EV (electric vehicle) News and Discussion

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#1869798 20-Sep-2017 20:56

Linuxluver: Another big electric vehicle. This time it's a bus setting a new distance record for any EV on a single change: 1770km.

It has a 660kWh battery and can recharge to full in one hour.

Wow.

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2017/09/a-proterra-electric-bus-just-drove-1100-miles-on-a-single-charge/

Just saw it on the NZ FB page and came to share here too 😂

Really amazing to be able to charge 660kWh in 1 hour. Can’t imagine the cable size for that amp age though!

And while link clicking down that whole page...

From 2016:

Wrightspeed recently won a contract to supply the New Zealand cities of Auckland and Wellington with electric buses, and Wright told us his company is also in talks with Mack Trucks to supply an electric powertrain for that company's LR chassis. But Wrightspeed's vehicles—like those from Proterra, BYD, and soon Mercedes-Benz—are optimized for the stop-start grind of urban life, not cruising along the highways at 70mph. And remember, the relationship between speed and drag is non-linear, so you need more energy to move an EV at highway speeds than the 25-35mph of city life.

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2016/08/is-elon-musk-serious-about-the-tesla-semi/

I wonder when these are due to hit the streets?

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#1869875 21-Sep-2017 00:27

I rather liked the idea that Auckland transport was looking at for an electric passenger train for Auckland to pukekohe.
For those that don't know, the train line stops being electrified after the last main Auckland commuter station heading south. So there is a problem if you want to run electric trains the extra 20km or so to pukekohe.
Turns out they are developing battery electric trains that could charge while using the overhead network, then run on battery for quite a while until they get back to the overhead power lines.

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Linuxluver

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#1869881 21-Sep-2017 00:41

Bollinger's electric SUV is looking good, though it has a way to go before it will be available in any significant numbers.

0-60mph in 4.5 seconds.
200 mile range.

Not bad.

http://bgr.com/2017/09/19/bollinger-b1-specs-release-price/

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Linuxluver

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#1869882 21-Sep-2017 00:44

robjg63: I rather liked the idea that Auckland transport was looking at for an electric passenger train for Auckland to pukekohe.
For those that don't know, the train line stops being electrified after the last main Auckland commuter station heading south. So there is a problem if you want to run electric trains the extra 20km or so to pukekohe.
Turns out they are developing battery electric trains that could charge while using the overhead network, then run on battery for quite a while until they get back to the overhead power lines.

This also has interesting implications for the main trunk line. The leaking of the business case KiwiRail used to justify replacing electric with diesel shows it was a shonky stitch up and the two electric options were the better way to go. But someone didn't want voters to know, so the original business case was redacted to conceal how dodgy the arguments were. KiwiRail had argued electrics slowed trains down by 40 minutes changing engines. In fact,
it was only 5 minutes. But then it showed electrics are 15-20 mins faster on the main line than diesel. So switching from electric to diesel will actually, REALLY slow the trains down. So who bribed who then?

An option like this could have improved the case for electric even more.

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kingdragonfly

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#1870698 22-Sep-2017 08:52

Strange Italian EV's. Will probably never appear in NZ

Tazzari: Italian Style EVs - Formula E

Aredwood

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#1871270 22-Sep-2017 23:04

Linuxluver:
robjg63: I rather liked the idea that Auckland transport was looking at for an electric passenger train for Auckland to pukekohe.
For those that don't know, the train line stops being electrified after the last main Auckland commuter station heading south. So there is a problem if you want to run electric trains the extra 20km or so to pukekohe.
Turns out they are developing battery electric trains that could charge while using the overhead network, then run on battery for quite a while until they get back to the overhead power lines.

This also has interesting implications for the main trunk line. The leaking of the business case KiwiRail used to justify replacing electric with diesel shows it was a shonky stitch up and the two electric options were the better way to go. But someone didn't want voters to know, so the original business case was redacted to conceal how dodgy the arguments were. KiwiRail had argued electrics slowed trains down by 40 minutes changing engines. In fact,
it was only 5 minutes. But then it showed electrics are 15-20 mins faster on the main line than diesel. So switching from electric to diesel will actually, REALLY slow the trains down. So who bribed who then?

An option like this could have improved the case for electric even more.

One of the big problems with electric trains is you need a busy line to make the economies work out. As electrical capacity is expensive to install. You need really big transformers and cables to supply enough power to run an electric train. And due to voltage drop, you have to split the electric network into sections, with each section having it's own transformers and supply equipment.

So you end up with really high fixed costs, even if you will only be running 1 train per day on an electrified line. But this also means that if you will be running lots of trains per day on the same line. The incremental cost of running each new train is very small. So electric trains make far more sense on urban lines that are really busy, due to having both passengers and freight on them.

As for battery trains, Since diesel trains are actually diesel - electric (the diesel engines run generators, which in turn drive electric motors on the wheels) Why couldn't they have have simply retrofitted power converters and overhead pickups to the diesel electric trains. So they would only need to use diesel when they are running on non electrified lines. No need to change engines, And kiwirail would be able to negotiate much cheaper rates for the electricity that the electric trains use. As they will be able to use full diesel when peak loads are high on the electricity network. And switch to diesel when wholesale power prices are spiking. A massive reduction in electricity costs, for only a small amount of diesel usage compared to diesel only. And if wholesale power prices are spiking, Coal and diesel will be in use anyway for supplying grid power. So no environmental harm for using diesel in that situation. (Im using the same definition that Flick electric use for spikes - anything over 30c per unit - Long term average prices are spiking less than 1% of the time)

And of course backup - if there is a power outage the trains can still run. And yet another advantage, Instead of having to make an all or nothing decision of electric Vs diesel. Kiwirail would be able to analyse each section of line. And only use electric on those sections that have enough trains running on them to justify going electric. And the electric network could then be expanded in small steps as well, matching growth in demand.

