Battery Electric Vehicle News / Enjoying the Transportation Revolution

JKenH

Car sales bounce back in February: Registrations rose by 26% last month as EVs and plug-in hybrids account for almost a quarter of new models

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-11825507/Car-sales-bounce-February-registrations-grow-26.html

Figures aren’t yet showing on the SMMT’s own website so this is from the Daily Mail. BEV market share is down Y-o-Y despite 1482 Model Ys being delivered and Fleet sales which have been driving BEV uptake being up. Hybrids and petrol cars are the stars this month,

Edit: figures are available on SMMT website as a press release but not under the Car Registrations tab which has been updated from January’s figures. 

Spies

Just committed to a 28kwh ioniq 

CKhalvashi

Spies said:

Just committed to a 28kwh ioniq 

Enjoy it, the Ioniq are amazing cars!

Figures in a previous page are for a 38Wh Ioniq.

NigeWick

Martyn1981 said:

EV-Database suggests 175 miles in cold weather highway driving, which at -10C (10f), would seem reasonable compared to your 200 estimate, I think. Does that sound reasonable?

Yes I do.

CKhalvashi

Martyn1981 said:

NigeWick said:

Martyn1981 said:

For those pondering actual range, in different conditions,

I think a minimum range should be given. My 64kWh Kona would do 200 miles at 70mph, 28f with heating & aircon on.

Yep, EV-Database suggests 175 miles in cold weather highway driving, which at -10C (10f), would seem reasonable compared to your 200 estimate, I think. Does that sound reasonable?

I also think that sounds reasonable.

200mi of town driving will probably equate to 160-180 with heating used fully.

I tend to have adapted now with heating/air conditioning to getting the car hot/cold and turning the system off. This helps efficiency a lot, but definitely this power usage over 3 hours seems a fair guess to me.

silverwhistle

CKhalvashi said:

I sadly don't. Most of the German rapid chargers are expensive to use which eats heavily into costs. If 1mi/8kWh were possible I'd be very happy but we're not yet at that stage.

I've done some planning for crossing France and although Ionity and their like are pretty expensive everywhere I've also found other providers such as Electra and Has-to-Be are ~35p e.g: Electra at Beaune up to 214kW at 34p with an Octopus card and discount.

Although I'll make judicious use of French autoroutes the A6 can be incredibly boring so similar to you will do a fair bit of cross-country at slightly slower speeds and far better consumption. Although it will take longer in my EV than in my previous ICE cars (and friend's diesel van) it will be a lot nicer experience!

JKenH

The coming EV batteries will sweep away fossil fuel transport, with or without net zero

Extract from an article in the Telegraph with link below. Below that link is a separate link to the peer reviewed paper it relates to. 

The Argonne National Laboratory in the US has essentially cracked the battery technology for electric vehicles, discovering a way to raise the future driving range of standard EVs to a thousand miles or more. It promises to do so cheaply without exhausting the global supply of critical minerals in the process. 

The joint project with the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) has achieved a radical jump in the energy density of battery cells. The typical lithium-ion battery used in the car industry today stores about 200 watt-hours per kilo (Wh/kg). Their lab experiment has already reached 675 Wh/kg with a lithium-air variant.

This is a high enough density to power trucks, trains, and arguably mid-haul aircraft, long thought to be beyond the reach of electrification. The team believes it can reach 1,200 Wh/kg.

Prof Curtiss said the current prototype is based on lithium but does not have to be. “The same type of battery could be developed with sodium. It will take more time, but can be done,” he said. Switching to sodium would halve the driving range but it would still be double today’s generation of batteries. 

Sodium is ubiquitous. There are deposits in Dorset, Cheshire, or Ulster. The US and Canada have vast salt lakes. Sodium can be produced cheaply from seawater in hot regions via evaporation. There is no supply constraint.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/03/07/coming-ev-batteries-will-sweep-away-fossil-fuel-transport-without/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36730408/

JKenH

BMW now says Mini Electric WILL be built in the UK after all – report

Production of the new wave of the Mini Electric WILL be taking place in the UK after all following a U-turn by parent company BMW, it’s being reported.

https://cardealermagazine.co.uk/publish/bmw-now-says-mini-electric-will-be-built-in-the-uk-after-all-report/280840

1961Nick

JKenH said:

BMW now says Mini Electric WILL be built in the UK after all – report

Production of the new wave of the Mini Electric WILL be taking place in the UK after all following a U-turn by parent company BMW, it’s being reported.

https://cardealermagazine.co.uk/publish/bmw-now-says-mini-electric-will-be-built-in-the-uk-after-all-report/280840

It's nice to have some good UK EV news for a change. I guess BMW are having second thoughts about any more investment in China & the UK was plan B. Still, it's a win for the UK despite a government that's asleep at the wheel.

Martyn1981

Perhaps a bit of a Janus overload recently, but just watched this Fully Charged vid on them, and their conversions of diesel trucks to BEV's with swappable batts, and thought it was excellent.

Helped to clear up any thoughts I had regarding the reason for going with swappable batts. Simply put, these trucks are rated for very heavy hauling, of multiple trailers, up to 96tn, so presumably they will burn electrons faster, requiring more frequent stops, and longer charging times. Also Janus point out that customers can buy the batts, but they advise not too, as they can keep upgrading the batts as technology evolves.

Different scenario to the EU with 46tn BEV's and the US with 37tn BEV limits, but always fun to see different ways, that problems can be solved.

This GIANT Electric Semi Can Swap Out Its Batteries!