Going electric

[portland_bill]

I think railways will feature heavily as vehicles go electric. When rail was in its heyday, most goods travelled by rail, only using road for local deliveries, the final journey. If trucks and vans go electric, this will happen again. Although the rail network is currently struggling for capacity, so something will fail there.

Saw a Nissan Leaf taxi in Swindon today. I wonder how much work he gets in a day before having to recharge.
Learning to drive might be more expensive once we're all electric. Instructors will either need at least two cars, or will have to charge a lot more per hour to make a living.

 

[g8rpi]

I think railways will feature heavily as vehicles go electric. When rail was in its heyday, most goods travelled by rail, only using road for local deliveries, the final journey. If trucks and vans go electric, this will happen again. Although the rail network is currently struggling for capacity, so something will fail there.

Saw a Nissan Leaf taxi in Swindon today. I wonder how much work he gets in a day before having to recharge.
Learning to drive might be more expensive once we're all electric. Instructors will either need at least two cars, or will have to charge a lot more per hour to make a living.

This raises another question. As most (if not all) electric cars do not have a multispeed manually selected gearbox, if you learn to drive in one what class of licence do you get? Automatic only or can you go out and drive a manual?


Robert G8RPI.

 

[AndyRKett]

Saw a Nissan Leaf taxi in Swindon today. I wonder how much work he gets in a day before having to recharge.
Learning to drive might be more expensive once we're all electric. Instructors will either need at least two cars, or will have to charge a lot more per hour to make a living.

https://www.zap-map.com/electric-taxi-company-clocks-100000-miles-in-nissan-leaf/

 

[Ulpian]

I expect the present test rules will apply for a long time.

Toyota is expected to bring a new, non lithium, battery to market in three years. Lots of people are working on these alternatives, but the bottom line is around three times the range, ten minute charging, and none of the potential for fire that lithium can bring. Also more climate temperature stability for the batteries.

We have lithium batteries for lifting equiment at work, and one of them once became untouchably hot while it was on charge! We only just noticed in time. That said, Toyota's most reliable car has been the Prius hybrid, so the technology for their cars is pretty much proven.

I'd venture to guess that in ten years time non lithium, probably salt and magnesium based batteries, will have made petrol and certainly Diesel engines for cars redundant.

This will mean all new cars will be automatic. Good.

Now discuss the forthcoming direct injection Mazda engine

 

[g8rpi]

I expect the present test rules will apply for a long time.

Toyota is expected to bring a new, non lithium, battery to market in three years. Lots of people are working on these alternatives, but the bottom line is around three times the range, ten minute charging, and none of the potential for fire that lithium can bring. Also more climate temperature stability for the batteries.

We have lithium batteries for lifting equiment at work, and one of them once became untouchably hot while it was on charge! We only just noticed in time. That said, Toyota's most reliable car has been the Prius hybrid, so the technology for their cars is pretty much proven.

I'd venture to guess that in ten years time non lithium, probably salt and magnesium based batteries, will have made petrol and certainly Diesel engines for cars redundant.

This will mean all new cars will be automatic. Good.

Now discuss the forthcoming direct injection Mazda engine

The proposed new Toyota battery is still Lithium Ion, but has a solid electrolyte. The earlier Prius used Nickle Metal Hydride batteries not lithium ion. The trick to long life is they were never charged to their full capacity or fully discharged.

Robert G8RPI

 

[StevenRB45]

batteries, will have made petrol and certainly Diesel engines for cars redundant.

This will mean all new cars will be automatic. Good.

Now discuss the forthcoming direct injection Mazda engine

Imagine for a moment you are working for a car manufacturer that sells the same products in every major car market in both the developed and developing world...You already have electric and range extenders in development and sell Hybrids, you've made a deal with the market leader to share tech...but for some reason cash strapped world governments in general aren't putting up charging points faster than you can sell cars..

Imagine some of your possible customers being literally a 1000 miles from the nearest fast charging point..or not having reliable/high enough voltage local electrical sources or rely on diesel generators.

Then possibly think there are some people who will be continuing to pay good money for a vehicle they don't need to plug into the mains and build car for them as well..or just ignore that revenue someone else will make it.

 

[portland_bill]

This raises another question. As most (if not all) electric cars do not have a multispeed manually selected gearbox, if you learn to drive in one what class of licence do you get? Automatic only or can you go out and drive a manual?


Robert G8RPI.

You can already take your test in an electric or hybrid vehicle.
As they are all automatics, you get an automatic only licence. To later drive a manual, you'd need to take another test.

An instructor sticking with manual, will see a reducing customer base, but early adopters of autos/electric/hybrid may struggle to make a living. I may be past caring by then anyway, so be spared the dilemma.

 

[Ulpian]

It's a transition period but I'd expect that in the west it'll go fairly quickly.

Battery, hybrid, petrol compression ignition, conventional petrol and finally diesel. Quite a mix, but I'd expect that long range, fast charging, pure battery cars will be very very popular.

I'd let the market take care of it, but the oil industry in its entirety will take a hit. That said, they haven't built any new refineries for years and the writing has been on the wall since the first hybrids and pure electrics. And when did BP change its name to Beyond Petroleum from British Petroleum, years ago?

