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Electric cars?

Would you buy an electric car?

  • Already own one

    Votes: 10 5.0%

  • Yes - would definitely buy

    Votes: 43 21.6%

  • Yes - preferred over petrol car if price/power/convenience similar

    Votes: 79 39.7%

  • Maybe - preference for neither, only concerned with costs etc

    Votes: 38 19.1%

  • No - prefer petrol car even if electric car has same price, power and convenience

    Votes: 25 12.6%

  • No - would never buy one

    Votes: 14 7.0%
  • Total voters
    199
Jump to new
As Mick said, the issue is with the way the car is built, the battery packs are heavy and take up a lot of space.
So the best place to put them is low down, in between the chassis rails, modern cars aren't built with chassis rails, except some 4X4's and light commercials.
The normal passenger car floor is a piece of flat tin, with tin strengthening ribs spot welded to it, so their strength is very sensitive to bits being cut and extra weight being added.
$10-15k would cover the cost for a small battery, installing it would cost extra, then there is a motor, speed controller etc. A Telsa power wall is about $10k for 10Kw isn't it?
 

Few points.
Yep it would be ideal to put the battery pack at the base of the car. But second best solutions would still work and in the overall scheme not be the most difficult problem in a retro fit.
Current battery prices are pretty expensive. But don't take the Tesla power wall as a cost indicator. In fact if one looked at electric cars the presumed cost of the car at 1K per kw battery shows how distorted this figure is. The really big changes are forecast for 2-4 years time when efficiencies and new processes reduce costs and increase storage capacity.
From what I have seen there are many small car enthusiasts looking at ways to retro fit older cars.

evcentral.com.au

Why are electric cars so expensive? - EV Central

Electric cars are currently quite expensive, but advances in battery technology and increasing demand means they should get more affordable.
evcentral.com.au evcentral.com.au
 
In all of this discussion , we are only talking about a fringe group, of which I am one.
A number of my friends have questioned my sanity in converting a1980's sports car to electric, but I can live with that.
But its not for everyone, indeed, the original article i quoted talked about maybe 100 cars in Australia that have been converted.
There are more hot rods in OZ than there are converted electric cars, though I do know of a local guy who is attempting to convert a 34 Ford Hot Rod he built a number of years ago into an EV.
Part of the problem is the weight balance between front and back axles ,plus the fact that it is already so low to the ground that it can get jammed in his driveway crossing if he is not careful.
Mick
 
I would add that at least for euro cars, crumbling zone design is VERY important and adding not compressible heavy batteries in the floor would kill countless lives..back to the 70s design
I would actually be very interested in crash test data for Tesla, and wonder if they created a special EV category for them..less engine block sure but heavier with more rigid floor..hum...
 
A lot of battery plants being built in the U.S.

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?

www.bloomberg.com
From the article:
Toyota Motor Corp. plans to invest $3.4 billion in the U.S. through 2030 to establish a new company and build its first U.S. battery plant, becoming the latest global automaker to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles through a battery push.

Production would start in 2025 and at first focus on batteries for hybrid electric vehicles, creating 1,750 new jobs, the company said in a statement that didn’t disclose the location or production capacity. The investment is specifically for battery work and won’t be used to expand vehicle-assembly capacity, a spokesman said.

Global automakers are boosting investments in battery production to take on EV market leader Tesla Inc. Stellantis NV and LG Energy announced plans Monday to build a battery-cell factory in North America to supply the carmaker’s growing fleet of electric vehicles. Stellantis, with brands like Jeep and Ram, has a target of raising U.S. sales of electrified vehicles to 40% of deliveries by the end of the decade.

Ford Motor Co. last month unveiled a plan to spend $11.4 billion with South Korea’s SK Innovation Co. to build battery and EV plants in Tennessee and Kentucky. General Motors Co. also stepped up investments in electric and autonomous vehicles in June, with a plan to spend $35 billion by 2025.
 
The new world of electric trees

Solar films used for e-bike charging 'tree' in Germany​


Wednesday, 13 October, 2021





In the community of Löchgau in Germany, ASCA has designed and implemented a ‘solar tree’ for construction company STRENGER Bauen und Wohnen.

The solar tree produces electricity for the e-bike charging stations of three apartment buildings in a senior-friendly living residential complex. The project demonstrates the flexibility of ASCA’s organic solar films.

“With conventional technology, the individual shapes of the solar modules would not have been feasible,” said Hermann Issa, ASCA Senior Vice President of Business Development & Project Management, who also designed the solar tree.

Solar films used for e-bike charging 'tree' in Germany

Using its organic solar films, ASCA has designed a 'solar tree' for an e-bike charging station at a residential complex in Löchgau, Germany.
www.sustainabilitymatters.net.au
 
Is that an AC Cobra??
If it is, the company has announced an all electric version
Cobra EV.
Maybe you could take one for a test drive and swap the components over.
Mick
 
mullokintyre said:
Is that an AC Cobra??
If it is, the company has announced an all electric version
Cobra EV.
Maybe you could take one for a test drive and swap the components over.
Mick
Click to expand...

But will it sound the same?

And, double the price of a replica with a real motor in it. Yikes!!
 
kennas said:
But will it sound the same?
Click to expand...
I am going to put a serious boom box with large subwoofers in mine connected to a small computer that has recordings of a V8 straight through exhaust.
Depending on the level of push on the go button, the computer will select an appropriate level of V8 burble for the occasion.
Mick
 
They do actually that: fake v8 noise, and you can even tune the noise to your taste..
I want a kookaburra laugh based one for the states or europe.
Take it up suckers in your CC and covid friendly buses .i belong to the 1pc?
 
qldfrog said:
They do actually that: fake v8 noise, and you can even tune the noise to your taste..
I want a kookaburra laugh based one for the states or europe.
Take it up suckers in your CC and covid friendly buses .i belong to the 1pc?
Click to expand...

It's also a safety measure to warn pedestrians to get out of the way.
 
SirRumpole said:
It's also a safety measure to warn pedestrians to get out of the way.
Click to expand...
the possibilities are endless.
Instead of a horn, i was going to add a few copied lines from films or songs instead.
Maybe something similar to what Macauley Kulkin did in Home alone.
maybe machine gun fire, or a bazooka.
That should wake em up.
Open to suggestions from forumites.
Mick
 
"I will be back" and a tar fuelled smoke generator for the tailing fumes....
 
Getting back on Topic, was just reading an article about how the EV versions of marque cars proving to be outperforming supercars.
The car in question wad the Audi E-Tron sportback which at 1-100kmh in 3.3 seconds is the fastest 4 door Audi ever built.
Noice.
Unfortunately, at a price tag of $186,000 its a bit out of my price range.
Mick
 
kennas said:
I'm thinking of buying one of these. How am I going to power it after 2030?

View attachment 131694
Click to expand...
Maybe get a back yard distillery, you should be able to brew enough moonshine for your Sunday drive.

Super cheap auto might even sell 10 litre tins of fuel to keep the collectors going.

(there will still be petrol stations long after 2030, but by 2040 they may be disappearing, just like LPG is disappearing now, after 2040 is when you might have to start buying it by the tin)
 
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