Electric Cars. Yes No or whatever!

[Mike]

Why do certain members have so many problems using the 'Quote' function, it's not exactly rocket science!

[slogen51]

Don't forget the sun - spring tides and all that jazz

According to the www the the friction caused by the movement of the sea ( and land) by the interaction of the moon's gravity is causing the earth's rotation to slow slightly ( hence a occasionally a second is added to a year to keep us in synch with the sun's seasonal position). The loss of angular momentum is causing the moon to speed up and spin away out of orbit ( in a few million years).

So we are all doomed as soon as we are born so let's enjoy ourselves in our petrol cars!

[Malcolm]

Not sure there is much point worrying about things we have no hope of controlling, but you are correct we are doomed - even if nothing else changes and we rely just on solar. Eventually the sun will burn out.

https://www.space.com/solar-system-fate-when-sun-dies

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7NlFWh7Sz8

[roger4]

Given the limitations on batteries now and in the near to medium future, I am wondering why we need to carry the power on board the EV at all? My Scalextric cars didn't have batteries!

While a Scalextric style slot system in the road wouldn't be practical (the local yobs would short-circuit the tracks or themselves too often) a hybrid of battery and linear induction motor (LIM) system might be possible. Equip all motorways and A-roads with LIM rails buried beneath the surface of each lane for long distance travel, allowing LIM cars/lorries to change lanes at will and existing cars would still be able to use the same roads. Then when you leave the motorway/A-road road, your EV switches to battery for the local journeys and around town where LIM rails are not installed. EVs without the weight of batteries would be very light and much more efficient.

And to complete the picture, build lots of nuclear power stations to provide all the electricity we will need, taking advantage of that fabulous energy density of Uranium!

Long range & high speed LIM systems already exist, for example the Guangzhou Metro system has 130km of LIM track.

Too radical?

[slogen51]

Chinese EV - Put me down for one of these!

https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/business-56178802

[Nighthawke]

AA or AAA batteries?

[Bobcode]

Call me old fashioned, but with the announcement today of the introduction of a sub-standard vehicle fuel, E10, under the guise of environmentally more friendly, the government are further pushing motorists toward electric vehicles.....a cynical move in my opinion.

[slogen51]

Thanks for raising E10 fuel as I hadn't heard of it before now

"the introduction of E10 fuel - which is a mixture of petrol and bioethanol made from materials including low grade grains, sugars and waste wood - will be sold by retailers in seven months' time as part of the Government’s efforts to reach net zero by 2050."

If it gives the same performance for the same price I don't mind.

[roger4]

As I understand it, E10 will reduce your mpg by about 1%-3% (worst for small engine cars) compared to the current normal unleaded and add about 0.2p/L. This assumes you drive one of the vast majority of cars that can run on this new fuel. There are however around 600,000 older cars that will not tolerate it at all well, and for these you will need to switch to 98 octane "super" unleaded which will remain at 5% ethanol, but it is around 14p/L more expensive. There is a government website that allows you to check if your car is compatible with E10 or not.

https://www.gov.uk/check-vehicle-e10-petrol

Hence it is a detriment to you against an expected benefit to society.

[XWP29]

Petrol heads we have a potential saviour, don’t un wind the extension cable just yet

Porsche are creating a synthetic fuel as clean as EV’s
https://uk.motor1.com/news/489566/porsc ... roduction/

[Tooks]

Petrol heads we have a potential saviour, don’t un wind the extension cable just yet

Porsche are creating a synthetic fuel as clean as EV’s
https://uk.motor1.com/news/489566/porsc ... roduction/

That link stops short of the one that it was taken from, EVO magazine, and it says in there that Porsche plan to use it for their race programme and testing only. I guess it will be expensive...

I seem to remember that Audi were making a diesel fuel from algae nearly 20 years ago, but for whatever reason it never took off.

I do think it’s interesting, this area of low CO2 synthetic fuels, I would think there’s mileage in developing these for military aviation if nowhere else, where cost isn’t as much of a barrier and the volumes required will be manageable to produce.

