The EV fact thread

[Dryce]

As a layman, I think that this is certainly one area when AI combined with Quantum Computing (still in its infancy, I agree) could make a massive change, by continuously optimising the energy production and the grid supply in real time.

I don't think so.

There are some things that might help - better long term forecasting using AI as an example.

But what AI is likely to do in the short to medium term is increase power demand. Quantum might offset that.

I don't think there are magic bullets.

 

[markjay]

I don't think so.

There are some things that might help - better long term forecasting using AI as an example.

But what AI is likely to do in the short to medium term is increase power demand. Quantum might offset that.

I don't think there are magic bullets.

The theory is that AI and Quantum Computing will achieve a signifiant reduction in our overall energy consumption, well beyond the increase in energy required to power the computers. But, again, both AI and Quantum Computing and nowhere near that at present... time will tell.

 

[clk320x]

Ironic posting from a 787 but there appear to be more and more wind turbines popping up offshore.

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

Ironic posting from a 787 but there appear to be more and more wind turbines popping up offshore.

Haven't we talked about this before?

The UK already has something like 3,000 offshore turbines which are 20% of the world's offshore electricity production capacity.

(That's in addition to our 10,000 onshore turbines)

I don't know the further expansion stats but they're significant.

 

[190]

No idea, but most of the time it seemed that less than a quarter of the wind turbines were rotating (and there were dozens, if not hundreds of them), so this is unlikely to be due to maintenance, but again I don't know the reason for it - I wonder if anyone does? Also, the wind (too slow / too fast) clearly wasn't the issue in this case, because a significant number of turbines were still rotating.

Wind turbines have had had issues with gearbox failure. Search the web on this topic and it will bring up dozens of stories confirming it's a problem. Shell say there are 1200 failures per year at a fraction of the 20 year expected life span. Repair costs are typically $250,000 per turbine.

The worst of it is that the financial case for wind turbines didn't factor in these very high repair/maintenance costs. Some turbines have been taken out of use and scrapped well before their projected working life which utterly destroys the financial and emissions case for having them in the first place. I suppose it's inevitable teething problems resulting from rushing in new technology too fast because of political pressure but good luck with getting any politician or greeny to admit there is a problem.

 

[markjay]

Wind turbines have had had issues with gearbox failure. Search the web on this topic and it will bring up dozens of stories confirming it's a problem. Shell say there are 1200 failures per year at a fraction of the 20 year expected life span. Repair costs are typically $250,000 per turbine.

The worst of it is that the financial case for wind turbines didn't factor in these very high repair/maintenance costs. Some turbines have been taken out of use and scrapped well before their projected working life which utterly destroys the financial and emissions case for having them in the first place. I suppose it's inevitable teething problems resulting from rushing in new technology too fast because of political pressure but good luck with getting any politician or greeny to admit there is a problem.

It seems unreasonable/unlikely that the dozens of feathered wind turbines I saw in France all suffered from gearbox failure (or from another fault), but since I don't know for fact why they were not being used, I can't argue either way.

 

[markjay]

That's what Google found :

Scrub Hub: Passing a wind farm, I see some turbines spinning and others motionless. Why?

For this edition of Scrub Hub, we examine why adjacent wind turbines don't always appear to be operating at the same time.

eu.indystar.com

' In larger wind farms, several turbines on a circuit can be inoperable and not spinning because they are all down for maintenance, said John Roudebush, program chair of Ivy Tech College’s Energy Technology program....

“(Sometimes) we don’t need the power as demand is down or another power plant is selling power to the customers instead,” Roudebush wrote in an email. “Power plants compete on the grid. A coal plant, a natural gas plant, or a wind farm will all bid to sell power during some part of the day and MISO will pick the cheapest bid for the day. Generally, wind is the cheapest but not always.” '

So I guess it could have been either (maintenance, or overcapacity).

 

[tode]

Hi,
To answer many questions about UK electricity generation - the link below is worth a look (especially at different times of the day)
It shows energy sources & CO2 for each method of generation!

Energy Dashboard - real time and historical GB electricity data, carbon emissions and UK generation sites mapping

Live and historical GB National Grid electricity data, showing generation, demand and carbon emissions and UK generation sites mapping with API subscription service.

www.energydashboard.co.uk

Cheers
Steve

Interesting to compare the split of production over here in France - 70+ % nuclear

ELECTRICITY PRODUCTION FRANCE

 

[ALFAitalia]

Uh-oh.

Labour pledges to reinstate 2030 ban on new petrol and diesel vehicles plus 'supporting buyers' of used EVs – Car Dealer Magazine

1

cardealermagazine.co.uk

 

[markjay]

Uh-oh.

