Aren't they Diesel Webasto heaters?
Going electric
- Thread starter AndyRKett
- Start date
Currently reading:
Going electric
- Status
Aren't they Diesel Webasto heaters?
OP
OP
No would be a webasto heater so no need to start the engine
OP
OP
Being both lada and Russian, I expect it was a small open can of petrol laid in the foot well with a clockwork alarm clock with a flint in place of the hammer and bells.
Can only find any reference to it in the VW hybrid and E golf bumf. So similar to a leaf it uses the car standard heater to do it. I.e. a normal golf won't do it as it has no heat source.
OP
OP
https://www.webasto.com/gb/markets-products/car/retrofit-parking-heater/
This is the same webasto system that Vw fit, the Vw branded version comes with little Vw remotes, and I think the new system has an app to control it as well.
This is the same webasto system that Vw fit, the Vw branded version comes with little Vw remotes, and I think the new system has an app to control it as well.
A fuel powered heater was an option on the Diesel Croma. A timer for it was an option on top. A lot of modern diesels have some kind of coolant heater boost, either fuel powered (Landrover Discoveries) or electric (some Fiats e.g. Marea). It's because modern direct injection dies are so efficient they take too long to warm up in cold weather. The Fiat electric one was a set of elements physically identical to glow plugs (may have different ratings or materials) screwed into a pipe or block in the coolant circuit.
Robert G8RPI.
Confused as to how the same company who brought the world the new Civic direct to the nightmares of small children can do this. Very much a nod to the original econobox civic.
https://www.pistonheads.com/news/ph-japanesecars/honda-urban-ev-concept--frankfurt-2017/36744
https://www.pistonheads.com/news/ph-japanesecars/honda-urban-ev-concept--frankfurt-2017/36744
I thought it looked more like a Mk1 Golf!
The future of motoring seems to be a complex question, unfortunately with too many "simple" answers. Most of which don't seem to have been properly thought through.
The current (oops, pun) fetish for electric cars may work out OK, or it could be yet another evolutionary dead end.
For example, what makes electric cars more practical than, for example, hydrogen powered cars, using fuel generated from excess solar, wind and tidal power. Instantly solves the problem of energy storage, has a refuel time of seconds rather than hours, no range problems, no trailing wires across the pavement for people without driveways, etc., etc. A genuinely Zero emission solution, requiring considerably less infrastructure than electric, and not dependent on theoretical possible improvements in battery technology.
That's just one possible alternative. There are almost certainly many others at least as practicable, but at the moment most people seem to be hitched to the electric wagon (oops, pun again), and pretending there is no other way forward.
The current (oops, pun) fetish for electric cars may work out OK, or it could be yet another evolutionary dead end.
For example, what makes electric cars more practical than, for example, hydrogen powered cars, using fuel generated from excess solar, wind and tidal power. Instantly solves the problem of energy storage, has a refuel time of seconds rather than hours, no range problems, no trailing wires across the pavement for people without driveways, etc., etc. A genuinely Zero emission solution, requiring considerably less infrastructure than electric, and not dependent on theoretical possible improvements in battery technology.
That's just one possible alternative. There are almost certainly many others at least as practicable, but at the moment most people seem to be hitched to the electric wagon (oops, pun again), and pretending there is no other way forward.
Although vw probably did borrow some styling cues..given it predates the mk1 and was the car it had to beat in the states
OP
OP
The industry has looked at hydrogen as an alternative to petrol for years, however the main issue is related to its state as a gas, it needs to be compressed to store which uses a lot of energy, storage is. It just in a plastic or metal tank like petrol it had to be a sealed pressure vessel, then there are issues of heat and cold generated by compressing and releasing the gas, hydrogen is obviously incredibly flammable/explosive which causes other problems with storage and fire, still has to be transported by road from one place to another, and is very expensive to produce (not so bad if you have excess capacity in the grid, where electricity is produced but no one is using it, this has happened in Germany and in some Scottish islands but not the rest of the UK and certainly not the USA or china.
But if you look around there is a lot going on with hydrogen, not in gas form, but using it in fuel cells to generate electricity to power vehicles, this is what the Nikola One proposes to do as well as some announced super cars.
Absolutely. So little is being reported that most people are only hearing that cars with rechargeable batteries are the way forward.
It may turn out that someone soon develops a battery which can give a similar power to weight ratio as fossil fuel, and can be recharged at a charging station in seconds, while lasting the lifetime of the car, and not taking up more space than, for instance, a 50 litre fuel tank.
And a universal connector which works.
Then we'll all be good to go electric.
Conversely, it could be a breakthrough in hydrogen separation which defines the future of the car. In that case the technical challenges of safe gas tanks may be easier to solve than the battery/charging/infrastructure ones.
