Electric cars

[John Ratsey]

To use California as example, which claims to have "half" it's energy coming from renewables (what they leave out is that this is only for brief periods on certain sunny days), the truth about California is much harsher- due to years of drought and a trend toward closure of all the extant nuclear plants, California relies heavily on fossil fuels at night... and all you guys seem to want to "charge at night when power costs less". The reality is that some nights CA exceeds 80% fossil fuel on the grid. Night grid carbon is UP substantially in the last 15 years... and it will continue to climb as nuclear units close and CA builds massive new natural gas power plants.

Pretty irrelevant now as President Trump will have them all back on coal powered generation soon

As often the case, he didn't do his homework before making the utterance. I was recently reading that in the windier states the cost of wind energy is making it very competitive while there's also plenty of natural gas which is more efficient (in combined cycle plants) and cleaner.

[JimSh]

Whilst that would be technically feasible, I would think the ease with which it could be defeated would make it a non starter. It would also require the replacement of every smart meter currently in use. The ones we have now are not really that 'smart', their function is primarily to relay metering data back to the supplier.

We're gonna need  a  smarter Smart Meter.

https://iberdrola.ft.com/smart-meters-will-help-electric-vehicles-move-into-the-mainstream?utm_source=FB&utm_medium=publishers_financial&utm_content=static&fbclid=IwAR1f3W64HOEsBgS_BO7kcBIi24Lpws_OicObxkcSihKAZ4GglyHJHwyVHfU

[culzean]

Whilst that would be technically feasible, I would think the ease with which it could be defeated would make it a non starter. It would also require the replacement of every smart meter currently in use. The ones we have now are not really that 'smart', their function is primarily to relay metering data back to the supplier.

We're gonna need  a  smarter Smart Meter.

https://iberdrola.ft.com/smart-meters-will-help-electric-vehicles-move-into-the-mainstream?utm_source=FB&utm_medium=publishers_financial&utm_content=static&fbclid=IwAR1f3W64HOEsBgS_BO7kcBIi24Lpws_OicObxkcSihKAZ4GglyHJHwyVHfU

Quote from article above...

However, while V2G looks promising from the network point of view, it’s not clear that car owners will be so keen. “I am sceptical,” says Peter Mock from ICCT. “The downside of charging and discharging batteries all the time is that it runs them down more quickly, which outweighs the advantage of selling the power. Stopping cars charging at peak time would work, though, if prices can be structured in such a way to encourage consumers to change their behaviour.”

It used to be that once a meter was installed it would be in place working reliably for decades,  now because of the dumb way the smart meters have been rolled out I can see you having to get a new meter installed every few years to catch up with all the features they want to use... ( bit like they expect you to get a new phone every couple of years ) I can also see smart meter being used to remotely stop water being heated and cars being charged to control the load on the grid.   And what about the base load nuclear stations we are going to need to back up the variable unreliable renewables, last I heard they were all on hold, half built and not getting finished any time soon...

As you can see from slightly earlier in this thread, California which claims to be the greenest place on Earth has lots of sun and wind and claim to get a large part of their power from renewables,  but once the sun goes down they get 80% of their power from gas fired power stations - and if BEV ever fully take off there they will really have a power problem.

[JimSh]

As you can see from slightly earlier in this thread, California which claims to be the greenest place on Earth has lots of sun and wind and claim to get a large part of their power from renewables,  but once the sun goes down they get 80% of their power from gas fired power stations - and if BEV ever fully take off there they will really have a power problem.

We're gonna need a bigger battery.

[Jocko]

Dyson has dropped their electric car project stating it was not commercially viable. I would imagine Lucid, Bollinger and several others are finding the same, but just don't have the business acumen to jump ship, as Sir James Dyson has done.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-50004184

[culzean]

I wonder why Dyson even considered making an electric car after watching Tesla burn cash - and with players like VW JLR and the big boys who have been making cars for ever and can't make it profitable yet.  Stick to moving air around Mr Dyson, at least the big car boys won't be making vacuum cleaners and hand dryers anytime soon.....

[John Ratsey]

He probably didn't anticipate the speed at which the main vehicle manufacturers have jumped onto the EV waggon. However, Dyson might recover some of the R&D money by licencing of its EV-related patents.

[Jocko]

That is Uniti UK taking orders for their Uniti One all electric city car. Starting from £15,100 up to £23,845 for the top model, which with its bigger battery has 180 mile range, 10 minutes for a 60 mile charge, and includes heated seats, air con and LED lighting. It is only a small 3 seater, but most city journeys are driver only so it will fill a niche. Designed in Sweden they are to be built in the UK. Available next year.
I would have one.



https://www.uniti.earth/uk/uniti-one/

[John Ratsey]

I looked through the specs and +£750 for LED headlights is excessively greedy. I wouldn't expect any EV to be offered with halogen lights given that these are an unnecessary drain on the batttery and I wonder if the heater is a simple electric heater or a more expensive but much more energy efficient heat pump. I also don't like the choice of three shades of tarmac grey but, for urban commuters, shoppers and the school run this is a functional and relatively affordable EV.

[sparky Paul]

I'd still go for one of the cheap Renault City K-ZE things, if the £8k price translated to something similar in the UK... though I know that won't happen.

[peteo48]

I'd go for a tiny 2 seat EV to sit alongside the Jazz. If I had a lawn I'd park it on that!

[Jocko]

I'd still go for one of the cheap Renault City K-ZE things, if the £8k price translated to something similar in the UK... though I know that won't happen.

Nearest Chinese equivalent, here in the UK, is the MG ZS EV, at £21,995.

[Jocko]

Just received an email fro Honda prompting me to order my Honda e. In the blurb is this piece:

"Electric range figures may not reflect real life driving results, which will depend upon a number of factors including the starting charge of the battery, accessories fitted (post-registration), variations in weather, driving styles and vehicle load. Power, emissions, fuel consumption and range data are preliminary data only and may not reflect the official (or final) figures for the production vehicle. This data is provided for information only and you should not rely on it for comparability or other purposes."

[sparky Paul]

I'd still go for one of the cheap Renault City K-ZE things, if the £8k price translated to something similar in the UK... though I know that won't happen.

Nearest Chinese equivalent, here in the UK, is the MG ZS EV, at £21,995.

The MG is much more of a real family car, and bigger than the Renault. The Chinese Renault is a bare bones EV with limited range and top speed, but looks okay to me as a daily driver around town - especially at that price.

[culzean]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7592485/Father-eight-invents-electric-car-battery-drivers-1-500-miles-without-charging-it.html

Hydrogen / aluminium fuel cell