Electric Cars II - Not Silly!

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Rwy in Sight
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Re: Electric Cars II - Not Silly!

#181 Post by Rwy in Sight » Sat Jun 18, 2022 1:44 pm

I would keep your point about EV don't need to charge like internal combustion engine cars need fuel

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Re: Electric Cars II - Not Silly!

#182 Post by CharlieOneSix » Sat Jun 18, 2022 3:47 pm

Just discovered that in April Gridserve commisioned a batch of chargers at Burton-in-Kendal Services on the M6. 10 chargers with 15 connectors. 6 chargers are CCS 350kW ones. Great, I thought, would be ideal for my planned trip south to Cornwall later this year as the EV6 is one of the few cars at the moment that can take full advantage of the 350kW ones. Then I discovered that when they built the Services only the west side was completed in the 1970s due to lack of traffic justifying an east site! There is no close access from the southbound M6. Well there are plenty of other places to charge up whilst I have a coffee and a bite to eat but at least I can use them on the way back home.
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Re: Electric Cars II - Not Silly!

#183 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Sat Jun 18, 2022 4:53 pm

CharlieOneSix wrote:
Sat Jun 18, 2022 3:47 pm
Just discovered that in April Gridserve commisioned a batch of chargers at Burton-in-Kendal Services on the M6. 10 chargers with 15 connectors. 6 chargers are CCS 350kW ones. Great, I thought, would be ideal for my planned trip south to Cornwall later this year as the EV6 is one of the few cars at the moment that can take full advantage of the 350kW ones. Then I discovered that when they built the Services only the west side was completed in the 1970s due to lack of traffic justifying an east site! There is no close access from the southbound M6. Well there are plenty of other places to charge up whilst I have a coffee and a bite to eat but at least I can use them on the way back home.
Could you make it down to Essex in your battery mobile (or a petrol mobile)? If you can, my house is yours and my English better half agrees that I should take a week off to meet with, fly with, go to the theatre with, drink with, walk with, etc. etc. or just leave a good man with, like you, to do what he wants!

Failing that, I will fly up (if you would grant me the pleasure) to have dinner with you again. Good to have you back here!

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Re: Electric Cars II - Not Silly!

#184 Post by Undried Plum » Sun Jun 19, 2022 10:44 am

Rwy in Sight wrote:
Sat Jun 18, 2022 1:01 pm
UP I know plenty of gas stations around my place say about 10 Km but only a couple of charging spot one of which is really poorly designed.

How (would) you cope with an unexpected incident that blocks traffic in a cold night leading to a rapidly decreasing power level with the closest charging spot being unavailable and the next one beyond the car's endurance? During an unforecasted snow storm for instance.

Just like anyone else who drives an oldfashioned pistonflinger, I'd be boogered.

Leccie cars aren't supernatural. They need ergs. They do use those ergs rather well, though.

I think that Veep959 can explain the techie stuff better than I can.

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Re: Electric Cars II - Not Silly!

#185 Post by Undried Plum » Sun Jun 19, 2022 10:53 am

CharlieOneSix wrote:
Sat Jun 18, 2022 3:47 pm
Just discovered that in April Gridserve commisioned a batch of chargers at Burton-in-Kendal Services on the M6. 10 chargers with 15 connectors. 6 chargers are CCS 350kW ones. Great, I thought, would be ideal for my planned trip south to Cornwall later this year as the EV6 is one of the few cars at the moment that can take full advantage of the 350kW ones. Then I discovered that when they built the Services only the west side was completed in the 1970s due to lack of traffic justifying an east site! There is no close access from the southbound M6. Well there are plenty of other places to charge up whilst I have a coffee and a bite to eat but at least I can use them on the way back home.
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Re: Electric Cars II - Not Silly!

#186 Post by G-CPTN » Sun Jun 19, 2022 10:57 am

Can there be the equivalent of a top-up-can? - ie a portable booster pack with sufficient charge to get the electrics working enough to drive a few miles?

Edited to add:- https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/tech ... an-drivers

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Re: Electric Cars II - Not Silly!

#187 Post by Undried Plum » Sun Jun 19, 2022 12:13 pm

G-CPTN wrote:
Sun Jun 19, 2022 10:57 am
Can there be the equivalent of a top-up-can? - ie a portable booster pack with sufficient charge to get the electrics working enough to drive a few miles?

