Author Topic: Electric cars  (Read 695335 times)

ColinB

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Re: Electric cars
« Reply #765 on: February 20, 2018, 08:25:21 AM »
The single biggest thing may well be cost. If autonomous ride sharing is cheap enough (they reckon it can be done cheaper than current subsidised bus fares) then people may be happy to change.
Sorry, but the laws of economics just don’t work like that. It may be technically possible to run an auto-Uber service cheaper than buses, but anyone setting up such a system is going to do it in order to make money and they will charge what the market will bear in order to maximise their return. And if a large part of that market has no choice (because they can’t own an EV), why should they set the charges at a low level ? Aha, you say, there’ll be competition between multiple providers. Whilst you may start off with competition in any particular area, the history of deregulated bus services suggests that the competitors merge or get taken over so you end up with one big provider who basically charges what they want.

richardfrost

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Re: Electric cars
« Reply #766 on: February 20, 2018, 08:56:26 AM »
Well clearly I am bucking a trend. From being someone who was in the office 5.5 days a week, I am now able to work from home two to three days a week, which is purely down to the internet and remote working technologies.

My two sons both steadfastly refuse to have cars. The eldest learned to drive and did drive until he moved to London. Now his Jazz is parked on my drive here in Yorkshire and does 5 miles a month. He does not need a car in London.

My younger son is the reason I still keep the Jazz. I have said I will pay for him to learn to drive and his running costs for the car, as it is now a family asset. He is totally not interested as he can get by with buses, rides and taxis here and there.

I really do get that car manufacturers will not agree on a standard interchangeable battery though. That would take regulation and the enforcement of a 'formula' for autonomous self charging city cars.

I guess my real point is that whatever is the right solution for a city, this solution will not work in a rural environment, where journeys may be fewer in number but much greater in duration and complexity.

It seems to me that the real answer is in fuel cells and not batteries. This solution would seem to support urban and non urban vehicle types and journey patterns. It feels that the vehicle manufacturers have gone for batteries because of short term benefits and avoided the heavy continuing research that would inevitably result in a practical fuel cell solution, eventually.

guest5079

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Re: Electric cars
« Reply #767 on: February 20, 2018, 09:29:44 AM »
Just received a video about a Range Rover Sport  Hybrid and it's completion of what was called impossible. In China is  Tieanmen mountain at the top is the gate to heaven.  It has a road that has 99 bends and then there are 999 steps to climb. Land Rover in their wisdom thought it might do as a publicity thingy but everyone shook their heads. Well after completing the 99 bends on the mountain road it then tackled the 999 steps. It did it. Looking at the video at a guess I would think the steps rise at an angle of 45 degrees. There were safety wires but allegedly did not help. One slip and it would be a case of packing the Range Rover back to UK in a small cardboard box, wouldn't have done the driver much good either.
The video is: http:/www.flixxy.com/range-rover-climbs-999-steps-to-the-gate-of-heaven.html
it is 6mins plus long

Jocko

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Re: Electric cars
« Reply #768 on: February 20, 2018, 10:08:24 AM »
Link, as written, doesn't work, but this does.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=39&v=EUwzWHD3Htg

Jocko

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Re: Electric cars
« Reply #769 on: February 20, 2018, 10:40:45 AM »
Watched the video. That's amazing. Safety wires just there to stop it if it ran back.

In a not too dissimilar vein, here is the Tesla challenge on Pikes Peak.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmWSnvWsV2s
and the actual run.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5t4DNvbNqs

Notice they have the charging ports on the roof!

And the Electric GT racing supposedly starts this year http://www.electricgt.co/

peteo48

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Re: Electric cars
« Reply #770 on: February 20, 2018, 11:33:11 AM »
Well clearly I am bucking a trend. From being someone who was in the office 5.5 days a week, I am now able to work from home two to three days a week, which is purely down to the internet and remote working technologies.

My two sons both steadfastly refuse to have cars. The eldest learned to drive and did drive until he moved to London. Now his Jazz is parked on my drive here in Yorkshire and does 5 miles a month. He does not need a car in London.

My younger son is the reason I still keep the Jazz. I have said I will pay for him to learn to drive and his running costs for the car, as it is now a family asset. He is totally not interested as he can get by with buses, rides and taxis here and there.



Very interesting and very relevant. For most of us learning to drive and getting a car was a rite of passage. It still is for some but increasingly less so and the percentage of youngsters learning to drive has fallen sharply. Increasingly they live in an on-line world. Not only that but many would rather spend the money on travel to far distant lands. Many kids today are incredibly well travelled. They also don't have the irrational hang ups many of us have about taxis and prefer to head off into town in a taxi where they can have a drink if so inclined.

On top of that, the model of car ownership is changing. PCP and leasing are growing all the time. My daughter, for example, has turned her back on the responsibilities of ownership and does 2 year leases.

It's these generations that will embrace a new world where car ownership might even be seen as slightly odd.

richardfrost

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Re: Electric cars
« Reply #771 on: February 20, 2018, 11:45:36 AM »
Well clearly I am bucking a trend. From being someone who was in the office 5.5 days a week, I am now able to work from home two to three days a week, which is purely down to the internet and remote working technologies.

My two sons both steadfastly refuse to have cars. The eldest learned to drive and did drive until he moved to London. Now his Jazz is parked on my drive here in Yorkshire and does 5 miles a month. He does not need a car in London.

