Thread: EV general discussion

Originally Posted by DiscoDB

I did look into getting a natural gas generator at one stage when we were experience a lot of power outages, but happy with my petrol generator to just keep the fridge going.

Ditto - if we lose power this summer I'll most likely just use the Honda 3kw generator to run the fridge and a fan or cooler. Last heatwave we all slept comfortably on the new part of the house with the solar passive construction and concrete floors that stay the same temp all year round with just a Ryobi fan going.

Originally Posted by Tins

Made some pretty big holes in some stone in QLD using Nitropril and some gelignite, James. Thing is, you could do pretty much anything to the stuff with little risk. Needs a detonator to set it off, and most folk don't carry those in their Kenworths.

it should also be noted that it wasn’t the diesel that went bang, James.

I bet he won't recharge that rig in his bedroom along side his scooter, after this.

Originally Posted by scarry

They were lucky it wasn't carrying Petrol or Avgas.

As i have said before,insurance companies will just walk away from these sorts of risks.

Either that, or we will ALL be paying exorbitant premiums whether you even own one of these or not.

Originally Posted by Homestar

Might be in a handful of locations but forget it out of the city - that's more power for 1 charger than most towns consume. I just did a job where there was 16,750KVA of generation installed (16 x 20' contanerised generators which were consuming around 3,000 litres of diesel an hour between them) - so less than 10 chargers worth at say 1,500KW for these super duper solid state batteries if they were all being used together.

We were running the towns of Charlton, Wycheproof, Boort, Wedderburn, St Arnaud, Donald and surrounds with them during a 66KV maintenance outage with these gens - Donald and St Arnaud were drawing around 1,600KW most of the day - 2 decent towns - same as 1 charger going full boar... There isn't capacity anywhere on this system to install even one charger above around 350KW. I just can't see what difference solid state batteries will make as their charging speed will be limited by the chargers - which is limited by the network. I can also assure you there are no plans to upgrade any of these lines to cope with EV's either as there is no return on investment and the networks are privately owned.

It goes back to what I've been saying for ages - where is the power coming from for this 'EV Revolution' - and even if it can be made, how is it going to get where it's needed? We're not talking about millions of dollars to make this work but 100's of Billions. Project Energy connect - which would be a drop in the ocean compared to what would be required to bring EV's to everyone is going to nudge 3 billion and that's just one backbone upgrade for the renewables that's coming, nothing to get any extra power to towns, just so we can start switching off the coal and getting the power from new locations back to the terminal stations.

Sorry, rant over - I'm sure someone will call me an EV hater again for pointing out inconvenient pesky facts...

Not one issue with your thoughts at all Sir!

All of the places you mention are poorly serviced by the grid. A black out in South West for a few hours three days ago was not seen by many! It took the alarms for lots of vulnerable people offline as well as all vaccine and normal fridges and freezers.

I suspect sadly this issue is not just an occasional issue with the Un science-based experiment we are seeing in Australia.

On EVs specific- MG4 has hit 3000 km in a week. Not happy with the 1percent stuff ups in tech in 'Lane Keeping' Turn it off and it still adds steering in an interesting to alarming manner. Chatting with a Merc ECQ driver in Ballarat showed me it is not just ME! It seems to be about 400 km range at 100kph. The Merc ecq was not 650!!!

Home again after 3 weeks of Dementia assistance. He got to pick up the new one. Now parked in Ballarat which is both good and horrible at times for him. New car is Called Dementia blue replacing the Chemo express shorter range one.

A black out noted between Maryborough and Avoca last night despite all the wind. I am not anti wind! It's good to be home. Noted several times I cannot fit nearly as much in my EV as my Disco! Left my bike in Queenscliff. It moved to Ballarat to late for my return today.

Originally Posted by DiscoDB

They would probably recommend not parking your EV in salt water.


But do avoid using salt water to fight the fire.

Yes, well it was a joke.....

Although Floridians found that salt water can come to them if the winds are strong enough.




And, people are going to drive their EV/PHEV off roaders to places like Fraser.

Originally Posted by Tins

Yes, well it was a joke.....

Although Floridians found that salt water can come to them if the winds are strong enough.




And, people are going to drive their EV/PHEV off roaders to places like Fraser.

I saw an EV off Fraser John Had a chat via an underwater telephone as well

"The RAN Oberon Class


Oberon Class -Â The First Australian Submarine Squadron

The “Oberon” class was one of the most advanced type of conventional submarines in any navy, combining high speed with great underwater endurance. They were attack submarines, with both anti-surface and anti-submarine capabilities. Designed specifically for silent running, they were amongst the quietest operational submarines in the world, including nuclear submarines.  They were therefore extremely difficult to detect and were ideally suited to operations on an enemy’s “doorstep”."

They had a "480 cell battery"

Lead acid and bloody heavy

Originally Posted by NavyDiver

They had a "480 cell battery"

Lead acid and bloody heavy

Well, various navies learned a long time ago that mixing seawater with sub batteries was not a good thing, and took steps to prevent it. Of course, keeping water outside of submarines is a good idea. Kinda the point, really. But damaged subs, say in WWII, might have been able to manage small leaks as long as the air remained breathable. Chlorine gas is not something you want to breathe.

Kudos, though, James. I think the word claustrophobia was invented for submariners, astronauts, and tank crews.