The RAC no longer carries bales of hay for such an exigency. Dunno why not. Mebbe the AA still does. You'd have to ask them.

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Re: Electric Cars II - Not Silly!

#188 Post by PHXPhlyer » Sun Jun 19, 2022 3:17 pm

While pondering the purchase of an electric truck I also pondered the possibility of taking my 2000 Watt gas generator and maybe 5 gallons of gas to get farther off the grid.
Would the 2000 watts with 120V output be worth much extra mileage? :-?

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Re: Electric Cars II - Not Silly!

#189 Post by VP959 » Sun Jun 19, 2022 4:19 pm

2 kW of charge power gives a range increase of somewhere around 5 to 8 miles in an hour, so might be enough for a get out of jail type charge.

Been a few decades since I've needed to carry a can of fuel in case the car ran out, though, last time was back in the 1970s when I was skint and was driving a Mini. Filling stations were often closed late at night, so carrying a can in the boot was pretty much essential, along with a tool kit just to encourage the car not to break down (why is it cars only seemed to breakdown when you don't have any tools?).

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Re: Electric Cars II - Not Silly!

#190 Post by llondel » Sun Jun 19, 2022 4:53 pm

PHXPhlyer wrote:
Sun Jun 19, 2022 3:17 pm
While pondering the purchase of an electric truck I also pondered the possibility of taking my 2000 Watt gas generator and maybe 5 gallons of gas to get farther off the grid.
Would the 2000 watts with 120V output be worth much extra mileage? :-?

PP
That's down to the maths. If you had a car with a 75kWh battery that would do 200 miles, then 1kWh gives you 2.67 extra miles. Using your generator for an hour would give you an extra 5 miles.

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Re: Electric Cars II - Not Silly!

#191 Post by ricardian » Mon Jun 20, 2022 2:56 pm

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Re: Electric Cars II - Not Silly!

#192 Post by OFSO » Mon Jun 20, 2022 7:02 pm

I've just been watching a YouTube clip on Tesla battery failures in older models. One cell failing - one cell from over 7000 - drastically reduces the capacity of the battery, since the (series) cells fail open-circuit. Typically range falls to a few miles. Tesla US charge $20,000 to install a new battery pack. Plus shipping the car to Tesla.
Independent garages can remove the pack,, find the dead cell, replace it, reinstall the pack. On average, costs US $1000 which is basically labour cost.

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Re: Electric Cars II - Not Silly!

#193 Post by Dushan » Mon Jun 20, 2022 7:55 pm

Good thing they all drive "zero emission" cars.

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Re: Electric Cars II - Not Silly!

#194 Post by VP959 » Mon Jun 20, 2022 8:32 pm

OFSO wrote:
Mon Jun 20, 2022 7:02 pm
I've just been watching a YouTube clip on Tesla battery failures in older models. One cell failing - one cell from over 7000 - drastically reduces the capacity of the battery, since the (series) cells fail open-circuit. Typically range falls to a few miles. Tesla US charge $20,000 to install a new battery pack. Plus shipping the car to Tesla.
Independent garages can remove the pack,, find the dead cell, replace it, reinstall the pack. On average, costs US $1000 which is basically labour cost.
Curiously, Tesla are pretty unique in that a cell failure in a Tesla pack has only a very tiny impact on capacity. They use a unique, and rather clever, system whereby the pack in, say, a Model S, uses 7,104 separate cells, so if one cell fails it's fusible link may blow and the pack will lose 1/74th of the capacity of one of the 16 modules that make up the pack. This is a total capacity loss of 0.0716 kWh, around 0.061% of the pack capacity.

FWIW, this isn't something that happens, anyway, never heard a case of a cell failure being noticed. Anyway, the battery pack carries an 8 year warranty, so for many a pack failure isn't something they are going to have to cough up for.

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Re: Electric Cars II - Not Silly!

#195 Post by PHXPhlyer » Tue Jun 21, 2022 3:28 pm

GM delivers 150 electric vans to FedEx

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/21/busi ... index.html
https://www.gobrightdrop.com/

(CNN Business)General Motors' electric delivery van subsidiary, BrightDrop, has delivered 150 vans to FedEx, the companies announced Tuesday. This comes after five of the vans were delivered to FedEx last December and it marks BrightDrop's first sizable delivery of vans.

