Battery Electric Vehicle News / Enjoying the Transportation Revolution

EricMears

buglawton said:

Looks like our 2 ICE vehicles have been converted into zero emission.
Yup, I'm working from home and the last 2 grocery shops were online. Zero emissions in the last week. Less of a need to spend a fortune on an EV it seems.

So all we need to do now is to persuade all ICE drivers to stay off the road and the 'climate crisis' will be considerably eased !

Martyn1981

Extract(s) from this week's Carbon Commentary newsletter:

4, EV sales. Renault global car sales were 4.9% electric in the first two months of the year, up over 80% on the same months last year. The percentage in its core European market was 8.8%. Perhaps the virus has given everybody a better sense of the surprising power of exponential growth? If continued, the rate of expansion of Renaults EV sales would mean 100% of its sales would be electric in less than 5 years.

7, Wireless charging. The world’s first trial of wireless charging of a vehicle on the move took place in Sweden. A truck was successfully charged at the rate of 45 kW on a 50 metre section of road at a speed of 30 km/hour. The intention is to take the charging up to 125 kW and full road speeds. This is an interesting experiment, but I’m not convinced that it solves a real problem. I suspect it will be far cheaper to build trucks with bigger batteries or to use hydrogen fuel cells for very heavy vehicles.

9, New types of electric vehicles. Komatsu started renting a new fully electric excavator to customers in Japan. The 36 kWh battery is similarly sized to those in new electric cars. The weight and performance of the excavator is similar to diesel equivalents. News articles noted that the excavator is far quieter and thus can be used in particularly noise-sensitive environments and at night. Operator comfort is improved because of reduced vibrations. Manufacturer DAF announced that its first electric refuse truck had started work in the Dutch city of Zwolle. The vehicle has a 170 kWh battery which should enable it to operate a full route around the city.

Martyn1981

It's official ....... but don't expect the spin doctors to stop rotating.

Electric cars produce less CO2 than petrol vehicles, study confirms

Electric vehicles produce less carbon dioxide than petrol cars across the vast majority of the globe – contrary to the claims of some detractors, who have alleged that the CO2 emitted in the production of electricity and their manufacture outweighs the benefits.

They found that in 53 out of 59 regions, comprising 95% of the world, electric vehicles and domestic heat pumps generate less carbon dioxide than fossil fuel powered cars or boilers. The only exceptions are heavily coal-dependent countries such as Poland.

“The idea that electric vehicles or heat pumps could increase emissions is essentially a myth,” said Florian Knobloch of Nijmegen University in the Netherlands, the lead author of the study. “We’ve seen a lot of disinformation going around. Here is a definitive study that can dispel those myths.”

EricMears

Even in (say) Poland there must be benefit to discharging power station gasses (hopefully after some remedial treatment bu even if not) out of a tall chimney rather than at street level.

Martyn1981

Electric trains with batts, that charge when there are overhead cables available, so the whole network doesn't have to be electrified.

Siemens Mobility Will Supply 20 Battery Electric Trains To Baden-Württemberg

Electric trains are obviously kinder to the environment than diesel-powered trains, but overhead wires are not available on all rail lines. The solution is battery powered trains that run on electricity stored in batteries when necessary, overhead wires where available, and kinetic energy recaptured through regenerative braking when the trains slow for a station.

Siemens has announced it has a received an order for 20 such hybrid electric trains for SFBW, the transportation agency of Baden-Württemberg. The trains are made up of two cars coupled together with seats for 120 passengers. The trains have a range of 80 kilometers (49.7 miles) on battery power alone and recharge the batteries when overhead wires are available.

ABrass

Martyn1981 said:

Electric trains with batts, that charge when there are overhead cables available, so the whole network doesn't have to be electrified.

Siemens Mobility Will Supply 20 Battery Electric Trains To Baden-Württemberg

Electric trains are obviously kinder to the environment than diesel-powered trains, but overhead wires are not available on all rail lines. The solution is battery powered trains that run on electricity stored in batteries when necessary, overhead wires where available, and kinetic energy recaptured through regenerative braking when the trains slow for a station.

Siemens has announced it has a received an order for 20 such hybrid electric trains for SFBW, the transportation agency of Baden-Württemberg. The trains are made up of two cars coupled together with seats for 120 passengers. The trains have a range of 80 kilometers (49.7 miles) on battery power alone and recharge the batteries when overhead wires are available.

I thought that was a pretty clever solution for our rail network. A lot of the difficulty in electrifying our network is due to the need to raise tunnels and bridges to give room for the wires and pantographs.

silverwhistle

I can think there must be plenty of places where this could be applied. I used to live at the end of a branch line in the Alps which was single track and used diesels. They upgraded Torino Porta Susa station and the first time the trains used it they set off the new sprinkler system, so that any subsequent journeys had to be done with a change of trains. They've now introduced bi-modal trains, but this would be a far more elegant and cleaner solution.

As for ABrass's point, to deal with that real issue a lower battery capacity might be sufficient?

ABrass

silverwhistle said:

I can think there must be plenty of places where this could be applied. I used to live at the end of a branch line in the Alps which was single track and used diesels. They upgraded Torino Porta Susa station and the first time the trains used it they set off the new sprinkler system, so that any subsequent journeys had to be done with a change of trains. They've now introduced bi-modal trains, but this would be a far more elegant and cleaner solution.

As for ABrass's point, to deal with that real issue a lower battery capacity might be sufficient?

You'd think so, but these offer more options like skipping large sections of track where it might be too stop/start to make sense. For example if you had five low bridges in a short space of time then the effort and cost of doing that section might not be worth it over buying these trains which can handle longer distances.

Martyn1981

A great tip for everyone regardless of fuel type. Have to admit, I'd never heard of this but the 'alternative' fitting reminds me of speed cyclists' helmets, and also the shape of the PV cars that race across Australia each year.

Tesla Model 3 with roof-rack box gets much better range if you flip box around

A Tesla Model 3 owner figured out that his electric car is much more efficient with a roof-rack box gets if he flips the box around.

EricMears

The 'classic' streamlined shape is a tear drop : round front, pointy back   and I've always fitted my roof boxes like that (even though it means lid opening on wrong side of car).  I've never actually measured wind resistance (don't think I'd even know how to start !)