Electric Cars - the shape of things to come?
Discussion
There seem to be quite a few electric cars around the North East, In fact I was surprised by the turn of speed mustered by a nissan leaf away from traffic lights last week.
Tonight as I sat in a queue over the tyne bridge, I noticed that there was flashing lights ahead on the main dual carriageway through the city. A breakdown, bad luck I thought, but getting closer it turned out to be a nissan leaf, presumably in need of a recharge - nice one buddy, did you forget to plug it in while at the office
Tonight as I sat in a queue over the tyne bridge, I noticed that there was flashing lights ahead on the main dual carriageway through the city. A breakdown, bad luck I thought, but getting closer it turned out to be a nissan leaf, presumably in need of a recharge - nice one buddy, did you forget to plug it in while at the office
The NE is a good place for EV's becuase it's inhabitants are so bars***d hard they can manage to drive around without the heater on in winter (in just a short skirt and T shirt (and that's just the guys.... ;-) this therefore massively extends the practical daily range of the vehicle.........!
Only kidding!
(i don't understand why people have such hate for cars like the LEAF? a) as far as i can tell you aren't forced to have one and b) it's not like they are chopping up Ferrari's to make them. (lets face it not like a Nissian Note is really that exciting either is it?)
Only kidding!
(i don't understand why people have such hate for cars like the LEAF? a) as far as i can tell you aren't forced to have one and b) it's not like they are chopping up Ferrari's to make them. (lets face it not like a Nissian Note is really that exciting either is it?)
Max_Torque said:
The NE is a good place for EV's becuase it's inhabitants are so bars***d hard they can manage to drive around without the heater on in winter (in just a short skirt and T shirt (and that's just the guys.... ;-) this therefore massively extends the practical daily range of the vehicle.........!
Only kidding!
(i don't understand why people have such hate for cars like the LEAF? a) as far as i can tell you aren't forced to have one and b) it's not like they are chopping up Ferrari's to make them. (lets face it not like a Nissian Note is really that exciting either is it?)
What if you own a petrol station? Thats quite a good reason not to like them! Only kidding!
(i don't understand why people have such hate for cars like the LEAF? a) as far as i can tell you aren't forced to have one and b) it's not like they are chopping up Ferrari's to make them. (lets face it not like a Nissian Note is really that exciting either is it?)
I can see the point of them, but until the batteries charge quicker they are just not worth it, i wouldnt be able to get to work and back on one charge. its all well and good charging it up at a point or office, but what happens when some little scrote comes along and uplugs it or steals your charger. The biggest stumbling point, the electric from the socket, still comes from a power station.
Hydrogen FTW, honda can do it, its the best way if we must go renewable.
Hydrogen FTW, honda can do it, its the best way if we must go renewable.
FreeLitres said:
There are lots of Electric cars on trial around the North East through SwitchEV and other schemes.
I'm trialling a 100% Electric Peugeot iOn and the £60+ of Petrol that I was pouring into my Jag every week can now be poured into my TVR! Details in the thread link in my profile.
I was looking at your thread the other day. It will be interesting to see how you get on, I surmised that the driver of the fallen leaf had probably run out of juice sooner than expected due to having lights, wipers and heaters on - I guess these will drain the cells.I'm trialling a 100% Electric Peugeot iOn and the £60+ of Petrol that I was pouring into my Jag every week can now be poured into my TVR! Details in the thread link in my profile.
I think we could happily swap one of our 4x4's for an electric car now we live in town, however I would be mightily hacked off if it stranded me on the way home from work just because I needed to use lights wipers and heater.
Similarly, if we end up having congested roads in the evening rush hour because all the electric cars have conked out, is not a great advance either.
nelly1 said:
This looks like an interesting solution. It is more efficient to have a generator running at its optimum power and economy and then using the power it generates to power the electric motors? sounds like it should, but does the maths stack up?sawman said:
This looks like an interesting solution. It is more efficient to have a generator running at its optimum power and economy and then using the power it generates to power the electric motors? sounds like it should, but does the maths stack up?