FedEx (FDX) and GM (GM) had previously announced deals for the package delivery company to purchase 2,500 of BrightDrop's electric vans with negotiations for another 20,000 vans pending.
Walmart (WMT) had also previously announced a deal to purchase the vans.
Electric delivery vans have become a major arena of competition for both established and start-up automakers. That's with the exception of Tesla (TSLA) which doesn't have any vans in production and hasn't announced plans for any. Tesla announced plans for electric semi trucks in November 2017, a very different sort of vehicle, but those have yet to reach the market.
Meanwhile, automakers like GM, Ford (F) and Stellantis, which makes Ram and Fiat vans, as well as the Amazon-backed start-up Rivian, have all started producing, or announced plans to produce, electric delivery vans.
Electric vans are a hot market because delivery companies face growing demands to reduce their carbon emissions and lower their fuel costs while, thanks to the continued growth of online commerce, the demand for local deliveries keeps growing. Electric vans are also ideally suited to delivery work where they generally drive relatively short routes, and then return each evening to the same home base where they can be plugged in to recharge all night.
FedEx announced that it is also adding additional vehicle charging stations to manage the expected influx of electric vans into its business. The delivery company has announced a commitment to be carbon neutral in its operations by 2040.
BrightDrop plans to offer two versions of its electric delivery van. The larger van, the EV600, can carry up 2,200 pounds of packages and can travel as far as 250 miles on a full charge. The smaller EV400, which BrightDrop says will be available next year, is designed for local deliveries in tight urban environments. it will carry less cargo and be able to drive a shorter distance.
The BriightDrop vans were developed entirely as electric vehicles. Unlike Ford's E-Transit vans, the BrightDrop vans are not available in gasoline- or diesel-powered versions. The company also offers an electrically driven delivery cart that drivers can use to carry packages to and from the van, called the Trace, formerly titled the EP1. The company also offers delivery-management software systems.
GM announced BrightDrop as a separate business subsidiary in early 2021 to cater specifically to the needs of delivery van customers.

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Re: Electric Cars II - Not Silly!

#196 Post by ricardian » Fri Jun 24, 2022 6:48 am

Totaled Tesla goes up in flames three weeks after crash
A pit and 4,500 gallons of water were needed to put it out
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Re: Electric Cars II - Not Silly!

#197 Post by Magnus » Fri Jun 24, 2022 8:45 am

Our house was built in 1927, and the leccy supply is, I believe, rated at 60A. With electric cars, and the possible move to a heat pump, 60A is inadequate, and 100A recommended. Who's going to pay for it?

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Re: Electric Cars II - Not Silly!

#198 Post by VP959 » Fri Jun 24, 2022 8:48 am

ricardian wrote:
Fri Jun 24, 2022 6:48 am
Totaled Tesla goes up in flames three weeks after crash
A pit and 4,500 gallons of water were needed to put it out
http://www.fireservice.co.uk/safety/vehicle-fires/

"Every year in the UK, over 100,000 cars which equates to nearly 300 a day go up in flames and around 100 people die as a result. "

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Re: Electric Cars II - Not Silly!

#199 Post by VP959 » Fri Jun 24, 2022 8:53 am

Magnus wrote:
Fri Jun 24, 2022 8:45 am
Our house was built in 1927, and the leccy supply is, I believe, rated at 60A. With electric cars, and the possible move to a heat pump, 60A is inadequate, and 100A recommended. Who's going to pay for it?
60A is fine, most EVs charge at 32A and most charge overnight when the house demand is low, anyway. If there is a problem the DNO will upgrade the supply free of charge - they are already doing this on request in all areas and are doing it without request as part of a rolling upgrade programme in the south west. The reality is that most homes need no work done, as EV charging is far less of a load on the system than storage heaters were, back when they were popular. It wasn't at all unusual for each of the ~5 million homes that have, or had, storage heating to draw ~50A overnight, far more than an EV charge point is ever going to draw.

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Re: Electric Cars II - Not Silly!

#200 Post by OFSO » Fri Jun 24, 2022 11:51 am

If nearly 300 cars a day are going up in flames the UK might as well cancel alternative forms of heating for turbines to drive generators of electrical power. Just push a Tesla or two into the furnace every few minutes.

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