Battery Electric Vehicle News / Enjoying the Transportation Revolution

Martyn1981

Pretty sure this has been tested in France. Possibly mentioned on here, but could have been 3 or 4 yrs ago.
I seem to recall they were trying to see if they could get up to 7kW charge rate, as that would, on a 30mph road, roughly power the car.

Grumpy_chap

JKenH said:

Rocket Scientists Are Developing Roads That Can Charge Electric Cars

The fear of running out of range could soon be solved.

https://hypebeast.com/2021/5/electric-car-charging-roads-rocket-scientist-ev-development-future

That rocket scientist has not explained how the proposal would overcome the braking effect of the magnetic field on the moving vehicle.  This type of wireless charging works for your cellphone because you are leaving the phone stationary.  Given that there will be some charging losses, the braking effect exceeds the amount of energy that is successfully imparted to the battery.  The idea would work in a car park.  And it would work in a traffic jam.  All other times, it will be slowing down the EV's until they stop.

Clearly, it's not rocket science! 

JKenH

Martyn1981 said:

Pretty sure this has been tested in France. Possibly mentioned on here, but could have been 3 or 4 yrs ago.
I seem to recall they were trying to see if they could get up to 7kW charge rate, as that would, on a 30mph road, roughly power the car.

Yes, it did sound familiar. I had a look on the net and found this about South Korean buses using something similar - see link below. 

https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/163171-worlds-first-road-powered-electric-vehicle-network-switches-on-in-south-korea

Martyn1981

Thought I put together a fun / eclectic mix of media articles, to show how strange and interesting the media can be around Tesla. I'm hoping that anti-Tesla FUD will slowly reduce now, and the same for autonomous driving, as it's not just Tesla that suffers, but the whole BEV and TAAS sectors going forward. This may be an eye-opener, but really it's just a whole lot of fun, nothing new.

So, over the last few weeks, Tesla has taken an absolute bashing in the US and Chinese media. In China, a lady who was the passenger in a Tesla when her father crashed, has successfully campaigned against Tesla and their brakes, at several motor shows and large media events, eventually earning herself 5 days in jail, and forcing tesla to release the crash data to the public (the authrities already had it, and confirmed the driver was going too fast, and too close, and was to blame.)

In the US a police constable (a type of elected Sheriff) attending a crash scene where two people had been killed, declared he was 100% certain that nobody was driving at the time, and this went viral, in fact all of the US national news programmes covered it. All evidence, including the car owners home surveillance cameras show that it was driven, didn't have FSD, and couldn't have activated autopilot in the seconds from leaving the house at speed, to show the car off to his friend.

This article covers these stories, and an attempt by Chinese media to apologise:

Chinese Media Outlet Apologizes To Tesla For FUD — Perhaps Other Outlets Should Take Notes

During the misinformation stage, Consumer Reports (a bit like Which in the UK), wanted to tell people how easy it is to drive a Tesala without anyone in the drivers seat, and produced a video showing this.
All that's needed is a quiet road, or test track, with clear lane markings, you get in, buckling the seat belt behind you. You get up to speed so that Autopilot can be engaged, you dial the chosen speed down to zero on the steering wheel. When the car stops, you take out the weights/chains you bought in advance, and attach them to one side of the steering wheel, to throw off the balance (so the car thinks tghe driver still has their hands on it), then climb into the passenger seat, and dial the speed back up.
Great to have safety organisations showing us this stuff.


Speaking of Which, they've just published their top 10 list of EV's for the UK. Sadly no Tesla's were good enough, as they were up against the mighty Mini, Ford Focus electric, and the mass market Taycan. But better luck in 2022.


Recently we talked about BEV's v's supercars, even hypercars, so this episode from Solving the Money Problem, is (or was to me) extremely funny, as it covered the recent news that a Tesla model S Plaid set a new 1/4mile record time of 9.23s (toppling the reigning champ, a $3.3m Bugatti Chiron at 9.4s), and even Jay Leno (TV host and car loving owner of hundreds of cars) managed a 9.5s run time, with two passengers on board.

Tesla JUST Ended The ICE Age

Does this matter, yes it really does, a monster ICE, with a monster price has been toppled by a $120k BEV. And there's more, this was a TMS Plaid ....... not the $150k Plaid+.

