EV general discussion

That's just normal grid upgrades. EVs are only a tiny part of that. The major cause is people running more and more electric devices in their homes, workplaces and schools e.g every high school student now needs a laptop.
State governments and power companies are moving to upgrade their infrastructure to meet future demand. The East Coast power grid is being connected more closely all the time, so that power generated anywhere with a grid connection can be moved anywhere as needed. SA and Qld power NSW and Victoria quite often.
It's just progress.
The charging issue will be solved when our federal government finally copies other countries and requires charging points to be included in service stations, parking lots and workplaces. One day, this will be considered a normal cost of development, like supplying power or water is today.

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Originally Posted by PhilipA

I looked at the practicality of a used Nissan Leaf as they are under $20K second hand and usually have about 120Km range left.

My wife does only about 20Km a day but every 2 weeks or so will go to a golf course maybe 100Km away.

We live at the Central Coast and my son lives in Kellyville so about 160KM or more on the M1 which of course can have an accident at any time.

So this just disqualifies a Nissan Leaf .
This is what is available today , not maybe 10 years time.

Regards PhilipA

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Still, for about $30K you can import a current e+ Leaf that has about 350kms range.

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Originally Posted by DiscoMick

Lots of second hand PHEVs and Hybrids around. They are a good interim choice until EVs take over.

I'm seeing lots of hybrid Camrys and Corollas, for example. The economics definitely stack up for them. That's why so many taxis are hybrid Camrys. Taxi operators are totally hard-nosed and wouldn't go hybrid until it saved them money.
What's not to like about your first 20ks or so being on electric? That covers about three quarters of most peoples' trips.

I posted a link above to a site with the details of all the EVs currently sold in Oz. Some have a range of well over the 3-400 Ks I mentioned above.

It just surprises me that some people are determined to reject EVs, even when they have to contort themselves and stand on their heads to do it. It's not political, it's just progress. What's to fear?

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I like these:

J-Spec Imports

Up to 1500 km per 50 litre tank.

Featured Nissan Notes at J-Spec Imports

Nissan is (apparently) bringing in the X-Trail with this range-extender driveline:

Look out, Toyota RAV4 Hybrid! 2022 Nissan X-Trail e-Power to debut next year, with new Qashqai and other hybrids to follow - Car News | CarsGuide

Why e-Power will be a game-charger for Nissan - Car News | CarsGuide

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Originally Posted by scarry

Even though the facts in the article may not be correct,the issue of where the power will come from and the huge upgrades that will be needed to the current electrical system is another issue many seem to have forgotten about,or ignore.

Sure some may come from solar,if people have a system that will do the job at home,but many will be using charging stations elsewhere.

As an example imagine the power that needs to be available for a medium sized shopping centre that has a couple of hundred charging points.

Not one service station that has been built in Aus in the last two years,and that is around 200,has any infrastructure for charging EV’s.This is due to the huge cost of infrastructure to provide the power that is needed.

As I have said before,sure they may suit some,but for many they won’t.

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• Charging at home uses about the same electricity as an electric oven - should we restrict their use too?

• Public charging stations would be dealt with the way we currently deal with current heavy electricity users:

https://thedriven.io/2020/11/12/victorian-asked-to-ditch-out-dated-network-fees-making-ev-fast-chargers-unviable/

You'll note that there's an existing regulatory scheme for heavy users of electricity.

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Originally Posted by DiscoMick

That's just normal grid upgrades. EVs are only a tiny part of that. The major cause is people running more and more electric devices in their homes, workplaces and schools e.g every high school student now needs a laptop..

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Infrastructure and power up grades for charging EV’s will be on top of normal upgrades.

EV charging and the power used, once they supposedly become mainstream will be huge.

Someone else mentioned it’s like running an oven.Not really,when does a domestic oven run for 6 or more hours,and with fast charging,it’s huge current draws,for a shorter time,completely different from an oven.
This is power used on top of everything else that uses power.
The extra power and infrastructure isn’t going to just appear from somewhere.

