Electric cars

[Mike N]

I don’t know very much about cars even though I’ve been driving for 35 years. A guy I know recently got a Tesler and he took me out for a drive. Jesus wept, it’s rapid. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced similar exceleration in a car in my life, and in silence. The nearest thing I’ve got to that is a rollercoaster!

 

[metalblue]

EV's are not the answer to climate change. They may go a long way towards solving localised air quality issues, which is a good thing but in terms of climate change they are not the answer.

Addressing the vehicles themselves:

Production methods and costs - pretty much on par with conventional vehicles in terms of raw materials and energy input. The biggest downsides to to EV's is the environmental impacts of the batteries themselves in terms of the pollution caused by mining the finite supply of rare earth metals and the end of life recycling processes.

Charging infrastructure - Nowhere near the capacity required. Not just charging stations, but power generation and the associated transmission infrastructure. Unless the energy used to charge them is directly derived from environmentally friendlier sources they are still indirectly responsible for CO2 emissions.

When you consider that a small number of super tankers produce the equivalent CO2 emissions and pollution as ALL THE CARS on the planet why are we wasting our time fighting CO2 production with EV's when time/money would be better spent improving the efficiency of conventionally fuelled vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell technology?

I do agree that fuel cell technology seems a lot better but we lack the infrastructure to fill the cars up currently (takes about 5minutes to get a 400mile range) - we currently have about a dozen hydrogen stations for cars mostly around that there London. I do think hydrogen will be the big game changer, there is already the Future Grid project underway looking at how we can scale up capture (especially in green ways like using wind) and distribution as it’s seen as a long term alternative to natural gas. The theory is it can use the existing pipe network and we will have “gas” cookers and boilers like we do today but the only by product is water (which I believe is so pure it’s drinkable).

But for the next decade or so EVs are probably the best option but to me they probably are just a bridge until hydrogen. They are also talking about fuelling planes with it.

 

[Trevor Morley's Tache]

I do agree that fuel cell technology seems a lot better but we lack the infrastructure to fill the cars up currently (takes about 5minutes to get a 400mile range) - we currently have about a dozen hydrogen stations for cars mostly around that there London. I do think hydrogen will be the big game changer, there is already the Future Grid project underway looking at how we can scale up capture (especially in green ways like using wind) and distribution as it’s seen as a long term alternative to natural gas. The theory is it can use the existing pipe network and we will have “gas” cookers and boilers like we do today but the only by product is water (which I believe is so pure it’s drinkable).

But for the next decade or so EVs are probably the best option but to me they probably are just a bridge until hydrogen. They are also talking about fuelling planes with it.

The finite supply of raw materials for the batteries is the real limiting factor with the current EV technology. Hopefully we can scale up hydrogen infrastructure before that starts to bite.

I wouldn't want to be drinking too much of that pure water though... ;-)

 

[I'm With Stupid]

Does everyone here who owns an electric vehicle also have a driveway at their house? It still seems to me that they're incompatible with on-street parking.

 

[crublue1]

I do agree that fuel cell technology seems a lot better but we lack the infrastructure to fill the cars up currently (takes about 5minutes to get a 400mile range) - we currently have about a dozen hydrogen stations for cars mostly around that there London. I do think hydrogen will be the big game changer, there is already the Future Grid project underway looking at how we can scale up capture (especially in green ways like using wind) and distribution as it’s seen as a long term alternative to natural gas. The theory is it can use the existing pipe network and we will have “gas” cookers and boilers like we do today but the only by product is water (which I believe is so pure it’s drinkable).

But for the next decade or so EVs are probably the best option but to me they probably are just a bridge until hydrogen. They are also talking about fuelling planes with it.

Also, heavy plant and farm machinery can't run on electricity, they're too power hungry. That's why jcb are investing in hydrogen.

 

[kinkyblue]

Does everyone here who owns an electric vehicle also have a driveway at their house? It still seems to me that they're incompatible with on-street parking.

I have and also have one at work, a lot of work places will install a charger if you ask.

 

[trueblue gio]

Does everyone here who owns an electric vehicle also have a driveway at their house? It still seems to me that they're incompatible with on-street parking.

I don't have a drive, I just use the public chargers. It can be done.

 

[Fred_Quimby]

Does everyone here who owns an electric vehicle also have a driveway at their house? It still seems to me that they're incompatible with on-street parking.

Funny because I don't know anyone with or without a drive who fills up their car with petrol or diesel at home. There are getting to be plenty of car parks with chargers and this will only grow. Nottingham Park n Ride has rows of them. Go shopping or to work and fill your car at the same time and a lot cheaper than filling up your ICE at £1.50 a litre.

 

[I'm With Stupid]

I don't have a drive, I just use the public chargers. It can be done.

But do you always have to then plan charging around a shopping trip or something?

 

[I'm With Stupid]

Funny because I don't know anyone with or without a drive who fills up their car with petrol or diesel at home. There are getting to be plenty of car parks with chargers and this will only grow. Nottingham Park n Ride has rows of them. Go shopping or to work and fill your car at the same time and a lot cheaper than filling up your ICE at £1.50 a litre.

Well no, but obviously there's a difference between 2 minutes to fill up with petrol (or hydrogen) and 30 minutes to charge your car. I'm not being a smart arse, I'm just genuinely interested in how people do it.