BEV's have gone into ICE's top territory, and destroyed them with a large saloon car. The 'Yuff' will notice, schoolyard top trump arguments will be about BEV's not ICE's. The publicity for Tesla, but more importantly BEV's in general, is simply drowning the dino-juice old school.


I'm off now for my Covid delayed 2020 Tesla Tour, with the aim of visiting as many forum friends as possible, whilst seeing what efficiency I can achieve in 'chill' mode. I've even renamed one mileage trip to 2020TT ..... so an accidental shout out to Audi!



And in the long established tradition of news pieces ending with a cute animal story, and proof that even the Daily Fail can get it right occasionaly, here's a lovely story about a Lab/Retriever cross, making a change to a lovely young lad's (and his family's) life (and a blatantly unsubtle attempt to play on folks heartstrings, and suggest a very worthwhile charity for any spare coins that might be down the back of the sofa):

Fur-ever friends: Blind boy, 6, becomes best pals with his Golden Retriever ‘buddy dog’ who helps to guide him on adventures and hikes

Even the comments are nice, no suggestions of jobs being stolen by foreigners! 

JKenH

Electric car owners ditch vehicles over lack of charging points

The state of Northern Ireland's electric vehicle recharging network is so bad that many drivers are dumping their cars and reverting to diesel and petrol models.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-57173403

The Electric Vehicle Association said the number of broken chargers across NI meant people were less inclined to convert to electric cars.

It said many of those who owned them were going back to fossil fuel vehicles and the state of the network was so poor that almost 60% of drivers it surveyed had considered returning to petrol or diesel vehicles.

It received feedback from electric vehicle users which described the network as "appalling," "terrible" and "unreliable".

Martyn1981

Martyn1981 said:

I'm off now for my Covid delayed 2020 Tesla Tour, with the aim of visiting as many forum friends as possible, whilst seeing what efficiency I can achieve in 'chill' mode. I've even renamed one mileage trip to 2020TT ..... so an accidental shout out to Audi!

Well, I'm back, sorry!
Trip was great, but all plans of efficient driving went out the window immediately. The first leg to London was in chill mode (ECO), but to make up time I was doing around 80 for most of it, and then at the start of leg 2 I ended up sitting behind an Impreza WRX STi at lights that must have taken 2mins to change (large junction). Driver kept revving his engine up, so the child in me changed the setting from chill to sport (where it stayed for the remaining 450 miles). He went off quick, I followed, he then booted it, but the loud noise and exhaust smoke tipped me off, so as he lept forward, I simply closed right up to him. He tried it a second time on a slip road, and again when he went for it, I closed right up during his 'blast' stage. He then gave me a friendly wave. I think he was surprised (or shocked) but entertained.

Day one ended at approx 258Wh/mile.

Day two was another 300 miles, roughly half at lower speeds, some A and B roads, some congested M25 sections at about 77, and some lengthy M4 sections for roadworks, or emissions, with average speed cameras, holding speeds at 50 or 60. The other half I was cruising at around 85+.
The impact of these more 'energetic' speeds, was that efficiency went down a bit. Total consumption rose to 160kWh, over 587miles, and 272Wh/mile or 3.67miles/kWh.

Supercharging was slightly disappointing. I really wanted to visit the new Braintree EV 'services', but they were down, so made a small detour to use another 250kW location (rather than the 150kW's on route). Sadly I couldn't get a much wanted screenshot showing "1,000mph", but it did hit 195kW and 797mph. I then went for a quick pee, and on return the car had already hit 30kWh, a bit more than I needed. Price was 30p/kWh.

Return leg, I also made a slight detour from the 150kW's available on the M4, and instead popped to the Heathrow Hilton, as one does, but again failed to get the elusive pic, only managing 203kW and 831mph, but only 20p/kWh. Sent Wifey a text to say I was leaving the country. She replied asking why I was at Heathrow (she'd obvously checked her Tesla app), and I joked that 'I didn't want to slum it at a 150kW'. Walked to a bin to get rid of all the sweet wrappers, and Wifey had texted again with shock at how fast the car was filling. By which time I was ready to leave as the car said I would get home with 10% charge remaining, (to allow for some more lead foot driving), and got home with 4%, and a noticeably harder accelerator pedal when it hit ~8%.