If you have a hybrid drivetrain, it's by far the best way to go - you strip out quite a bit of weight by not having a gearbox (just a ruddy great alternator) and the engine can be very carefully tuned to be as efficient as possible at the one speed it runs at. A bit too complicated for a car if it doesn't have a big battery in it though.Electric transmission (which is what it is) isn't new; the Intercity 125 has it as a notable example but I'm not sure what the first diesel-electric one was.
sawman said:
This looks like an interesting solution. It is more efficient to have a generator running at its optimum power and economy and then using the power it generates to power the electric motors? sounds like it should, but does the maths stack up?
Diesel Electric is completely usual in trains and ships, entirely because of efficiency. That said, trains and ships typically have set speeds they run at for which they turn diesels on/off in sequence.sawman said:
nelly1 said:
This looks like an interesting solution. It is more efficient to have a generator running at its optimum power and economy and then using the power it generates to power the electric motors? sounds like it should, but does the maths stack up?It operates purely electrically until the HV battery reaches the minimum allowed state of charge (actually at about 43% SOC) then switches to IC mode, but crucially, in this IC mode the engine only acts to maintain SOC, it does NOT attempt to recharge the HV battery (because that is a really inefficient thing to do) Under certain conditions it actually drives the wheels directly (mechanically) with the IC engine to try to avoid some of the round trip losses associated with series hybrids
It has an typical electric only mode range of approx 40miles (and obviously produces no tail pipe emissions during this time) but when the battery is "flat" then it is actually a pretty poor performer (~120g/km CO2 over the EUDC, a bit worse than say a 320d !)
It like every hybrid it is a massive compromise. It is efficient in electric only mode, but the range extender bit is really only there to er, extend the useful operating range of the vehicle. If you regularly drive long distances and higer speeds it is still much much better to drive a modern diesel vehicle. However, if you commute less than 40miles per day, and do so in slow / stop start traffic then the VOLT is a sensible but very pricey option (you certainly won't "save money" buy buying one.....)
Major Fallout said:
Max_Torque said:
(i don't understand why people have such hate for cars like the LEAF? a) as far as i can tell you aren't forced to have one and b) it's not like they are chopping up Ferrari's to make them. (lets face it not like a Nissian Note is really that exciting either is it?)
What if you own a petrol station? Thats quite a good reason not to like them! Major Fallout said:
Max_Torque said:
The NE is a good place for EV's becuase it's inhabitants are so bars***d hard they can manage to drive around without the heater on in winter (in just a short skirt and T shirt (and that's just the guys.... ;-) this therefore massively extends the practical daily range of the vehicle.........!
Only kidding!
(i don't understand why people have such hate for cars like the LEAF? a) as far as i can tell you aren't forced to have one and b) it's not like they are chopping up Ferrari's to make them. (lets face it not like a Nissian Note is really that exciting either is it?)
What if you own a petrol station? Thats quite a good reason not to like them! Only kidding!
(i don't understand why people have such hate for cars like the LEAF? a) as far as i can tell you aren't forced to have one and b) it's not like they are chopping up Ferrari's to make them. (lets face it not like a Nissian Note is really that exciting either is it?)
ballscript said:
sawman said:
This looks like an interesting solution. It is more efficient to have a generator running at its optimum power and economy and then using the power it generates to power the electric motors? sounds like it should, but does the maths stack up?
Diesel Electric is completely usual in trains and ships, entirely because of efficiency. It makes much more sense to use purely electric trains, that can return power to the grid as they "brake" for the next station (and you have a very predictable load situation, because you know every train that accelerates out of one station will shortly be braking into the next)
In marine transport, the diesel electric part enables you to have a varriable speed drive without gears, that also allows your motors/thrusters to be "remote" from your energy source. This opens up options for assimuth thrusters / power pods etc) Most conventional large marine diesels use a single fixed speed propellor and mechanical propshaft for efficiency reasons
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