EV are they worth it?

[Avocet]

...and another...

M5 delays warning after car catches fire

Emergency services are dealing with the incident near the Devon and Somerset border.

www.bbc.co.uk

Ah... but that will have been ignited by an EV that overtook it...

(Or maybe the driver had one of those "overheated laptops" under the bonnet...)

 

[Odds]

An EV has just successfully travelled from North to South Pole without catching fire at all.
(An accomplishment beyond the capability of any petrol or diesel fuelled vehicle.)
Nutjob's claims are wildly exaggerated.

 

[bernardgreen]

(An accomplishment beyond the capability of any petrol or diesel fuelled vehicle.)

Are you suggesting that every petrol or diesel fuelled vehicle would fail ( or catch fire ) before it had travelled 13,000 miles ?

 

[BlueLoo]

Poking at EV tech is daft.
It's proven, it works, its going to only get better and better.

If you want to throw stones, infrastructure is where the glass lies.

It's a mess

 

[Avocet]

An EV has just successfully travelled from North to South Pole without catching fire at all.
(An accomplishment beyond the capability of any petrol or diesel fuelled vehicle.)
Nutjob's claims are wildly exaggerated.

Am I right in thinking that no petrol or diesel was involved at any point? (i.e. only charged using wind / solar / (or proprietary EV chargers in places that had them)? Were there any support vehicles, or was it just them on their own?

 

[Odds]

Are you suggesting that every petrol or diesel fuelled vehicle would fail ( or catch fire ) before it had travelled 13,000 miles ?

Not at all, old boy.
An Electric Vehicle is the only one to have made the journey, is all i'm saying.

Am I right in thinking that no petrol or diesel was involved at any point? (i.e. only charged using wind / solar / (or proprietary EV chargers in places that had them)? Were there any support vehicles, or was it just them on their own?

There were two other support vehicles, i think, and a team of elves to keep them going but that'd be procedure for whichever type of vehicle making the journey. Solar power powered up the batteries and places to recharge were found along the way - some more easily than others but even high in the Andes they could find a garage with a charging point.

 

[Avocet]

Not at all, old boy.
An Electric Vehicle is the only one to have made the journey, is all i'm saying.

There were two other support vehicles, i think, and a team of elves to keep them going but that'd be procedure for whichever type of vehicle making the journey. Solar power powered up the batteries and places to recharge were found along the way - some more easily than others but even high in the Andes they could find a garage with a charging point.

Thanks. I agree, an excellent achievement, but unless the support vehicles were also electric, not yet the 100% convincing win that I'd been hoping for, but certainly a big win!

(I wonder if it'll be up for sale now, with only 17,000 miles and one careful owner)?

 

[Odds]

Thanks. I agree, an excellent achievement, but unless the support vehicles were also electric, not yet the 100% convincing win that I'd been hoping for, but certainly a big win!

(I wonder if it'll be up for sale now, with only 17,000 miles and one careful owner)?

Depending on the weather, the duo would use either a 5kW wind turbine or a prototype solar hybrid charging solution to juice up their Ariya. Failing that, there were moments when they had to fall back to their petrol generator — a mandatory equipment for traversing the Arctic regions. Likewise with their diesel support vehicles, as no electric version of those exist. Chris explained to Expedition Portal that the purpose of "Pole To Pole EV" is to prove that electric vehicles make a viable replacement for existing diesel-powered expedition vehicles in the polar regions.

engadget.com

The EV got there first...then the diesel chugged in last.

 

[Odds]

An EV from Chinese manufacturer Nio will soon go on sale with a "semi-solid state" 150kWh battery (140kWh usable) that's the largest in any passenger car, Car News China reported. To show much range that will deliver, Nio CEO William Li drove a prototype version of the ET7 1,044km (650 miles) in 14 hours, a distance surpassing many gas-powered vehicles.

Manufactured by WeLion New Energy Technology, the battery has a single-cell energy density of 360 Wh/kg or 260 Wh/kg for the entire pack (Tesla's latest cells are under 300 Wh/kg). Semi-solid state batteries use gel, clay or resin electrolytes, offering greater energy density and fire-resistance than current batteries. However, they're still far from the promised land of full solid-state batteries, which could feasibly double energy density.

