Australian (ASX) Stock Market Forum

Electric cars?

Would you buy an electric car?

  • Already own one

    Votes: 10 5.1%

  • Yes - would definitely buy

    Votes: 43 21.9%

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

    Votes: 78 39.8%

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

    Votes: 37 18.9%

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

    Votes: 24 12.2%

  • No - would never buy one

    Votes: 14 7.1%
  • Total voters
    196
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sptrawler said:
I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't rate E.V vehicles for towing caravans, especially big ones, time will tell.
When you add the battery weight to the towbar weight and the load carrying capacity, my guess is most vans will exceed the axle and tyre load capacity.
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Nothing like seeing an undersized and powered car towing a double horse float or tamden axle2 4 foot van. More common than not around here, especially during the holiday periods.
 
macca said:
I think we will be all driving EV soon because we won't be able to buy anything else but we do have unique problems here in Oz

I saw this photo on another forum, taken at Sandfire Roadhouse WA yesterday, the queue extended in both directions from the roadhouse, north and south

At present each car would take maybe 10 mins to fill, imagine when each takes 90mins to charge and only 3 or 4 at a time as it is solar and diesel generators for power
View attachment 160050
They will fill their camping area every night while people charge up ;)
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Good for the owners of the caravan sites and nosh suppliers
 
divs4ever said:
i avoided investing in uranium because of the political flip-flopping that usually goes with it

BTW life-expectancy was much less the last time we relied on wind power
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Sorry I don't follow. What has wind power got to do with uranium?
 
macca said:
At present each car would take maybe 10 mins to fill, imagine when each takes 90mins to charge and only 3 or 4 at a time as it is solar and diesel generators for power.
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Until we have EVs that are actually built for towing caravans, this will not be a problem.
The first likely contender will be Tesla's Cybertruck.
Let's look at a scenario:
Cybertuck needing 100kWh battery recharge using Tesla Supercharger Version 4 at 350kWh:​
  • Takes about 20 minutes
  • Assume Tesla megawatt charger is available by then as it's on a major trucking route, and it's now less than 10 minutes to recharge
Exaggerating a potential problem when there's presently a potential solution is a common refrain.
EVs are a very long way from filling all the gaps in the road transport sector, and most people buying one have a pretty good idea of their limitations and the infrastructure available.
Teslas have paved the way around the world for EV adoption and distance travel, and the Tesla network is also building/installing chargers that increase the rate of charge and thereby reduce charge time so that range anxiety only exists where their network remains to be established.
Rome does not need to be built in a day.
 
divs4ever said:
Endurance Of Electric Vehicles Falters In Extreme Heat

https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/endurance-electric-vehicles-falters-extreme-heat

makes you wonder about home battery packs in some regions as well
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It certainly gets hot at Sandfire. At this time of year it's pretty comfortable but I turned up there on new year's day and early in the year we had hot days exceeding 50⁰C

I was surprised that EVs did drive through that stretch between Broome and Port Hedland, rare as it was. I was also surprised that they were allowed to charge for free at Sandfire.
 
The caravan issue isn't only concerning people here, overseas it is being highlighted also, even in countries where the distances involved are a lot less than in Australia.
It will no doubt change the way people do caravanning IMO, those who want a very large one, will probably end up with an E.V motorhome IMO and as rob says large battery capacity tow vehicles will be available for those who are determined to tow. :2twocents

www.express.co.uk

Caravanning industry ‘may not survive’ after petrol vehicle ban

CARAVAN and motorhome owners are concerned over the lack of electric options, as the ban of new petrol vehicle sales gets closer.
www.express.co.uk www.express.co.uk
 
Sdajii said:
It certainly gets hot at Sandfire. At this time of year it's pretty comfortable but I turned up there on new year's day and early in the year we had hot days exceeding 50⁰C

I was surprised that EVs did drive through that stretch between Broome and Port Hedland, rare as it was. I was also surprised that they were allowed to charge for free at Sandfire.
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Heat doesn't bother a good EV.

 
From The Driven


Ford Australia has released the Australian specifications and the final pricing of the soon-to-be-released For Mustang Mach-E, the auto giant’s first electric passenger car in Australia.
It will be offered in three variants – Select, Premium and GT – and, as announced previously, will range in price from just below $80,000 – before on road costs – to more than $107,000 (plus one roads) for the top of the range variant.

That puts it well above the price range of Australia’s best selling electric sedan, the Model 3, which now starts at around $57,000, plus on roads (but also before rebates), and higher than the Polestar 2 and Hyundai Ioniq 6.

