Battery Electric Vehicle News / Enjoying the Transportation Revolution

silverwhistle

JKenH said:

The fact that while several police forces have adopted EVs and others haven’t might just be down to a consideration of practicalities rather than ideology. Your EV works for you but mine didn’t for me. That could just as easily be the case with different police forces. 

Edit: here is a more balanced look at EV adoption in police forces in the UK. 

https://www.sparksunderland.com/2021/12/02/police-ev-investigation/

It might be practicalities and poor grid connections, but we're not talking about the whole fleet and the figures in there are pretty poor. I do suspect ideology and lack of innovation. A small bank of overnight fast chargers and a rapid would deal with a good number of vehicles, but there has to be a bit of leadership rather than 'here are some electric vehicles we want you to use'.

JKenH

silverwhistle said:

JKenH said:

The fact that while several police forces have adopted EVs and others haven’t might just be down to a consideration of practicalities rather than ideology. Your EV works for you but mine didn’t for me. That could just as easily be the case with different police forces. 

Edit: here is a more balanced look at EV adoption in police forces in the UK. 

https://www.sparksunderland.com/2021/12/02/police-ev-investigation/

It might be practicalities and poor grid connections, but we're not talking about the whole fleet and the figures in there are pretty poor. I do suspect ideology and lack of innovation. A small bank of overnight fast chargers and a rapid would deal with a good number of vehicles, but there has to be a bit of leadership rather than 'here are some electric vehicles we want you to use'.

Those keen to see the roll out of EVs see biased press and ideological objections as major barriers while those opposed to EVs see ideology and biased press driving the transition. That’s just how the world is. 

JKenH

1961Nick said:

JKenH said:

Martyn1981 said:

Good news from VW as they move forward on their small BEV the ID.Life, now to be the ID.2, or hopefully carry the Golf name forward. At a potential £20k(ish), it would probably sell very, very well.

New Entry-Level Volkswagen May Carry The Golf Name Forward

Unnamed sources tell Autocar the new car is a compact 5-seater with a target base price of €22,500 (£20,135) in today’s money. They also claim the car will carry the well known Golf name forward. There is even the possibility that a GTI version may be in the offing sometime in the future.

Those sources also confirm that the Volkswagen ID 2/Golf will be the first Volkswagen based on the MEB Plus platform — an updated version of today’s widely used MEB electric car structure that will use lithium-iron-phosphate prismatic battery cells and be able to charge at speeds of up to 200 kW.

......and USS and rain sensing wipers that work properly - yes, that’s you, Tesla)

I'll second that! How hard can it be to make wipers rain sensing work properly?

Apparently the auto wipers are still in beta mode. (From Tesla UK Owners Facebook page). I wonder what else is?

1961Nick

JKenH said:

1961Nick said:

JKenH said:

Martyn1981 said:

Good news from VW as they move forward on their small BEV the ID.Life, now to be the ID.2, or hopefully carry the Golf name forward. At a potential £20k(ish), it would probably sell very, very well.

New Entry-Level Volkswagen May Carry The Golf Name Forward

Unnamed sources tell Autocar the new car is a compact 5-seater with a target base price of €22,500 (£20,135) in today’s money. They also claim the car will carry the well known Golf name forward. There is even the possibility that a GTI version may be in the offing sometime in the future.

Those sources also confirm that the Volkswagen ID 2/Golf will be the first Volkswagen based on the MEB Plus platform — an updated version of today’s widely used MEB electric car structure that will use lithium-iron-phosphate prismatic battery cells and be able to charge at speeds of up to 200 kW.

......and USS and rain sensing wipers that work properly - yes, that’s you, Tesla)

I'll second that! How hard can it be to make wipers rain sensing work properly?

Apparently the auto wipers are still in beta mode. (From Tesla UK Owners Facebook page). I wonder what else is?

The problem wouldn't be so bad if all the wiper controls were on the column stalk rather than in the touchscreen. Thankfully there is still a single wipe & a wash/wipe function on the indicator stalk. Without that the car would be potentially lethal.