I mean, it’s going to be a while before we electrify something like the Typhoon...

[slogen51]

Perhaps the Algae were not green enough!

[Challenger007]

Don't forget the sun - spring tides and all that jazz

According to the www the the friction caused by the movement of the sea ( and land) by the interaction of the moon's gravity is causing the earth's rotation to slow slightly ( hence a occasionally a second is added to a year to keep us in synch with the sun's seasonal position). The loss of angular momentum is causing the moon to speed up and spin away out of orbit ( in a few million years).

So we are all doomed as soon as we are born so let's enjoy ourselves in our petrol cars!

Yes, we are doomed, but this does not mean that we need to dirtiest the planet and make the life of our children and grandchildren unbearable. Already now, our ecology and the quality of food causes allergic reactions in a huge percentage of the population. We should not live in one day without thinking at least about the near future, about our families.

[Tooks]

Perhaps the Algae were not green enough!

Ha ha!

You here all week? And how was the veal?!

[XWP29]

Petrol heads we have a potential saviour, don’t un wind the extension cable just yet

Porsche are creating a synthetic fuel as clean as EV’s
https://uk.motor1.com/news/489566/porsc ... roduction/

That link stops short of the one that it was taken from, EVO magazine, and it says in there that Porsche plan to use it for their race programme and testing only. I guess it will be expensive...

I seem to remember that Audi were making a diesel fuel from algae nearly 20 years ago, but for whatever reason it never took off.

I do think it’s interesting, this area of low CO2 synthetic fuels, I would think there’s mileage in developing these for military aviation if nowhere else, where cost isn’t as much of a barrier and the volumes required will be manageable to produce.

I mean, it’s going to be a while before we electrify something like the Typhoon...

Saw it in the news yesterday but couldn’t remember where, found it again.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/cars/ ... -year.html

[ArabJazzie]

Don't forget the sun - spring tides and all that jazz

According to the www the the friction caused by the movement of the sea ( and land) by the interaction of the moon's gravity is causing the earth's rotation to slow slightly ( hence a occasionally a second is added to a year to keep us in synch with the sun's seasonal position). The loss of angular momentum is causing the moon to speed up and spin away out of orbit ( in a few million years).

So we are all doomed as soon as we are born so let's enjoy ourselves in our petrol cars!

Yes, we are doomed, but this does not mean that we need to dirtiest the planet and make the life of our children and grandchildren unbearable. Already now, our ecology and the quality of food causes allergic reactions in a huge percentage of the population. We should not live in one day without thinking at least about the near future, about our families.

Apparently it aint all that bad as the ozone damage has been dramatically reversed in the last year. I learned this as i was commenting while looking at the picture being created by the window i was looking out of at work. Didnt seem to be much haze or distortion about these days.

[slogen51]

Don't forget the sun - spring tides and all that jazz

According to the www the the friction caused by the movement of the sea ( and land) by the interaction of the moon's gravity is causing the earth's rotation to slow slightly ( hence a occasionally a second is added to a year to keep us in synch with the sun's seasonal position). The loss of angular momentum is causing the moon to speed up and spin away out of orbit ( in a few million years).

So we are all doomed as soon as we are born so let's enjoy ourselves in our petrol cars!

Yes, we are doomed, but this does not mean that we need to dirtiest the planet and make the life of our children and grandchildren unbearable. Already now, our ecology and the quality of food causes allergic reactions in a huge percentage of the population. We should not live in one day without thinking at least about the near future, about our families.

But what about all the children and grandchildren in less developed countries who do not have a safe place to live or a decent water supply let alone democratic freedoms and rights to education. Much of world's population are already living in the Mad Max dystopian world. But let us in the West sort out battery powered cars so we can all breath more easily.

[C24]

I’m afraid that as the number of humans on the planet continues to grow exponentially, Pandemics aside, and the amount of ‘stuff’ we consume grows with it, it won’t just be the Greta’s and the David’s who will be concerned about our climate etc.

