Are electric cars the future?

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
Interesting article from Wemorgan's link.

Le Mans Electric | YASA Motors

About 20 years ago I was shown an electric F3 car that used prototype wheel motors. It could out accelerate a regular F3 car then brake to a stop very quickly too, but with no brakes.
 
Last edited:
Dieselman said:
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?

So if it were a Mercedes it would rust before the leccy motor died.
 
Other than overheating or a bearing failure, why would an electric motor wear out?
They can be re-wound for not a lot of money or replaced by a specialist in a matter of minutes too. EV motors are pricey mind.

In fact electric cars are great, maintenance-wise. From what I have read over the years the items most like to fail are batteries (megabucks but usually under some kind of warranty) wiring (not tricky to repair) and electronic controllers (plug and play).

Routine servicing would include brakes and, erm a quick inspection all around? That's the biggest problem with EVs - not enough to go wrong on them to provide a consistent revenue stream for the manufacturers' servicing depts.
 
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.

Wouldn't the same fuel supply places you need be fitted with electrical charging points too ????
 
Mega fast charging means super dangerous high-voltage "fuel" stations. Learn to keep your hands down at your sides to avoid point-effect vapourisation of yourself and your children :crazy:
Would you care to qualify this statement? Or is it just hysterical tosh?
 
High-voltage and/or high-amperage electricity is indeed dangerous.

But carrying around 14 gallon of highly flammable petrol/oil/gas under the rear passenger seat is safe?

While there are clearly safety issues with electric cars, I think that on balance we are safer with them than with internal combustion cars. Especially as electrical cars are much less likely to catch fire in a crash.
 
Wouldn't the same fuel supply places you need be fitted with electrical charging points too ????

Sure, but it's 5 minutes to fill up with petrol and be on your way, hours to charge an EV!
 
Flying cars is the future - at least that's what they've been saying for the past 50 years, so maybe avgas?

Must go, gotta take a food pill and put on my shiny silver jumpsuit to go to work :)

K
 
In order to really work, the whole transport paradign needs to change from personal ownership. Lot's of research / work being done behind the scenes on the pros and cons of this.

Many of the posts have touched on the reasons why EVs and other alternatives will find it difficult to break into mainstream vehicle ownership. However, integrate the transport options - things like combined rail / car hubs, where the train is used for 90% of the journey and the small single/two person EV is used for the last local part (and included in the price of the ticket) - and many of those major issues go away.

It also allows for the end user to own their own vehicle too - even IC if they wanted - but perhaps more as accessories or weekend toys.

It would require major investment, plus a major shift in global economics (or something similar) in order to force the change. The work that my team are doing in this area suggests that unless you move to a commoditisation of transport, you'll never get to break the status quo - the take up of alternative motor power for personal transport will never make enough return quick enough to be developed and accepted in the mass market.
 
Sure, but it's 5 minutes to fill up with petrol and be on your way, hours to charge an EV!

...or 2 minutes if this system (which I referred to in post #66) takes off:

[YOUTUBE]qd0WPw3p2MQ[/YOUTUBE]

Yes, it will require investment in infrastructure, but so will any move to alternative fuels.

Also just realised that whitenemesis also referred to this in post #50:

IIRC some one was suggesting we have exchange battery packs, just pull up and swap over. That would work but can you see all manufacturers agreeing on a system/pack suitable for their car design?

I'd have thought that convergence wouldn't be too difficult to achieve. After all, they will all want to use the best technology available, and there must be considerable economies of scale to be made by sharing that technology.
 
...I'd have thought that convergence wouldn't be too difficult to achieve. After all, they will all want to use the best technology available, and there must be considerable economies of scale to be made by sharing that technology.

Would never happen! Consider the plethora of battery types for domestic power tools/appliances at present.

Would you want a Korean battery pack in your Mercedes?

Did you ever plump for Betamax? :D
 
my portable mp3 player lasts for hours with a minute battery.

Driving tiny speakers in the headphones. Amplifiers soak up the Amps. Point here is - who is prepared to give up the creature comforts they have become accustomed to? Not many I fear.

(1) charge it overnight or at your destination.

