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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basilio said:
This is really clever IMV. The new Nissan Leaf can be connected directly to ones house as a power source and power supply. So it can charge its battery off surplus solar power and then be used at night to keep the lights on. In effect one has a 40kw home battery unit that they can also use to drive to work in. Might even pinch some juice from external chargers and bring it home:D

Versatile and Clever... and not that pricey. Less than $50k

Nissan sees Leaf as home energy source, says Tesla big battery “waste of resources”
New-Nissan-LEAF-32-800x450.jpg
Source: Nissan
Owning an electric car in Australia could become much more than just driving from A to B with a reduced carbon footprint, according to Nissan Australia which launched the new version of the Nissan Leaf electric vehicle in Melbourne on Wednesday .

Nissan confirmed at the launch that the new Leaf, with a 40kWh battery, will be a V2H (vehicle-to-home) energy asset – meaning that, unlike other electric vehicles, it will have the capability to charge your home (subject to further testing with Australia’s network owners and operators).

Called bidirectional charging, the 40kWh Leaf (and for that matter the 62kWh version which is not yet slated for an Australian release) essentially has the capability to become your personal, massive, mobile battery.

This means it will be able to not only store energy by plugging into your home, workplace or other destinations such as shopping centres with free charging, or from DC fast-chargers – it will be able to serve that energy back to your home.
https://thedriven.io/2019/07/11/nis...ce-says-tesla-big-battery-waste-of-resources/
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$50k is a bloody lot for a lunchbox on wheels though. But I like the idea of it being a mobile powerstation.
 
Value Collector said:
Petrol bowsers need electricity to, so if charging stations are down, so are petrol stations.

Also, as I have said constantly, 99% of people will be charging offpeak at home, and will start each day with a full battery.

And as Basillo pointed out, EV’s can help augment power supply in the future.
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I'd just like to see some analysis based on reasonable assumptions, like if 10% of the vehicle fleet was electric, driving the same average kms as people do now, how much extra generating capacity we would need.

Do you have any data on this ?

I haven't seen anything in the media about the nuts and bolts figures as opposed to blue sky aspirations.

Hybrids still seem the better proposition to me.
 
Value Collector said:
Packed with cars that could be charging in the future hahaha.
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You can't have power cords running on the ground, ohs issues. It would have to be an input right next to the car. I suppose carparks next to train stations where you could charge while at work in the city.
 
SirRumpole said:
I'd just like to see some analysis based on reasonable assumptions, like if 10% of the vehicle fleet was electric, driving the same average kms as people do now, how much extra generating capacity we would need.

Do you have any data on this ?

I haven't seen anything in the media about the nuts and bolts figures as opposed to blue sky aspirations.

Hybrids still seem the better proposition to me.
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It’s not about having extra total capacity. Because as I said 99% of charging will be done offpeak, when a lot of the existing capacity is sitting idle, doing nothing.

If anything it will help smooth the loads on the grid, and make generators more profitable, which may lower their breakeven price on each units they generate, because their fixed assets will have higher utilization rates.
 
moXJO said:
You can't have power cords running on the ground, ohs issues. It would have to be an input right next to the car. I suppose carparks next to train stations where you could charge while at work in the city.
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Or at Coles and woolies while you shop, etc. the possibilities are endless.

But yeah, simply charging at home is best.

The concept of having to drive to a charging spot is old fashioned petrol engine thinking.
 
Value Collector said:
It’s not about having extra total capacity. Because as I said 99% of charging will be done offpeak, when a lot of the existing capacity is sitting idle, doing nothing.

If anything it will help smooth the loads on the grid, and make generators more profitable, which may lower their breakeven price on each units they generate, because their fixed assets will have higher utilization rates.
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Existing capacity doesn't "sit idle doing nothing". It pumps water uphill in the hydro stations ready to smooth out increases in power demands. If it was charging electric cars instead then that hydro power would not be available for water heaters or commerce and industry the next day.

Supply and demand have to be matched at all times.
 
