kgwilson

1 hour ago, old man emu said:

A comment like that is a clear indication that you did not watch the video. Raising that point by Evans is completely irrelevant to Atkinson's comments. It smacks of a snide comment in Question Time. Sure, Atkinson is well known to the public through his career in entertainment. In fact Atkinson was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services to drama and charity.

 

Remember that Atkinson got into comedy while he studying  at uni. After receiving top grades in science A levels,he secured a place at Newcastle University, where he received a BSc degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering in 1975. He subsequently obtained an MSc degree in Electrical Engineering at The Queen's College, Oxford in 1975. His master's thesis, published in 1978, considered the application of self-tuning control.

 

Can your Simon Evans match those qualifications? Better still, who the hell is this Evans bloke? Atkinson may have published in an Anti EV tabloid, but the video I posted outlined the connections Evans has with some interesting organisations. Evans is from a website called Carbon Brief, is a UK-based website covering the latest developments in climate science, climate policy and energy policy. We specialise in clear, data-driven articles and graphics to help improve the understanding of climate change, both in terms of the science and the policy response. Which is supported by  European Climate Foundation, which provides our funding. In the spirit of transparency, this funding totalled £1,176,376 for the financial year of 2022. Do I detect a few parts per million of bias?

 

Did Atkinson bag electric vehicles? Hardly at all. He seems to be all for EVs in congested urban areas where travel distances are short, but traffic flow is slow, leading to unnecessary emission of combustion products. Did Atkinson champion alternative combustible fuels? Not so much champion, but acknowledge that they were a possibility with further research.

 

What Atkinson pointed out was that the EV isn't economically viable if people adopt a throw-away mentality to cars by turning them over after a very short period of three years. You'll say that the expected serviceable life of an EV battery is 10 years. I'll go along with that. So what Atkinson is saying is that if you buy any vehicle, no matter what the power source is, don't ditch it in three years. It is better for the environment to use the resources that went into making the vehicle for as long as possible. That, is a convoluted way, is sequestering carbon by not having to use, let's say, the same amount twice more over the ten-year life of the vehicle.

 

However, keeping vehicles for a long period, not matter what power source, seems to be anathema to the European Union which now wants to ban the repair of any vehicle more than 15 years old.

 

 

firstly, no I did not watch the video you posted just the original before it was behind the paywall over 6 months ago. Secondly I don't know who Simon Evans is so he is NOT "My Simon Evans" whatever that is supposed to imply.

There were many errors and "Stop Burning Stuff" a subsidiary of Fully Charged who have just run the Electrify Everything show in Sydney have been correcting these since that time with verified facts. It has been adequately demonstrated by SBS that the Anti EV lobby cherry picked statements from Atkinsons video and have reposted them everywhere much to the delight of the fossil fuel industry. Since the original clip was published it has been modified several times to straighten up facts Like "batteries last 10 years" to batteries last upward of 10 years.

In 2024 the best batteries are produced by CATL & BYD both Chinese and their NMC & LFP batteries are slated to last 20 years or even more, by which time most vehicles will be scrapped. Tesla is now using both BYD & CATL batteries as the US has not been able to keep up with these manufacturers and the legacy auto makes there have produced some very ordinary EVs (Tesla excepted) & they are not selling many. The CATL battery in my EV should last 1 million km with the battery management software installed by SAIC in my car. That is 50 years at the rate I drive but the car will be toast well before then. Also i will be well dead by then.

33 minutes ago, spacesailor said:

Does the " car battery " to house need an " inverter " ,

to get the voltage to 240vX 50 c , ( or French hertz).

We have Tesla & charging lead , BUT the prongs of that charging lead ' plug ' show zero volts whilst plugged into the car .

How to get access to your battery voltage,? .

spacesailor

 

All EVs need an inverter to convert AC from the grid into DC which the batteries need unless you always charge from a public DC fast charger which supplies DC current direct to the battery. I don't know of any EV that does not have an inverter. Most prior to 2020 though had only a one way inverter, that is from AC to DC. Now the majority have reverse inverters so you can select to discharge power from the Type 2 AC cable connection on the car via a discharge adaptor to any normal 230 volt appliance.

The level of discharge is set by the car but also the discharge adaptor. Most manufacturers set the limit in the adaptor to 10 amps. This is because the large majority of people don't understand electricity and will use a household extension lead that only has 1mm  phase and neutral cores, then plug in a 6 outlet power board with multiple appliances and if the current was not restricted the cable would overheat and possibly melt the insulation and catch fire.

