Electric cars

Joe_Horner

silverwhistle wrote: »

The experiences of yourself and other EV drivers on here is very welcome. Not that your real life experiences are ever listened to by the anti-EV posters on here.

I honestly don't think it's quite as simple as that.

I'm actually all in favour of alternatives to fossil fuels but I'm not in favour of the common attitude of "it works fine for me, so there's no reason for anyone not to".

Eventually we wil be weaned off fossil fuels and Evs can certainly play a part in that for a lt of people but I'm absolutely not convinced that pure electric will be the universal answer because it can't be without seriously disadvantaging large parts of the population - usually the parts that are already disadvantaged by accident of location because they're the last to get any sort of infrastructure or public services.

If I had to make a prediction it would be that a mix of electric, biofuels, and using renewables for direct conversion of CO2 to liquid fuels will be the eventual solution. That last one is getting a lot of attention thrown at it, and there have been some interesting advances, but very little publicity.

Meanwhile, if I raise a valid problem with the current direction and the Tesla fanbois immediately jump down my throat as if I was suggesting kitten murder, they shouldn't expect to win me (or, I suspect, anyone else) over

daveyjp

Martyn1981 wrote: »

If anyone is interested, here are the new Nissan Leaf list prices. Unless I'm misunderstanding the chart, it appears that the 40kWh model will cost no more than the older 24/30kWh models, so that's good news.

Nissan LEAF UK Prices Announced — Full List

I don’t understand why they have felt it necessary to increase power to 150ps, far better to have extra range.

The original Leaf has more than enough power and I’ve never felt it to be underpowered, even using economy mode it is more than adequate.

Is it a ‘willy waving’ exercise to get 0-60 down? If so no need. I would have thought with an EV there is no reason not to allow the user to select output. Round town 50ps would be enough!

Martyn1981

Joe_Horner wrote: »

Meanwhile, if I raise a valid problem with the current direction and the Tesla fanbois immediately jump down my throat as if I was suggesting kitten murder, they shouldn't expect to win me (or, I suspect, anyone else) over

This may explain your problem. You think your claims are valid, when clearly they are not, and that anyone who explains why, is doing it just because they are a 'Tesla fanboi', which they are not.

At some point you have to accept that:-

1. UK generating capacity is more than capable of delivering vastly more leccy across a year due to most EV's being charged at night, and the UK having huge untapped night time supply.

2. You need to understand that new generating capacity is already being added far faster than any switch over to EV's will need.

3. You need to understand that outside of peak demand (week days 4-8pm) the current grid infrastructure has plenty of spare headroom for additional EV charging.

4. You need to understand that via V2G, EV's are more likely to reduce peak demand than to add to it on a net basis.

None of this is theoretical, it's already happening.

Martyn1981

daveyjp wrote: »

Is it a ‘willy waving’ exercise to get 0-60 down? If so no need. I would have thought with an EV there is no reason not to allow the user to select output. Round town 50ps would be enough!

You may be right. But are there any significant losses from using a more powerful motor, I really don't know. Obviously having a larger ICE means more fuel burn, but does the same apply to an electric motor?

Another question, that I've seen on some forums, regarding the new Leaf (and also Z's comments about high tech Tesla's) was why don't Nissan produce the old basic model, just with a larger batt - apparently, had they not upped the specs, then the price could fall quite a lot even with the big batt. I appreciate they are now in a tech war with Tesla, but many people I'm sure don't want all the bells and whistles.

A long time ago, I had a big ole Trans-Am Firebird, and it was interesting to read how these weren't the quickest cars in the Firebird/Camaro range. The fastest cars were called 'strippers', they were simply the most basic models with the large engine option, much lighter (no electric windows, A/C etc etc), they were also much cheaper.

Martyn1981

AdrianC wrote: »

So if I walk into my local Tesla dealer today, and splunk down the deposit on a model 3, when will I get it? 2018? H1 2019? Simple answer: Nobody knows.

So, in your world, the fact that there's a large waiting list, means that cars aren't being delivered!

With the 500,000 cars on the list now, and loads of new orders rolling in each day, it may well be 2yrs or more, before you can just walk in and buy one ....... I guess to you that means that Tesla won't be delivering any M3's for another 2yrs or more!

PS - If you really are that desperate to get a M3, then try E-bay or the like, as some second hand models are already appearing, but the mark ups are eye-watering, plus driving a LHD car in the UK is a right royal pain. M.

AdrianC

500k cars on the list from launch nearly two years ago - and still less than 1% of that figure built so far. Six months from the first handful, less than half a week's-worth of cars at full-scale production rates have been built. Half-scale production is at least three months delayed from even recent estimates - and still slipping. No estimates at all for full-scale production. The first few cars have gone to staff. How many actual customers are driving around in 'em?

And what's St Elon doing? Waving more vapourware about.

And what are the fanbois doing? Lapping it up.

Martyn1981

Not just cars, but buses and taxi's, (lots of them):

100% — Chinese City’s Record-Smashing 16,359 Electric Bus Fleet

On December 27, the Shenzhen municipal transport commission announced it had completed the transition of its bus fleet to 100% electric buses. (Source: Han Ximin on EyeShenzhen)

The announcement that it had 16,359 electric buses will not come as a surprise to CleanTechnica readers, as it was reported earlier in 2017 that the city would reach this target ahead of schedule. Nonetheless, it’s a shocking achievement. For context, imagine the bus fleets of NYC, Los Angeles County, New Jersey Transit, suburban Chicago, and Toronto all went electric — that still wouldn’t be as many buses as Shenzhen electrified.

Along with other large Chinese cities, Shenzhen is not just making its public transport electric — it is making the taxi fleet electric.

Shenzhen has 12,518 taxis in operation and it was announced that 62.5% of them are pure electric. The city is pushing towards a 100% electric taxi fleet by 2020, but it again expects to meet that target ahead of schedule. As with buses, locally headquartered BYD is a prime beneficiary of the cleantech shift — and its electric offerings have helped to enable it.

It was reported that electric buses can save 72.9% more energy than the current diesel buses, which means that the Shenzhen bus fleet will save an estimated 345,000 tons of fuel per year and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 1.35 million tons per year. The electric taxi fleet will save an estimated 116,000 tons of fuel per year and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 453,913 tons per year.

daveyjp

Martyn1981 wrote: »

You may be right. But are there any significant losses from using a more powerful motor, I really don't know. Obviously having a larger ICE means more fuel burn, but does the same apply to an electric motor.

You can’t create or destroy energy so if you want more power you need more energy. All you can do is improve efficiency so more energy is used in moving the vehicle and better regen systems to recharge the battery.

The only potential advantage with an increase to 150ps is if the car is certified for towing.

Car_54

Today's Times reports that

- Tesla actually built FEWER cars in the last quarter than in the corresponding period last year, in what it descriibes as "manufacturing hell".

- the target of 5,000 model 3s per week has been put back (again) to the end of Q2

- shares fell by 2%

In November, the latest financial figures showed a QUARTERLY loss of $619 million.

Regardless of the merits of EVs, Tesla seems singularly inept as a manufacturer. And especially so as a forecaster.

NigeWick

silverwhistle wrote: »

I've seen references to this elsewhere, do you know how sensitive it is (to save me the bother of looking myself!)? Ta! I currently have an iboost to shove spare power into my immersion, but it needs a fair bit spare before it does so.

Not a clue, but "they say" the Zappi will feed "any" excess to the car once the immersion heater & battery are topped up.

I'll post how I get on with it once installed.