Battery Electric Vehicle News / Enjoying the Transportation Revolution

orrery

Verdigris said:

I imagine most manufacturers are cutting down production of diesels, so they have a rarity value to those who insist on buying them.

It is true in a perverse way. The EU and places like California insist that a manufacturer's total fleet has low emissions, or there are increased taxes or fines. If they are struggling to make cars through shortage of chips, then they need to keep the proportion of EVs up and diesels down so as not to face penalties.

Grumpy_chap

Verdigris said:

Apparently people will pay stupid prices on Ebay for filament bulbs. You could become wealthy enough to buy some LEDs and cut your electricity bills into the bargain.

I have nearly all LED bulbs 1W throughout the house.

Maybe I can sell the filament bulbs and buy an EV?  It will be a few years yet as Mum is very protective of them, but her will specifies that my two brothers and I can select three "things" each from the estate before the other parts of the distribution comes into play.  Maybe I should select the "collection of old light bulbs" as one of my three "things" - doubt there'll be any competition for that.  Unless my older brother, who gets first dibs, selects as his first "thing" the "house and contents" 

Exiled_Tyke

orrery said:

Verdigris said:

I imagine most manufacturers are cutting down production of diesels, so they have a rarity value to those who insist on buying them.

It is true in a perverse way. The EU and places like California insist that a manufacturer's total fleet has low emissions, or there are increased taxes or fines. If they are struggling to make cars through shortage of chips, then they need to keep the proportion of EVs up and diesels down so as not to face penalties.

Perhaps this is actually a reason why second-hand diesel car prices are so strong. Modern diesels are some of the cleanest cars available and if fleets need cars with emissions levels of Euro 2 or better then diesels may be the answer for them. 

Solarchaser

A few things.
The Tesla dying on an entrance is weird.
If it died I'd guess there would have been no power to put the handbrake on, so could have easily been towed away from the entrance. 
Speaking of Towing, all the talk of ev jump packs etc, just stick a tow bar on the car and drag it under regen for 10 miles and it should be grand for another 10 miles.

I have had the Tesla at 0% a few times, and Tesla said there was actually still 5% left, so 15 miles.
Both remote heating/aircon and sentry mode switch off when the car gets below 20% so that couldn't be the cause of the breakdown. 

A trip to Aberdeen the other day seen 150 miles for 50% so 300 miles is possible.

Had a look at car prices the other day, and it seems the wife's car has went up in price even though its 3 years older and more than double the mileage when we got it, good ole leaf

orrery

Exiled_Tyke said:Modern diesels are some of the cleanest cars available...

C'mon. Did the VW salesman tell you that?

Exiled_Tyke

orrery said:

Exiled_Tyke said:Modern diesels are some of the cleanest cars available...

C'mon. Did the VW salesman tell you that?

How dare you question my gullibility. I own a diesel with a Euro 2 certification. I have the sticker in my car from applying to the French authorities (remember those heady days when we could go to France and bring back loads of cheap wine?). Because of it's low emissions I pay about £30 (I think?) road tax a year.    I'm desperate to get into an EV but until I can afford to change I will make do with the cleanest car I can.  

JKenH

Lithium Shortage May Stall Electric Car Revolution And Embed China’s Lead: Report

https://www.forbes.com/sites/neilwinton/2021/11/14/lithium-shortage-may-stall-electric-car-revolution-and-embed-chinas-lead-report/

Verdigris

Good news for Cornwall, possibly, with the lithium that is coming up as a by-product of geothermal heating schemes.

Mind you, they need it now that the Objective 1 money from the EU has dried up and the government have only given some small change to replace it.

JKenH

Verdigris said:

Good news for Cornwall, possibly, with the lithium that is coming up as a by-product of geothermal heating schemes.

Mind you, they need it now that the Objective 1 money from the EU has dried up and the government have only given some small change to replace it.

As we have seen with the gas shortage lately, it’s hard to put a price on energy security. I’m old fashioned and I prefer that we retain energy production, and vital manufacturing onshore. You just never know when the geo-political tide will turn against you.

Coastalwatch

Great to see such progress on the recycling of spent EV batteries which establishes what can be achieved coupled with ambitious targets for scaling up production in the years ahead. Presumably there must some confidence that the process can eventually be cost effective. However, in the difficult times ahead then sustainability must surely play an increasingly important role in all aspects of commercial decision making.

Northvolt produces first 100% recycled NMC battery cell

Northvolt has produced its first battery cell with 100 per cent recycled nickel, manganese and cobalt as part of its Revolt recycling programme. The company is now looking to scale up its recycling facilities in Sweden to establish a facility able to recycle 125,000 tons of batteries per year.

When announcing the news of the first NMC cell made entirely from recycled material, Northvolt said the electrochemical performance was “on par with cells with freshly mined materials”. What is more, all recycling and production processes for the recovery and reuse of nickel, manganese and cobalt were completed at a single site, Northvolt Labs in Västerås, Sweden. Specifically, Northvolt recovered the metals for the NMC battery through “a low-energy hydrometallurgical treatment which involves using an aqueous solution to isolate the metals and separate them from impurities,” reads the statement.

“What we have shown here is a clear pathway to closing the loop on batteries and that there exists a sustainable, environmentally-preferable alternative to conventional mining to source raw materials for battery production,” added Emma Nehrenheim, Northvolt’s Chief Environmental Officer and head of Revolt, the company’s recycling programme.

“The recycling process can recover up to 95% of the metals in a battery to a level of purity on par with fresh virgin material,” explained Nehrenheim. She added, “What we need now is to scale-up recycling capacities in anticipation of future volumes of batteries requiring recycling.”

https://www.electrive.com/2021/11/14/northvolt-produces-first-100-recycled-nmc-battery-cell/