Labour pledges to reinstate 2030 ban on new petrol and diesel vehicles plus 'supporting buyers' of used EVs – Car Dealer Magazine

1

cardealermagazine.co.uk

Why would Labour "support buyers of used EVs"? It is a well established fact on the Internet that second hand EVs sell for next to nothing.................

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

Why would Labour "support buyers of used EVs"? It is a well established fact on the Internet that second hand EVs sell for next to nothing.................

Love that Labour are reinstating the 2030 ban in order to "provide certainty" for manufacturers.

Just after most European manufacturers have announced that they will continue to sell ICE well beyond 2030

Mercedes-Benz to continue combustion car sales “well into 2030s” | Autocar

German manufacturer revises its ambition to become an electric-only brand by 2030

www.autocar.co.uk

BMW denies claims it will abandon internal combustion engines | Autocar

German firm's development boss labels reports as "complete nonsense"

www.autocar.co.uk

And after the EU Parliament has confirmed that its ban continues to be from 2035

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/pdfs/news/expert/2022/11/story/20221019STO44572/20221019STO44572_en.pdf

 

[190]

Why would Labour bring the dead line back to 2030 against the wishes of the public and against the European and word wide trend. It can only be out of ideology because it's not going to be a vote winner. I blame the woke virtue signalling PM that set the 2030 date in the first place but to bring it back unnecessarily and against the trend is even worse.

 

[markjay]

Why would Labour bring the dead line back to 2030 against the wishes of the public and against the European and word wide trend. It can only be out of ideology because it's not going to be a vote winner. I blame the woke virtue signalling PM that set the 2030 date in the first place but to bring it back unnecessarily and against the trend is even worse.

My guess is that Labour worked-out that the people who are put off by the Tories will vote Labour, regardless of whatever policies Labour will come up with. So they don't mind pi$$ing some people off, because they'll be voting Labour anyway...

Labour are now gunning for the Green vote, after Rishi Sunak said that Labour's 'green' policies will cause people to pay more for energy.

So they position themselves in the opposite corner - trying to catch as many ex-Tory voters as they can.

Just a guess, though.

 

[ALFAitalia]

Why would Labour bring the dead line back to 2030 against the wishes of the public and against the European and word wide trend. It can only be out of ideology because it's not going to be a vote winner. I blame the woke virtue signalling PM that set the 2030 date in the first place but to bring it back unnecessarily and against the trend is even worse.

Maybe to appease the trade.....most I knew were pretty annoyed when it was set back.......uncertainly does not sell electric cars. All it did was give people long enough to see that buying another new ICE will be ok....something they might not of done with only 6 years to go.

 

[BTB 500]

Expected for some time but Fisker have now filed for bankruptcy:

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/ev-startup-fisker-files-bankruptcy-2024-06-18/

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Expected for some time but Fisker have now filed for bankruptcy:

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/ev-startup-fisker-files-bankruptcy-2024-06-18/

That’s a shame but inevitable. The Ocean showed real promise and was good value. Perhaps a Chinese manufacturer will swoop in an pick up the pieces - the brand would be attractive but I’m not sure whether Henrik would allow that.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Expected for some time but Fisker have now filed for bankruptcy:

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/ev-startup-fisker-files-bankruptcy-2024-06-18/

Interesting to read that it’s biggest creditors were Adobe, Google and SAP!

 

[ALFAitalia]

Apologies if this has been posted before.....and this one is on its original battery and motors.

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[MikeInWimbledon]

Had a long dispiriting chat with an I-Pace owner today. Apparently they “need” trickle charging for the 12v battery to stop their control systems going blank.

(Far worse than the traditional R230 issue. Takes a lot of effort to recover a car that’s been parked for a fortnight)

Another one off the list.

 

[markjay]

Had a long dispiriting chat with an I-Pace owner today. Apparently they “need” trickle charging for the 12v battery to stop their control systems going blank.

(Far worse than the traditional R230 issue. Takes a lot of effort to recover a car that’s been parked for a fortnight)

Another one off the list.

I thought that (almost) all EVs did? I.e. needed to have their 12V battery topped up if the car wasn't being driven for a period of time?

My Hyundai has a 12v Lead Acid battery, without which the car won't start up.

If the battery is allowed to discharge, the car will need to be 'jump started' (albeit from any 12v source, not necessarily a car battery).

The longest I've had the car sitting idle was 4 weeks (in Switzerland), and the battery was fine, but that was after a long drive to get there, so the battery would have been fully charged to begin with.