The EV fact thread

[BTB 500]

Interesting to see that some places already have an over-supply of renewable electricity:

Too much of a good thing? Spain's green energy can exceed demand

Spain is looking at storing electricity or increasing demand to solve electricity oversupply.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Dryce]

Interesting to see that some places already have an over-supply of renewable electricity:

Too much of a good thing? Spain's green energy can exceed demand

Spain is looking at storing electricity or increasing demand to solve electricity oversupply.

www.bbc.co.uk

This isn't a new problem. There were reports a few years ago about UK windfarm operators being paid substantial amounts to not supply energy.

Over the years the UK maintained a portfolio of supply sources (coal, nuclear, oil, gas, hydro) and there was massive overcapacity in exchange for security and flexibility. There were always a few idle power stations lying about - with tanks of oil or piles of coal.

Now add wind to that list of supplies - with the added complication that it is variable and outside of control - and it adds some new issues - particularly as we have now depleted much over that over capacity. So we need to be able to capture and store more of it.

Which is where storage starts to become a thing - whether that be pump storage, or big battery installations (Tesla do these), even distributed networks of smaller batteries such as plugged in EVs that can feed back into the grid.

In the UK there are several new pump storage schemes being undertaken (or in the case of Cruachan an extension to an existing scheme).

 

[markjay]

The railways must have been viewed as transformational in the early years. You see it very strongly in that periods novels e.g. Dickens and Thomas Hardy. Whether they were profitable or not is another thing and they certainly haven't made a profit in the last 100 years. The long term lack of profitability is even discussed in the National Railway museum. If railways have struggled in the past when labour was cheap there is zero chance they will ever be financially viable in modern times while the unions are in charge. I don't understand why we persist with such a dysfunctional method of transpiration. If they can't be made to work, tear up the tracks and run self driving buses instead.

Motorcars aren't profitable either..... unless you remove the infrastructure costs (roads, bridges, tunnels) on the premise that the infrastructure is the responsibility of the government.

Similarly, trains can be operated at a profit, if the infrastructure is paid for by the government, and not by the train operators.

 

[BTB 500]

This isn't a new problem. There were reports a few years ago about UK windfarm operators being paid substantial amounts to not supply energy.

Over the years the UK maintained a portfolio of supply sources (coal, nuclear, oil, gas, hydro) and there was massive overcapacity in exchange for security and flexibility. There were always a few idle power stations lying about - with tanks of oil or piles of coal.

Now add wind to that list of supplies - with the added complication that it is variable and outside of control - and it adds some new issues - particularly as we have now depleted much over that over capacity. So we need to be able to capture and store more of it.

Which is where storage starts to become a thing - whether that be pump storage, or big battery installations (Tesla do these), even distributed networks of smaller batteries such as plugged in EVs that can feed back into the grid.

In the UK there are several new pump storage schemes being undertaken (or in the case of Cruachan an extension to an existing scheme).

An interesting topic. It's been quoted that demand for electricity has been falling for some time, although increased BEV usage could reverse that? Presumably the ability to generate wind/solar power is nowhere near maxed out yet, and if you add in geothermal & tidal could over-supply potentially become a permanent thing? Storing electricity in any form obviously has a cost, so you wouldn't want more capacity than required to meet likely future needs.

 

[Dryce]

An interesting topic. It's been quoted that demand for electricity has been falling for some time, although increased BEV usage could reverse that? Presumably the ability to generate wind/solar power is nowhere near maxed out yet, and if you add in geothermal & tidal could over-supply potentially become a permanent thing? Storing electricity in any form obviously has a cost, so you wouldn't want more capacity than required to meet likely future needs.

BEVs and a switch away from gas to electricity for domestic heating are a going to have a massive impact on household demands.

Storage costs. But so do idle standby power stations. Storage is seen as cleaner.

It's complicated. Some of the statements made to the public don't make sense. So it's easy to get concerned that those doing the planning don't know what they are doing. But the reality is that behind the scenes there is quite a lot of work going on that is not that visible - thinking 10 and 20 years ahead.

 

[BTB 500]

BEVs and a switch away from gas to electricity for domestic heating are a going to have a massive impact on household demands.

Gas is a quarter of the cost per kWh though ... what's driving a switch to electricity for heating??

 

[markjay]

Gas is a quarter of the cost per kWh though ... what's driving a switch to electricity for heating??

Gas boilers burn carbon fuel. We're tyring to move away from that, and cut carbon emissions.

 

[markjay]

The other benefit of electricity, is that it is centrally generated. This means that the energy generation can we changed (to renewable sources, or nuclear) seamlessly for the consumer.