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#1871315 23-Sep-2017 08:45

Linuxluver: Bollinger's electric SUV is looking good, though it has a way to go before it will be available in any significant numbers.

0-60mph in 4.5 seconds.
200 mile range.

Not bad.

http://bgr.com/2017/09/19/bollinger-b1-specs-release-price/

I'd seriously consider that if they soften the look. If I wanted to drive a tank, I'd join the army.

networkn

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#1871316 23-Sep-2017 08:47

What I want is something that performs like a BMW 3 Series, in a Wagon, so 0-60 in 5 seconds, excellent handling (adaptive suspension and steering, AWD ideally), with range of 300-350KM's for under $100K, and I'll switch. I want to be able to tow a small trailer too.

As I understand it the Telsa meets some of those, but it handles like a train car, with underdeveloped steering and has pretty average grip.

Linuxluver

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#1872167 24-Sep-2017 20:10

networkn:

Linuxluver: Bollinger's electric SUV is looking good, though it has a way to go before it will be available in any significant numbers.

0-60mph in 4.5 seconds.
200 mile range.

Not bad.

http://bgr.com/2017/09/19/bollinger-b1-specs-release-price/

I'd seriously consider that if they soften the look. If I wanted to drive a tank, I'd join the army.

I know, right?! :-)

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MarkH67

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#1875012 30-Sep-2017 08:57

Last year a friend of my bought a Ford Focus 2L turbo diesel, I've driven it and it is quite a quick little beast. This week he showed me a quote he got from the Ford service agents in town for oil, filters and labour for a standard service (engine & trans) - total cost of $1,150. Wow, I'm glad I didn't get one of those for commuting to work.

Now my friend wishes he had the money to buy a Nissan Leaf like mine. I don't blame him, I'm so glad I've got my Leaf and not his Focus.

When I calculated how much I'd save changing my commuting vehicle from a Honda ST1300 to a Nissan Leaf I had thought that maybe the savings wouldn't have been as much compared to a car because $420/yr was due to the pricey motorcycle rego and $500/yr from the difference in cost of tyres. Looking at what servicing costs I'm thinking that the savings could be even greater if comparing the Leaf to a turbo diesel car. I imagine that some cars must have even more expensive servicing, I've never owned a Euro car to experience how expensive they are to service.

networkn

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#1875017 30-Sep-2017 09:15

MarkH67:

Last year a friend of my bought a Ford Focus 2L turbo diesel, I've driven it and it is quite a quick little beast. This week he showed me a quote he got from the Ford service agents in town for oil, filters and labour for a standard service (engine & trans) - total cost of $1,150. Wow, I'm glad I didn't get one of those for commuting to work.

Now my friend wishes he had the money to buy a Nissan Leaf like mine. I don't blame him, I'm so glad I've got my Leaf and not his Focus.

When I calculated how much I'd save changing my commuting vehicle from a Honda ST1300 to a Nissan Leaf I had thought that maybe the savings wouldn't have been as much compared to a car because $420/yr was due to the pricey motorcycle rego and $500/yr from the difference in cost of tyres. Looking at what servicing costs I'm thinking that the savings could be even greater if comparing the Leaf to a turbo diesel car. I imagine that some cars must have even more expensive servicing, I've never owned a Euro car to experience how expensive they are to service.

Just because your friend got ripped off at a dealer for servicing doesn't make a Ford a bad buy. There are plenty of places around that could have done the work he got done for a fraction of that.

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MarkH67

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#1875021 30-Sep-2017 10:11

networkn:

Just because your friend got ripped off at a dealer for servicing doesn't make a Ford a bad buy. There are plenty of places around that could have done the work he got done for a fraction of that.

You call that a rip-off? Buy a Mercedes and take it to an authorised Mercedes dealer for a service, I understand that this will involve needing to increase your mortgage and offering up your first born.

I'm not sure what sort of price it should cost for my friends service but when I next talk to him I'll ask if he's gotten a quote from anyone else. I've had servicing done on my Honda at a motorcycle shop that isn't a Honda dealer, they can still get genuine OEM Honda parts and do a good job just like the Honda dealer would. The quote my friend got included 3 & a 1/2 hours of labour, I'm not sure if that is too much or if it just takes that long to do the job - if that is how long it takes then obviously it will cost quite a bit wherever he goes.

Linuxluver

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#1875056 30-Sep-2017 12:35

networkn:

Just because your friend got ripped off at a dealer for servicing doesn't make a Ford a bad buy. There are plenty of places around that could have done the work he got done for a fraction of that.

I guess the other relevant aspect is that the work needs to be done at all, by anyone.......fixing stuff that doesn't even exist in an EV.

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MarkH67

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#1875060 30-Sep-2017 12:53

Linuxluver:

I guess the other relevant aspect is that the work needs to be done at all, by anyone.......fixing stuff that doesn't even exist in an EV.

Even worse - it isn't actually fixing anything, this is normal maintenance. If I had to do this with my ~20,000km per year of driving then it would be a fairly regular expense.

Even if someone else would do the same job for $700 or whatever, it is still a chunk of money to be spending on a regular basis.

MikeB4

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#1879149 7-Oct-2017 16:59

Some good growth figures here

http://www.wheeltalk.co.nz/news/ev-interest-growing-quickly

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

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