Thread: Goodnight Diesel. ...Land Rover get your EV skates on!

Originally Posted by goingbush

Saudi Arabia is investing big in Battery & electric car tech , no flies on them.


Scarry, you should be asking yourself "Where does all the Oil Come from" Its all bloody imported, and the countries we rely upon for it have us over a barrel, literally . They could cut supply & bring this country to its knees.

Electricity is a no brainer really.

Why ask a question when we all know the answer?

No one seems to have any idea where all the power to charge these electric vehicles will come from.

And its not only where it will come from,who is going to do the massive investment in the infrastructure to distribute it.

Using oil to generate power would certainly go well with those that are trying to get away from using fossil fuels.

Originally Posted by scarry

I don't have any idea where all the power to charge these electric vehicles will come from.

FTFY

Originally Posted by scarry

And its not only where it will come from,who is going to do the massive investment in the infrastructure to distribute it.

The same people who once built replacement coal plants to replace old buggered ones are going to build new style power plants and grid improvements to cater for the new consumers.

Did you ever wonder who invests in oil exploration, oil refining, coal mining, big power plants, service stations, roads, parking stations etc etc? None of these things just "happened", they all had to be built from scratch.

That's the same people who will invest in the stuff needed to replace fossil power, i.e. corporate investors.

Originally Posted by scarry

Using oil to generate power would certainly go well with those that are trying to get away from using fossil fuels.

It was just an improbable example of possibilities if you imagine an improbable scenario of difficulties.

Originally Posted by scarry

Why ask a question when we all know the answer?

No one seems to have any idea where all the power to charge these electric vehicles will come from.

And its not only where it will come from,who is going to do the massive investment in the infrastructure to distribute it.

Using oil to generate power would certainly go well with those that are trying to get away from using fossil fuels.

Most of the power to charge these electric vehicles will come from ourselves, My meagre 5kw solar provides 3x more than my car needs.

Also using Oil to generate power and then use that power in an EV is actually more efficient than using oil to power the car itself. I'd use 1/3 less petrol in a small generator to go 100km , that I would in the LandRovers petrol tank. The bigger the generator the more efficient.

Quote from Stand by, Australia, for the electric car revolution

"One of the challenges that will come from the big increase in electric vehicles in Australia will be the demands on the electricity grid. An extra one million electric cars is the equivalent of 5.2 terawatt hours of power demand. This is about a 2 per cent increase in overall grid demand."

e-car myths

Scroll down to #6 to find an answer to your question.

Originally Posted by scarry

Why ask a question when we all know the answer?

No one seems to have any idea where all the power to charge these electric vehicles will come from.

And its not only where it will come from,who is going to do the massive investment in the infrastructure to distribute it.

Using oil to generate power would certainly go well with those that are trying to get away from using fossil fuels.

In the past, the government paid twerps like me to build the power stations. Now all those have been sold off and most of the power stations are at the end of their lives, so it will be up to big corporations backed by their shareholders to come up with viable solutions. I'm pretty sure none of them will be firing anything with oil.
Don.

Originally Posted by 4xsama

How big a generator would you need to have to keep the electric motors going in an EV? Not in a hybrid drive way but a Diesel Locomotive way.

Originally Posted by goingbush

Would need to be MASSIVE , Whats you average $3000 Deisel generator about 1000x 700 x600 put out ? about 5 -10Kw

Look how much my EV Landy uses on a suburban street , just note when the Amps are positive its using power, when the amps are negative it generating power via braking.

actually not that big if you do it right.

to do it as a straight up Diesel electric you need to get into about 25kw of generator driving 2x 10Kw motors on the diffs, the numbers come up ok for the series and series speed, but....

if you do it as a semi hybrid diesel electric you can just about pull it off with an 8kva and a good set of batteries, the 8kva runs nearly flat out all the time and the batteries make up when the 8kva isnt enough and when the 8kva is more than you need then the batteries top up.

an 11kva is just on the money.

Weight and acceleration becomes an issue and the napkin maths says its not really any more effeicient than when you have a normal diesel..

however,

couple that you dont need to always use the generator so can leave it at home if you're only doing short trips, you can still charge from almost anywhere if your onboard charger has leads and... if you set it up right you can just hire the generator for the trip you need it for...

and it becomes a far more attractive idea.

True Dave, I was working on the assumption of no Batteries, just straight Diesel Electric.

Adding batteries makes it so much more attractive proposition.

Originally Posted by 4xsama

How big a generator would you need to have to keep the electric motors going in an EV? Not in a hybrid drive way but a Diesel Locomotive way.

Well, range extenders aren't that large - the BMW i3 range extender is just 647 cc - from Wikipedia:


W20K06U0 25 kW 647 cc, two-cylinder generator (optional) with a fuel tank capacity of
9 L (2.4 US gal) in Europe^[3]
7.2 L (1.9 US gal) in the U.S.^[4]

Also, I'd wondered why range extenders were so efficient:

"As an REEV is only propelled by the electric motor it can do away with the weight and cost associated with the gearbox transmission system typically used in internal combustion engine cars. Further, as the range extender does not need to increase or decrease output in line with the power needs of the vehicle (this task is handled by the electric motor) the range extender can be sized to satisfy the vehicle's average power requirement rather than its peak power requirement (such as when accelerating). The range extender can also operate much closer to its most efficient rotational speed. These design features allow an REEV to convert fossil fuel energy to electric power and vehicle motion very efficiently."

Range extender (vehicle) - Wikipedia