Thread: EV general discussion

queue this up on your tv ..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lMIyyG0w_4&t=1312s


just awesome, the corvair with its silver zinc battery is just staggering.

Originally Posted by RANDLOVER

Counter intuitively diesel has lower emissions as it's more efficient so less fuel is burnt per kilometre.

Yes. Yes it is. I think perhaps the correct phrase might be less inefficient.

The problem is with diesel that they used to be incredibly slow. Once we'd put turbos on them though they could give reasonable performance.

But the unfortunate bit about humans being humans is we just used this new technolology to buy bigger cars that weren't feasible to power with petrol due to consumption. I've ranted over and over about this as we all know.. Australians (although it's a world wide phenomenon) drive far far bigger cars now than we did even 20 years ago.

So yes, a diesel prado on the school run uses a lot less petrol than a V8 rangie did, but it doesn't use less than Mum's Laser. Yet Mums choose the prado/Ranger/Hilux. Only a few years before Mums Laser the kids rode or walked to school. It should be noted that mum having a Laser was also an escallation.
So while diesel is more efficient our average fuel consumption has actually increased.

Also due to car centric thinking and poor urban planing in our cities people drive more.

So despite over 10% of cars being EV's they have not as yet been enough to even stop the growth in fuel use let alone decrease it.

It should be noted that EV's do not fix many of the other car problems. It could be argued that these are just another Jevons Paradox step. If/when we get the autonomous driving thing happening and people start asking their car to "Hey car - park at home today on charge and then come and pick me up after work at 5" we're really going to see some issues in our cities. I don't think this is very far off either.

It should be noted that the best outcome on many levels is living locally. Walking, riding, PT use and avoiding car trips.

Jevons paradox - Wikipedia

EDIT: one thing about diesel that I didn't mention.. co2 is a significant aspect of emissions. But diesel has lots of nasty byproducts. Making diesels comply with these regs results in less power and efficiency (diselgate anyone). It also increases complexity and reduces durability. Historically I think a lot the diesel advantage was just due to poor emissions control.

Originally Posted by scarry

I dunno if it is true,but i read that the actual exhaust emissions from a modern diesel vehicle,with Add Blue,has less particulates than the air going into the engine.

The Sales rep from Isuzu said this to me last week,as well.

So it must be true....