The joys of electric car ownership!
- Thread starter flying haggis
- Start date
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Not sure as they have recently announced this Toyota claims battery breakthrough in potential boost for electric cars
The gap between battery technology and common installation is usually years.
As for electric ambulances, the South Coast Ambulance Service started trialing just three of them in April. So all of the rest are petrol or diesel in my area.
Though I bow to the knowledge of Ozi, all of the carfires I have seen have been faults in th cars. ie not a crash. I have never seen a crash where the car caught fire, but of course there have been some. The issue here is the virtual impossibility of putting out a fire in an electric vehicle. Most fires in road vehicles (and many house fires) stem from faults in the electrical systems, not accidents.
As for electric ambulances, the South Coast Ambulance Service started trialing just three of them in April. So all of the rest are petrol or diesel in my area.
Though I bow to the knowledge of Ozi, all of the carfires I have seen have been faults in th cars. ie not a crash. I have never seen a crash where the car caught fire, but of course there have been some. The issue here is the virtual impossibility of putting out a fire in an electric vehicle. Most fires in road vehicles (and many house fires) stem from faults in the electrical systems, not accidents.
Terrytpot
Established Member
Think you’ll also find that most of those fires that started due to a fault and not an accident still end up consuming the entire vehicle anyway as most vehicles don’t carry any means of extinguishing a fire unless you’re lucky enough to have an hgv driver stop who’s willing to spend one of his on a strangers car..
Thanks, and you're correct fires due to crash are very rare, much rarer than due to faults it's just that EVs have less, as people have said any vehicle fire is usually a write off what ever the power source. The biggest cause by far is arson.
The claim by Toyota regarding solid state is a little overblown just yet, charging in minutes sounds great but the power supply you would need is immense. The big advantages are due to the gain in energy density which you can take as either smaller batteries with less weight to lug around or increased range, probably a bit of both plus improved safety with reduced fire risk particularly the delayed ignition that makes headlines. What I hope to see are small light weight cars for commuters like myself, there are a lot of us doing 20 miles or less each way, I currently drive a car weighing 1600 kg to move 90 kg of me to and from work, it doesn't make a lot of sense. I want something with a top speed of 80mph, a range of 100 miles that weighs less than 500 kg and either (preferably both) charges from a normal 3 pin plug or has batteries you can lift out and swap allowing the depleted set to charge in a smart charger that maximizes their life and charges when demand is lowest. It also solves the problem for a lot of people, not everybody, of having somewhere to put a charger.
I have a lot of hopes that Hydrogen will also be a player, not made from coal but as a way of storing excess renewable energy. True the return on collected energy to useful work is about 3% but bad as that sounds it's about the same as the return from oil.
Jameshow
Established Member
John Brown
Freeloading Social media influenza
My guess would be lead acid in the C5, but could be wrong.
Cordless drills worked fine with Nicads or NiMH, except for the self discharge problem, but even that probably wasn't a big deal for a tradesman using them every day.
Terry - Somerset
Established Member
I recall the C5 used a lead acid battery and was powered by a washing machine motor.
Saw one recently at a car show - absolutely tiny and a testament to British eccentricity. From a seated position even the smallest of ICE city cars would seem massive.
There is a good case for a small EV as Ozi suggests - a range of 100 miles would cover most commutes, shopping, social trips - particularly as a second car.
Saw one recently at a car show - absolutely tiny and a testament to British eccentricity. From a seated position even the smallest of ICE city cars would seem massive.
There is a good case for a small EV as Ozi suggests - a range of 100 miles would cover most commutes, shopping, social trips - particularly as a second car.
In an attempt to curry favour ?
We’ve got one of those - VW e-UP! (formerly only available in Yorkshire). Max range ~150 miles, working range ~100-130 miles, charge overnight from a standard mains socket. It’s absolutely brilliant.
Agent_zed
Established Member
Not in the UK. Very few people want to don full wet weather gear half the year and risk being completely exposed in an accident. This is where something in between comes in. Whilst not perfect yet things like the Twizy and Ami are trying to open that market. I think they are still a little slow for most people (especially the Ami at 30mph) but something along those lines. coupled with solar panels to assist in charging.
Agent_zed
Established Member
The other thing that would make sense is to have conversion kits available. Most cars now have pretty solid bodies unlike the rust buckets of old. If the original manufacturers did them it would inspire confidence. makes much more sense environmentally than scrapping cars when 90% of them is still perfectly useable if you swap out an old worn out engine.
We went VW Golf.
It went wrong yesterday, the air conditioning stopped working.
Then I realised of course, the car is just an electric appliance, so I switched it off and back on again. Result!
treeturner123
Established Member
Suffolk Brian
Established Member
Sounds like it was made by Microsoft!
Superduner
Established Member
A car with ctrl, alt, del buttons? There's a thought.
Brilliant idea especially if it could be aimed at other cars. Could replace the horn.