I'm not convinced that hydrogen is the best/only way forward - it was just an example, although it has interesting possibilities.
But I would hope that the number and scale of challenges involved in an all-electric future don't swamp the research into other possibilities just because the decision-makers are dazzled by bright and shiny electric car makers.
For an aging hippie like me, it would seem quite amusing to see people wire up every parking space on the planet and then give up on batteries in favour of something more practical.
OP
OP
As I say, hydrogen is now being used in fuel cell technologies this doesn't require the hydrogen to be in gas form and usually works with hydrogen heavy liquids being passed through the fuel cell, the resulting reaction creates the electricity which is then passed to electric motors. This is far more efficient and friendly than burning it in a combustion engine and the liquid can be pumped into the vehicle in the same way petrol is, however this technology at the moment is ridiculously expensive, the Nikola One I think starts at $2million where a normal truck would only be a tenth of that. The reason that people are buying(pre ordering them) in such large numbers is that Nikola are going to supply the fuel for free which in the haulage industry adds up to huge amounts of money.
The fuel for these trucks is essentially water.
As stated the technology exsists but the expense is massive and fuel cells are not a robust as an engine, any problems with it and it won't work properly, requiring a very costly replacement.
Batteries on the other hand are not quite so fragile and can take a reasonable level of abuse without significant problems, which in a domestic family car where people don't look after them, is essential
The fuel for these trucks is essentially water.
As stated the technology exsists but the expense is massive and fuel cells are not a robust as an engine, any problems with it and it won't work properly, requiring a very costly replacement.
Batteries on the other hand are not quite so fragile and can take a reasonable level of abuse without significant problems, which in a domestic family car where people don't look after them, is essential
OP
OP
Random news of the day.
James Dyson announced an electric car to be made starting from 2020.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41399497http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41399497
Will be interesting to see what comes of this, though indications are that this will not be a cheap car.
James Dyson announced an electric car to be made starting from 2020.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41399497http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41399497
Will be interesting to see what comes of this, though indications are that this will not be a cheap car.
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2014
- Messages
- 4,579
- Points
- 828
That must suck!! 
Not so sure about that. We have yet to see the effects of old lithium batteries in cars. Aviation has not got a good track record with them. Latest in UK was a electric glider catching fire. A main road in Cambridge was shut during rush hour earlier this year due to a crashed electric Golf. Whole new set of hazards. In time the equipment skills and experience to deal with them will come, but there may be teething troubles.
Robert G8RPI.
OP
OP
These are very much the arguments used buy the anti-electric brigade. Show a few specific incidents where batteries have been a problem to try and prove a general rule.
However in the interests of comparison, how often are roads closed due to car accidents where electric cars or lithium batteries are not involved?
Lithium batteries do have the problem of burning violently, much like a full tank of petrol.
There was a story I read recently about an accident in America involving a Tesla where the battery became ruptured and caught fire. There where two problems at play with this incident, 1. The strength of the armour around the battery was not enough in certain areas, so in response Tesla improved the safety cell around the battery. 2. To put the fire out the fire department deliberately punctured holes into the battery cell to try and get their hoses into the burning the material, this had the added problem of causing further damage to the battery, damaging other parts of the battery encased in different parts of the safety structure that would otherwise have been undamaged and would not have caught fire. And they pumped water into the floor of the car to try and put out a battery fire.
Tesla’s response to this was to point out that had the fire service not tried to put out the fire at the battery and merely dealt with what they had, ie a fire in a car, then they would have put the fire out much quicker and more safely without causing further risk of battery explosions or fire from unaffected cells.
I’m sure it was pointed out above, that if someone said these days, “I have this great new way to get about, you strap yourself into a box fill a tank with highly flammable liquids and this hurtles you along at 80mph alongside millions of other people doing he same thing, all strapped into highly flammable boxes” no one would look at this and say, “well that looks perfectly safe!”
The abuse I was talking about in my post relates to how people charge and deplete the battery, assuming no physical damage or specific fault in the battery, they are generally pretty robust these days, as has been proven by 100,000+ mile Nissan leafs and teslas and a multitude of hybrid cars which are now using the same technology.
Yes. And seriously, did the American fire service do that? Unreal. In Europe they are trying to / have agreed a database for the rescue services whereby they can look up the key wiring routes etc in a chassis for any given car at the site of an incident. In this way they can cut / dismantle / recover as required for casualties with respect for such items. Sounds a good idea.....
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2014
- Messages
- 4,579
- Points
- 828
It's not dissimilar to when cars started to be fitted with airbags: rescue staff tampering around near non-deployed airbags caused them to go off, injuring the rescue worker and/or the casualty. Obviously, the methods used to free crash victims were suitably changed to prevent these incidents.
- Status