Fantastic fun, possibly tried to meet too many people in one go, and a bit disappointed/embarrassed that I didn't get a better efficiency* by driving at sensible speeds, but already planning the next trip (much shorter) when I can test this out.

*My first stop was with a forum friend from Navitron in London. Whilst chatting outside his house (on the look out for traffic wardens, as I didn't have a permit) he must have spotted 30 BEV's in 30 mins, from E-trons, to Leaf's, BEV vans, lots of Zoe's and even pointed out I was parked alongside an EQZ. BEV's are taking over!
I commented that I was nowhere near a pic he'd posted showing 220Wh/mile after a 50 mile drive at sensible speeds, and he said his new record was now in the 190's having driven in congested traffic at around 50mph.


Hope all this nonsense is useful. Anyone seriously thinking of getting a Tesla should be reassured that they do what they say on the tin, but more importantly, any BEV is great fun, and extremely cheap to drive even over longer journeys.

Grumpy_chap

Martyn1981 said:

Well, I'm back, sorry!
Trip was great, but all plans of efficient driving went out the window immediately. The first leg to London was in chill mode (ECO), but to make up time I was doing around 80 for most of it, and then at the start of leg 2 I ended up sitting behind an Impreza WRX STi at lights that must have taken 2mins to change (large junction). Driver kept revving his engine up, so the child in me changed the setting from chill to sport (where it stayed for the remaining 450 miles). He went off quick, I followed, he then booted it, but the loud noise and exhaust smoke tipped me off, so as he lept forward, I simply closed right up to him. He tried it a second time on a slip road, and again when he went for it, I closed right up during his 'blast' stage. He then gave me a friendly wave. I think he was surprised (or shocked) but entertained.

I am sure you've told us previously, but which Tesla is yours?

I am glad you had a great trip - sounds fun.  I almost can't wait for lockdown to end and back to work so that I have an excuse to get a new car and join the EV crowd

michaels

Martyn1981 said:

Martyn1981 said:

I'm off now for my Covid delayed 2020 Tesla Tour, with the aim of visiting as many forum friends as possible, whilst seeing what efficiency I can achieve in 'chill' mode. I've even renamed one mileage trip to 2020TT ..... so an accidental shout out to Audi!

Well, I'm back, sorry!
Trip was great, but all plans of efficient driving went out the window immediately. The first leg to London was in chill mode (ECO), but to make up time I was doing around 80 for most of it, and then at the start of leg 2 I ended up sitting behind an Impreza WRX STi at lights that must have taken 2mins to change (large junction). Driver kept revving his engine up, so the child in me changed the setting from chill to sport (where it stayed for the remaining 450 miles). He went off quick, I followed, he then booted it, but the loud noise and exhaust smoke tipped me off, so as he lept forward, I simply closed right up to him. He tried it a second time on a slip road, and again when he went for it, I closed right up during his 'blast' stage. He then gave me a friendly wave. I think he was surprised (or shocked) but entertained.

Day one ended at approx 258Wh/mile.

Day two was another 300 miles, roughly half at lower speeds, some A and B roads, some congested M25 sections at about 77, and some lengthy M4 sections for roadworks, or emissions, with average speed cameras, holding speeds at 50 or 60. The other half I was cruising at around 85+.
The impact of these more 'energetic' speeds, was that efficiency went down a bit. Total consumption rose to 160kWh, over 587miles, and 272Wh/mile or 3.67miles/kWh.

Supercharging was slightly disappointing. I really wanted to visit the new Braintree EV 'services', but they were down, so made a small detour to use another 250kW location (rather than the 150kW's on route). Sadly I couldn't get a much wanted screenshot showing "1,000mph", but it did hit 195kW and 797mph. I then went for a quick pee, and on return the car had already hit 30kWh, a bit more than I needed. Price was 30p/kWh.

