Just a thought or two on electric cars

[Blackotter]

If you are a gambler an EV is an ideal vehicle. Everyday is a game of Russian Roulette.If the hammer falls on an empty chamber all smiles.
If it falls on a loaded chamber and the batteries catch fire, go into thermal runaway, they cannot be extinguished!If that happens in the basement of a block of flats or in an attached garage the consequences do not bear description here.
I can no longer run the 100yds in 10.3 seconds so will not be buying an electric car.
I recently attended a lecture, at Surrey University,on the various approaches to using Hydrogen for vehicles.During the next 10 years that looks a much better solution and will also work for HGV's.

[NoBeardNoTopKnot]

The general public don't seem to grasp just how inefficient and truly dreadful batteries are. They seem to think tech. will save us. They do not want to hear it and WILL not be told. Witness the emotive fancies trotted out whenever the subject is brought up, and the charger thread on here recently showed still more.

 I've spent the first part of my working life sat in vast 200 foot battery rooms, they ain't too clever and they've not improved  much since ... because they can't. Storing electricity as chemical energy and back to electricity is something you'd avoid, and only do as a last resort.

Basic laws of Chemistry and Physics tells us why.

Mark my words, with current tech - if you're typically buying cars at 4-6ish years old or older -  EV is not for you. Leave them to the green-wash brigade. With no real grip, that mob like to appear virtuous. Let them bleat about lack of chargers because they don't truly understand, and don't want to. let them sell their usedEV to those that refuse to listen.

When it comes, because sure as eggs, it's coming, EV will make 'diesel-gate' look the mild joke it is.

Not if, when.

[w3526602]

Hi,

I've had two lead-acid car batteries explode when I pressed the starter button, There was probably a rational explanation .... Eg! Spark from poor starter cable connection igniting build up of gas from a dud cell (or something like that). Dramatic BANG! But no damage, other than the plug hitting the under side of bonnet. Replace plug, and continue my journey.

Battery power as LAST RESORT? If it IS the last resort, that would imply that oil and coal burners ARE no longer available. In which case, MULES are stronger, faster, and eat less than horses.

Mules are not allowed to compete against horses.

They can also kick forward, like a man, backwards like a horse, and sideways like a cow. They are also extremely intelligent, and have worked out that there is a better way than working for their living, so can be very stubborn.

Necessity is the mother of invention. Once the demand is strong enough, mankind will find a way ... which frequently involves slavery. Hmmm!

The motor car represents FREEDOM.

602

[geoff]

I think I'll stick with inertia and keep my fossil fuelled wagons until it is as hard to find a " petrol station " as it is to find a working " charging station " 


The exciting realities or otherwise of EV's is something I'm not interested in:

all it means to me is to have a home charger I'd need to have my house rewired, similarly with the new kid on the block, heat pumps .... an expense to foisted upon me 

Anyway with the epidemic of 20 mph zones surging throughout the UK we won't be needing a car after all, just jump on a bus or cycle / walk

^^^ Thats what the " authorities " tell us and "THEY " must be right 

[linesrg]

The general public don't seem to grasp just how inefficient and truly dreadful batteries are. They seem to think tech. will save us. They do not want to hear it and WILL not be told. Witness the emotive fancies trotted out whenever the subject is brought up, and the charger thread on here recently showed still more.

dear oh dear is all I can say in response to this.

The bottom line is that the EV is a vastly more efficient way of using energy than a petrol/ diesel powered vehicle.  That is an incontrovertible fact.

Changing to EV's alone will not save us.  It will take a lot else but clearly the luddites will bring us all down regardless.

As an example.  Climate change seems to be resulting in significant parts of Southern Europe going on fire each year.  UK holidaymakers still fly to this region in their 100's of thousands each year adding to the climate change problems and increasing the likely severity of the fires each year.

You don't need a PhD to see the disconnect here.

