Electric + Human-Powered Vehicles

[stevebrooks]

Big new from the US. No doubt it will give the MAGA crowd something to talk about and try and use in the coming election, but it probably doesn't matter that much since they probably already hate EV's;

The Biden administration finalised its crackdown on petrol cars Thursday, with America’s Environmental Protection Agency announcing drastic climate regulations meant to ensure more than two-thirds of passenger cars and light trucks sold by 2032 are electric or hybrid vehicles.

https://www.news.com.au/technology/moto ... b02080e6b6

[Irrev-Black]

Bit of a price shake-up in the wind?

https://thedriven.io/2024/03/22/electri ... p-to-9000/

[joele]

Bit of a price shake-up in the wind?

https://thedriven.io/2024/03/22/electri ... p-to-9000/

Maybe related to the falling price of lithium??

[stevebrooks]

Hydrogen cars not going to be popular for a while, not at these prices. 348 miles of range cost them US$180.00, so I can't see any private citizens purchasing one...well at all really. Hugely more expensive, about the same range as most electric cars, the only advantage is speed of filling, and really I would rather wait another 20 or 30 minutes or so to charge.

[stylofone]

Hydrogen cars not going to be popular for a while, not at these prices. 348 miles of range cost them US$180.00, so I can't see any private citizens purchasing one...well at all really. Hugely more expensive, about the same range as most electric cars, the only advantage is speed of filling, and really I would rather wait another 20 or 30 minutes or so to charge.

That was interesting. I don't know the full background, but his frustration and openness about the problems were very telling. Speed of filling seemed pretty slow. it was faster than EV charging, but a lot slower than petrol pumping. I believe Toyota have effectively given up on the hydrogen car dream in recent months, they backed the wrong horse, and it appears to me that the Japanese have been unable to capitalise on the evolution of transport, China has most of the market to themselves.

[stevebrooks]

Absolutely one of my biggest hates in EV's;

There’s a drift mode and fake engine sounds, for example.

Why the fuck would you want fake engine sounds, what, your penis not big enough?

https://www.news.com.au/technology/moto ... ae36f328ce

[joele]

Why the fuck would you want fake engine sounds, what, your penis not big enough?

pretty much..

I thought this was particularly odd too, why? The linear pickup of an EV is a huge advantage, why simulate the floors in ICE cars? Should we simulate running rough when it's cold too?

And the Ioniq 5 N can also replicate gear shifts. It has a paddle-operated system that applies jolts as it plucks “gears”.

[Irrev-Black]

Very environmentally costly to retain a putt-putt component in what could have been a pure EV:

https://thedriven.io/2024/03/27/dangero ... in-cities/

[stylofone]

Very environmentally costly to retain a putt-putt component in what could have been a pure EV:

The PHEV concept might be OK if the drivers are motivated to stay charged up and only drive under their electric range while in the city. Good luck with that. Also, what about the emissions from making two engines, one ICE and one EV?

Over-riding that argument is that the climate impact of battery EVs should also be assessed in relation to more efficient measures, such as being car-free in redesigned accessible cities, which also have adaptation measures built in, e.g. heatwave shelters, flood and drought planning, passive cooling from trees, etc..

Battery EVs have a slightly smaller log in their eye than the ones in PHEV's eye. It's the pedestrian/cyclist/train user has a mote. (Sorry for going all biblical).

[stevebrooks]

Very environmentally costly to retain a putt-putt component in what could have been a pure EV:

https://thedriven.io/2024/03/27/dangero ... in-cities/

PHEV's were a necessary evil, that's the best that can be said of them, they were the worst of both worlds and their only useful function was to convince the public that electric cars can actually work.

Why do I say that? You see PHEV's (the traditional and still the most common ones) combine all the evils of ICE with the extra burden of electric. They have a ICE motor, gearbox, transmission, differential, large fuel tank that ICE vehicles have, with the additional weight of electric motors and the battery, it's no wonder the tiny batteries have such a short range, carrying all that extra weight. I think there's one car release, a PHEV, I have seen that turns that concept on its head, and ditches the ICE drive train and etc and replaces it with an all electric drive train and battery and uses a small ICE to only charge the battery. So they remove all that unnecessary weight and increase the battery size and it works just as good as the old PHEV concept with some of the unnecessary stuff removed.

Of course it's still not perfect because it still has emissions due to the ICE and still requires a fuel tank and etc, but it makes the concept of a PHEV more acceptable if you can have a longer range in the battery for around town and the ICE only needs to run to charge the battery if the charge gets to low if say you were on a country trip, sort of comfort ICE for the range anxiety EV skeptics. You can have a much more efficient and simpler ICE, no need for it rev up to high RPM because all it's doing is running a generator to charge the battery so you can eliminate a lot of extra complexity.

Still not a proper EV of course, the sooner the new battery technology we keep hearing about gets implemented the better so we can start moving away from ICE vehicles en masse, the sooner the better in my opinion.