Rowan Atkinsons clip was sponsored by the Telegraph, an Anti EV tabloid. Many of the comments have been debunked, including the Volvo reference which is completely incorrect. The problem is because of his elevated status as a famous Actor the anti EV lobby has grasped this with both hands and not checked any of his claims.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/08/fact-check-why-rowan-atkinson-is-wrong-about-electric-vehicles

10 minutes ago, onetrack said:

But every single one of those systems still needs diesel power generation backup.

Why?

7 hours ago, willedoo said:

I remember the 2011 floods in Toowoomba where they got 6" of rain in less than an hour. Toowoomba is 2,000' above sea level and higher than all surrounding country, but it's a big bowl shape with two  parallel north/south creeks running through it. From the east, the land slopes from the rim of the range down to East Creek, then rises up before falling down to West Creek, then rises again to the west. When it floods, which is extremely rare, the runoff comes off four slopes into the centre of the town.

 

This video shows the runoff coming from the west and flowing to West Creek. Two people died in Toowoomba that day, but a heap more drowned around Murphy's Creek and Grantham at the bottom of the range.

 

 

I was living in Buderim at the time and am still amazed at the photos I took of our back yard and pool areas. We had just listed the house for sale and were having an open home the following week. The pool ended up with over 450mm of sand & debris in the bottom from the empty block above us that was starting development. All the shoes, mats etc at the back door were swept around the house and down the drive on to the road. Most were never seen again but I picked up a thong that had ended up in a pile of rubbish about 500 metres away down 2 roads.

I've never seen such intense rainfall before or since.

There are many outback farms that have now invested in their own solar systems and batteries that while there is an initial upfront investment pay for them selves quite rapidly. The system runs all the various households, sheds, pumps, and anything else that needs power including electrically powered farm machinery and vehicles. There are also plenty of small scale wind turbines on offer to supplement these.

Twiggy Forrest is electrifying all of his mines and there are already many electric dump trucks operating, all powered by batteries charged from solar systems.

Yes the dinosaurs still whinge but they will either move on and become part of the future or refuse to acknowledge inevitable change and be confined to the dustbin of history.

Coal fired power stations can only burn coal. There are dual fuel plants that have gas as an alternative but this causes greenhouse emissions and again is a non renewable. Most of the fossil fuel plants are already past their use by date and keeping them going a a very expensive exercise from a maintenance and fuel cost basis let alone their extreme CO2 emissions. Solar and Wind supplemented by battery storage is by far the least expensive even allowing for new transmission lines, as well as pumped hydro are the only viable alternatives. Nuclear is just too expensive with a very long lead time and then we have to work out what to do with the radio active waste.

Now of course there is opposition from farmers out West who aren't keen on transmission poles on their properties so have become the rural equivalent of urban NIMBYs. Most though are happy to have Wind Turbines on their land when they can get 30k annually for each one they host.

South Australia is the jewel in the Australian renewable energy crown. They are producing all of their energy requirements from renewables most of the time now and at times have become a net exporter  of power to Victoria & NSW.

On 11/02/2024 at 9:13 PM, octave said:

BYD breaks ground on its first sodium-ion EV battery plant

 

Less energy density but a third of the price.   

 

 

Sodium ion batteries have been in development for some years and at the beginning of 2024 had managed to get just over 160 Wh/kg at the battery pack level compared to the best NMC batteries approaching 300 Wh/kg. Sodium comes in at 1/3 of the cost of lithium and the batteries operate better at low temperatures reducing the need for battery heating. The tradeoff is less energy density but at much lower cost.

Since the announcement in January of the first Sodium battery powered EV the Chinese JAC the price of lithium began to decline and has been on a downward trend ever since dropping 78% in the last year. Some of the price drop can be attributed to over production and lower demand.

The petrochemical industry has an important role to play even though we need to reduce a lot of the plastic rubbish we produce. The thing is by using this energy as fuel it can be used once and then it's gone with the resultant pollutants remaining in the atmosphere, acidifying oceans and a myriad of other things not conducive to a healthy environment. We need to just stop burning stuff or we will eventually all be stuffed.

You present people with verifiable facts and they still rabbit on about EVs bursting into flames or the risk is too high. Almost everyone has a lithium battery powered mobile phone not to mention the laptop & tablet plus a multitude of other battery powered tools, toys, watches & other items but put it in a car and that's different. Never mind the fact that they don't spontaneously combust, have a safety rating thousands of tomes better that the petrol or diesel car they currently drive. The world of battery powered and electric everything is here, like it or not.