And no, I’m not offering up EVs as the solution to that either, but over the life of a vehicle they are shown to help versus what we’ve had before.

The answer, unfortunately, is for there to be fewer of us, consuming less of everything, and looking after what we’ve got rather better than we do at the moment.

It’s a long transition to the phasing out of fossil fuels for private passenger vehicles, I’m sure there will be other solutions like Hydrogen for larger vehicles etc.

For now, enjoy whatever you’ve got whilst you can.


Population (see above)

The Earth could perhaps sustain a population of 3billion people, less would be better. If every human only reproduced two or less offspring the population would stabilise. The Earth doesn’t require humans for it to exist.

“
The drawback with the “ system is that is reproduces every word in the post. Has anyone tried to put two or more “ s in one post?

Topping up during a trip? If batteries were created to an internationally accepted standard, re-fuelling stations could slide out the depleted set and lob in fully charged ones. It isn’t rocket science

‍ .
An old saying, a picture is worth a thousand words

[Tooks]

Population (see above)

The Earth could perhaps sustain a population of 3billion people, less would be better. If every human only reproduced two or less offspring the population would stabilise. The Earth doesn’t require humans for it to exist.

“
The drawback with the “ system is that is reproduces every word in the post. Has anyone tried to put two or more “ s in one post?

Topping up during a trip? If batteries were created to an internationally accepted standard, re-fuelling stations could slide out the depleted set and lob in fully charged ones. It isn’t rocket science

‍ .
An old saying, a picture is worth a thousand words

There’s nothing new in the world.

Back in 2013 Tesla setup several battery swap sites in California to trial demand for battery swapping on its then new Model S, but there wasn’t any.

https://www.torquenews.com/5474/how-can ... -batteries

There was also a company in Israel, now bankrupt, called Better Place where you could drive your car into an automated car wash type place and the battery would be swapped out.

I think EVs have got to a range now, and charging has got quick enough, that they will work for most people. There remains the challenge of cost, which should come down with volume and more charging infrastructure will help people make the leap.

There’s tremendous interest in EVs, I’ve never been asked as many questions about my cars since I’ve been driving EVs, many people like the idea.

[Tooks]

Don't forget the sun - spring tides and all that jazz

According to the www the the friction caused by the movement of the sea ( and land) by the interaction of the moon's gravity is causing the earth's rotation to slow slightly ( hence a occasionally a second is added to a year to keep us in synch with the sun's seasonal position). The loss of angular momentum is causing the moon to speed up and spin away out of orbit ( in a few million years).

So we are all doomed as soon as we are born so let's enjoy ourselves in our petrol cars!

Yes, we are doomed, but this does not mean that we need to dirtiest the planet and make the life of our children and grandchildren unbearable. Already now, our ecology and the quality of food causes allergic reactions in a huge percentage of the population. We should not live in one day without thinking at least about the near future, about our families.

But what about all the children and grandchildren in less developed countries who do not have a safe place to live or a decent water supply let alone democratic freedoms and rights to education. Much of world's population are already living in the Mad Max dystopian world. But let us in the West sort out battery powered cars so we can all breath more easily.

Well, consumption and use of any kind of vehicle by ‘we in the West’ doesn’t help them either.

You need around 5 kWh of electricity to refine one gallon of petrol, plus all the chemicals used and surprisingly cobalt, the demon mineral that’s often used to discredit battery production. That’s before you consider the release of all the carbon trapped in it released when it’s burnt.

Of course, I’m not naive, I know that we use oil for many other things we deem necessary for life so I’m not anti-oil.

The problem for those not in the West, is we’re consuming what is rightfully (and arguably) theirs. What’s the figure, if everybody consumed and lived like we do in the West, then we’d need 3.5 planets or some such?

EVs won’t solve that, and nor will carrying on as we are.

Consuming less of everything including cars will. Until then, we’re just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic really aren’t we. It’s a beautiful sunny day today as well!