Battery Electric Vehicle News / Enjoying the Transportation Revolution

scaredofdebt

Martyn1981 said:

Another article in the EV mythbusting series. This time looking at weight. The single biggest takeaway, I believe, is that as battery density improves (around 5% pa), the issue will mostly resolve itself within a decade. This should also improve the vehicle's efficiency, and storage space, or alternatively, allow for greater kWh's of batts, if more range is needed/wanted.

Are electric cars too heavy for British roads, bridges and car parks?

Nevertheless, Transport & Environment, a campaign group, calculates that EVs are on average between 300kg and 400kg heavier. For every 150km of range, it adds about 100kg of battery weight, said Lucien Mathieu, the cars director at the Brussels-based group.

Heavier vehicles mean there is more friction between tyres and road, and more stress on whatever is below the car. That means roads deteriorate quicker. Academics at the University of Edinburgh in 2022 calculated that there could be between 20% and 40% additional road wear – think potholes, the driver’s bane – associated with battery vehicles compared with internal combustion engines.

However, the analysis (which did not carry out real-world tests) found that any extra wear is “overwhelmingly caused by large vehicles – buses, heavy goods vehicles”. Road wear from cars and motorcycles is “so low that this immaterial”, they said.

However, in the longer term, the assumption that electric cars will always be heavier is also open to question. Auke Hoekstra, an energy transition researcher at the Eindhoven University of Technology, estimates that batteries are cramming twice as much energy into the same weight every decade. If that continues, the weight problem will disappear before it has started.

Had a tyre failure on my MG5 last night and I was wondering if the extra weight is a contributory factor?  I suspect that a foreign object was to blame as I could hear it just before the dreaded warning came up on the dash.

I've been driving since 1987, average 20-30k a year and my first tyre failure was in 2015, I had another last year and this makes three.  All different cars.

The foam and compressor solution the MG5 came with was completely hopeless, AA attended within 20 minutes and fixed it (temporarily) so credit to them.

Anyone else got any tales of EV tyre failure?

I'm getting a space saver now, £60 on Ebay.

Magnitio

scaredofdebt said:

Had a tyre failure on my MG5 last night and I was wondering if the extra weight is a contributory factor?  I suspect that a foreign object was to blame as I could hear it just before the dreaded warning came up on the dash.

I've been driving since 1987, average 20-30k a year and my first tyre failure was in 2015, I had another last year and this makes three.  All different cars.

The foam and compressor solution the MG5 came with was completely hopeless, AA attended within 20 minutes and fixed it (temporarily) so credit to them.

Anyone else got any tales of EV tyre failure?

I'm getting a space saver now, £60 on Ebay.

The MG5 is one of the lighter EV's at just over 1500Kg and has reasonably sensible tyre profiles. The current state of the roads is more likely to blame.

Coastalwatch

scaredofdebt said:

Anyone else got any tales of EV tyre failure?

I'm getting a space saver now, £60 on Ebay.

We've had our Nissan Leaf for coming up to six years circa 38k miles in that time had two very slow punctures which allowed us to get home then sorted at local garage. Lucky, I guess!

philologus

Woo Hoo!

I collect my Hyundai Ioniq Ulitmate 77kWh EV on Friday 19th April.

I test drove it last Friday and was very impressed. It must be one of the safest cars on the road to drive. I decided on the Ultimate because of the 360 camera, the HU display and the adjustable and heated  seats. That will make driving a lot more comfortable for my wife. They make driving more of a pleasure.

I'm 6' 4" and the leg room and headroom are really good.

After asking for advice on here, I'm going to stick with Octopus Agile to start with and then re-assess it when winter kicks in.

The car has lots of bells and whistles so it's going to take me some time to suss it all out.

A claimed 315 mile range means that I should manage 250 reasonably easily so I'll be able to manage the 200 mile round trip to see my daughter in Carlisle without a problem. That's the main reason that I haven't had an EV up until now.

silverwhistle

Congratulations! Hopefully there'll be some cheap Agile when you get the new car. Sunday night and I'm plugged in and charging at minus 2.95p and over night will charge for 2.5 hours at negative prices to top the car up, so ~200 free miles in the battery. It's not always like that, of course, but it pays to be flexible when it is!

orrery

scaredofdebt said:

Anyone else got any tales of EV tyre failure?

I'm getting a space saver now, £60 on Ebay.

Not exactly. But ...

We were meeting my son and family at Wimpole Hall last weekend and he called to say they had a blowout on the M11.

He was driving a Merc V series, ("The Beast", a Minibus heavily modified for wheelchair use for my grandson). It is very heavy. The AA guy got them home on a spacesaver.

A Halford's mobile fitter came out to change 2 tyres (the wrecked one and the other on the same axle). When the good tyre was removed, the side-wall ripped and he said that was also very close to failure. Both tyres were the extra duty type. Worrying! He's now double checking the inflation pressure with the company that did the mods.

Grumpy_chap

Is this good EV news or bad EV news?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1d4g8jz57yo

jeffuk

Grumpy_chap said:

Is this good EV news or bad EV news?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1d4g8jz57yo

Good news for Money Saving Experts, bad news for those that bought at the old price.

shinytop

Grumpy_chap said:

Is this good EV news or bad EV news?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1d4g8jz57yo

It's bad because the cause is a drop in demand.

Martyn1981

A BEV, but a giant one, with the charger always plugged in.

Liebherr electric excavator reaches million ton milestone, scores more orders

This massive Liebherr electric excavator reached a major operational milestone earlier this month when it moved its one millionth tonne of dirt. And now, its buyers want more!

That’s right, gang – since we first covered the converted mining excavator back in January it’s been hard at work. And now, after its initial 90 day “break-in” period operating at partial capacity while the site team familiarized themselves with the new tech, it’s operating at full speed at Fortescue’s Christmas Creek mine in Western Australia.

The Liebherr is working so well, in fact, that Fortescue is planning on order two more examples of the mighty electric earth-mover.