RE: Aston Martin DB6 EV concept: Driven

RE: Aston Martin DB6 EV concept: Driven

Author
Discussion

andymac

112 posts

284 months

Monday 29th April 2019
quotequote all
Aston Martin should be sued !
I am all for electric cars but why cock up such a rare classic.

Burwood

18,709 posts

247 months

Monday 29th April 2019
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Jonny TVR said:
What a ridiculous and pointless idea
Agreed entirely. A vanity project for Prince Charles’s chums

__Sorted__

298 posts

63 months

Monday 29th April 2019
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Aston Martin Works/Paul Spires - Loads of money? Had a frontal lobotomy? Aston Martin Works and its management can help... Well perhaps not.

Burwood

18,709 posts

247 months

Monday 29th April 2019
quotequote all
andymac said:
Aston Martin should be sued !
I am all for electric cars but why cock up such a rare classic.
Being a cynic but i’d Wager, worth enough to know you can get away with a tart up for 260k.

GT3hopeful

247 posts

118 months

Monday 29th April 2019
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Misguided. Anyone with £200k can buy and store enough petrol to last their lifetime and never have to resort to turning their car into a golf cart.

RobDickinson

31,343 posts

255 months

Monday 29th April 2019
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A golf cart just spanked BMW M3 lol.

Perhaps they don't want to store or burn petrol?

GT3hopeful

247 posts

118 months

Monday 29th April 2019
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Perhaps we should rename Pistonheads to Motorheads to encompass vehicles without Pistons? Golf buggies/electric cars can be fun but doesn’t make sense to retrofit electric motors imho.

kambites

67,584 posts

222 months

Monday 29th April 2019
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GT3hopeful said:
Perhaps we should rename Pistonheads to Motorheads to encompass vehicles without Pistons? Golf buggies/electric cars can be fun but doesn’t make sense to retrofit electric motors imho.
We've allowed RX7/RX8 owners on here for a while. smile

GT3hopeful

247 posts

118 months

Monday 29th April 2019
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Combustionheads?

HardtopManual

2,433 posts

167 months

Tuesday 30th April 2019
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Spires said:
The business case is set, now I just need enough customer orders to kick it off.
How many customer orders have they got for this? I can't see how there's a market for it - are there really people who have classic Astons tucked away in their garage, willing to hand over several hundred thousand pounds to strip it of most of its character? And to what end?

I feel I should add, "Aston Martin obviously know what they're doing". But, I don't think they do.

RobDickinson

31,343 posts

255 months

Tuesday 30th April 2019
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It's really a learning experience.

I think there's a potential customer base for this conversion under 4000 (similar types).

It's not about volume for sure..

dunnoreally

968 posts

109 months

Tuesday 30th April 2019
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Yeah, let's rip the east window out of York Minster and replace it with something in UPVC while we're at it. Much more eco friendly.

Philistines.

300bhp/ton

41,030 posts

191 months

Tuesday 30th April 2019
quotequote all
kambites said:
Basically this, yes. A good modern power station is around 75% efficient at normal loading; a good modern internal combustion engine running at typical road load is around 25% efficient. Plus electric cars can regeneratively brake to recover energy which conventional internal combustion powered vehicles cannot.

Yes there's losses in the grid, charging losses, etc. but whilst there's a number of them, each one is fairly small. You can afford to lose 10% of your energy quite a few times when you have three times as much of it to start with. Plus of course for us the UK's energy mix is only about half fossil fuel these days and most of that is gas which generates far more energy per unit carbon emission than oil or coal.


Edited by kambites on Monday 29th April 20:22
Thanks smile

hairykrishna

13,179 posts

204 months

Tuesday 30th April 2019
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300bhp/ton said:
kambites said:
Basically this, yes. A good modern power station is around 75% efficient at normal loading; a good modern internal combustion engine running at typical road load is around 25% efficient. Plus electric cars can regeneratively brake to recover energy which conventional internal combustion powered vehicles cannot.

