Thread: EV general discussion

I’ve used Honda and Yamaha in various Hire fleets - nothing wrong with either but the Hondas are a little more robust. The Yamaha’s were more likely to come back with cosmetic damage and I think the Hondas are a tad quieter. We only use Hondas now, but you couldn’t go wrong with either. They are expensive yes but not overhyped IMO.

They only look expensive because of an all the garbage on the market these days building to a price and not quality.

Originally Posted by Homestar

A bit of a wake up call in the colder parts of the USA at the moment - Electric vehicle owners face huge challenges amid Chicago cold snap – NBC Chicago

And so much for 'cheaper to run' - https://www.drive.com.au/news/evie-h...o-40-per-cent/ Using a 150KW charger would now be the same price as running something like a Mazda 3 or equivalent - except the EV costs twice as much to start with so those needing to use public charging aren't clawing back any of the purchase cost any more. Something the EV brigade were touting as one of the biggest benefits...

Those calculations are wrong.. at least for me. Even if I "fill" at the most expensive fast charger, and budget on using more than I usually do.. that's 15KWH/100 *.73 = 10.95. Diesel is cheap at the moment - around $2 in my local area. So divide that by 2 and my ICE car would have to use less than 5.4l/100. Consider something as big as a MY and in the absolute worst case for the EV and best case for the ICE you're probably only going to come out similar.

In the real world I tend to use more like 13 kwh/100, and in 7 months of owning the car I've never needed to charge outside the home. So we're about to pass 10,000k at probably 10c/kwh.

I haven't been to a petrol station (or fast charger) since I returned from Birdsville in early October. So the reality is our EV is robbing boring round town miles from the defender, which is $24 per hundred.

I've registered for an Origin deal where if I connect my charger to controlled load I'll pay $8c per kwh. It will mean they will turn my charger off between 5 and 9, but I never charge then anyway. I won't be able to negate solar per se.. but I think it might be better off. So the worst I'll pay is 8c/kwh.

Following on from the above calculation at 15 kwh per hundred, means I'm paying $1.20 per hundred in the EV as opposed to $24 per hundred for the Defender.

EDIT: and whatever you do don't mention the defender maintenance costs. My 10k EV service is moving the tyres front to back.

Originally Posted by Tombie

When SA went dark for 4 days, local service stations were running Gensets to keep on pumping.

For added security, many in this town now keep tanks full(ish) or hold reserves in drums.

Ironically?, we also have battery reserves (utilising solar on van etc) to keep instant HWS system running. As well as utilising boat fuel tanks as storage for keeping the good old Honda EU22i running when required.

The Japanese house manufacturers - which include Toyota, by the way - have long sold houses with integrated solar panels, batteries and cars (since it'd always been the case there that you could run the house off the car batteries if you needed to: I'd presumed that was the case here too, but apparently not).

What they found during Fukushima, when the supply lines disintegrated and there was no fuel for ICE vehicles (or heating), was that it was actually the EVs that were more resilient because they were charging them off the roof-top solar and/or house batteries and so they still had transport. That's why a lot of Japanese started going fully solar/electric.

Originally Posted by Tombie

As per other responses, we have a cut over switch on the main board. Conveniently next to the boat.

Tap an extended run time hose to the boat tank…

Then switch house power over and run just the following:
(We have 2 EU22s so pair them if we want more)

Single generator:
- 400l fridge freezer
- TV
- Internet
- 1x ceiling fan
- Instant gas HWS

If we run both linked we can add one of the AC units

Yep, a islanding switch is in my planning list too. I've got a Honda EU30i. I presume that it'll run the fridges, some fans and a portable evaporative cooler. On really, really hot days when the power goes off we find that the concrete floors stay cool, so we sleep on them on camping mats with a battery fan going, and the kids happily sleep when it's still 30C+ outside.

Edit: EU30i, not EU30is.

Originally Posted by Arapiles

The Japanese house manufacturers - which include Toyota, by the way - have long sold houses with integrated solar panels, batteries and cars (since it'd always been the case there that you could run the house off the car batteries if you needed to: I'd presumed that was the case here too, but apparently not).

What they found during Fukushima, when the supply lines disintegrated and there was no fuel for ICE vehicles (or heating), was that it was actually the EVs that were more resilient because they were charging them off the roof-top solar and/or house batteries and so they still had transport. That's why a lot of Japanese started going fully solar/electric.

So EV’s will be better after the apocalypse then? That’s cool, I’ll wait until then to buy one.

Originally Posted by Homestar

So EV’s will be better after the apocalypse then? That’s cool, I’ll wait until then to buy one.

Never say never. Fully understand why may do not or cannot use the current ev battery types.


Why electric vehicles struggle in extreme cold - BBC Reel

This link video explains issue with cold and offered a few ideas on what to do and what not to do.

The slower chemical reaction in Lithium Iron impact on range (25%) and charging speeds was interesting.

My main gripe is range reduction at normal high way speeds. I can drive Melb- Port fairy without charging now. Thats better. What's not is "Range of up to 435km (WLTP)‡" is a lot further than 290ish km to here.

The remaining 10% the other day was not in my view fantastic.

This site suggests solid state are better in cold "Do Solid-State Battery Electrolytes Like Low Temperatures?

Solid batteries seem set to beat liquid-electrolyte lithium-ion across this dimension. That’s because the solid version does not become sluggish, or freeze in cold weather as liquid electrolyte does. Whereas the ions in lithium-ion batteries slow down considerably, resulting in slower charging and recharging, and reduced capacity.
The commonest lithium-ion battery electrolyte is a lithium-ion salt in an organic solvent. However, solid-state alternatives open up a wider range of options, including ceramics, polymers, and sulfides. None of these freeze or become sluggish in cold winters, meaning solid-state batteries continue to perform well in icy weather.
But unfortunately this does not mean that these revolutionary batteries are completely immune from winter cold. This is because solid batteries contain more than just electrolytes. They also have temperature-sensitive electrodes. And moreover, their solid electrolytes become fragile, and that needs more work to resolve too."

Personally I want to see real world result not just claims of course.

FCEV results are a bit better still a big hit "Toyota is reporting impressive ranges for its test fleet. The test vehicles were tested in extreme heat and cold conditions. The company claims there are no major problems with its hydrogen fuel cells vehicles and considers them to be the best option for long-range applications. Further research is needed to confirm that the technology can withstand heavy-duty applications.One study compared hydrogen-powered buses with battery-electric buses in extreme weather conditions. The study found that battery-electric buses lost upto 37 percent of their range when temperatures dropped below five degrees Celsius. In the same conditions, hydrogen-powered buses lost only 23.7%. The study team used data collected from eight US transit agencies, including four that had hydrogen fuel cell buses and four which used battery electric buses." Link

Of interest runners can run faster when its cooler

My biggest hurdle to ever owning an EV is how I'd charge it. Street parking at home and street parking at work. Council are already cracking down on extension leads in trees and across footpaths and we've all been sent a letter saying there will be heavy fines for anyone caught doing this due to public safety concerns. So, short of stopping on my way home from work for a couple of hours to recharge (Fat chance) then I'm walking... I know many in similar situations, so even if we wanted to - how would we make them work?

While I'm probably in the minority there are 100,000 of people in inner city and suburbia in the same situation. In England people are getting chargers put o their front fence and hoping a parking spot in the street is available in front of it when they get home - punch ons have occurred already about 'you're in my spot' issues.

The future's looking so good...