“Mach-E is an extremely exciting addition to our EV line-up, and brings all the excitement of Mustang, with the tech, performance and luxury expected of a fully-electric SUV,” said Andrew Birkic, the president and CEO of Ford Australia.

“We can’t wait for Mach-E customers to get behind the wheel in just a few months.” The car is due to arrive in Australia in the last quarter of 2023.
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Mick
 
Speaking of high heat... Thermal runaway and associated horrors

 
Well I think we are in a for another case of reality catching up with ideology, the installation of charging infrastructure and generating capacity to run it, had better ramp up.
A friend drove his Tesla model Y to Kalgoorlie and back, from Perth last week, it involved spending 4 hours charging in Merredin both ways. Luckily they were the only E.V wanting a charge, can't wait to see how it goes as the current surge in E.V purchases flows through to charger demand.

www.smh.com.au

Tesla Tesla Tesla: How Australia ended up at the back of world’s EV queue

The electric revolution is gaining pace, but the market is still dominated by just a few models.
www.smh.com.au www.smh.com.au
Australia’s electric vehicle revolution is finally beginning to gain speed, with more plug-in cars sold across the country in the past six months than in the whole of last year.
Figures to be released on Monday show 46,624 electric vehicles were sold in the six months to June 3 – 8.4 per cent of all new car sales and more than the 39,353 EVs sold in 2022.
 
wayneL said:
Speaking of high heat... Thermal runaway and associated horrors

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Auto expert John Cadogan is pretty good, his contacts in the Coast Guard and access to the ships internal camera system is amazing :oldman:

No one knows the cause, yet.

 
JohnDe said:
Auto expert John Cadogan is pretty good, his contacts in the Coast Guard and access to the ships internal camera system is amazing :oldman:

No one knows the cause, yet.

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It doesn't really matter what started the fire. I think the point is that once those battery cells go into thermal runaway, you've got big problems. Depending on the situation, it could be catastrophic.

It's given me pause to think as I have a lithium battery setup in my work ute, as well as at least two LPG bottles ?
 
wayneL said:
It doesn't really matter what started the fire. I think the point is that once those battery cells go into thermal runaway, you've got big problems. Depending on the situation, it could be catastrophic.

It's given me pause to think as I have a lithium battery setup in my work ute, as well as at least two LPG bottles ?
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Wayne looks as if you are in a mobile time bomb !!!!
 
wayneL said:
It doesn't really matter what started the fire. I think the point is that once those battery cells go into thermal runaway, you've got big problems. Depending on the situation, it could be catastrophic.

It's given me pause to think as I have a lithium battery setup in my work ute, as well as at least two LPG bottles ?
Click to expand...

I'm wondering what the difference is of EV batteries that goes 'into thermal runaway' and the batteries in mobile phones, laptops, portable vacuum cleaners, which are all transported in bulk surrounded in plastic components and packaging.

In the future, a large number of road vehicles will not be powered by fossil fuels, and in order to prevent incidents in connection with such a change in the transportation sector, regulations and practices should stay one step ahead. Road tunnels and underground garages constitute particularly high-risk environments with regard to fires and explosions. The transportation sector is currently undergoing major changes, driven in large part by the gradual transition towards a fossil fuel-independent society.​
 
JohnDe said:
I'm wondering what the difference is of EV batteries that goes 'into thermal runaway' and the batteries in mobile phones, laptops, portable vacuum cleaners, which are all transported in bulk surrounded in plastic components and packaging.

In the future, a large number of road vehicles will not be powered by fossil fuels, and in order to prevent incidents in connection with such a change in the transportation sector, regulations and practices should stay one step ahead. Road tunnels and underground garages constitute particularly high-risk environments with regard to fires and explosions. The transportation sector is currently undergoing major changes, driven in large part by the gradual transition towards a fossil fuel-independent society.​
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Cadogan knows sfa about EVs.
Here's NTSB data on car fires:
1690772049035.png
So ICEVs have over 60 times chance of being involved in a fire than an EV.

What about this thermal runaway that gets mentioned.
Here's the result of a older European study (battery technology has advanced considerably since) :

While ICEV and EV car fires have different characteristics, the data does not suggest that Codagan's points are at all valid. Moreover, EVs are a nascent sector and technological advances are not well reflected atm as very little data is available from the safer battery architecture. Forbes covers this in more detail.
The other point that Cadogan does not understand is that different battery chemistry and packing significantly improves safety, as this video describes:
 
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