Yes there's losses in the grid, charging losses, etc. but whilst there's a number of them, each one is fairly small. You can afford to lose 10% of your energy quite a few times when you have three times as much of it to start with. Plus of course for us the UK's energy mix is only about half fossil fuel these days and most of that is gas which generates far more energy per unit carbon emission than oil or coal.


Edited by kambites on Monday 29th April 20:22
Thanks smile
I was curious so I did quick back of the envelope.

60 litres of diesel is ~50kg. That's 2155 MJ. ~700kWh. Oil powered power plant is ~45% efficient. Leaves you 315 kWh. National grid loss is of the order of 10% (between ~3 and ~12 depending on final user voltage). So you have ~280 left. Li-ion charging efficiency is about 99%. Charge your Tesla S 2.7 times and you end up with >800 miles range.

So better, much better with a more efficient power station and less pessimistic losses.


I'm a big fan of new EVs. This thing seems bonkers though. For the miles it'll do, why bother with an EV conversion? Particularly when the original smelly noisy IC engine is so much a part of it's character.

Andy JB

1,319 posts

220 months

Tuesday 30th April 2019
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[quote=Mr-B]Before I even read the article i was thinking this is too soon, and what does the bloke in charge think: "My concern is that we're too early into this,"

My concern here is especially being British is we start the ball rolling with media coverage of EV's & conversions with plenty of intensive coverage, a few protests, then the Government feel they have to prep a knee jerk response to curb the masses.

Before we know it some Politician overnight without due care or forethought will issue a law banning or costing any car pre EU6 compliant or non EV or such like & the classic/sports market will drop overnight & the british mentality will lap it up, get the publics attention to look as though they are reacting knowing we are all essentially sheep. Short-termism.

I can feel the roller coaster coming. Think diesel gate or immigration pre Brexit vote - histeria the public will latch onto & gain momentum.

TIGA84

5,210 posts

232 months

Tuesday 30th April 2019
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It may as well just have a big decal on the side saying "Aston Martin Marketing Department".

I doubt the number of people willing to convert any DB4/5/6 would even make it into double figures.

Do Aston have a Heritage classification on cars like this - similar to Ferrari Classiche? If so, surely any conversion would surely destroy any provenance?




Mogsmex

448 posts

236 months

Thursday 2nd May 2019
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NDNDNDND said:
The motor and battery are supposed to weigh the same as the original engine and drivetrain, and put out the same amount of power, but presumably with considerably reduced range and long charging times.

So, what's the point?

These cars are unlikely to be driven very far. Even as an EV conversion they'll only be used as an occasional novelty. Is it possible that removing the engine and manufacturing and installing a new battery and drive unit is actually worse for the environment than simply continuing to put a small bit of petrol in it every now and again?

It just looks pointless, mis-guided and a bit tragic to me. Leave the poor thing alone.
this with bells on beer

Hitch

6,107 posts

195 months

Thursday 2nd May 2019
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Why don't they just do a limited edition of all of their greatest hits in EV form using new chasis?

Must be cheaper, would result in a better product and would save some pretty rare and special machines (which will be of immense interest in future years because of how short the petrol age has been) from being cannibalised.

Imagine a kid in 2060 laughing about how cars used to literally run on fire using fossil fuels dug out of the ground. Madness!

FourWheelDrift

88,550 posts

285 months

Thursday 2nd May 2019
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Reffro said:
Why is there still an exhaust on this milk float?
So when the batteries suffer a short and start burning it directs most of the fire and smoke away from the car so the fire brigade can see what they are trying and failing to put out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4Qhr_LLoJ0

Mattygooner

5,301 posts

205 months

Thursday 2nd May 2019
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Why on earth would you not want your Aston to sound like this?

Buy a Tesla and keep your Aston the way it should be.

There should be a National Trust for cars, Grade 2 listed Aston means you can only add lightness, more induction noise and a cool box for the Bolly.