It probably makes little sense to those cobalt miners - incredible working conditions, mining cobalt for the manufacture of EV batteries. It was on TV earlier this evening.
Shortsighted Diesel Withdrawl
- Thread starter securespark
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It probably makes little sense to those cobalt miners - incredible working conditions, mining cobalt for the manufacture of EV batteries. It was on TV earlier this evening.
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Brigade77
I'm not sure that the quality & life expectancy of a rare earth metal miner should be considered more important than that of a Dolphin. At least, that is what they want me to think . . .
You have discovered capitalism.
Thankfully the more economical EVs don't use Cobalt anymore. They use Iron instead, cheaper, safer but lower power density so only 250 real world miles of range rather than 500.
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Deleted member 174758
Possibly hydrogen powered? They are now starting to experiment with this for construction plant which is too large to ever put onto batteries, JCB announced the world's first production hydrogen-powered 360 last yearAll replaceable by pathetic battery/electric versions - except perhaps the gennies. The battery powered gennies might be an interesting concept
Not if an alternative battery chemistry such as sodium, magnesium, tungsten or even carbon (graphene) or iron (mentioned above) becomes viable - and the chase is on
You are making a very good case for long distance travel on public transport with hired short range vehicles at either end of the journey - but then that's a whole different can of worms to get into
My 5 year old power tool batteries generally don't have much life in them either...
My point being, that by the time people who aren't well off like myself will be in a position to own one we will only be able to afford used vehicles, which will have large quantities of dead cells, which cost an absolute fortune to replace and install. Putting an awful lot of the population into transport poverty.
At present only the rich are benefiting from the financial incentives, with the joke being that most of the current crop of electric car drivers can afford the vehicles without the subsidies
Public transport outside of major towns and cities isn't reliable enough or cheap enough or convenient enough to make it a truly viable alternative.
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I've got batteries on power tools that are 10 years old.
I've got a laptop that's only a couple of years old and the battery doesn't last 5 minutes.
Such is the unpredictability of batteries.
We've got 10 years to see where the technology goes we'll just have to wait and see for now.
That was pointed out during the TV program, blaming Tesla for the misery mining for the cobolt.
Why do you say that? If you buy new now then in roughly four years you should be able to buy an EV at the same price as a petrol car. They are getting cheaper every year.
As for a fortune to replace and install, right now the market for re-batterying EVs is tiny. When new batteries no longer have to be hand crafted by Tibetan Monks the price will drop. The reason the market is tiny is that the only major EV that suffers badly with range drop is the Nissan leaf because they went cheap on the cooling system.
this is the battery replacment costs (in $$ mind, but the general gist is there) of a tesla
https://www.findmyelectric.com/blog/tesla-battery-replacement-cost-explained/
on the flip side though i've just seen vauxhall offering 8 year / 100,000 mile warranty on their battery packs
Everyone does around that sort of warranty.
The reality is that battery packs last quite a long time and a lot of miles. With the exception of a Nissan Leaf.
Plus that's a replacement, not a repair and not including the resale value of your old battery. And that every year the cost drops further because batteries are getting cheaper.
But yes, the batteries are still very expensive at the moment. They'll probably always be the most expensive bit of the car but the price is dropping at around 10% a year, very roughly.
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A lot of people using laptops at home will keep them plugged in. This kills the battery life.
Yep and likewise for my mobile. Which was why I use a Smart Plug to limit its charge to a short period during the night and ready with a nearly full charge for next morning.
I cannot do that with my laptop, it tends to be on all day and plugged in. If not plugged in, it goes flat in two to four hours. I do unplug it overnight. Would be better if Win10 self limit the charge to the 60 to 80%.
My newest car is a 2001 Peugeot 406 Estate, diesel 2.0 HDi. Honestly it is a fantastic motor. It's not particularly quick (rated at 88hp when new), it's quite dated inside, but it's so efficient on fuel and it's proven to be very reliable in the few years I've had it. That to me trumps the benefits of buying anything new, which is partly why I haven't.
As it's a pre-2004 engine, it predates the collaboration with Ford, and is quite a simple and refined engine. The owners' club has plenty of people on 300,000+ miles. Mine is also on the same clutch it's had for 13 years and has covered nearly 170,000 since new. Oil change every year and she still purrs (well, no she sounds like an old tractor, but a happy tractor!)
As it's a pre-2004 engine, it predates the collaboration with Ford, and is quite a simple and refined engine. The owners' club has plenty of people on 300,000+ miles. Mine is also on the same clutch it's had for 13 years and has covered nearly 170,000 since new. Oil change every year and she still purrs (well, no she sounds like an old tractor, but a happy tractor!)
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