Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

pile-o-stone

EricMears wrote: »

Anyone doing any towing - whether it's a caravan or just a small load to the local tip - would have their choice of BEV severely limited ! Not because they're incapable of towing but because the manufacturers haven't bothered to get type approval for fitting a tow bar. Off the top of my head, I think Tesla & Jaguar are the only ones that can be used for towing.

I think the use of roof boxes is also prohibited with electric vehicles? (by manufacturer warranty, not by law)

1961Nick

JKenH wrote: »

I think the policy would be very damaging to JLR. While I am optimistic that the technology will move on rapidly, I don’t think JLR will have abandoned all ICE variants (mild hybrids) by then as they believe there will still be customers for heavy off roaders/towing vehicles.

I'm not so sure. The iPace & the next XJ are EVs. There is also speculation that the XF facelift due shortly may include a mild hybrid.

When the XE & XF are replaced they will share the same floorpan rumoured to accommodate batteries.

Also, the lack of investment in ICE is painfully apparent to Jaguar enthusiasts. The V8 is no-longer a mainstream option (just F-Type & SVR), the V6 has very few applications today - both petrol & diesel. That leaves a dozen different flavours of 2.0 i4 Ingenium which aren't exactly setting owner's hearts racing. On top of that, there is a major problem with oil dilution on the diesel engines which continues to confound their engineers.

Electrification can't come soon enough for JLR & I think they know it.

1961Nick

EricMears wrote: »

Anyone doing any towing - whether it's a caravan or just a small load to the local tip - would have their choice of BEV severely limited ! Not because they're incapable of towing but because the manufacturers haven't bothered to get type approval for fitting a tow bar. Off the top of my head, I think Tesla & Jaguar are the only ones that can be used for towing.

There's also an argument in favour of anyone doing very long journeys where they're obliged to buy electricity at 40ppu or more using an ICE which then becomes cheaper to run. That of course only applies if it's a frequent need - occasional use of such chargers wouldn't take the average cost per mile up too much.

I don't see why caravans of the future can't have their own battery to supplement the tow car's battery. That could even extend the range of the vehicle while it was towing.:cool:

JKenH

1961Nick wrote: »

I'm not so sure. The iPace & the next XJ are EVs. There is also speculation that the XF facelift due shortly may include a mild hybrid.

When the XE & XF are replaced they will share the same floorpan rumoured to accommodate batteries.

Also, the lack of investment in ICE is painfully apparent to Jaguar enthusiasts. The V8 is no-longer a mainstream option (just F-Type & SVR), the V6 has very few applications today - both petrol & diesel. That leaves a dozen different flavours of 2.0 i4 Ingenium which aren't exactly setting owner's hearts racing. On top of that, there is a major problem with oil dilution on the diesel engines which continues to confound their engineers.

Electrification can't come soon enough for JLR & I think they know it.

You may be right - the next XE and XF are likely to be BEVs, but will JLR put all their eggs in the BEV basket? I doubt it at this stage. There is huge difficulty accommodating BEV technology into the existing models and anything that is not designed from the outset as a BEV will always be a huge compromise. I suspect JLR doesn’t want to put compromised vehicles out there because of how it would impact its reputation. The IPace has received great reviews and I would hope subsequent models BEV models will do as well.

1961Nick

JKenH wrote: »

You may be right - the next XE and XF are likely to be BEVs, but will JLR put all their eggs in the BEV basket? I doubt it at this stage. There is huge difficulty accommodating BEV technology into the existing models and anything that is not designed from the outset as a BEV will always be a huge compromise. I suspect JLR doesn’t want to put compromised vehicles out there because of how it would impact its reputation. The IPace has received great reviews and I would hope subsequent models BEV models will do as well.

The iPace should spawn a smaller ePace sized SUV before too long. There is also no reason why the iPace technology can't power future Evoques, Disco Sports & Velars. The electric XJ is probably the test bed for future XF & XE electrification - 3 to 4 years away.

pile-o-stone

1961Nick wrote: »

I don't see why caravans of the future can't have their own battery to supplement the tow car's battery. That could even extend the range of the vehicle while it was towing.:cool:

You could even have a trailer that is a giant battery on wheels that double/trebles the car's range.

EricMears

1961Nick wrote: »

I don't see why caravans of the future can't have their own battery to supplement the tow car's battery. That could even extend the range of the vehicle while it was towing.

pile-o-stone wrote: »

You could even have a trailer that is a giant battery on wheels that double/trebles the car's range.

Unless & until BEV manufacturers start getting type approval for towing, neither of those ideas will work.

Also, the sort of cable needed to connect an external battery with the main battery & driving motor would be enormous compared to the sort of connections normally used for caravans. They'd need to conduct at c. 400V and c. 100A DC !

Martyn1981

EricMears wrote: »

Unless & until BEV manufacturers start getting type approval for towing, neither of those ideas will work.

Also, the sort of cable needed to connect an external battery with the main battery & driving motor would be enormous compared to the sort of connections normally used for caravans. They'd need to conduct at c. 400V and c. 100A DC !

Already done.

Martyn1981 wrote: »

Couple of fun items folk may enjoy on this video.

Just before the 40min point is a cool image transposing the Model Y over a Model 3 or perhaps it's the other way round, a TMY that's eaten a TM3, so you can see how almost identical the nose and wheelbase are, just with a higher arching roof. Certainly not an obvious looking SUV, but then it's not got an obvious SUV Cd either.

And straight afterwards, so just after the 40 min mark is a DIY'er who plays with EV RAV4's, but has built a range extender trailer (basically a trailer with a battery on it), and is currently building a small caravan(y) thing atop another battery/trailer, so a range extending mini camper.

Great ideas, and fun for the whole family too as they'll probably keep 'you-know-who' busy for ages trying to come up with negatives and criticisms. :rotfl:

Tesla Time News

EricMears

Martyn1981 wrote: »

Already done.

Quite so - but the example quoted was for a Tesla. As previously noted, Teslas are type-approved for towing but almost all other BEVs are not.

Incidentally, I can't really see why a Tesla owner would want an extra battery. They're supposed to do up to 300 miles before recharging and have their own 'supercharger' network that is free (for early models) or reasonably priced (later ones). Even with a caravan on the back they'd probably manage 200 miles.

silverwhistle

EricMears wrote: »

Incidentally, I can't really see why a Tesla owner would want an extra battery.

When they start giving away free nappies and onboard wee bottles?