Battery Electric Vehicle News / Enjoying the Transportation Revolution

Ectophile

JKenH said:

Carmakers want to ditch battery packs, use auto bodies for energy storage

Today, batteries account for a substantial portion of the size and weight of most electronics. A smartphone is mostly a lithium-ion cell with some processors stuffed around it. Drones are limited in size by the batteries they can carry. And about a third of the weight of an electric vehicle is its battery pack. One way to address this issue is by building conventional batteries into the structure of the car itself, as Tesla plans to do. Rather than using the floor of the car to support the battery pack, the battery pack becomes the floor.

But for Greenhalgh and his collaborators, the more promising approach is to scrap the battery pack and use the vehicle’s body for energy storage instead. Unlike a conventional battery pack embedded in the chassis, these structural batteries are invisible. The electrical storage happens in the thin layers of composite materials that make up the car’s frame. In a sense, they’re weightless because the car is the battery.

The battery has always been an addendum, a limiting factor, and a parasite. Today, it’s vanishing before our eyes, melting into the fabric of our electrified world. In the future, everything will be a battery, and stand-alone energy storage will seem as quaint as landline telephones and portable CD players.

https://www.wired.com/story/the-batteries-of-the-future-are-weightless-and-invisible/

Of course, it doesn't make the batteries themselves any lighter.  It just eliminates the metal box that they sit in.

I'm not sure what the implications are for a 10 year old car when the batteries are starting to fail.  Would you have to dismantle the car just to get at the failed battery cells?

Martyn1981

A couple of big number / milestones for Tesla.
They have now installed 20,000 supercharger stalls:

Tesla Owners Share Supercharging Experiences As Tesla Announces Its 20K Supercharger Milestone

One of the setbacks for many when considering an electric vehicle is range × charging. The fear of running out of juice in the middle of a trip and being stranded is prevalent (and I can sympathize because that idea is pretty scary), so Tesla’s charging network is a definite way to ensure that doesn’t happen. The more Superchargers, the lower the chance of you not making it to one in time.

Also Tesla may be planning to build over half a million cars in China next year. This is interesting (if you are boring like me) as Tesla has been expanding at about 40%pa (doubling approx every two years), so if they hit 500,000 this year, then even allowing for Covid shutdowns, a target next year of ~750k to 800k would be expected. But such an expansion of production in China, added to the production ramp up in the US, plus some production in Germany, and possibly Texas, and the magic 1m milestone may be coming into view. [Side issue, there are some reports of heavily disguised TMY's being seen in China already, so perhaps early production models?]

Tesla Giga Shanghai To Produce 550,000 Cars In 2021

Sina Technology has reported that Tesla’s Giga Shanghai factory is planning to produce 550,000 cars in 2021, and also plans to export more than 100,000 of those made-in-China Teslas. 36 Krypton learned that 300,000 of those vehicles will be Model 3 cars and the remaining 250,000 will be Model Ys. “Tesla has issued ordering requirements to core component suppliers,” a source told 36 Krypton.

For 2020, Tesla’s goal was to make 150,000 units, which now seems small compared to the larger goal planned for next year. The reason for that huge jump is two-fold. Tesla has the upcoming completion of its second phase of the factory and the factory will also be exporting vehicles overseas. The same source told 36 Krypton, “Of the 550,000 units, about 100,000 Model 3 units are for export, and Model Y also plans to export 10,000 units.”

EricMears

Ectophile said:

Of course, it doesn't make the batteries themselves any lighter.  It just eliminates the metal box that they sit in.

And the weight of the  'chassis members'  that the structural battery replaces.

Pile_o_stone

Ectophile said:

JKenH said:

Carmakers want to ditch battery packs, use auto bodies for energy storage

Today, batteries account for a substantial portion of the size and weight of most electronics. A smartphone is mostly a lithium-ion cell with some processors stuffed around it. Drones are limited in size by the batteries they can carry. And about a third of the weight of an electric vehicle is its battery pack. One way to address this issue is by building conventional batteries into the structure of the car itself, as Tesla plans to do. Rather than using the floor of the car to support the battery pack, the battery pack becomes the floor.

But for Greenhalgh and his collaborators, the more promising approach is to scrap the battery pack and use the vehicle’s body for energy storage instead. Unlike a conventional battery pack embedded in the chassis, these structural batteries are invisible. The electrical storage happens in the thin layers of composite materials that make up the car’s frame. In a sense, they’re weightless because the car is the battery.

The battery has always been an addendum, a limiting factor, and a parasite. Today, it’s vanishing before our eyes, melting into the fabric of our electrified world. In the future, everything will be a battery, and stand-alone energy storage will seem as quaint as landline telephones and portable CD players.

https://www.wired.com/story/the-batteries-of-the-future-are-weightless-and-invisible/

Of course, it doesn't make the batteries themselves any lighter.  It just eliminates the metal box that they sit in.

I'm not sure what the implications are for a 10 year old car when the batteries are starting to fail.  Would you have to dismantle the car just to get at the failed battery cells?

It makes cars more disposable because at the end of the battery life, you can't replace it and keep the car going for many more years. You just scrap the car. I assume that once scrapped, the batteries can at least be salvaged and reused. It'd make depreciation of cars even more horrific, if you have to scrap the car after a relatively short lifetime. It just seems to be a fantastic way for car manufacturers to lock even more people into the cycle of leasing a new car every 3 years that we now have with PCP plans.

JKenH

Electric car charging network boosted by 1,200 new devices in three months

https://cardealermagazine.co.uk/publish/electric-car-charging-network-boosted-by-1200-new-devices-in-three-months/208293

JKenH

Ultra-Cheap Kandi Electric Cars Approved by EPA

In one state, you can net a Kandi for $5,999.

https://www.ien.com/home/video/21202201/ultracheap-kandi-electric-cars-approved-by-epa

JKenH

“First in the world”: South Australia to impose road user tax on electric vehicles

Just a week after unveiling an electric vehicle transition plan for its government fleet and more charging infrastructure, the South Australia Liberal government has shocked the EV sector by announing a road user charge will be imposed on electric vehicles in 2021.

https://thedriven.io/2020/11/11/south-australia-to-impose-road-user-tax-on-electric-vehicles-from-2021/

Martyn1981

A boatload of BEV's ..... so to speak:

Electric Boats Are Popping — 3 New Electric Boat Stories

As battery prices have dropped, more and more types of electric vehicles have been popping onto the scene. That includes boats of various sorts. Let’s look at a few pieces of news about different types of electric boats.

Pile_o_stone

Martyn1981 said:

A boatload of BEV's ..... so to speak:

Electric Boats Are Popping — 3 New Electric Boat Stories

As battery prices have dropped, more and more types of electric vehicles have been popping onto the scene. That includes boats of various sorts. Let’s look at a few pieces of news about different types of electric boats.

Electric boats would be fantastic as it'd remove the fuel and oil leaks that pollute lakes and waterways.

silverwhistle

Pile_o_stone said:

Electric boats would be fantastic as it'd remove the fuel and oil leaks that pollute lakes and waterways.

Locally to me in Chichester harbour there are tours on a solar powered electric catamaran, silent and no wash either. Small electric outboards have been available for some time too, and are popular in the US  for fishing and trolling, which is particularly important in some of the more vulnerable waters.