2 EV cars in one minute

dan_b

dan_b

A2OC Donor
Blimey. Last Thursday I was up in central London and something happened which I've never seen before. Within the space of less than one minute, I saw not only a Vauxhall Ampera, but then also a Renault Fluence. What's the world coming to?!
 
I see a fair number of those Nissan Leaf's up here. Also lots of little electric Mitsubishi's, mainly council operated.
Passed my first Ampera the other day too.

These electric cars are becoming pretty popular. Considering one myself, fancy the Leaf but I need a bit more range yet before they're any use for my daily drive.
 
I saw a Leaf as well a few days ago - slightly weird-looking thing but I guess it's aero-optimisation? And I've seen a couple of Amperas out on the road now, and a Tesla. Never seen a Renault Fluence before though.
 
I went to the nearby Climate Friendly Bradford Eco Fair last weekend. http://www.climatefriendlybradfordonavon.co.uk/index.php/news/item/146

They had a Tesla and I recall a Leaf as well as a Renault electric van http://www.wiltshiretimes.co.uk/news/10305948.Plugged_in_at_Bradford_on_Avon_to_green_idea/

I spoke to Kevin Sharpe founder of Zero Carbon World. Kevin has personally funded the installation of 1,000 charging points. Many are going into hotels and also National Trusts properties. Hinted that he could put one in my drive to use my PV energy but my place didn't meet the criteria. He said people could now get a 75% government subsidy which brings the cost down to about £300.

P.S. I was in Durham last year and noticed a charging point in the street with a 4by4 Land Rover or similar. No doubt the driver thought it was a waste of a parking space and took it. But if I had an electric car and made a long journey to Durham with the expectation I would recharge to get back home, then I would be rather peeved to say the least.
 
No not yet Dan I hear good reports about it but you never know if they are just novelty reports. Nissan brought a few up one day on display the start of the office green revolution, they cost around £30k - So Im out
 
Last edited:
I just specced up a Vauxhall Ampera online and that weighed in at £39k - not sure if that includes the Govt £5k incentive?
Either way these are seriously costly cars for what are still highly restrictive vehicles.
 
I would be ok for work and around town with my free charging but then what for longer trips I would need another car so how green does that make my carbon foot print.
For £30K I will wait until they can produce enough power from the solar panels on the top of it to keep me at a steady speed :)
 
The battery technology these cars use is 'legacy'. Exotic chemical and slow to charge. For the money, far too expensive as well. If the graphene energy store is anything like what I hear so far, the commercialisation of them into batteries will be very significant! Pure EVs with practical recharge times will come sooner than we think, then we just need infrastructure. (No doubt followed by the government applying duty on electricity!)
 
Graphene does seem to be a "wonder technology" - let's hope it turns into actual deliverable product!
 
There are other interesting battery technologies in the pipeline as well.

Flow batteries - the charged electrolyte is stored as a fluid which is pumped around within the battery. Because it is a liquid, you could go up to a fuel station & pour in freshly charged fluid in exchange for the spent fluid, hence only taking a few minutes to recharge.

Lithium-air batteries - Instead of a sealed battery, it uses the oxygen in air. Potentially 10x the energy density of normal lithium ion batteries. Hence much further range.
 
MikeMarsUK said:
There are other interesting battery technologies in the pipeline as well.

Flow batteries - the charged electrolyte is stored as a fluid which is pumped around within the battery. Because it is a liquid, you could go up to a fuel station & pour in freshly charged fluid in exchange for the spent fluid, hence only taking a few minutes to recharge.

Lithium-air batteries - Instead of a sealed battery, it uses the oxygen in air. Potentially 10x the energy density of normal lithium ion batteries. Hence much further range.
Click to expand...

The energy density is great but it is still exotic material and chemical process. I think it is more suited to things like laptop or mobile phones (single charge to a week smartphone, how about that!). The deterioration of the battery internals is less of an issue on devices that is renewed regularly. And the small size (hence lower cost) battery makes replacements realistic. The beauty of graphene, if it is as good as it sounds when commercialised, it is the lack of exotic materials, rare earth metals nor intensive manufacturing. When you throw it away, it is just carbon, not toxic by-product, no special treatment required. And because of the apparent ease to produce using current tech and processes, I rather think we'll see it much sooner than other battery tech.
 
That story about Graphene battery cells being produced using a DVD write laser really impressed me I must say - if that's scaleable and produces a robust final product, that could be very interesting!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top