My younger son is the reason I still keep the Jazz. I have said I will pay for him to learn to drive and his running costs for the car, as it is now a family asset. He is totally not interested as he can get by with buses, rides and taxis here and there.



Very interesting and very relevant. For most of us learning to drive and getting a car was a rite of passage. It still is for some but increasingly less so and the percentage of youngsters learning to drive has fallen sharply. Increasingly they live in an on-line world. Not only that but many would rather spend the money on travel to far distant lands. Many kids today are incredibly well travelled. They also don't have the irrational hang ups many of us have about taxis and prefer to head off into town in a taxi where they can have a drink if so inclined.

On top of that, the model of car ownership is changing. PCP and leasing are growing all the time. My daughter, for example, has turned her back on the responsibilities of ownership and does 2 year leases.

It's these generations that will embrace a new world where car ownership might even be seen as slightly odd.

Exactly. We assume everyone will be like us and the truth is, they might not be. And changing factors in car design, parking, leasing, travel requirements, make it really hard to predict what problems vehicles of the future will address.

guest5079

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Re: Electric cars
« Reply #772 on: February 21, 2018, 12:21:29 PM »
I did wonder if the link would work as it was bounced back from Canada, thank you Jocko for finding one that worked. Still and amazing feat!!!!
As an aside a Tesla passed me on the A30 last Monday in thick fog. Is it battery capacity that meant it has only one rear fog light? I wish I could convert my nearside rear light cluster to accept a rear fog bulb.

guest1372

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Re: Electric cars
« Reply #773 on: February 21, 2018, 12:36:16 PM »
.... a Tesla passed me on the A30 last Monday in thick fog. Is it battery capacity that meant it has only one rear fog light? I wish I could convert my nearside rear light cluster to accept a rear fog bulb.
A single fog light on the offside is used to prevent confusion with brake lights. Type approval from UNece regs governs it's position, intensity etc.
--
TG

Jocko

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Re: Electric cars
« Reply #774 on: February 21, 2018, 01:54:35 PM »
Some cars are fitted with two. My Volvo had one but its siblings, with a better spec, had two. I noticed that all the electrics were there. The actual light cluster has a knock out in place to stop another bulb being fitted so I "knocked it out" and ended up with two.
Actually, having one, to differentiate it from brake lights would be fine - if half the country were not driving round with only one brake light working!

Jocko

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Re: Electric cars
« Reply #775 on: February 22, 2018, 09:51:08 AM »
I see Tesla's Cloud Computing was hacked.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-43140005
They went in to use it for currency mining, but they had access to the cars. According to Tesla, it was only the engineering vehicles that they had access to, but you would expect them to say that.

madasafish

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Re: Electric cars
« Reply #776 on: February 22, 2018, 10:19:17 AM »
Autonomous vehicle are going to be interesting when their system is hacked into...(not "if")

guest5079

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Re: Electric cars
« Reply #777 on: February 22, 2018, 05:51:14 PM »
I really do have a problem with these people that come up with such ideas as one fog light to stop them being confused with brake lights. The object of rear fog lights is visibility. I can't see how that can be confused with brake lights even if they are the same wattage as the fog lights because if brake lights are applied there will be an increase in brightness. Besides fog lights should only be used in reduced visibilty.
Monday visibility down to between 50/100 metres. Red van passed me NO lights at all on the rear, the idiot was driving on his DRL's.  Red really shows up in fog!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, probably the worst colour. Usual crop of side lights etc.
Another matter taught to me, is wipers. We were taught to use wipers in fog to disperse the moisture off the screen.

guest5079

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Re: Electric cars
« Reply #778 on: February 24, 2018, 12:25:40 PM »
Last evening on channel 37  Quest, where they have been running a series of How it's made: Dream Cars.
At 6.30 pm I pricked my ears up when I heard Teslar S. So for 30 mins I watched intently.  It appears Teslar make most of it in house BUT what did surprise me was when the commentator said the motor was a 3 phase AC electric motor. Now obviously I am back in the dark ages as I though battery power is DC. Well after the motor was built they then constructed an Inverter to convert to DC. My limited knowledge of inverters was that they consumed energy. They then constructed to drive unit which did not appear much bigger than the rear axle assembly fitted  Jags. E type etc. The battery another surprise was fitted with cooling to stop overheating presumably to permit fast charging. It is a pancake and fits under the floor of the car for access. Car was mostly alloy with steel bulkheads. The commentator claimed it had a range of 300 miles and wasn't very slow in the 0 to 60  stakes.
I can see why they cost what they do.

culzean

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Re: Electric cars
« Reply #779 on: February 24, 2018, 02:11:43 PM »
Solid state inverters are very, very efficient and an induction motor has benefits that it does not not need a commutator and its associated brushes, which are high wear items. 3 phase induction motors are well proven in industry but without a variable frequency inverter are basically single fixed speed units.

older inverters tended to use square wave instead of sine wave as it is easier to generate but modern electronics are much cleverer and can make shapes approaching a proper sine wave like the one supplied from national grid.
« Last Edit: February 24, 2018, 02:23:24 PM by culzean »
Some people will only consider you an expert if they agree with your point of view or advice,  when you give them advice they don't like they consider you an idiot

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