Member postings for not done it yet

Andrew, let me quote you: It will also be useless for HGVs and the like, even when the breakthrough occurs!

You really do need to do some research on the topic.

Or do you think that electrically driven goods and heavy goods vehicles will never be a reality? Check out the links below. They do not appear, to me, to be 'fake news'. Maybe not yet mature developments, but they will be alternatives to dino fuels, if other technology does not overtake them.

Do look at the local light goods EVs available, too. 200km claimed range is available now, not in the future. I doubt a hybrid EV would be totally useless for your needs. Not a lot different than a conventional ICE vehicle.

There is a goods vehicle fleet of 60 EVs already operating in California.

Check out these links and you might see that your sweeping statement above was just a little bit more than off the mark!

https://nikolamotor.com/one

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mBwvQwzBxjk

There are plenty of others, if you are not convinced. If not readily available now, the WILL be in the future. Search them out. They are there.

Edit:  Sorry all the punctuation has disappeared from my keyed in text!

Edited By not done it yet on 08/07/2017 19:45:06

I doubt the theory of renting autonomous vehicles working any better than the idea of just using taxis now.

It is not so much a theory as actual practice already. One can rent electric scooters in Berlin (I think). OK, not autonomous, but simply located using a phone app. Over 200 dotted around the city, I think, and likely more to come. Your credentials are easily checked out before one can even order a vehicle.

Too many lame excuses being advanced for what may/will be available in the future. Progress is going on under your noses but few seem to be searching out the possibilities before condemning them as impossible!

Edited to correct: Only 150 scooters but another couple hundred to come.

Check out "emmy scooters" on 'goggle' or watch the appropriate "Fully Charged" u-toob video.

Edited By not done it yet on 08/07/2017 17:28:54

often have wondered if the age of the material has any effect

Not sure about BMS, but certainly large engine castings were left to "weather" (often for several months(?)), back in the earlier decades of the last century.

Most Centecs (2, 2A, 2B) had a MT2 taper. Yours looks to be INT 30?

Not sure whether that will make any difference when buying tools/toolholders, but likely a more robust option.

PM should be with you re VFD.

Here is another on epay and I don't have a personal interest in the sale....

**LINK**

And here is another of the many...

**LINK**

I don't have personal interest in that one either. Far cheaper than the above personal advert. I have no idea of value for money, but suspect thes may be better...

It's looks as though the Tesla free charging has come to an end as of Jan 2017.

Only for new purchases, I believe?

It will also be useless for HGVs and the like, even when the breakthrough occurs!

Geesh! Doesn't anyone do their research before making such sweeping statements. They are already here! Fuel cells in combination with battery storage.

There are prototypes out there being tested. Have you not heard or seen any details of 'on the move' battery charging? Some french (I think) city is already planning for changing to all electric drive trucks - whether that means swapping tractors at the city limits, or whatever, in any interim period, but it is on the cards.

Buses are increasingly changing to electric - easy for city use to reduce pollution - and as range increases or charging improves the technology will help heavy goods development.

As I see it, there is currently nowhere near enough low carbon electricity generation or transmission capability to remove dino fuels in the very near future, but it will have to come, eventually.

Look forwards, not backwards is what I say.

Let's be honest and admit that, outside cities, at the moment electric cars are nothing but a bad joke.

Not a lot of research here, I reckon. The Orkney Isles likely have the highest density of EVs in the UK. Ideal for them. Virtually no fuel cost (and dino fuels are reeeelly expensive up there!)

Yes, range can be a problem, but not insurmountable and is improving all the time. The Tesla 3 will change all that and other manufacturers will have to respond. I could charge at home on E7 leccy most of the time.

With a nissan leaf, I could easily visit my brother 70 miles away. Full charge gets me there, slow home charge during my daytime stay would enable me to get to Northampton (half way home). A 20 minute fast charge would get me home easily. Extra charging points will come and vince whatsisname (ecotricity) will soon have to charge less for a charge top up than he is presently.

My little diesel saxo is 15 years old. Used as a skip for all my tools, beekeeping kit, etc (so has not had a rear seat fitted for nearly 5 years). I will most certainly consider an EV when it expires.

swap out a set at motorway services

A non starter, methinks. How much difference between changing batteries than recharging?

Who would be swapping batteries in? Those that are getting a good deal - swap in older for newer? W

ith a decent range of over 200miles, who would not want a pee break or something, so the 1/2 hour charging time becomes not so much more than queuing at a petrol pump.

As things steadily improve the need to even think about changing the battery diminishes. What will happen is that autonomous vehicles will be rented as and when required, so they arrive fully charged, you drive them and then they toddle off for another hiring or recharge after you have finished with it.

If you only needed 80A this thread might be useful.

