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Electric cars?

Would you buy an electric car?

  • Already own one

    Votes: 10 5.1%
  • Yes - would definitely buy

    Votes: 43 21.7%
  • Yes - preferred over petrol car if price/power/convenience similar

    Votes: 78 39.4%
  • Maybe - preference for neither, only concerned with costs etc

    Votes: 38 19.2%
  • 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 7.1%

  • Total voters
    198
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.
 
Good for the owners of the caravan sites and nosh suppliers
 
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

Sorry I don't follow. What has wind power got to do with uranium?
 
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.
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.
 
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

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.

 

Heat doesn't bother a good EV.

 
From The Driven


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.

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.
 
Speaking of high heat... Thermal runaway and associated horrors


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

No one knows the cause, yet.

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

No one knows the cause, yet.

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 ?
 
Wayne looks as if you are in a mobile time bomb !!!!
 

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.
 
Cadogan knows sfa about EVs.
Here's NTSB data on car fires:

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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