Return leg, I also made a slight detour from the 150kW's available on the M4, and instead popped to the Heathrow Hilton, as one does, but again failed to get the elusive pic, only managing 203kW and 831mph, but only 20p/kWh. Sent Wifey a text to say I was leaving the country. She replied asking why I was at Heathrow (she'd obvously checked her Tesla app), and I joked that 'I didn't want to slum it at a 150kW'. Walked to a bin to get rid of all the sweet wrappers, and Wifey had texted again with shock at how fast the car was filling. By which time I was ready to leave as the car said I would get home with 10% charge remaining, (to allow for some more lead foot driving), and got home with 4%, and a noticeably harder accelerator pedal when it hit ~8%.

Fantastic fun, possibly tried to meet too many people in one go, and a bit disappointed/embarrassed that I didn't get a better efficiency* by driving at sensible speeds, but already planning the next trip (much shorter) when I can test this out.

*My first stop was with a forum friend from Navitron in London. Whilst chatting outside his house (on the look out for traffic wardens, as I didn't have a permit) he must have spotted 30 BEV's in 30 mins, from E-trons, to Leaf's, BEV vans, lots of Zoe's and even pointed out I was parked alongside an EQZ. BEV's are taking over!
I commented that I was nowhere near a pic he'd posted showing 220Wh/mile after a 50 mile drive at sensible speeds, and he said his new record was now in the 190's having driven in congested traffic at around 50mph.


Hope all this nonsense is useful. Anyone seriously thinking of getting a Tesla should be reassured that they do what they say on the tin, but more importantly, any BEV is great fun, and extremely cheap to drive even over longer journeys.

You should have swung by here, would love to have a go in an M3.  What charging connector do you have, we have a tethered Type 1 and a Chademo so would probably have needed an adaptor.

Martyn1981

Grumpy_chap said:

Martyn1981 said:

Well, I'm back, sorry!
Trip was great, but all plans of efficient driving went out the window immediately. The first leg to London was in chill mode (ECO), but to make up time I was doing around 80 for most of it, and then at the start of leg 2 I ended up sitting behind an Impreza WRX STi at lights that must have taken 2mins to change (large junction). Driver kept revving his engine up, so the child in me changed the setting from chill to sport (where it stayed for the remaining 450 miles). He went off quick, I followed, he then booted it, but the loud noise and exhaust smoke tipped me off, so as he lept forward, I simply closed right up to him. He tried it a second time on a slip road, and again when he went for it, I closed right up during his 'blast' stage. He then gave me a friendly wave. I think he was surprised (or shocked) but entertained.

I am sure you've told us previously, but which Tesla is yours?

I am glad you had a great trip - sounds fun.  I almost can't wait for lockdown to end and back to work so that I have an excuse to get a new car and join the EV crowd

It's a TM3 LR (with added bite). Looks like 300 (of the 340) mile range is doable (just) with a heavy foot, so 250-350 should be possible at gentler speeds, from worst to best weather conditions.
But ...... this was a W T F H purchase, and a SR+ with around 280miles quoted range, would work absolutely fine, thanks to the Supercharger network. I was definitely finding bladder range more intrusive than battery range.

Is the LR worth it, well it's a lot extra, £7.5k, for 80 extra miles, but perhaps vfm when you consider it has the second motor, so more powerful, also makes it AWD, and the larger battery does mean it can take faster charging speeds for longer, since 250kW sounds great, but you do need to be low ish, have selected the supercharger on the nav map (absolutely simple) so it pre-conditions the battery when you are about 15mins out, and accept it'll slow down sooner in a SR+ since the batt will be fuller for any given range, v's a LR.

On a more serious note, if anyone does suffer from poor road conditions, and/or icy conditions, and I don't, (though the gravel parking area (on a slope) has caused the Ioniq to struggle a bit), then AWD especially with a computer monitoring all 4 wheels for slip, and torque delivery, may be handy. I saw a vid testing a TM3 LR, and they placed steel roller pads under one wheel, then two, then three, to see if the car could cope. The only failure was when both rear wheels and one front had rollers, as the rears are the 'go-too', and the motor is more powerful. With one rear, and both fronts on rollers, the car was able to drive forward and off the 3 roller pads. It also has 'slip mode' for extreme surfaces, like gravel, sand, snow etc, but I've not needed to use that yet.

@michaels - next time perhaps? Always happy to further the cause.

legoman62

Elon Musk UK visit drives Tesla factory rumours

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-57185806