Nio is a luxury EV manufacturer in China that offers vehicles without a battery, letting you sign up to a battery-as-a-service (BAAS) monthly subscription. That service also allows you to swap out your battery at any time for a larger one.

I read somewhere that half of new car sales in China are electric...

 

[Avocet]

Depending on the weather, the duo would use either a 5kW wind turbine or a prototype solar hybrid charging solution to juice up their Ariya. Failing that, there were moments when they had to fall back to their petrol generator — a mandatory equipment for traversing the Arctic regions. Likewise with their diesel support vehicles, as no electric version of those exist. Chris explained to Expedition Portal that the purpose of "Pole To Pole EV" is to prove that electric vehicles make a viable replacement for existing diesel-powered expedition vehicles in the polar regions.

engadget.com

The EV got there first...then the diesel chugged in last.

Fair enough. It's a great achievement, but not quite all I'd hoped for. Do you know what sort of diesel support vehicles they were? (Lorries or pickups etc).

 

[Avocet]

An EV from Chinese manufacturer Nio will soon go on sale with a "semi-solid state" 150kWh battery (140kWh usable) that's the largest in any passenger car, Car News China reported. To show much range that will deliver, Nio CEO William Li drove a prototype version of the ET7 1,044km (650 miles) in 14 hours, a distance surpassing many gas-powered vehicles.

Manufactured by WeLion New Energy Technology, the battery has a single-cell energy density of 360 Wh/kg or 260 Wh/kg for the entire pack (Tesla's latest cells are under 300 Wh/kg). Semi-solid state batteries use gel, clay or resin electrolytes, offering greater energy density and fire-resistance than current batteries. However, they're still far from the promised land of full solid-state batteries, which could feasibly double energy density.

Nio is a luxury EV manufacturer in China that offers vehicles without a battery, letting you sign up to a battery-as-a-service (BAAS) monthly subscription. That service also allows you to swap out your battery at any time for a larger one.

I read somewhere that half of new car sales in China are electric...

I quite like the Nio. I thought their battery swap technology was a brave move too, but think it's going to fall by the wayside. For the costs involved, and as EV battery charging times come down and ranges between charges go up, I don't think it will be worth the extra time saving.

What's starting to become ever more apparent to me, is that I don't need any more range than my bladder has, and I don't need it to charge any faster than the time it takes me to park up, shuffle into the service station for a wee, buy a can and / or some sweeties, and shuffle back. 10 minutes on a 150+ kW charger, gets me a useful amount of additional range. A lunch stop will be longer - say half an hour, which is plenty for as big a charge as I'd ever want "en-route".

 

[Odds]

Fair enough. It's a great achievement, but not quite all I'd hoped for. Do you know what sort of diesel support vehicles they were? (Lorries or pickups etc).

Arctic Trucks

 

[Brigadier]

I am sure e-bike fires are rare, never heard of even one, but if the fear of them means they are banned from trains.

Might also be a bit of the scale of the consequences, should it happen.

Noxious fumes, in a closed carriage (IIRC, the trains I've been using for the last few years do not have opening windows).
(Practically, for the layperson), inextinguishable.
No means of safe escape, not from a moving train, and even when stopped, you can't just barrel off.

So, unlikely, but very nasty if it does occur.

?

 

[Brigadier]

Poking at EV tech is daft.
It's proven, it works, its going to only get better and better.

If you want to throw stones, infrastructure is where the glass lies.

It's a mess

My mate is on his second EV.

Absolutely loved his first one - iPace - and same with his current one (XC40). But.......

- he gets them on very cheap salary sacrifice leases


He said he'd never buy one new (absolutely out of his pocket's range), even more so than he'd never be able to buy a half-decent new ICE car.
And,
he'd absolutely not buy a second-hand EV (something he could afford), as he says the car is worthless once the battery pack is out of warranty, if it fails. Too big a risk he says, for him to buy what might be a dud shortly afterwards.


Don't shoot the messenger; I'm only retelling what he says.

 

[DiyNutJob]

I am sure e-bike fires are rare, never heard of even one, but if the fear of them means they are banned from trains.

It's the statistics that resulted in their ban and not fear. Lithium and lithium oxides ignite from mundane environmental factors such as water (not distilled water because it is not electrically conductive) and heat. Scrapes and bumps result in kinetic heat. Water comes from condensation. Both are inevitable part of life. The ban on train is a precursor of a ban in the home for everything lithium.