Regards

Richard

[geoff]

Simple answer is for all holiday makers to bring a 2 litre bottle of fire repellant water with them to " offset " any climate damage done 

[Beowulf]

I recently attended a lecture, at Surrey University, on the various approaches to using Hydrogen for vehicles. During the next 10 years that looks a much better solution and will also work for HGV's.

Hydrogen fuel-cell powered electric vehicles is going to be the future. Fifty years (give or take a decade) from now people will look back at this rush for batteries and think we were all mad.

A joint Government-Industry study is predicting over one & a half million hydrogen powered vehicles could be on the road by 2030.

JCB already use it on their big stuff, so I`ve no doubt they`ll also make it work for HGVs.

[w3526602]

Hi,

I can understand IC (internal combustion) petrol engines being able to run on hydrogen. I do not see how CI (compression ignition) diesel engines can run on hydrogen. But hey! What do I know?

Going back a lot of years (60?), Harold Bates of Brixham, who made a  device for running cars on Calor Gas, declared that an an engine with a 16:1 compression ratio could run on Calor gas without pinking. So maybe, if a big diesel was fitted with spark plugs, and a butterfly on the inlet manifold, anything might be possible? Will hydrogen ignite without a spark?

My mate in the Swansea Valley ran his Minivan an Calor gas, for a short spell, using one of the above devices ... a Calor pressure thingy, after a simple conversion to suck gas instead of blow it.

602

[Beowulf]

So what does it take to make 1 car battery.
12 tons of rock for lithium ........

The detail of Ken`s opening post may or may not be accurate  . For the sake of this discussion, lets say the truth is only 50% (or even less) of that claimed, I`d say this phrase was appropriate (used I think by scientists talking about the number of tragic Covid infections/deaths), "Even a very small percentage of a very big number is A VERY BIG NUMBER"     

[dartymoor]

I have already found a 40 horsepower motors on the internet, at £5000ish, intended for installation in canal boats.

What about four 20hp motors, one mounted on each hub?

Get rid of all those driveshafts, diffs, gearboxes and engine. The oil spots on the driveway might even dry up...

[w3526602]

12 tons of rock for lithium ........

Hi,

I can see little wrong with that ....... provided that the "spoil" can be used for something else.

How many of our member can remember the Aberfan Disaster, circa 1961 or 1962?  The spoil from coal mining was piled high ... until one day it all slid away, burying the local school. I don't remember the death toll. Dare I suggest that it would have made useful backfill, to join Wales and Ireland together? Two stones, one bird?

602

[w3526602]

Hi,

Google says 116 children, and 28 adults.

602

[w3526602]

Hi,

A bit of progress ...

... a man in a van arrived yesterday, to install a car charging point on the side of my house, next to my electric and gas meter boxes. I can now charge three cars (not simultaneously), with two cars parked on the drive, and one parked in front of the second bedroom. Maybe I could park a fourth car, if the cable is long enough, in front of our bedroom window, but I have not suggested that to Barbara, who's sole connection with the  bigger world is through that window.

Visions of building a metal roof over the side drive, and fitting a "dodgem car" mast on the roof of our new Hyundai Kona. Delivery is "imminent" ... almost worth waiting for the clock to tick over into 2024. The petrol gauge on the IX20 is now down to about half full, or is it half empty? Whatever, I'm "sweating on" not having to top up the fuel tank, half a gallon at a time.

602

OT. There is a "hand wash" place on my way into MK. There is always a VERY long queue for this service. There must be a better place to spend a sunny afternoon?

[w3526602]

Hi,

Well, we paid the deposit a few days ago, and had the charger installed (approaching £1,000) .... and am still weighting for the car to be delivered. I pass near the dealer when I take our daughter home after lunch, so I'll drop in (Pity I can not rent "heavies" by the hour.

As time has passed, I might as well wait till the new year, then get a 2024 on the V5.

I wonder if the dealer gets a bonus for "last minute" sales?

602

I think insurance expires at about the end of the year, so I'll have to do some rushing around on the phone.

[Theshed]

Last minute is not the best time to get an insurance quote. Many dealers offer 30 day insurance with new cars, maybe this is a better way to give you more time to renew ?