Electric Cars:what's available?

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Re: Electric Cars:what's available?

Post by Mandrake »

As ugly as they are those wheels increase the range by nearly 30 miles (!) or 10% due to improved aerodynamics.

Those are actually removable plastic covers - there are normal looking alloy wheels behind them, and many owners have decided to take the range hit and remove the covers in the name of aesthetics.
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Re: Electric Cars:what's available?

Post by Mandrake »

I thought some of you might find it interesting to see what the electric motors in various different EV's look like when torn down. He starts off underneath a Tesla Model Y, but then goes around to some tables full of disassembled motors.



Two things of note - it's not really until you see them disassembled on a table that you realise just how tiny these electric motors are compared to a combustion engine, even though some of them are rated at hundreds of killowatts.... The other thing is that while most motors fall broadly into the two categories of induction or permanent magnet syncronous, every manufacturers motor is very different in the details...

The same channel also has a series of videos doing a complete teardown of the Tesla Model Y.
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Re: Electric Cars:what's available?

Post by white exec »

Some impressive pieces of engineering there. All down to power and density. My Dad would have enjoyed that, as he spent his life designing transformers and their associated tooling and winding machines. Another division of Crompton-Parkinson specialised in motors.

Remember reading years ago that the ratio of size:power works very much in favour of small electric motors, in terms of power per kilogram and efficiency. Air gaps are just bad news! Nano motors must sit at the extreme end of that graph.
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Re: Electric Cars:what's available?

Post by mickthemaverick »

Sorry to say Simon that I only got to 9 minutes through that video when I couldn't take his ums and errs any longer!! However I saw enough to understand your points about the motors!! :)
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Re: Electric Cars:what's available?

Post by white exec »

He reminded me of Hastings, from Line of Duty.
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Re: Electric Cars:what's available?

Post by Skull »

mickthemaverick wrote: 10 Apr 2020, 17:36 Sorry to say Simon that I only got to 9 minutes through that video when I couldn't take his ums and errs any longer!! However I saw enough to understand your points about the motors!! :)
You missed the Tesla wheel coffee table raffle at the end :lol:
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Re: Electric Cars:what's available?

Post by mickthemaverick »

Result!! :-D
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Re: Electric Cars:what's available?

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

Saw this bit of Toyota Marketing this morning on a new advert for this....

"The New Toyota CHR self-charging hybrid runs up to 50% of the time on Electric"

[Sarcasm Alert]
So I was intrigued and had a look at the Toyota website to find out more about their exciting hybrid range.
Well that old sales addage...."Sell the benefits" has certainly been taken to heart by Toyota.....
They have come up with 12! Check them out here

The Hybrid Advantage
[/Sarcasm Alert]

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Re: Electric Cars:what's available?

Post by mickthemaverick »

Methinks the world of motoring needs a damn good dose of E=MC² and the Lexus "We use two sources of Energy" got put where it really belongs ........... in the "well only 1 source really but we pretend it's two!!" bracket!! :-D
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Re: Electric Cars:what's available?

Post by Mandrake »

A bit of a black eye for Hydrogen powered cars:

https://interestingengineering.com/hydr ... ta-hyundai

How long until that happens in a (perhaps old and poorly maintained) car instead of a refuelling station ?

Hydrogen fuelled cars were already dead man walking IMO due to rapid improvements in BEVs but events like this might help to seal its fate.

LiOn batteries can certainly burn vigorously if they catch on fire but they don’t explode!
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Re: Electric Cars:what's available?

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

That's old news Simon from back in Jun 2019, but the safety of hydrogen has always had a bad name. Then again petrol is fairly explosive and flammable too (see bobins' reply here on the Hydrogen Vehicles thread). Haven't been keeping track of the latest from the car, bus, train, truck industry recently seeing as everything has been overtaken by the one news story in town.

I'm sure that although that incident was a set back undoubtedly it didn't significantly dent developments in the hydrogen field. It will be interesting to see what the priorities are going to be for the Auto Industry. You can see production being cut, but is it going to be a case of plans for electrification/other alternative fuels are going to be delayed, or the time is right to make a radical change. Money will talk as ever I feel and big investments with falling or uncertain demand are going to be a gamble.

Hydrogen not quite killed off yet, but the FCF does have a thread for such matters here,

Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles Still Alive?

Regards Neil
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Re: Electric Cars:what's available?

Post by Hell Razor5543 »

I want to see the car from "Black Moon Rising" making it into production! I have the DVD.

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

Considering it runs on tap water (yes, really!!!), it has a decent turn of speed, especially where tunnels are concerned!

http://www.automobiliac.com/automobilia ... rsuit.html
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Re: Electric Cars:what's available?

Post by bobins »

There were no doubt countless detractors of BEVs 20-30 odd years ago, many saying "It's a dead man walking" back then due to high cost and poor range, but technology kept progressing and range has improved - though recharge times still need improving, initial cost is still prohibitvely high for many, and range is still a valid concern for a lot of motorists. But progress keeps on rolling forward and these things improve. The same should be said of Hydrogen. Yes, it's very early days yet, but they're coming up with much better (and safer) ways of storing it. The cost of making fuel cells will continue its decline. The 'refill' times of a Hydrogen tank is almost on a par with that of petrol/diesel, and that is a major plus when it comes to commercial fleets that can't sit around waiting for a battery recharge. The cost of Hydrogen filling stations is often cited as a reason not to bother with a Hydrogen filling infrastrusture - conveniently overlooking the massive cost involved in litium battery manufacture on top of that of installing the charging network and upgrading power supplies. Everything has a cost, but that doesn't mean it should be cast aside. We'd not have BEV's if the detractors of decades ago had been listened to.
Hydrogen as a common source of motive power is not dead until it's stopped breathing and no amount of prodding by scientists can revive it. There's a considerable amount of research and development still ongoing into Hydrogen (fuel cells) as a source of motive power. Progress should be welcomed, not stifled.
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Re: Electric Cars:what's available?

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

I've ported some of the posts above over to the Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles still alive? thread.

Spotted one of these today
MG ZS EV
MG ZS EV
Probably one of the best VFM new EV's around, but all new EV's have a hefty price tag, and the more range you want the higher the price. As is the VW e-Golf ( which has a hefty purchase price), but the owner I was speaking too last night absoloutely loved it, and for 11,000 miles of use in the first year had paid less than £10 in "fuel". Whether that's just making use of free chargers in Northumberland or some kind of new car/energy company deal I have no idea.

Just as an aside, I have recently dumped "irritating websites" into my personal room 101.
Can someone go and have a look at the VW website and see if they can easily get a current price on a VW e-golf :?:
Maybe its just me, but I seem to find most official websites in the car brands arena irritating to navigate.

REgards Neil
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Re: Electric Cars:what's available?

Post by mickthemaverick »

NewcastleFalcon wrote: 29 Jun 2020, 11:16
Can someone go and have a look at the VW website and see if they can easily get a current price on a VW e-golf :?:
Maybe its just me, but I seem to find most official websites in the car brands arena irritating to navigate.

REgards Neil

As I had such a laugh with your twitter this morning I thought I owed you one, so I had a look on the VW site and discovered that VW's current RRP for the eGolf is £31,075.00 which means that with the government grant you can get one for £28,075.00 at the moment!! :-D
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