=item3b553cf287:g:A~UAAOSwEwlf~fOY

How dare you!

You could replace all the passenger seats in the car with exercise bikes rigged up to charge the batteries as you go. It would almost become a perpetual motion machine at that point. (Your wife and kids would have thighs like Chris Hoy so you would obviously have to offset the price of the bodybulder fit trousers for everyone.)

I never realized those hydrogen cells worked using reverse electrolysis and are thus fully electric cars. I thought they just burnt the hydrogen into water in a clever combustion engine. Lol. Never thought you’d be able to power an engine this way, amazing. Seems a much better solution but with so few places to fill up no one will buy the cars so no one will invest in building places to fill up…

[Dave78]

1 hour ago, er yir macaroon said:

Interesting. It does feel much like a dodgem car. 

The pedals on the ID3...  Who says the Germans don't have a sense of humour?

[scotlad]

2 hours ago, Dave78 said:

The pedals on the ID3...  Who says the Germans don't have a sense of humour?

Took me a couple a couple of seconds 🤦‍♂️🤣

[ger intae them]

1 hour ago, scotlad said:

Took me a couple a couple of seconds 🤦‍♂️🤣

……. and you were at 70mph

[scotlad]

20 hours ago, ger intae them said:

……. and you were at 70mph

If only my brain worked that quickly 🤣