The US has an uncanny knack of alienating the local populations wherever they are involved and that is not only in a hostile situation and it is not only political. Remember to "over paid, over sexed and over here" complaints during WW2. Not many countries want them there but they are often tolerated because of the economic benefits bringing money in to their economies.

There are a multitude of new battery technologies in various stages of development. Whether they get past the prototype or development stage is the $64 question. There are some that have huge capacity and a 100kW battery can be charged from 0 to 100% in under 5 minutes. These are still under development. Others have even more amazing specs. The big but is how long will they last. Until they resolve the high failure rate due to super fast charging, problems will continue. The heat generated is huge and that is all lost energy so there is a penalty to pay. They have been experimenting with liquid nitrogen to cool the charging equipment so that indicate the amount of heat generated.

MY EVSE equipment consumes 7-7.1 kW when charging my car at it's maximum of 6.6kW. That is the maximum capacity of the on board inverter to convert AC to DC. The process of delivery through the heavy duty cable produces some heat and the cars inverter converts the AC to DC and there are kVArh (kilovolt Ampere reactive hour) losses as well.

The high speed Superchargers charge in DC direct so they can be very fast. The Hyundai iOniq 5 can DC charge at 350kW so 5 minutes on one of these DC chargers will provide 100km of range. Maximum DC charge for my car is 140kW.

I was aware of all this before I made my decision to buy the car. Now with 8.6kW of solar panels my home charging costs have dropped to zero (once the cost of the system is paid off).

It's a big contrast the human behaviour as well. We seem to emulate possums.

If it is taking a casualty from the front line back to a medivac centre you can guarantee it will hug the ground to avoid being seen by the enemy or radar & it will know how to avoid objects and change course at will to avoid detection.

It is the modern empire in decline and it has been going on for some years now. They just can't seem to accept that they are no longer the worlds police force and can't understand why nobody likes them any more.

If he keeps on buying cigarettes he will eventually end up with a smoking related disease or go broke.

They could have filled them with high explosive and used them once as a super high speed drone. Just an initial setup and course programmed in to them. No maintenance required. The Kremlin would be a worthy target or even one of Putins mansions.

And we still don't have any fuel standards just like Russia and Mexico.

They would have been happy with the Taipans but we won't give them those. The MH90 is a good helicopter but our military got hold of it and made a pigs ear out of it

There are many issues with in wheel motors and its all around vibration and damping due to the wheel taking all the shock load. There is a lot of research and work going in to how to make these  reliable.

Most of the work has already been done with ICE vehicles with strong chassis and suspension, wheels and tyres and good ones are not cheap.

The advantage of the EV is no requirement for fancy transmissions. 2 speed electric would work easily and you could have one for each wheel but front and rear should suffice. and they do not require any mechanical linking.

Torque is a huge advantage as it is there from almost zero rpm & not reliant on an engine to wind up. Even in my 2wd EV the instant torque is something you have to experience to know how amazing it is.

Smallish swappable batteries would seem like a good idea as one could be on charge using solar panels while the other is in use. In China there are a number of EVs with swappable batteries that take less than 5 minutes to swap out. Then again if the battery was a decent size, say 300-400 km range, overnight charging would be easier.

Towing capacity would not be a problem either with power available. Look at diesel electric trains. The power train is electric. Direct diesel does not cut the mustard. But the battery needs to be a decent size.

Ground clearance would seem relatively easy. 4WDs are tall anyway and the battery could be right under the tray. The battery in my EV is as wide as the car & from firewall to in front of the motor at the rear but only 115mm high. A 4WD could be half that length but twice as high or more.

Wading depth and waterproofing are easier as well. A converted land cruiser to electric spent several hours driving under Darwin Harbour last year.

Weight is the only real issue and this is dependent on the size of the battery. My EV weighs 1670kg but feels as light as a feather & far easier to drive than an ICE car. It is the silent application of power and instant torque that provides this IMO.

There are plenty of electric utes and trucks available, just not in Australia. 200k seems a lot for a converted Landcruiser but then anything designed and built in Australia is going to be expensive simply because of low volumes compared to the development/build costs.

LDV have an electric double cab Ute in Australia. It looks good but I don't know about its capabilities. Range isn't huge at 330km but it has 130 kW of power & 330 Nm of torque but at about 93k it is more than twice the price of the diesel equivalent. Still with solar charging it would be a good option for anyone that has that power available though it would take a long time to break even. 45k buys a lot of diesel.