EV general discussion

Nasher said:
Id rather have that, gives you more options. Probably better for towing too.
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Cos then you have a clutch as a fuse?

Nasher said:
Most of them can't tow, or can't tow very much, because of no gearbox...
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I can tell you with a degree of confidence that EV have gearboxes.
Cooling, effect to range, body design to homologate the towing mass are some of the reason for lower ratings over traditional cars.

Journey said:
Can only be talking about the one and only keyboard Masher. :cry:
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Ah the name is sticking, great stuff :D
 
Conscript said:
This is weird, but I was actually wondering if this was a possibility the other day, to the point I considered starting a thread about it myself. I wasn't thinking of going as far as having a clutch pedal and gearstick, but it occurred to me that surely it should be fairly simple to be able to program an electric motor to vary it's torque output at different motor speeds.
If you then added simulated "gears" which the driver could manipulate using paddles, you could have an electric car which drives a such most of the time - but if the desire takes you, you could flick a switch and have it mimic the characteristics of an ICE car if you want a bit more engagement.

NB - I'm not resistant to change. It's not a contradictory stance to mourn the loss of ICE, but still be all for the adoption of EVs.
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The question for me always comes back to ‘but why’ though.

I just don’t see why any normal person would want to swap clear, consistent progressive power for well just not.

I always used to be a manual is best person, then I drove a car with a modern automatic gear box and that was that, I was 100% sold on them. I ended up buying electric so it ended up being a mute point but if I didn’t, I wouldn’t have bought another manual.
 
b0rn2sk8 said:
The question for me always comes back to ‘but why’ though.

I just don’t see why any normal person would want to swap clear, consistent progressive power for well just not.
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For the same reason that some people might prefer a sailing dinghy to a speedboat, or riding a horse instead of a motorbike. It's not necessarily about doing something in objectively the easiest or quickest fashion.
And so, sometimes, the satisfaction in driving is not just having power, but managing it. Which is what I currently enjoy about driving a traditional, petrol car - the power delivery is imperfect, so I have to interact with the gearbox to get the most out of it.

I am not claiming I would get no fun out of an EV, and I can completely understand the appeal of almost unfettered access to that power all of the time. In fact I am looking forward to that, too. But I do fear that in moving to EV, we will be losing some of the character that I enjoy from an old fashioned car.
Which is why if manufacturers are attempting to come up with ways to emulate that in EV vehicles, I'm all for it (assuming of course, ICEs are going to be totally phased out, which I think will be the case).

b0rn2sk8 said:
I always used to be a manual is best person, then I drove a car with a modern automatic gear box and that was that, I was 100% sold on them. I ended up buying electric so it ended up being a mute point but if I didn’t, I wouldn’t have bought another manual.
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To be clear, I'm not really advocating what's in the link (ie, a full emulation of a traditional "manual" gearbox) because I think that would be a bit too contrived. But as I said, I can't see it being beyond the realms of possibly to engineer an EV like a modern flappy paddle ICE - the difference being that in it's automatic mode, it drives completely like an EV with consistent power, whereas in manual, it emulates a manual gear selection and torque curves. Then everyone is happy, surely?

Also, forgive me if it's not the case, but I can't help feeling you're being a little disingenuous in your post. If you "always used to be a manual person", you must presumably have enjoyed driving them at some point? So even if you moved to automatics and were sold on them completely, I find it hard to believe that you are acting so bewildered that some people might still enjoy the way a manual drives, even if it is objectively inferior. (Reading that back, I realise it might sound a bit antagonistic, but please don't take it that way :)).
 
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I thought ev lorries have gearboxes with low gears to get moving - which seems odd versus ev cars if lorries upsized motors also deliver more instant torque -
perhaps the motors can't be upscaled sufficiently though, to maintain efficiency at higher speeds.

- for the towing aspect though - lack of battery energy density, to compete with a tank of diesel , seems to be the unsolvable? problem.
 
jpaul said:
I thought ev lorries have gearboxes with low gears to get moving - which seems odd versus ev cars if lorries upsized motors also deliver more instant torque -
perhaps the motors can't be upscaled sufficiently though, to maintain efficiency at higher speeds.

- for the towing aspect though - lack of battery energy density, to compete with a tank of diesel , seems to be the unsolvable? problem.
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Which EV lorry are you referring to. I’m not aware of any but obviously with the weight they have to pull then the benefit of gears is torque at low end and the efficiency of cruising. Also the extra weight and complexity isn’t too much of an issue
 
hmmh hadn't looked up specs before
https://www.eaton.com/us/en-us/catalog/emobility/hd-ev-transmission.specifications.html
A deep-ratio first gear enables smooth launches under difficult conditions that would stress the driveline in other transmissions, while the gearbox’s second gear is used to launch the vehicle under normal circumstances. This setup enables a smooth launch on grades of up to 30%, compared with the approximately 10% grade limit of direct drives. On grades of between 5% and 7%, the transmission can maintain speeds of 80km/h (50mph), while at grades around 3% the system can hold steady at 95km/h (60mph).
# OF FORWARD SPEEDS 4
ARCHITECTURE EV
CASING Aluminium case with helical gearing
MAX. INPUT SPEED 5000 rpm
SHIFT CONTROLS Eaton proprietary shift control logic
MAX. TORQUE CAPACITY 2600 Nm
TYPICAL GCW 43T
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doesn't seem inconceivable that you would need similar tech for an ev towing something.
 
Gradeability is a huge issue when the payloads are so great, so yes I can see that as an application for their need rather than oversizing the motor.
 
I see the first of the Moto charging hubs has opened in Swansea, with 6 350kW charges and space/capacity to add 6 more. Moto are targeting the end of this year to have all of their sites configured with ultra fast chargers, no word on if they will have the same 6 + 6 configuration though.
 
Journey said:
I see the first of the Moto charging hubs has opened in Swansea, with 6 350kW charges and space/capacity to add 6 more. Moto are targeting the end of this year to have all of their sites configured with ultra fast chargers, no word on if they will have the same 6 + 6 configuration though.
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Grid connection costs at some of the more remote sites will be huge so I doubt they will all have 6+6 ultra rapids, it is progress though. Other service areas have similar plans I think
 
Off to look at an top spec sportline 80x Skoda Enyaq today.

Think they look very nice. Had a look around a Mach-e didnt like it really.

Still undecided if to move to EV. My current car is a Audi A7 55 TFSI it's a thirsty breast at almost £100 to fill it these days!



 
jpaul said:
had read how they have reduced their id 3 eu range to one model
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Yes, they did this the other day - clearly suffering from parts shortages so removed pretty much all options you could take, and maximise pack/cell usage by limiting it to the 58kWh version.
 
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