Electric Vehicles (EV) Thread

[bigston]

This may or not have been reported before
if not , maybe of some interest to those who live and breathe this topic

https://www.carsguide.com.au/car-news/t ... n=theguide

[KhunLA]

This may or not have been reported before
if not , maybe of some interest to those who live and breathe this topic

https://www.carsguide.com.au/car-news/t ... n=theguide

Not sure I'd invest my money in a Nissan, as they might not be around for long. Dumping money into R&D that doesn't usually have an instant return.

"S&P cut Nissan's rating by one notch to BB+ or junk on Tuesday, saying its profitability will remain weaker than global peers as softening demand for new-car sales in the U.S. and Europe would pressure sales prices."
https://www.asiafinancial.com/nissan-cr ... atus-by-sp

[Dannie Boy]

Irrespective of Nissans credit rating (your link KhunLA is over a year old), the article about Nissan bringing in new solid state batteries in a few years time is one of hundreds posted over the past couple of years by numerous car/battery manufacturers.

There’s little doubt that battery technology is continuing to improve but the holy grail is still just tantalisingly a few years away, but getting ever closer - it looks like the first SS powered car could be available by 2025 with other options becoming available soon after.

[GroveHillWanderer]

I’m sure it’s going to take a lot of testing to convince the majority - regrettably it will probably take a serious crash/fatality to convince them it was wise to be cautious!!

There have already been multiple serious crashes and fatalities involving automated or semi-automated cars, unfortunately.

Teslas with the "autopilot" feature alone have been involved in at least 13 fatal crashes in the USA in last three years, according to figures released by the NHTSA.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ ... atal-crash

Despite that, the accident fatality rate per mile for self-driving cars remains much, much lower than for human-driven cars.

[GroveHillWanderer]

It's probably worth noting though, that Teslas with the autopilot feature are not fully self-driving (despite what the name suggests) and the driver is still supposed to stay in control of the car at all times. In all of those fatal Tesla crashes, it was determined that, "foreseeable driver misuse of the system played an apparent role."

When it comes to fully self-driving cars, the statistics are a lot better. According to the link below, for example:

The study estimated that human drivers caused 0.24 injuries per million miles (IPMM) and 0.01 fatalities per million miles (FPMM), while self-driving cars caused 0.06 IPMM and 0 FPMM.

https://www.warpnews.org/transportation ... udy-shows/

Self-driving cars are safer than human drivers, study shows

[Big Boy]

Dinosaur that I am, I had my first ride in an electric car last Wednesday. My Grab taxi was electric.

I've been in electric vehicles before e.g. fork lifts and milk floats, but this was completely different. I was expecting the constant clicking and high pitched whine, but wow! All that I could hear was the sound of the wind, and the radio. Not at all what I was expecting. Quite impressive actually.

Impressed or not, it hasn't convinced me to get rid of my ancient Ford Ranger

[STEVE G]

^Yes, I drive EVs at work sometimes and they seem to get around so effortlessly.

[Big Boy]

Quite amazing it just accelerated away with no background noise - thought I'd gone deaf (probably why he had the radio on).

[pharvey]

Quite amazing it just accelerated away with no background noise - thought I'd gone deaf (probably why he had the radio on).

Oh, they're certainly impressive for a number of reasons, sadly however pedestrians in the UK just walk out into the road when they don't hear a car/bike - especially when the Muppets are lost in their mobile phones!!
I did see an add on with speakers under the bonnet (or electronic exhaust") where you could choose your engine - a V8, a V12 a Flat 6 or even a clapped out 1.3L I think!!

[EDIT] Not the same one as I saw previously, but...



Like you though BB, I'm happy with what I have for the time being - certainly won't be changing anytime soon for reasons mentioned previously.

[STEVE G]

I did see an add on with speakers under the bonnet (or electronic exhaust") where you could choose your engine - a V8, a V12 a Flat 6 or even a clapped out 1.3L I think!!

Last night in the bar we were discussing the possibility of fitting one of those exhaust speakers to one of those 20,000bt electric scooters and programming it to sound like a Harley!

[pharvey]

I did see an add on with speakers under the bonnet (or electronic exhaust") where you could choose your engine - a V8, a V12 a Flat 6 or even a clapped out 1.3L I think!!

Last night in the bar we were discussing the possibility of fitting one of those exhaust speakers to one of those 20,000bt electric scooters and programming it to sound like a Harley!

A little more - daft but interesting, though we do have to think about safety now don't we....

[Khundon1975]

Well the previous EV we had and the 2 new ones all have what’s known as VESS, a sound emitted by the vehicle at low city speeds of around 20mph, speeds above that and it’s switched off automatically.
Any fool that crosses a road whilst looking at their mobile or with earphones on will soon know what Darwin was on about.

[pharvey]

Well the previous EV we had and the 2 new ones all have what’s known as VESS, a sound emitted by the vehicle at low city speeds of around 20mph, speeds above that and it’s switched off automatically.
Any fool that crosses a road whilst looking at their mobile or with earphones on will soon know what Darwin was on about.

I had not heard of VESS on EVs before, but it's certainly a sensible approach. As for idiots "crossing the road looking at their mobiles or with earphones", I lose track how many I come across in a week - the need to protect yourself with a Dashcam is very real.

[Khundon1975]

https://www.kia.com/content/dam/kia2/in ... _14_3.html

[dundrillin]

It was reported this morning that GWM, makers of Haval and Ora have closed their European headquarters and fired all the staff.