Electric vehicles

Re towing and 4wd electric cars.

The new Mercedes EQC 4wd SUV is apparently similar in size to the current GLC SUV. The brochure spec says it has an 80kWh battery, range of 241miles and 0-60 time of 5.1 secs. A kerb weight of 2495kg, towing capacity of 1800kg (braked). The problem is the list price is £65,700 . No road tax though. In comparison, the cheapest 2l diesel GLC has a list price of £40600.

It doesn’t mention what the range would be when towing.

Stuart

Edited By Stuart Smith 5 on 23/11/2020 23:26:44

I think Martin’s comment about batteries in the caravan was tongue in cheek but maybe it will be possible to hire an auxiliary battery to improve range when towing. Maybe caravans will have a space to install a temporary battery, due to extended periods of out of service I would think a permanent battery would be unsuitable. Although cars are tending to be built around the battery I would think trucks would lend themselves more easily to a quick swap battery pack and a stationary truck does not earn money so could be a winner. We are probably far from the solutions that in the end will prevail. Calling an autonomous car to come and collect you and drop you off may well happen but looking how some people keep their cars I would rather ride in the back of a dustcart, maybe a trip to a valet station between customers will be essential.

Mike

Hot on the heels of british classics like the Bond Bug and the Sinclair C5 comes the Citroen Ami - for the urban proletariat. Licensed as a quadricylce can be used from 16yrs. With its massive 5,5KWH battery it;s good for nearly 30mph and a range around 45 miles. And only 3 hrs to recharge from a domestic 13A source.
All this for £3K down and £18 a month. To make it perfect they even put a suicide door on one side - magic.

I suppose it's one-up on the moped I had at 16 but that was environemntally friendly - break wind in the tank, wait for it to condense and good for another 5 miles...

pgk

Don’t you think that hirers would very quickly slap on a huge deposit, were a vehicle returned in an unsuitable condition (for the next customer) and thus need to be sanitised?

In respect of electrical infrastructure, I.e. the cables under our streets and their inability to cope if everyone wants to charge their vehicles at the same time, by the time this starts to happen in 9 years time the government hope that their smart meter installation project should have completed so functions on the smart meter are the ability to increase tariffs when there is high demand and when demand in a particular area looks as though it will exceed the capabilities of the distribution infrastructure then the supply companies have the facility with every smart meter of selective disconnection in order to protect supply, so customers may find their supply disrupted at regular intervals, food for thought?
Dave W

I've always wanted to drive around in a toaster, in the meantime, here's some info on hydrogen power projects

IMechE

Totally screws the "Split charge" facility unless you can charge both car and caravan at same time but only if caravan had a Lithium monstrosity fitted.

Pity KR200 had such a poor engine, retrofit was a Honda 250.

Regards Ian.

In large part the initiative is more political than practical.Who advises and have they not understood that green at point of consumption differs from green at the point of production? Expect not as the same system pushed us towards diesel that the man in the street knew then to be unpleasant, and now knows to have its own dangers.

Having but one government minister ( in 33 I am told ) with a science degree, perhaps "diversity" in a grown up understanding of its broader meaning should be addressed.

An earlier poster was spot on that the future will be a mixed energy economy. My city uses hydrogen fuelled buses, to a fanfare almost as loud as some of our self congratulatory posters here. The cost is 4-5 times that of diesel, and they stop 4-5 times more frequently because of interlocks and sensor warnings ( again my source tells me). They certainly pollute not the town, but require a large electrical sub station to feed the hydrogen production.

If the political green (sorry) light is to stimulate debate and encourage energy innovation I am all for it. If it is taken as confirmation by blinkered green enthusiasts that battery is the "one true way", then we are heading up a cut de sac with no charging point at its terminus.

Gentlemen, what is needed is an order of magnitude increase in voltage at the socket. Fast charging of electric vehicles will be a breeze at much reduced current. Not to mention the BOOM in appliance sales.

If you are interested to know how your electricity is being generated right now:

gridwatch.co.uk

and as I post this, 1Gw is from coal.

Regards all round

H.

Has anyone mentioned yet that Amazon have ordered 100,000 electric vans and UPS have ordered 10,000 to be built and operated in the UK?

There is new battery tech on the way.

**LINK**

I’m pretty disappointed to hear that you can tow a caravan with an EV, I was hoping it would put and end to the inconvenience millions have to suffer getting stuck behind one.

Edit: Just seen this.

**LINK**

A lot going on in theoretical battery tech and development. According to Link the Lithium-Air battery has potential to almost equal petrol energy/weight and presumably EV would be more efficient in how it uses that energy.

I still like the idea of hydrogen, particularly for heavy transport but it does depend on enough spare (cheap) leccy generation and finding some magic catalyst to make electolysis efficient enough - and then a distrution system. Or make your own at home? I wonder if this link is real?

pgk

As i said earlier a car that can run on water. B.P & i guess all the other energy suppliers have this up there sleeve to market when the time is right for them. It's all about the money money.

Steve.

It was back in the '60s when Grandpa Munster invented the pill you add to a tank of water to run a conventional ICE hearse. It just never made it to market.

Link

pgk

sounds like a bit of pie in the sky. Many metals react with water to produce hydrogen and the metal oxide (or hydroxide), but you would then have to recover the metal from the oxide, which will take at least as much energy as you could get from the hydrogen. If you start with metal and water and finish up with metal and water you aren't going to liberate any energy

Edited By duncan webster on 24/11/2020 20:01:50

There's obviously hype in the writing and promotion. If the system works then self-evidently you aren't going to be getting energy from nothing nor does it pretend to be some ficticious cold fusion. If the system can effectively produce H2 locally in usable quantities whenever needed then the energy required for reprocessing can be used when available from alternate renewables. Practicality depends on those energy values input/output.

However that link was 4years old and further searches show their facebook page was last updated 3years ago and their domain name is up for sale. I think we can assume they folded and it was a possible scam unless you like Steviegtr's conspiracy theories and they were buried by Big Energy

pgk

The real pain to everyday life will be when 'navvies' get to work on the streets/roads/ houses/offices to provide the infrastructure to allow this 'nightmare' to become reality.

And it ALL has to be in place before 2030.

Gentlemen! stop worrying, it just won't happen. Anything the government puts its hands on turns to disaster. the only people who will benefit are those advsing the government ( who in turn get their share of course!!!)

the future is not electric but hydrogen.

make the cars for less than 1/2 the price a Petrol engined car is now and we'll buy a new EV now....

well almost all of us.........

my thinking is it costs less to make than the vehicles now (petrol), certainly as much electronic nonsence...

hopefully more reliable than now.....

it's just 4 wheels n tyres (no spare anymore, been like that for years) a few cheapo metal pressings and a whole load of plastic poo to sit on and in.....

yes the research has to be paid for but if 25% of the population bought an EV in the next year they'd still make a fortune.....

been told,

to replace my VW T4 Diesel BUS/Kombi (with no RUST) will set me back over £60,000 for the EV version....

the Diesel version, I got a quote 1 year ago for a tad over £41,000........

come on guy's get realistic.....

also, with all this electro nonsence/static etc in an EV, will they rust out quicker than they do already.....?

I enjoy this post....more please......

I reckon we can keep this going 'til 2030..........at least.