Electric Vehicles (EV) Thread

[J.J.B.]

A friend of mine has a Tesla Model S. It's beautifully designed but nothing to get excited about to drive and the interior is typical of American-built cars, which I don't think is as good quality as high-end European. His car has an 85kWh battery and so, theoretically, to charge requires 85kWh of power. With domestic electricity in the UK costing about £0.15 per kWh, that is £12.75 to charge his car, which I don't think is so cheap to do around 300 miles.

Now I love it when the woven-tofu-sandal brigade talk about electric power, not realising that fossil-fuelled power stations operate at around 20% efficiency at best and can't realistically deal with peaks and troughs in demand. However, a piece of news that came out last week, which was largely glossed over, could provide the answer: domestic batteries.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40699986

A typical domestic solar panel rig apparently produces around 2-2.5kWh during daylight hours and new battery technology could store this and provide it at night or during peak demand and even sell it back to the grid. On any given day, the majority of renewable energy is wasted, as it can't currently be economically stored, and I see this as how we better manage the supply and demand. It may also make owning an electric car more palatable. Costs for all of this will come down considerably as technology advances, as it always does.

[redzonerocker]

who would pay for all those solar panels mounted on the roofs of parking structures? would there be a fee to plug in your vehicle?

Of course there will.
It will be a whole new industry to exploit and profiteer from, . . . . for the select few.
I think the overwhelming majority of drivers couldn't afford a new car, never mind a more expensive electric one.

Families with sometimes 3/4/5 cars per household, flats/apartment blocks and the various other multiple living accommodations, . . . . how will they all plug in to charge their vehicles ?

The technology and production is way to far ahead of the infrastructure that would be required, even if it is even possible!!!

[STEVE G]

who would pay for all those solar panels mounted on the roofs of parking structures? would there be a fee to plug in your vehicle?

The owners of the buildings could buy the panels and sell on the electricity to the car owners. I can imagine businesses like shopping malls could do it at a discount to attract customers in the same way that large supermarkets in the UK sell cheap petrol.
Surely solar powered electric transportation basically means getting free, renewable, clean energy from the sun instead of buying expensive, finite, dirty energy from people who hate us anyway, I struggle to see why that wouldn't be a laudable goal.

[Pleng]

The owners of the buildings could buy the panels and sell on the electricity to the car owners. I can imagine businesses like shopping malls could do it at a discount to attract customers in the same way that large supermarkets in the UK sell cheap petrol.

Yea it'll probably be like WiFi.... people charging for the privilege to begin with, then as the market gets more and more competitive most places will probably end up giving it away free.

[PeteC]

Here's an interactive map of what Scotland has to offer. I heard about this listening to a show about a trip around the "North Coast 500" in an electric BMW. Scotland seems well geared up at least for the present given the quantity of electric cars on the roads. I don't recall if they said any are solar powered or not? Pete

http://www.greenerscotland.org/greener- ... -point-map

[oakdale160]

I googled a piece about a team that crossed the USA LA to NY in 58 hours including, I think it was, 16h of recharging. More and more super chargers everywhere.

[StevePIraq]

At least here in Thailand this will not be implemented for many years to come if ever.

[RCer]

I googled a piece about a team that crossed the USA LA to NY in 58 hours including, I think it was, 16h of recharging. More and more super chargers everywhere.

Not possible. 58 - 16 = 42. 2795 miles. This allows no time for toilet breaks or food breaks. It also means exceding the legal speed by a large amount.

[PeteC]

http://jalopnik.com/they-drove-a-tesla- ... 1699782187

[aragon]

Here's an interactive map of what Scotland has to offer. I heard about this listening to a show about a trip around the "North Coast 500" in an electric BMW. Scotland seems well geared up at least for the present given the quantity of electric cars on the roads. I don't recall if they said any are solar powered or not? Pete

http://www.greenerscotland.org/greener- ... -point-map

And all free to boot, doubtless another give away by those nice people at the SNP being subsidised by the suckers south of the border

[redzonerocker]

I googled a piece about a team that crossed the USA LA to NY in 58 hours including, I think it was, 16h of recharging. More and more super chargers everywhere.

Which is all good and well when there are a very limited number of electric cars, . . . . but . . . . what happens when everyone on the roads needs recharging?
I'm not being overly negative, but is it really possible?, just being realistic.

At least here in Thailand this will not be implemented for many years to come if ever.

As well as India, China and most of the rest of Asia.
Add to that, most of Africa, South America and the Middle East and all of a sudden, only a very small % of the world are driving electric cars, so the idea of cutting pollution is pretty much a waste of time!!

[STEVE G]

...As well as India, China and most of the rest of Asia....

Insight: why demand from China is spurring growth of electric car sales
https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new- ... -car-sales

"Why is China pushing so hard for EVs? Apparently motivated by a need to reduce its heavy industry-driven pollution, Chinese officials are in fact determined to break out of the dependence on imported oil, a natural resource the country is famously short of. At the same time, the aim is to take advantage of a once-in- 100-year powertrain shift in order to leapfrog established car makers. By encouraging its home car makers, such as SAIC, Geely and Trumpchi, to focus on electric powertrain technology, China sees an opportunity to build a thriving domestic car industry with the ability to sell credible Chinesemade cars internationally. It is a plan that was born more than a decade ago but which is only now coming to fruition."

[RCer]

http://jalopnik.com/they-drove-a-tesla- ... 1699782187

Impressive, but lacking in details such as speed driven, charging times, etc.

I've driven coast to coast several times. Traffic, road conditions, and construction, play a huge factor.

As opposed to the wonderful hiways in the US during the 70s - 80s, they are in terrible need of repair now.

[handdrummer]

...As well as India, China and most of the rest of Asia....

Insight: why demand from China is spurring growth of electric car sales
https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new- ... -car-sales

"Why is China pushing so hard for EVs? Apparently motivated by a need to reduce its heavy industry-driven pollution, Chinese officials are in fact determined to break out of the dependence on imported oil, a natural resource the country is famously short of. At the same time, the aim is to take advantage of a once-in- 100-year powertrain shift in order to leapfrog established car makers. By encouraging its home car makers, such as SAIC, Geely and Trumpchi, to focus on electric powertrain technology, China sees an opportunity to build a thriving domestic car industry with the ability to sell credible Chinesemade cars internationally. It is a plan that was born more than a decade ago but which is only now coming to fruition."

TRUMPCHI? really?

[Homer]

I googled a piece about a team that crossed the USA LA to NY in 58 hours including, I think it was, 16h of recharging. More and more super chargers everywhere.

Not possible. 58 - 16 = 42. 2795 miles. This allows no time for toilet breaks or food breaks. It also means exceding the legal speed by a large amount.

I see you've never heard of the Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash. When the organizers stopped doing the event, the record was 32h 51m from Manhattan to Santa Monica, CA. The advent of GPS, satellite phones, hiring your own spotter planes, stationing people to monitor cops in the most heavily enforced areas, better radar detectors, better gas mileage, and less sane drivers, etc, subsequently dropped the record to 28h 50m. Food? Bring your own, buy more during gas stops. Toilet breaks? Pee in a bottle, squat during refueling. Of course it means exceeding the speed limit. However, as Dan Gurney said of his co-driver and himself about their winning effort in a Ferrari Daytona, "At no time did we exceed 175 mph." Dan knows a bit about driving at speed, what with victories at Le Mans, F1, NASCAR, Indy Cars, and Can-Am.