It would be cool if you could use the car battery for electric needs (following on from the leaf) when you got home eg: cooking, tv, etc. Then charge during off-peak.
 
Value Collector said:
Or at Coles and woolies while you shop, etc. the possibilities are endless.

But yeah, simply charging at home is best.

The concept of having to drive to a charging spot is old fashioned petrol engine thinking.
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They have two spots at one shopping center I went too and both were vandalized. I agree at home is best.
 
SirRumpole said:
Power supply isn't even guaranteed for next summer following a round of outages in ageing power stations.

There needs to be a political direction regarding our future energy supply needs, and there just isn't one.

I wonder if politicians even talk to engineers about how to build the things they are suggesting.
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There is a question around a steep increase in electric cars without recognising the need for an upgraded electricity network. It is an urgent conversation. But your right; building a strong renewable energy power system is not on the current governments to do list.:(
 
SirRumpole said:
Existing capacity doesn't "sit idle doing nothing". It pumps water uphill in the hydro stations ready to smooth out increases in power demands. If it was charging electric cars instead then that hydro power would not be available for water heaters or commerce and industry the next day.

Supply and demand have to be matched at all times.
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If there is no excess capacity sitting there, why do “offpeak” times exist?
 
I bought a bunch of dewalt 54 volt that also work on the 18volt gear. So the batteries are a bit more complex then the straight 18v. The old 18v batteries lasted about a decade and are still running.
The newer 54v are fantastic but....
About 1in 4 I have bought have issues.
Either complete failure after a few months. To spontaneous combustion.

Not to sure if the greater amount of electronics in the battery pack itself causes issues or is more prone to bumps. The older gear I could drop 2 stories and was lucky to lose 1 in 10 batteries.

I don't use the gear as much anymore. But the new batteries seem less reliable.

Which is another concern with the cars. Might want to pack a fire extinguisher.
 
moXJO said:
It would be cool if you could use the car battery for electric needs (following on from the leaf) when you got home eg: cooking, tv, etc. Then charge during off-peak.
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The future of the smart grid is this sort of thing,
 
Value Collector said:
If there is no excess capacity sitting there, why do “offpeak” times exist?
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They are simply times of lower consumer demand. But if a coal fired station is running, it's generating and that power has to go somewhere so it goes into offpeak water heating and hydro pumping, it definitely does not do nothing.
 
moXJO said:
It would be cool if you could use the car battery for electric needs (following on from the leaf) when you got home eg: cooking, tv, etc. Then charge during off-peak.
Click to expand...

That would be clever. And of course if you have solar panels you can direct excess power into the car battery.
The Leaf idea is excellent and draws on the concept of a very large virtual battery bank comprising of thousands of car batteries connected to the grid and able to give and as well as receive power.
IMV I think regulators should consider making it a compulsory part of electric car design.
 
SirRumpole said:
They are simply times of lower consumer demand. But if a coal fired station is running, it's generating and that power has to go somewhere so it goes into offpeak water heating and hydro pumping, it definitely does not do nothing.
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Power stations idle back during low demand, and some switch off completely.

If ev’s caused more demand during offpeak times, it would be a good thing for those with capital invested in generation assets.
 
SirRumpole said:
They are simply times of lower consumer demand. But if a coal fired station is running, it's generating and that power has to go somewhere so it goes into offpeak water heating and hydro pumping, it definitely does not do nothing.
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Not necessarily... There is an issue with matching base load coal fired power stations with low demand at night. In fact one of the issues electricity networks face is creeping over voltage which, if it goes too high, an damage electric motors. This is particularity noticeable at night when demand is lower but generation levels can't be lowered.

It would make sense to use excess off peak power to refill small hydro dams. Not sure if that happens at the moment though

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11...ng-increased-electricity-consumption/10460212
 
Like I said, they haven't even standardised plugs and voltages yet, the way it is going, every electric vehicle will have to be fitted with a bootfull of adaptors.
Already the Tesla supercharger, can only be used with Tesla's.
 
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