EV general discussion

[TheVoice]

Unfortunately, I just don't see EV as being the answer though

I know im not the only person who thinks this


The threat title is pretty clear

"When will you be going fully electric"

the answer to this is, i don't think the majority of the population will be going fully electric, or will be staying fully electric.

They might not be the one single answer, but they're providing an alternative means of propulsion that doesn't involve wrecking the planet to extract the fuel and then wrecking it again when burning it. In the same way that petrol and diesel technology has improved and become cleaner and more efficient over time, so will electricity generation and battery technology. Until something better and cleaner comes along it seems to be the best alternative available.

In any case, the majority of the population eventually won't have much choice as manufacturers phase out ICE models in favour of EV ones. And by that point the technology and infrastructure will hopefully have improved to such an extent that they stop listening to all the FUD.

 

[Deleted User 298457]

I wouldn't say its a crap petrol car,

I'm pretty sure people were also stating the 330i has a very reliable engine ?

So to sum up, the early technology battery wasnt really great in a lot of models. You need to buy something within a couple of years old to get something decent

330i is a different engine'd car vs. a 330e. The only thing they somewhat misleading share is the second 3.

 

[Haggisman]

Assuming that the government and the manufactures want to make this transition to electric vehicles for the good of the environment.

Then bring down the retail cost of them? - Cheaper retail cost = More people buy them = making people transition to them = saving the environment quicker.


They wont do that though, why is this ? because its profiteering first, saving the environment 2nd or 3rd or 4th

Or could it possibly be because new technology is always more expensive, combined with no economy of scale because luddites like you are scared of any kind of new technology disrupting the status quo?

Also, you must have missed the part where there was a rather large government grant for plug in vehicles for most of the last decade (e.g. when the Leaf and Zoe etc. came on the market), which only got cut a couple of years ago when EVs started to become more affordable, and the 2nd hand market started to develop.

It's almost as if they thought of it before you...

(Oh, and manufacturers probably don't want you to transition to electric vehicles, because they require minimal servicing and there are fewer moving parts to go wrong, so they make less money in after-sales).

 

[SDK^]

The majority of the electricity in this country is produced by burning small wooden pellets, I was in the understanding of


Solar, wind, wave technology does have some percentage, but its not the majority. Infact, im pretty sure that the UK has not put enough efforts in to wave technology, Solar is unreliable especially in the winter times and im pretty sure that they did a study on windfarms, especially off shore , where they have not deployed enough coverage to make a big dent in production.



Why do you think we import a lot of electricity ?

Incorrect - the majority of UK electricity is now coming from wind , about 32%. Biomass (Burning wood pellets) is about 6%

UK electricity - Last 12 months by type
]

 

[SDK^]

Assuming that the government and the manufactures want to make this transition to electric vehicles for the good of the environment.

Then bring down the retail cost of them? - Cheaper retail cost = More people buy them = making people transition to them = saving the environment quicker.


They wont do that though, why is this ? because its profiteering first, saving the environment 2nd or 3rd or 4th

All new cars cost more now, regardless of the power type - e.g. A petrol powered Skoda Kodiak costs £50k, or, a base poverty spec, manual, petrol Fiesta with 75bhp costs £20k.

You can buy a new EV from £15k - Dacia Spring !

 

[Jonnycoupe]

The majority of the electricity in this country is produced by burning small wooden pellets, I was in the understanding of


Solar, wind, wave technology does have some percentage, but its not the majority. Infact, im pretty sure that the UK has not put enough efforts in to wave technology, Solar is unreliable especially in the winter times and im pretty sure that they did a study on windfarms, especially off shore , where they have not deployed enough coverage to make a big dent in production.



Why do you think we import a lot of electricity ?

Nothing unreliable aboout solar, its very predictable! Talk about just making stuff up! Really poor.

We dont need to mess about with wave, wind is far better. Labour just stopped the offshire windfarm ban which originally was introduced to manage the pace of deployment as so many were being comissioned!

We import as much as we export... just different times of the day. Thats like the idea of grid interconnects.

 

[m4rmite]

Horse ?

What horse

Well surely with that mindset you haven't progressed to a car yet.

 

[DJMK4]

We dont need to mess about with wave, wind is far better.

The amount generated by any renewable source goes back in to feeling the grid for the local towns and houses and they barely do that

I dont think there is enough renewable energy generated by Wind farms to serve the whole of the UK's EV motoring needs aswel as local town/cities housing population.



Wave > better than wind, but then again its a technology they have not harvested and spent enough money and research on when this is actually an old solution which works well.

Look what has to bail out shortages in energy supplies ? Hydroelectric power. Not wind. by pumping water up a mountain then releasing it , generates a huge amount of electricity and usually saves the grid.


What is the UK surrounded by ? Water


They have built off shore wind farms and even they have admitted it doesnt generate enough electric, they have admitted that not enough money and investment was made by turning those offshore wind farms in to hybrid wind and wave generating machines.


Anyway, my arguement wasnt about this as much, it was more about the cost of the EV market, still doesnt really prove at the moment its a good alternative and doesnt solve the issue of saving the environment

 

[Spleen Sauce]

I dont think there is enough renewable energy generated

I'd love to know what it is you do for a living?

 

[DJMK4]

I'd love to know what it is you do for a living?

What has that got to do with anything? Hope your not asking to check if I can afford an EV ?