JKenH

Volkswagen among consortium trialling bidirectional EV charging

The consortium will build on a deployment of domestic vehicle-to-grid (V2G) devices powered by Kaluza’s software and Indra’s hardware that enabled drivers to earn around £420 a year with some earning up to £800 for selling their EV’s energy back to the grid.

https://www.fleetnews.co.uk/news/latest-fleet-news/electric-fleet-news/2023/01/20/volkswagen-among-consortium-trialling-bidirectional-ev-charging

Coastalwatch

With water being an ideal medium for transporting heavy goods then the project below appears ideally suited to any number of battery technologies and improving air quality where they operate. Quite a step for Amsterdam to be emission free by 2025 but great to see such ambition.

Vattenfall & Stromma to launch electric sightseeing boats

Vattenfall and the Stromma Group are working together on the electrification of sightseeing boats. At the top of the list are the canal boats in Amsterdam, which must become emission-free by 2025.

Vattenfall says it is supplying the battery system for the electrification, as well as the fossil-free electricity used for the project in Amsterdam.

https://www.electrive.com/2023/02/23/vattenfall-stromma-to-launch-electric-sightseeing-boats/

Martyn1981

Sodium-ion spotted in the wild! Early days still for this technology, but if nothing else, spreading battery demands across more materials, especially cheap ones like sodium, will help to reduce price spikes. Also means that even technologies that are not as cheap as lithium based ones, may still work out 'cheaper' due to price spikes in lithium. The more the merrier, perhaps.

Hina launches sodium-ion battery tests in vehicles

In China, sodium-ion batteries are being used on a limited test basis in an electric car for the first time. The relatively unknown battery manufacturer Hina Battery presented three sodium-ion battery cell types and announced a partnership with the car company JAC.

JKenH

Two in five cars made in Britain are 'electrified': A 50% growth in EV and hybrid production is helping keep UK factory outputs stable

The shift to electric car production has continued and helped to keep UK vehicle production stable in January, official figures show..

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) reported that combined battery electric, plug-in hybrid and hybrid electric vehicle production increased by almost 50 per cent last month compared with a year ago.

A total of 28,329 'electrified' models were built by the UK's automotive workforce in January, which represented more than two in every five (41 per cent) cars made in the month - a near-record high share.

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-11788765/Two-five-cars-Britain-electric-hybrid-vehicles.html

Coastalwatch

With water bourne vessels being an ideal means of transporting heavy haulage then converting sightseeing canal boats to an electric means of propulsion coupled with the limited distance involved should pose few problems for their success. Equally with weight not being an issue almost any battery technology could be considered.

Amsterdam becoming emission free by 2025 seems an adventurous target, but hat's off to them for setting it.

Vattenfall & Stromma to launch electric sightseeing boats

Vattenfall and the Stromma Group are working together on the electrification of sightseeing boats. At the top of the list are the canal boats in Amsterdam, which must become emission-free by 2025.

Vattenfall says it is supplying the battery system for the electrification, as well as the fossil-free electricity used for the project in Amsterdam.

“Our ‘Power-as-a-Service’ concept is based on us owning, managing and taking responsibility for the operation and maintenance of electrical infrastructure. This means that our customers can focus on their core business,” says Maria Lindberg, responsible for heavy-duty electrification at Vattenfall Network Solutions. “We look forward to working with Vattenfall on electrifying our boats in Amsterdam as a first step. We are facing a major shift in our operations, and this partnership is an important step in our continued sustainability work,” added Patric Sjöberg, President and CEO of Stromma Group.

Stromma is active in 19 cities in six European countries, including Amsterdam, Berlin, Copenhagen, Oslo, Helsinki and Stockholm, where it offers round trips, sightseeing tours and excursions.

https://www.electrive.com/2023/02/23/vattenfall-stromma-to-launch-electric-sightseeing-boats/

Martyn1981

Hiya CW, some news is just worth repeating? You'll be as bad as me soon.