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Thread: Trial complete: electric vehicles can work in Australia

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    Trial complete: electric vehicles can work in Australia

    An interesting read. Nice to get some facts for a change.

    Trial complete: electric vehicles can work in Australia
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    The range is still the limiting factor. I think whoever did that study is out of touch.
    We did 500km over the weekend..... then what?

    Sent from my GT-I9305T using AULRO mobile app

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    Quote Originally Posted by benji View Post
    The range is still the limiting factor. I think whoever did that study is out of touch.
    We did 500km over the weekend..... then what?

    Sent from my GT-I9305T using AULRO mobile app
    Take the other car? Not the short range car? Stuff a 3kVA genny in the boot? Y'know, some people manage to run out of fuel in their 500km+ enabled fossil cars. It's all about the ability to plan your trip in the most convenient way. Some people just can't manage planning ahead.

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    Telsla in the US has actually built a system of charging points around the car sales.

    Apparently if you buy the larger battery version for their Model S (I think?) you get free charges for the life of the vehicle.

    It's a smart concept. Someone has to put the infrastructure in & when it comes to a 500km range, most standard vehicles have a range of about this - and battery technology is rapidly evolving...

    Providing we still have a choice between dinosaur & electrickery I see it as an exciting prospect...

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    Did you actually read the subtext of the study? It should be titled: EV cars can work in Australia ..... IF THE GOVERNMENT SPENDS MILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO HARD WIRE THOUSANDS OF EV CHARGING STATIONS and worker behaviour changes to allow EV charging breaks when workers can move EV on an off charging stations if and when available.
    Quote Originally Posted by phibbzy View Post
    ....
    Providing we still have a choice between dinosaur & electrickery I see it as an exciting prospect...
    it is still a case of chicken and egg. Until people buy EV, the charging infrastructure won't be installed but people wont buy EV until the charging infrastructure is available, It comes back to the Government paying for a pink batts charging stations roll out and without the charging infrastructure at people's place of work we'll still be using dinosaurs to charge the EV from the grid at home overnight.

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    I would love to have an electric vehicle to run around day to day.

    BUT human behaviour is that they hate to lose a barrow load of money.

    Prius already offer the next best thing to electric motoring but have NO resale value ie people will not buy them with their own money. I sometimes look and see how cheap they are and then think , hmm maybe but then NAAH.

    IMHO the fear is that the battery pack will die and the buyer wil be faced with a $5000 plus outlay or a completely useless sculpture in the garage.

    This is despite a fantastic record AFAIK with taxi use over 10 years in Townsville with almost no battery failures.

    So while they are technically viable, unless some insurance company or the government will insure against battery failure for the life of ownership I cannot see people buying them, let alone the charging issue.
    And of course they are horrendously expensive compared to a primitive old tech internal combustion engine .
    Regards Philip A

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    An electric 4wd would be AWESOME (if the range issues could be addressed).

    Individual motors for each wheel - traction control par excellence.
    Masses of torque available.
    Can't stall the engine....

    Would (or ratherm, could) be a Weapon !!!!
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    Quote Originally Posted by PhilipA View Post
    So while they are technically viable, unless some insurance company or the government will insure against battery failure for the life of ownership I cannot see people buying them, let alone the charging issue.
    And of course they are horrendously expensive compared to a primitive old tech internal combustion engine .
    Regards Philip A
    A potential way around some of the battery failure concerns is to lease the battery rather than buy it outright.
    The current price imbalance is partly volume of manufacture related, low volume generally costs more.

    The Petrol/Electric hybrids (like Prius) have to be the most expensive way to build a vehicle, 2 motors, batteries, complex transmissions and electronics with everything compromised.

    I could easily live with a 135km range for my regular commuting without any need to charge during the day. My charging would be overnight so needs additional renewable generation available (solar thermal, wind, wave).
    I already run to a household of more vehicles than people, so swapping one for electric would be viable given the appropriate vehicle (not a weird Mitsubishi) with a bit of character and fun. Maybe a secondhand Tesla Roadster when the price bottoms out.

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    Remember when LPG was first introduced? I do. There was only one refilling place in a 100KM radius of where we lived. I remember my Dad and his mates saying it would never take off as there are no places to refill. How wrong they were.

    The economics of going to electric will soon become worth while and the infrastructure will eventually follow. Maybe not as fast or wide spread as LPG, but I think there is a market there. Most people travel less than 70KM each way to work anyway, so as a commuter vehicle they make a lot of sense.
    If you need to contact me please email homestarrunnerau@gmail.com - thanks - Gav.

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    If they ever got down to comparable prices as petrol vehicles.

    GM has just abandoned Lithium batteries and gone back to Lead Acid for the Volt, so maybe there are some new tech breakthroughs in lead acid.

    Remember the government virtually gave away LPG conversions for many years and that there is a real cost of operation advantage.

    Yet Ford sold hardly any LPG only Falcons even with operating cost advantage and a wide network.

    Regards Philip A

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