I work in the IT sector, as of about 18-19 years, and i also work in the sector of IT which deploys, and allows and supports the communications of networks

 

[bigmike20vt]

The amount generated by any renewable source goes back in to feeling the grid for the local towns and houses and they barely do that

I dont think there is enough renewable energy generated by Wind farms to serve the whole of the UK's EV motoring needs aswel as local town/cities housing population.



Wave > better than wind, but then again its a technology they have not harvested and spent enough money and research on when this is actually an old solution which works well.

Look what has to bail out shortages in energy supplies ? Hydroelectric power. Not wind. by pumping water up a mountain then releasing it , generates a huge amount of electricity and usually saves the grid.


What is the UK surrounded by ? Water


They have built off shore wind farms and even they have admitted it doesnt generate enough electric, they have admitted that not enough money and investment was made by turning those offshore wind farms in to hybrid wind and wave generating machines.


Anyway, my arguement wasnt about this as much, it was more about the cost of the EV market, still doesnt really prove at the moment its a good alternative and doesnt solve the issue of saving the environment

there is enough wind and solar energy to power the uk multiple times over.

we just dont have enough infrastruture to harvest all of it at the moment. That needs to change!.

There are about 2 weeks of the year with a Dunkelflaute this is the time all the media like to spread FUD about where there is not enough sun and hardly any wind. We need storage for these times as well as interconnects to our friends abroad so we can help them when we have extra and they help us when they have extra as well.

id you look at the link i posted earlier to the grid live you can see we already share and borrow energy from abroad when needed.

WE still need oil and likely will for a long time, but we need to treat it as the precious resource it is and not something just to burn indiscriminately.

 

[Jonnycoupe]

The energy of waves means harnessing something moving in a highly corrosive and transporting it robustly is way harder than wind.

 

[Journey]

It's like having our very own Donald T in the thread over the last few dozen posts.

Makes me glad I took reading and comprehension at school beyond primary school level.

 

[pc-guy]

Or could it possibly be because new technology is always more expensive, combined with no economy of scale because luddites like you are scared of any kind of new technology disrupting the status quo?

Also, you must have missed the part where there was a rather large government grant for plug in vehicles for most of the last decade (e.g. when the Leaf and Zoe etc. came on the market), which only got cut a couple of years ago when EVs started to become more affordable, and the 2nd hand market started to develop.

It's almost as if they thought of it before you...

(Oh, and manufacturers probably don't want you to transition to electric vehicles, because they require minimal servicing and there are fewer moving parts to go wrong, so they make less money in after-sales).

Tbh, Tesla’s margin on their cars are highest in the market. Only ICE cars have higher margins.

 

[squerble]

doesnt solve the issue of saving the environment

An average EV on an average grid day emits barely 25% of the CO2 an average ICE car does. On a good grid day it's in the single figures of %. It's going a long way to saving the environment.

 

[Spleen Sauce]

What has that got to do with anything? Hope your not asking to check if I can afford an EV ?





I work in the IT sector, as of about 18-19 years, and i also work in the sector of IT which deploys, and allows and supports the communications of networks

Oh so you’re not a scientist or energy expert then. My mistake.

 

[SDK^]

I dont think there is enough renewable energy generated by Wind farms to serve the whole of the UK's EV motoring needs aswel as local town/cities housing population.

Correct - currently there isn’t enough wind generation built to power the whole of the UK.

But, there is 50GW of offshore wind signed up to connect in the next 6 years.
That means on normal day with some wind, there will be surplus wind energy. Just imagine what can be done with that !

 

[pc-guy]

The amount generated by any renewable source goes back in to feeling the grid for the local towns and houses and they barely do that

I dont think there is enough renewable energy generated by Wind farms to serve the whole of the UK's EV motoring needs aswel as local town/cities housing population.



Wave > better than wind, but then again its a technology they have not harvested and spent enough money and research on when this is actually an old solution which works well.

Look what has to bail out shortages in energy supplies ? Hydroelectric power. Not wind. by pumping water up a mountain then releasing it , generates a huge amount of electricity and usually saves the grid.


What is the UK surrounded by ? Water


They have built off shore wind farms and even they have admitted it doesnt generate enough electric, they have admitted that not enough money and investment was made by turning those offshore wind farms in to hybrid wind and wave generating machines.


Anyway, my arguement wasnt about this as much, it was more about the cost of the EV market, still doesnt really prove at the moment its a good alternative and doesnt solve the issue of saving the environment

Taking out fossil fuel (gas and coal) the majority are non-fossil fuel generation. With large more than 50% is through renewables.

If you take out all CO2 emission generation ie biomass/gas/coal. More than 50% is still zero emission generation.

With 2 new nuclear reactions due to come online (although replacing existing reactor but bigger capacity) and third one in the planning stage.

And hopefully more onshore wind farms and storage facilities, we should see less and less reliance on gas and coal.

It’s entirely feasible that 80% of UK can be supplied via 0 emission means.

To be 100% 0 emission is impossible as the grid needs those gas power stations for buffer cos they can be switched on relatively short time if required. It maybe down the line we have biomass generation to serve the purpose but the green credential of biomass needs serious amount of scrutiny.

 

[keyser van someone]

EV battery assembly part of this video on the new Audi Q6, thought was good, just looking

 

[pc-guy]

More aluminium in structural use of a car bodes well for sustainability as well. Aluminium is easily more recyclable than steel and having a smelting temp of 800c is so much better than a furnace temp of 2000c.