Electric vehicles-Conversions

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Re: Electric cars/vans/bikes-Conversions/Secondhand..etc

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

Well from the weighty matters of Government Policy, just a small diversion literally...

Ever heard of the Mercedes G63? Me neither but hand over a £20,000 note and you'll get £4.05 change!
The Custom Ultimate Edition Super-Premium Mercedes G63 features:

Diamond encrusted steering wheel features 24 real diamonds
Bose sound system for unparalleled audio
Monogrammed real leather seat-covers
Xenon lights for the custom supercar look
Hydraulic suspension complete with lo-rider function
Tow bar
Rubber tyres
Parental Remote control
Powerful best-in-class dual 12V motors
Ultra-high-capacity 12V24AH battery system
The eagle eyed amongst you may have spotted it only needs a 12 volt battery!

Here it is
http://kidselectriccars.co.uk/kids-elec ... p-634.html

Regards Neil
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Re: Electric cars/vans/bikes-Conversions/Secondhand..etc

Post by Mandrake »

Looking for an electric garbage truck ? These guys have you covered:

https://www.trucks.com/2017/02/21/tesla ... ightspeed/
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Re: Electric cars/vans/bikes-Conversions/Secondhand..etc

Post by Gibbo2286 »

Mandrake wrote:Looking for an electric garbage truck ? These guys have you covered:

https://www.trucks.com/2017/02/21/tesla ... ightspeed/


Interesting Simon, I've always thought that buses and commercial vehicles was the only way that EVs would become viable and it seems this guy agrees.

"Wright was and remains skeptical about the longevity of the electric passenger car industry, especially if government subsidies disappear.

“I love the technology,” he said, but electric cars don’t save enough in fuel costs “to let you get your money back, and I couldn’t see an economic future” in doing a mass-market car."
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Re: Electric cars/vans/bikes-Conversions/Secondhand..etc

Post by white exec »

There's been a long-touted adage in the car industry that there wasn't a fortune to be made from selling small mass-market cars - unless you sell very large numbers of them. Even then, you can trip up (eg the original Mini, allegedly).

Electric cars are (Tesla and co excepted) small. Unfortunately, they are currently lumbered with a very expensive part (the battery) which had yet to finally prove itself to the public. It's ironic that an ICE engine can probably be manufactured for less cost than a decent battery, and the buying public often doesn't see further than the immediate (and sometimes misleading) bottom line.

This situation won't last, as battery costs fall, performance increases, and word spreads. Early days yet, but progress will be exponential. They once said, especially in the UK, that diesel cars wouldn't catch on . . . and then look what happened. They said the same about digital printing, mobile phones, lead- and sulphur-free fuel, home computing, and an NHS.
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Re: Electric cars/vans/bikes-Conversions/Secondhand..etc

Post by Mandrake »

Coming back from IKEA today I spotted my first i-Miev/Ion/C-Zero in the wild (couldn't tell which it was) and of all things it was a police car! :rofl2:

Image

As the copper came around the roundabout (he was turning into IKEA as I was leaving) he looked over at me and starred, then started gesturing excitedly towards me to his pal, clearly recognising the car I was driving was the same as his... :lol:

I wonder what use the Glasgow police have for one of these, other than being a compliance vehicle for someone that does mainly paperwork duties ? It's certainly not up to the job of catching or transporting criminals. :-D
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Re: Electric cars/vans/bikes-Conversions/Secondhand..etc

Post by Mandrake »

white exec wrote: This situation won't last, as battery costs fall, performance increases, and word spreads. Early days yet, but progress will be exponential. They once said, especially in the UK, that diesel cars wouldn't catch on . . . and then look what happened. They said the same about digital printing, mobile phones, lead- and sulphur-free fuel, home computing, and an NHS.

I think it's very naive to believe that EV's won't dominate eventually. The trend lines are clear - prices are steadily dropping, performance and range is steadily improving, running costs, maintenance and reliability are already better than ICE. The driving experience for an EV is very nice - very quiet, smooth, easy to drive, effortless, even on a small 47kW car like mine.

Instant maximum torque at any road speed is available just by stomping on the pedal without having to change down a gear first or wait for an autobox to make up its mind to change down. Regenerative braking means you can control your speed down a slope just by lifting off the throttle rather than having to ride the brake pedal. It's surprising how much more pleasant this one pedal driving style is. It was the biggest thing I missed when I drove the Xantia recently.

ICE is at the end of 100+ years of development - we're wrung just about everything we can get out of the technology - it has nothing more to give, especially on the emissions front where there is more complexity in the emissions control part of an engine than the actual bit that makes the power. It's not possible to make an ICE car that has both very high power and performance, AND very high efficiency/MPG at the same time. You have to choose one or the other. (EG sports car or econobox)

With an EV it is possible to make a very high performance car that can outperform all but the fastest ICE but at the same time be more efficient and frugal than the best diesel econoboxes. You can have you cake and eat it too. A sensible family/commuter car that is economic to run but goes like the clappers, instantly, if you put your foot down.

Certain use cases (family commuter) will make financial and practical sense before other use cases (taxi, tourer etc) but eventually most if not all use cases will be covered once range and charging times are adequate.

It's not a matter of if EV's will succeed, it's just a matter of when.
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Re: Electric cars/vans/bikes-Conversions/Secondhand..etc

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

Is Plugshare on its way, or already arrived to expand the EV charging network?

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Re: Electric cars/vans/bikes-Conversions/Secondhand..etc

Post by CitroJim »

Mandrake wrote:Coming back from IKEA today I spotted my first i-Miev/Ion/C-Zero in the wild (couldn't tell which it was) and of all things it was a police car! :rofl2:


:lol: Hope his battery doesn't go flat whilst chasing a desperate gang of criminals...