**LINK**

I find it quite amusing (in an odd sort of way) that a Chinese owned company is going for electric and hybrids in a big way, because as far as I can find out China still produces a lot of its energy using coal.

It is all relative. Not very amusing for the city residents who are seen scurrying around wearing face masks to reduce the inhaled pollution/smog. London's poor air quality is not a patch on what many chinese have to endure.

China most certainly does produce a lot ot electricity derived from coal burning, but they are reducing that %age. They have installed probably more wind power recently than all the rest of the world put together. Same with PV.

They are still developing because utilising all that renewable energy potential is another problem yet to be solved - the grid distribution in China is rather less developed than in the western world. But give them time and they will succeed. They have a lot of catching up to do, but are progressing. They are working hard at it - not like the trump administration. Western pollution has been reduced by moving manufacturing to China.

Just like it was in the UK by moving to natural gas - combined cycle gas turbine generation is more efficient by about 50% than coal, now, and produces less CO2 (methane burns to CO2and H2O) per unit generated..

Smart meters and smart grids will limit the use of peak electricity by pricing it so high in the early evenings that most will defer EV charging to night time when power is cheaper. The EV batterries will be feeding energy into the grid at these peak times, too (already being trialled).

But think also that summer PV outstrips the depths of winter generation by about a factor of eight. But every little helps.

I have a dozen in a row at the moment, machined, drilled and tapped, waiting to be cut into separate pieces.

A dozen because my mill only has 12 1/2" traverse and they will be milled to ~22mm long (if the cuts are all square). There will be more as both mills use the same 3/8" size.

I would have preferred a hardenable steel as the threads would be less likely to get damaged (tight studding in the threads is a bear), but these are from black iron bar and I am likely not going to case harden them (my wife complains when I use the kiln for hours on end - no, every time I use it, if she knows!).

Are 3 posts all the same a record?

Might have been. But if it was it is now FOUR all the same on this thread!

then they'll be condemned as contributers to global warming and environmental pollution

The next generation are coming. Autonomous vehicles, so eventually lots of people will just 'order a car' to arrive when they need it. Look up the latest 'fully charged' u-toob for an insight in how vehicle numbers could be slashed.

that the battery is rented? It seems the batteries are not long lived and soon deteriorate in performance, and expensive.

Some but not all. Batteries are proving to be rather longer lived than anticipated. One taxi, somewhere, is reported to has covered over 350 000 miles and the battery is still around 80% capacity.

Some early batteries were a problem in hot climes, apparently. Now, second use is being made of battery components for electricity storage systems after vehicle use. Many new cars are leased with rented batteries, so when they come on to the second hand market the buyer needs to check that the battery rental does not continue.

A friend has recently bought a second hand nissan leaf and is very satisfied with it for local trips.

Look up u-toob 'James and Kate' for loads of reviews (good and bad) on EVs. Their Tesla will cover a couple hundred miles on one charge and recharge to 80% in about half an hour.

EVs are coming. Make no mistake about that. Even check out jonny smith's Royal Enfield E8000 blog and vids - 1970s(?) EV that is now quicker than the Teslas. Standing quarter mile in about ten seconds with terminal speed of over 120mph. Fastest road legal EV, apparently - but not too much range!

Edited By not done it yet on 05/07/2017 23:13:42

A long time ago, I had a broken 6" vise (later replaced with a similar one in good condition). I bolted plates on both sides, across the crack, and then carefully welded the thick plates wherever possible,

Lasted years and was still serviceable (but not pretty) when scrapped.

Quite right, Tim.

4 wheel drive was around in the second decade of the last century, as was overhead camshafts and likely loads of other items claimed as "new" by the advertising/marketing sector who simply hype up anything they want to sell.

Electric vehicles can be zero emission and zero energy cost to the user - they just need a large PV array and likely a large storage battery (if the vehicle is in use during sunny times!). Not cheap installations, but getting cheaper....

Not all of these hybrids need a charging point. Some can be charged by the ICE on the run. Useful for ends of journeys where low emissions are required.

I decide to buy a crane on one of MM's vat free days....

No such thing! Many believe the advertising and think it is VAT free. It is simply a 20% discount on the catalogue price.

HM 'customer and exercise' mob would be down on them like a tonne of bricks if VAT was being avoided!

More likely that the catalogue prices are all set too high!

Vertical heads on epay often go well over 300 squid and have made over 600 - rather more than the rest of the machine!

2 and 2A are cheaper and would definitly benefit from a riser block. 2B versions are more popular and fewer on offer.

Weelll, I would say a good Centec. But I would - as I like mine.

Both horizontal and vertical options in one package. Mind you it will need to be a robust bench.

Riser blocks are available on occasion, power feed is an option - good but expensive - and no silly DC motor and electronic motor control boards to go wrong.