When the energy is produced locally, e.g. in engines or boilers, changing the energy generation method is a long and painful exercise for consumers (as we are currently finding out).

 

[BTB 500]

Gas boilers burn carbon fuel. We're tyring to move away from that, and cut carbon emissions.

From a quick Google, carbon emissions for domestic heating are around 13-14% of the UK total. Presumably that's dropping though with more efficient modern boilers.

Interestingly one solution being touted is switching from natural gas to hydrogen ...

 

[Dryce]

Gas is a quarter of the cost per kWh though ... what's driving a switch to electricity for heating??

Government - bans on installation of boilers in new build homes.

And in didactic Scotland the Greens wanted to impose a ban on existing boilers within a few years - but then there was a bit of a political shift at Holyrood.

 

[Petrol Pete]

How come I am not surprised..... JLR have been populating the bottom entry in the list in almost every car reliability survey conducted in the past 5 years.

Yup , Ingenium engine anyone ?? Good grief , a quick scoot around the interweb shows just how bad it is with JLR.

 

[markjay]

Jaguar, again. Tragic death.

Alfie Tollett: Prevention of Future Deaths Report - Courts and Tribunals Judiciary

Date of report: 27/08/2024 Ref: 2024-0471 Deceased name: Alfie Tollett Coroners name: Deborah Archer Coroners Area: Devon, Plymouth and Torbay Category: Child Death (from 2015) This report is being sent to: Jaguar Land Rover REGULATION 28 REPORT TO PREVENT FUTURE DEATHS THIS REPORT IS...

www.judiciary.uk

".....these errors occurred as a result of there being no intermediary step within the Jaguar ipace being necessary to put the car into drive / reverse other than pressing a button . In the police officer’s opinion if there had also been a lever or something similar present in the vehicle that needed to be engaged before a button was pressed this may have alerted [REDACTED] to the fact that he had pushed the incorrect button on the 3 button console."

 

[SmartAmg]

Petrol v Electric cars. Which is Better? Tonight, 8.00 pm Channel 5.

 

[BTB 500]

BERLIN, Sept 2 (Reuters) - German automaker BMW is recalling electric Mini Cooper SE vehicles due to problems in their batteries, which could potentially affect more than 140,000 autos worldwide, a company spokesperson told Reuters on Monday.
Around 39,000 vehicles could be affected in Germany, the company said in a statement on Monday, adding that there are no known accidents or injuries in this context.
Problems in the battery system can lead to overheating. "A vehicle fire, even when the vehicle is parked, cannot be ruled out," the statement said.

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/bmw-worldwide-recalling-mini-cooper-se-electric-models-company-says-2024-09-02/

Volvo has abandoned its ambition to sell only fully electric cars by 2030.

The Swedish company announced on Wednesday it is now aiming for 90-100% of its global sales to be either pure electric or plug-in hybrid at that point.

Volvo abandons plan to sell only pure electric cars by 2030

The Swedish company attributed the change in policy partly to a ‘slower than expected’ rollout of charging infrastructure.

uk.news.yahoo.com

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Petrol v Electric cars. Which is Better? Tonight, 8.00 pm Channel 5.

I watched it and fell asleep half way through. I hope people watching it don’t assume it to be a reliable source of information. Shockingly bad journalism.

 

[SmartAmg]

I watched it and fell asleep half way through. I hope people watching it don’t assume it to be a reliable source of information. Shockingly bad journalism.

Yep, I believe so, I've taped it, so not watched it yet. But some EV forum's agree with you. Might not bother.

 

[Ted]

Shockingly bad journalism.

My thoughts exactly.
Almost zero useful information and stupidly staged non real world stunts.

Poor information too - not mentioning that the extra torque when accelerating is because the motor produces maximum torque at zero revs.

Very misleading.

 

[BTB 500]

I watched a couple of minutes where a 'motoring journalist' was explaining that ICE were much worse in city driving because they used a lot more energy every time they accelerated from rest. No mention of the advantage of regen. braking in an EV. Then they showed that 'coming up' they were going to measure how much you could fit in the boot of EV versus ICE - I gave up at that point.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

My thoughts exactly.
Almost zero useful information and stupidly staged non real world stunts.

Poor information too - not mentioning that the extra torque when accelerating is because the motor produces maximum torque at zero revs.

Very misleading.

According to the programme the blistering pace of an EV is because it does not need to change gears - that is one small factor, but it was the only reason cited in the programme and said several times. No mention of high torque, and maximum torque at zero revs.

 

[ALFAitalia]

Yep, I believe so, I've taped it, so not watched it yet. But some EV forum's agree with you. Might not bother.

You've TAPED it!??..... have I woken up in 1985?