Mandrake wrote:I wonder what use the Glasgow police have for one of these, other than being a compliance vehicle for someone that does mainly paperwork duties ? It's certainly not up to the job of catching or transporting criminals. :-D
There are many precedents Simon, back in the 60s, whole fleets of Moggie Minors were used as police cars and these were followed by equally unsuitable cars like Austin 1100s, Fraud Anglias and even Allegros...

On that basis, the Ion is OK.

Our local Old Bill use Corsas...

Motorcycle police were no better equipped either back in the 60s - some had to use the Velocette LE 'Noddy Bike' for their patrols... The reasoning being they'd be so quiet the crims would not hear them coming!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velocette_LE
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Re: Electric cars/vans/bikes-Conversions/Secondhand..etc

Post by white exec »

Good for sneaking up on burglars, though. Do the police do that any more? :No:
Brings a whole new meaning to the Charge Room... That would be where the Cells are...?
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Re: Electric cars/vans/bikes-Conversions/Secondhand..etc

Post by Gibbo2286 »

CitroJim wrote:
Mandrake wrote:Coming back from IKEA today I spotted my first i-Miev/Ion/C-Zero in the wild (couldn't tell which it was) and of all things it was a police car! :rofl2:


:lol: Hope his battery doesn't go flat whilst chasing a desperate gang of criminals...

Mandrake wrote:I wonder what use the Glasgow police have for one of these, other than being a compliance vehicle for someone that does mainly paperwork duties ? It's certainly not up to the job of catching or transporting criminals. :-D
There are many precedents Simon, back in the 60s, whole fleets of Moggie Minors were used as police cars and these were followed by equally unsuitable cars like Austin 1100s, Fraud Anglias and even Allegros...

On that basis, the Ion is OK.

Our local Old Bill use Corsas...

Motorcycle police were no better equipped either back in the 60s - some had to use the Velocette LE 'Noddy Bike' for their patrols... The reasoning being they'd be so quiet the crims would not hear them coming!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velocette_LE


Birmingham police issued their beat cops with scooters, not sure now if they were Lambrettas or Vespas, they were quickly withdrawn because a lot of the riders toppled them over and ended up in the accident hospital with broken ankles.
My pal had broken his femur (Co-op milk horse shied and trapped him in the turntable) when I visited hime there were six cops in the same ward all with busted ankles.
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Re: Electric cars/vans/bikes-Conversions/Secondhand..etc

Post by CitroJim »

white exec wrote: Brings a whole new meaning to the Charge Room... That would be where the Cells are...?


:lol: Gave me a great giggle Chris, thanks - just what I needed :D
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Re: Electric cars/vans/bikes-Conversions/Secondhand..etc

Post by CitroJim »

Gibbo, I always said scooters were bloody dangerous and you have yet again confirmed my thoughts...

Bet your pal never wanted to get saddled with a Co Op horse again... Neigh lad!
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Re: Electric cars/vans/bikes-Conversions/Secondhand..etc

Post by harryp »

Perusing a graph a couple of weeks ago showing the actual emissions from diesels from various manufacturers (and I look forward to a similar one for petrol, actual when hot, and also for the first 5-7 miles :shock: ), it would appear that forcing all manufacturers to be Euro6 compliant NOW in real world driving would dramatically reduce pollution.
Government should not give them time to comply either as they claim to achieve it anyway.
The potential of zero sales whilst they actually put their collective mouths where their income comes from would concentrate the minds wonderfully :wink: . I would think that they are very probably working on it now, as it must become inevitable anyway??
Bit tongue in cheek, but I can see no reason why not :lol: .
(from the figures, could see Jeep disappear completely from the UK market - 10 times the emission levels!! That takes a lot of brass neck [-X .)
:rofl2:
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Post by NewcastleFalcon »

The emissons from petrol tailpipe and a diesel tailpipe have one thing in common, they are inherently harmful no matter what lengths you go to to try and clean them up. A better scenario altogether is to do the clean up at the generating station, and run zero emission vehicles at the point of use for our transport needs.

In the meantime we have had "dieselgate" to be closely followed up potentially by "petrolgate". Yes they have discovered that what comes out of a petrol exhaust is not that good either and may even be worse. Still apparently a 25 euro Gasoline Particulate Filter puts that right, and some automakers are going to start fitting these as standard.

Then again.....I dont trust Diesel Particulate Filters as far as I can throw them, so I'm totally sceptical about that particular "fix".

https://www.transportenvironment.org/ne ... e%E2%80%99

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Re: Electric cars/vans/bikes-Conversions/Secondhand..etc

Post by harryp »

Neil, yes did read that one, but just making Diesel manufacturers doing what they have committed to do under Euro6, whilst not the answer by any stretch of the imagination, would make great inroads quickly. The reason I would not give them time to comply is that they have had time enough and (presumably) spent a fortune circumventing the Regulations already. Alone among Manufactures is BMW who are very close to meeting Euro6 under real world conditions and should be applauded =D> :shock: .
Other research concluded that there are many, many times more particulates in our bathrooms and kitchens when in use, but don't seem particularly forthcoming on health issues from them :? . It seems to go round and round; rather like what is/is not good for you to eat or drink....
Can't wait for battery capacity to get sorted as I would like an electric town car - currently my longer journeys are of the order of 40 to 250 miles each way, so one size fits all would not be possible at present; but improvement in battery technology could fix that and we could (would) then ditch the ICE.
Regards, Harry

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