As for schools,in SEQ,the biggest issue is the power used by the AC units.On top of the load of all the existing AC units,someone decided to install thousands more,and many schools are now waiting for power upgrades,which will take at least 18 months to complete.Many also need the installation of transformers,and supplying and installing these is a very slow process with Energex.So all these new,installed AC units are sitting on site doing nothing,and won’t be operational for quite a while.

The same sort of issues will happen with charging points,mains upgrades,new transformers,and on it goes.

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Originally Posted by scarry

As for schools,in SEQ,the biggest issue is the power used by the AC units.On top of the load of all the existing AC units,someone decided to install thousands more,and many schools are now waiting for power upgrades,which will take at least 18 months to complete.Many also need the installation of transformers,and supplying and installing these is a very slow process with Energex.So all these new,installed AC units are sitting on site doing nothing,and won’t be operational for quite a while.

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Fascinating - do you have a link you can share?

According to the news items I could find the problem was not enough tradies and government tardiness. No mention of grid capacity issues.

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Originally Posted by Arapiles

Fascinating - do you have a link you can share?

According to the news items I could find the problem was not enough tradies and government tardiness. No mention of grid capacity issues.

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Personnel experience,we are in the industry,seen the tender documents for a few of the schools,and yes lots of Govt incompetence as well.

Don’t want to go into it too much on a public forum.

There was something in the Courier Mail about it though,a while ago.

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Originally Posted by DiscoMick

Lots of second hand PHEVs and Hybrids around. They are a good interim choice until EVs take over.

I'm seeing lots of hybrid Camrys and Corollas, for example. The economics definitely stack up for them. That's why so many taxis are hybrid Camrys. Taxi operators are totally hard-nosed and wouldn't go hybrid until it saved them money.
What's not to like about your first 20ks or so being on electric? That covers about three quarters of most peoples' trips.

I posted a link above to a site with the details of all the EVs currently sold in Oz. Some have a range of well over the 3-400 Ks I mentioned above.

It just surprises me that some people are determined to reject EVs, even when they have to contort themselves and stand on their heads to do it. It's not political, it's just progress. What's to fear?

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Not even an option....

We are talking a new car, with full warranty is desired.
That would mean paying the premium for an EV circa 15-20k.
For a woman who will not burn that in the next ten years of motoring and by then likely not be driving - I’m certainly not going to recommend she spent that excess amount.

And that range you speak of - on a cool day an EV might make it here on 1 charge. The only one I’ve seen do it is a $150k Tesla. It then had to charge for an entire day before it could return.

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Originally Posted by DiscoMick

That's just normal grid upgrades. EVs are only a tiny part of that. The major cause is people running more and more electric devices in their homes, workplaces and schools e.g every high school student now needs a laptop.
State governments and power companies are moving to upgrade their infrastructure to meet future demand. The East Coast power grid is being connected more closely all the time, so that power generated anywhere with a grid connection can be moved anywhere as needed. SA and Qld power NSW and Victoria quite often.
It's just progress.
The charging issue will be solved when our federal government finally copies other countries and requires charging points to be included in service stations, parking lots and workplaces. One day, this will be considered a normal cost of development, like supplying power or water is today.

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No, it’s the other way around. Domestic demand has been dropping year on year for around 5 years now. There is no such thing as a “Normal Upgrade” to the grid - it’s only done where it’s needed and when needed and the actual amount of power required to run EV’s on a large scale is massive - I’m in the industry and this is looming as a large issue for it. Fobbing it off as normal or easy won’t make the enormity of the challenge go away or fund it either.

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Originally Posted by Arapiles

Still, for about $30K you can import a current e+ Leaf that has about 350kms range.

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$30k for a second hand vehicle. No warranty.

Which won’t cut it on the run up the M1 and back (320km) if it’s hot, cold, stop/go etc or any of the multitudes of factors that take the theoretical range and reduce it by a significant amount in real world use.

Or go buy a std Xtrail or ASX and get a big warranty and save $15k over an EV version.