Are electric cars the future?

[Sp!ke]

There's a couple of electric cars racing in the Dakar this year - apparently with an 800km range.

They finished the race too.

Electric Car News » Blog Archive » Latvian Electric Car Finishes Dakar Rally

 

[AlanD]

Ok then motors in the axles. At least one electric supercar (lightning?) has motors in the hubs. I think unsprung weight is a myth anyway.

Compare a mountain bike with a 747 for a demonstration

 

[MOCAŠ]

There's a couple of electric cars racing in the Dakar this year - apparently with an 800km range.

They finished the race too.

Electric Car News » Blog Archive » Latvian Electric Car Finishes Dakar Rally

"It is an extended range vehicle supported by a Nissan internal combustion engine."

 

[Fuji]

There's a couple of electric cars racing in the Dakar this year - apparently with an 800km range.

They finished the race too.

Electric Car News » Blog Archive » Latvian Electric Car Finishes Dakar Rally

Nice find Sp!ke, and this is exactly what I mean about hybrids being the future.

It is an extended range vehicle supported by a Nissan internal combustion engine.

One of the bus routes around here has gone fully E-REV as part of a London-wide trial (link). They are seeing big benefits, i.e. 30% fuel reduction, so will probably be a common sight in the years to come.

My favourite at the moment has got to be this one...

Autocar

 

[Bellow]

I think unsprung weight is a myth anyway.

Blasphemy!!! Go study the work of Colin Chapman. Now!!!

Mitsibushi banged on about hub motors for long enough. Never fitted them to anything but show cars though.

 

[Bellow]

As for charging it could be done anywhere, work, supermarket you name it. Put a pound in the meter and when you're done shopping or whatever you have another quarter fill. Why worry about charging at home when you can charge at the destination? With inductive charging you don't even need to plug anything in, just park up and go!

Missed one. Go out in lightening storms and cross your fingers for a striKe.

(popular mythology suggests that you will have to remain mobile for multiple chargings)

 

[grober]

Interesting figures/? https://www.smmt.co.uk/members-loun...ligence/vehicle-data/monthly-automotive-data/

 

[Dieselman]

Should handle well too...

Low CofV....

The Tesla-S handles very well indeed due to that low CoG.

 

[Dieselman]

What happens if you forget? you cant 'limp' to the nearest charging station and fill up. You have to wait hours.

What happens if you forget to fill with petrol. You stop and wait hours for recovery.

the mobile phone analogy isnt really that relevant because mobile phones tend to last longer than a day and if they are not charged you can still go to work in your car and charge it there. Plus you can plug it in to a charger and use it whilst charging. You cant do that with the car!

Buy a car with a battery range longer than your journey and it will last more than a day, charge it overnight or at your destination.

Once the infrastructure of high power charging being available at the end location is available, the car will charge while parked. never go to a filling station again.

Unfortunately, technical advancement means thinking outside existing situations.

 

[Peter T]

If the inductive charging on my electric toothbrush is anything to go by, the charge time for a car would be about 12 days.

If I charge my shaver from the normal mains charger it takes <1 hour. My electric toothbrush takes all day.

Don't get me wrong; I think electric power is the future, just not in it's current version. It would be stupid to say that battery alone will NEVER be any good because who knows what breakthrough developments are round the corner.

On what we can say today however, the only real way forward is hydrogen fuel cells and/or some sort of IC/electric hybrid.

 

[Peter T]

Buy a car with a battery range longer than your journey and it will last more than a day, charge it overnight or at your destination.

Once the infrastructure of high power charging being available at the end location is available, the car will charge while parked. never go to a filling station again.

Unfortunately, technical advancement means thinking outside existing situations.

Problem with that is you can't account for unexpected events.

So you set off on a nice clear day with plenty of range on the battery. Next thing you get stuck in a trafic jam for hours. Now it's getting dark and it's starting to rain, so you need lights and wipers. Suddenly your range has dropped to less than you need for your journey!

Obviously the same scenario could be envisaged in normal car but in that, all you have to do is spend 5 minutes filling the tank.

 

[Dieselman]

^ Why do you need any power when stuck in a jam, the motor only uses power when moving the car.
As far as lights and wipers making a difference...the battery is 80Kwh...just how long is this jam situation going to last...about 8 weeks..??

 

[st13phil]

The "elephant in the room" is the taxation issue. I am firmly convinced that true "plug in" [ non hybrid] electric cars will simply not be readily available in the UK in economically viable numbers to bring the price down till that issue is resolved.

Google "galileo road charging" and see what turns up

 

[st4]

^ Why do you need any power when stuck in a jam, the motor only uses power when moving the car.
As far as lights and wipers making a difference...the battery is 80Kwh...just how long is this jam situation going to last...about 8 weeks..??

Heating and aircon plus any infotainment the driver has on. Users of teslas noticed how much worse re range got when the heating was used.

Road pricing, it won't happen too costly to administer and there will be feirce and justified opposition to such a scheme. Electricity will be taxed on usage like fuel. It self administrates and is doesn't require a massive network and infrastructure to monitor

 

[wemorgan]

Air-con for use when it's warm - have solar panels on the bonnet & roof of the car.
Heating - take the 5-10% wasted heat off the electric motor.
Radio & MP3 players take very little energy - my portable mp3 player lasts for hours with a minute battery.

 

[MOCAŠ]

Users of teslas noticed how much worse re range got when the heating was used.

At least they had heating! I remember Joanna Lumley saying that when driving her G-Wiz on rainy nights she had to choose between lights and wipers!

 

[st4]

At least they had heating! I remember Joanna Lumley saying that when driving her G-Wiz on rainy nights she had to choose between lights and wipers!

Give me the shed over that. At least when it's let go on me I've been able to make a legal hands free call, stay warm etc and power it's heated seats.

 

[MOCAŠ]

Anyone catch Quentin Willson on BBC Breakfast this morning?

He was being interviewed for a piece on electric cars, having run one himself for the past two years. Although he looked a bit more shifty than usual, seemingly avoiding eye contact with the interviewer while speaking, he was putting up a reasonably good case for them, highlighting the quietness and low running costs.

Then the interviewer asked him about the batteries having to be replaced every five years, and he made the extraordinary claim that conventional car engines have to be replaced after seven or eight years anyway.

Really? News to me. Perhaps he had in mind a car that was used in the way an electric car typically would be – for lots of short, stop-start trips around town – although he didn't say this and, even so, I'd still expect the engine to last a fair while longer than that.

More to the point, an engine is not the equivalent of a battery pack – which got me wondering how long the motors in electric cars are likely to last...

 

[wemorgan]

which got me wondering how long the motors in electric cars are likely to last...

They imply 150k miles

YASA-750 | YASA Motors

 

[Dieselman]

They imply 150k miles

That's not what they say at all. They say their testing regime was 150,000 miles equivalent.
For a motive source for sport/racing applications that is a very, very long testing regime.

Other than overheating or a bearing failure, why would an electric motor wear out?