And hydrogen?

 

[g8rpi]

You can already take your test in an electric or hybrid vehicle.
As they are all automatics, you get an automatic only licence. To later drive a manual, you'd need to take another test.

An instructor sticking with manual, will see a reducing customer base, but early adopters of autos/electric/hybrid may struggle to make a living. I may be past caring by then anyway, so be spared the dilemma.

That is logical and what I thought. Being a pedantic sod they are technically not automatics, most are fixed ratio gearing, so really it should change to manual or non-manual. licences. I guess eventually non-manual will be the norm and you will need an endorsement to drive a manual.


Robert G8RPI.

 

[jrkitching]

Learning to drive might be more expensive once we're all electric. Instructors will either need at least two cars, or will have to charge a lot more per hour to make a living.

That has to be the forum double entendre of the year .

 

[AndyRKett]

The French have opened their first solar road (the first in the world I understand) some reference to a solar cycleway) will be interesting to see how it lasts, although it says it can cope with them I wonder how long before 40 ton lorries will be banned from it.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/dec/22/solar-panel-road-tourouvre-au-perche-normandy

 

[Steve145]

Though it's not the focus of this thread, there has been mention of self driving cars and they're a subject that seems heavily linked with electric cars.

Thinking back to my misspent youth and taxi drivers who would only drop fares at the edge of the estate where I grew up "I won't go in there mate, not after dark", I wonder how long it will be before "Google car trapping" becomes the latest urban sport?

Or will there be places where self driving cars refuse to go?

 

[AndyRKett]

Though it's not the focus of this thread, there has been mention of self driving cars and they're a subject that seems heavily linked with electric cars.

Thinking back to my misspent youth and taxi drivers who would only drop fares at the edge of the estate where I grew up "I won't go in there mate, not after dark", I wonder how long it will be before "Google car trapping" becomes the latest urban sport?

Or will there be places where self driving cars refuse to go?

I have seen this done (on YouTube) it's very funny to watch the car gets totally confused I'm not sure uk roads would lend themselves to this, I suppose at the moment all self driving technology can be taken over by the driver

 

[StevenRB45]

A story this morning on the telegraph

A "thought piece" from the national grid and graph that shows they don't expect electric to outnumber ice cars until 2033.

 

[Most Easterly Pandas]

Saw a Nissan Leaf taxi in Swindon today. I wonder how much work he gets in a day before having to recharge.

75/80 miles. Then a quick 30min rapid while they go for a wee and grab a bite to eat.

A taxi firm in Cornwall that only run EV's, leafs with 150k+ miles with no major issues or loss of range. It seems age it more a contributing factor that usage / mileage.

A story this morning on the telegraph

A "thought piece" from the national grid and graph that shows they don't expect electric to outnumber ice cars until 2033.

More ****e from ignorant journalists.

 

[AndyRKett]

New London post office vans to soon go on trial.

Much better looking than most vans on the road.

BBC news :
Royal Mail's new electric vans unveiled
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-41025771

 

[Steve145]

La Poste (French post office) has been using electric Renault Kangoos for a few years now for in-town deliveries, they still use diesel vans for rural work though.

Whether or not they can actually manage to deliver anything is another matter entirely.

I suppose fixed-route urban delivery has always been ideal for electric vehicles, the UK milkfloat proves that.

 

[jackwhoo]

La Poste (French post office) has been using electric Renault Kangoos for a few years now for in-town deliveries, they still use diesel vans for rural work though.

Whether or not they can actually manage to deliver anything is another matter entirely.

I suppose fixed-route urban delivery has always been ideal for electric vehicles, the UK milkfloat proves that.

While in a remote part of France a couple of weeks ago , I saw a la poste electric kangoo most mornings. The post person was driving from letter box to letter box to make letter deliveries rather than walking (appears to be the norm in France). The kangoo must have been a few years old , one of the rear tyres was nearly bald.

 

[portland_bill]

Heard a story when the Channel Tunnel first opened. For maintenance crews, they got a few electric Peugeot 106 vans. These were to trundle along the central service tunnel, so no exhaust fumes. Range however was only just enough. Not long after going into service, the story was that the range reduced enough that a van would go to the half-way point, and on return, not quite make it out. So they had to install charging points along the tunnel.

 

[puntofan01]

If the technology improves, and the infrastructure is put into place ready, then I personally wouldn't have a problem with owning an electric car. I just hope they eventually look like normal cars, rather than Nissan Leafs!!

With regards to the potential issue of pranksters, I'm sure that the car industry will come up with devices that prevent this from happening. As others have touched upon, a major problem will be the location of charging points. I currently live in a terraced house in a village, and when both my parents cars are on their drive, I normally have to park my car on the main road, where people park very haphazardly! Ideally, the parking on the main street would consist of individually marked spaces, each with its own charger, something that would happen nationwide, as well as in every car park.

Something I recently read in a top gear magazine dating back to 2015 was that at present, each manufacturer has its own specific design of charging system, and that there isn't actually a universal charger available. Something that needs to happen if the car industry is going to switch over to electricity power rather than engines is that the government needs to implement a universal design of charger/socket that all cars HAVE to be compatible with, like they currently do with filling station fuel nozzles.