(2) 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.

(1) Assuming the stop at the destination is long enough and there is a method of paying for it. None of my customers I drive to see are gong to give me it for free!
And no driving at night then. We love our cars for the flexibility they give. A curfew ain't going to fly.

(2) There was talk of them being part of the national grid while parked. Supplying to the grid during peak demand and charging during the lower demand periods.

things like combined rail / car hubs, where the train is used for 90% of the journey and the small single/two person EV is used for the last local part .

Could charging be accomplished while the car is on the train?
 
.


I'd have thought that convergence wouldn't be too difficult to achieve. After all, they will all want to use the best technology available, and there must be considerable economies of scale to be made by sharing that technology.

Every time I see this suggested a large thirsty car towing a fuel bowser comes to mind.
If you are going this route you'd be as well tow the batteries on a trailer with a connecting cable. Cars with a huge standardise hole to accept the standardised battery pack. Is that still a car or a Nokia cover circa year 2000?
 
High-voltage and/or high-amperage electricity is indeed dangerous.

But carrying around 14 gallon of highly flammable petrol/oil/gas under the rear passenger seat is safe?

While there are clearly safety issues with electric cars, I think that on balance we are safer with them than with internal combustion cars. Especially as electrical cars are much less likely to catch fire in a crash.

MJ: Would you sooner walk through an electrical sub station than across a garage forecourt? The sub station has high walls for a good reason.

Voltage IS pressure - it will always be trying to find an escape route. Liquid fuels are benign in comparison.
 
None of my customers I drive to see are gong to give me it for free!
Car parking spaces are already taxed in some areas. It's not a massive leap to imagine that all parking spaces are taxed by the gov't unless they have EV charging stations provided, or some other incentive.
Could charging be accomplished while the car is on the train?
Of course! Trains run on electricity.
 
But carrying around 14 gallon of highly flammable petrol/oil/gas under the rear passenger seat is safe?

While there are clearly safety issues with electric cars, I think that on balance we are safer with them than with internal combustion cars. Especially as electrical cars are much less likely to catch fire in a crash.

Generally the litres of combustible stuff that slosh about don't spark or sizzle by themselves.

OTOH electrical faults tend to cause more pops and bangs and sizzles that ignite things. Introduce large capacity high discharge batteries into the mix and you have some interesting problems should there be a collision.
 
Car parking spaces are already taxed in some areas. It's not a massive leap to imagine that all parking spaces are taxed by the gov't unless they have EV charging stations provided, or some other incentive.
.

I understand the above in relation to commuter's cars parked all day long, but I can't be the only one turning around in less time than it would take to re-charge a watch battery!

The whole integration thing will start with sat-nav and details of the next available re-charging time slot - the electronics will then drive the car in accordance with the traffic situation and gradient.
 
^ 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 in winter / aircon in summer.
 
I'd have thought that convergence wouldn't be too difficult to achieve. After all, they will all want to use the best technology available, and there must be considerable economies of scale to be made by sharing that technology.

Look at how much progress we have seen in battery technology over the past 10 years.

But once a standard is in place, this battery swap scheme will put a halt to any future progress : all car batteries will have to have the same characteristics in order to be able to match this huge new charging, handling and disposal infrastructure.

Borrowing the Nokia example for a moment : imagine if the mobile phone industry had standardised on Nokia batteries in 1995. Would we have ultra-thin dual-core smartphones today? No. Physically impossible because of the size of the battery; practically impossible because the battery only holds a quarter of the charge needed to last a day.

Now, if it were possible to replace the solid mass in the battery with a high density liquid electrolyte which could be pumped, pre-charged, straight into the car... :)
 
Generally the litres of combustible stuff that slosh about don't spark or sizzle by themselves.

OTOH electrical faults tend to cause more pops and bangs and sizzles that ignite things. Introduce large capacity high discharge batteries into the mix and you have some interesting problems should there be a collision.

Yup .. to bang on about F1 again, look what happens in the pits recently when they suspect a battery fault with KERS. All of the mechanics dress like spacemen to insulate themselves and avoid getting killed! That'll be fun for first responders in roadside accidents ...
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom