EV general discussion

I'm not sure how to put this in here.. but Mazda are saying the switch to EV's is crazy and if we just ignore it for a while some synthetic fuel or something will come along which will enable us to keep burning stuff etc.

Cynically I see it as another jap car company who has been caught napping and has no decent EV's or EV inertia trying to hope this would all go away.

Mazda released an SUV here a couple of years ago. It was expensive rubbish, and only sold a handful. If I was being unkind I'd suggest that they were all to dealer principals for their wifes car, who had little input into the decision. They had a tiny battery, were inefficient etc. Maybe they need to try a bit harder because yes your EV's are rubbish.

Mazda says EVs “don’t really save the planet”, urges rethink on well-to-wheel emissions | CarExpert

Mazda have a lot invested in their "Skyactiv" technology.

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Originally Posted by Captain_Rightfoot

I'm not clear who is buying the series/defender conversions. I don't think they would be exceedingly useful for very much. They would be a fun city car and perhaps fun for short forays off road. While I'm sure they would be awesome as a farm vehicle - I doubt many famers would see that as capital well spent. Perhaps for wealthy hobby farmers. Having said that there are a lot of vehicles that are bought for fun, and in the volumes these would sell I wish them all the best. Why not?

When I think of what I use my 4x4 for.. it's hard to see a usage case for an electrified defender. It's hard enough to keep your phone charged on fraser let alone an inefficient 4x4 EV.

My argument has never been that EV's are useful for everything. Just that they are pretty useful, and the majority of people I see in the city don't use the capabilities of their suv's, let alone proper 4x4. In my suburban street I reckon there are probably 12 4x4/dualcabs, and another 7 op 8 or so "SUVs". of the SUVs, I've not seen any evidence of any of them being used for anything other than city duties. Of the 4x4/dualcabs, Certainly my defender, and there is another couple down the street which I know have been off road at some point but are also used as city cars. My neighbours for instance, have a jeep 4x4 and a ranger. In the couple of years they have been here, I've never even seen the cars dirty let alone recovering from a trip to the beach or bush. The jeep is the wifes just for school run and the ranger is just I suspect for ego stroking. When they tell us they are going on holiday - it's always Bali. :o

I remember discussing cars with a workmate a few years back. He was after a new family vehicle for ferrying their four kids around. I suggested a VW caddy, and a Carnival if I remember. The message got back to me "Who do you think I am - Postman Pat?". And they bought their prado.

I really do think people underestimate the power of car company marketing. They've been nibbling at it since forever. 4x4's are the cash cow that they just need to keep milking. I really do think that for a very significant majority of Australians living in cities could have an EV for their next car, if they were to objectively assess it but they are swayed by marketing. I advocate that let's just electrify the easy things first! When I see people in shiny 4x4's that have clearly never been off road I just start humming...

EDIT: I acknowledge that the term SUV is problematic, and some of the cars I called SUV's are in fact just boxy bodies on cars. They are just the new cooler station wagons.
EDIT: Objective thinking when it comes to car purchase decisions is certainly not a given, and I don't know how we can stop the firehose of car company marketing pushing 4x4.

https://youtu.be/Ijlk0GTQbB4?si=sdwYtMNwL_9D0Gum

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In 2010 a female friend asked me for advice on 4x4s, as she wanted to buy one, brand new.
First question I asked was how often and where do you want to off road. My next question was, obviously, why do you want a 4x4? The reply, room for two dogs and something easier to enter and egress than the small sedan she was driving.
Toyota had just released the Rav in two wheel drive, so I had to suggest that.
She has no brand loyalty, knew what accessories and colour she wanted. Fifteen years, almost 200k kays, regular servicing and a clutch later, she still loves the car. It's hard to beat Corolla reliability, shame about the paint falling off in sheets.

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Originally Posted by johnp38

Typical forum thread, off on a tangent, now who is going to get back on track to EV chatter.

I quite like the Edison Motors setup of big generator to recharge big battery while having the electric diffs.

A D3/D4 would be a good beast to put electric motors in place of the diffs and being chassis/inboard mounted should last longer than the diff mounted live axle setups.

But these conversions are so costly unless you have play money or a business case forget it.

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Edison do interesting conversions, in a D3/4 I think you could getaway with one Tesla motor in place of the gearbox. Edison uses two as they are converting much heavier logging trucks which probably need two motors and they say removing the drive shaft makes a lot more room for batteries between the chassis rails.

I like the Generator EV as I'm not sure we have enough materials for electric cars for everyone, this way fuel consumption should drop drastically, especially if the engine is diesel not petrol, hybrids are best paired with petrols as the electric motor provides the torque and the petrol can be tuned for more efficiency at higher revs or even better an Atkinson cycle type.