14 replies to this topic

[Spider]

I'm not sure if this has been posted up here yet. I though you guys would like to see it

 

 

[unburntfuelinthemorning]

If, God forbid, we're ever forced down the road of electric only power then it's interesting to see what that could be like in a Mini.

 

I'd like to know what the actual weight of the electric one is - slightly heavier than standard tells you hardly anything.  Any unnecessary weight in a Mini is detrimental to cornering capability.  Interestingly the range isn't mentioned either, especially the range with all the extra optional electrics in use on a freezing winter night.

 

I'd like to see an electrically assisted Mini along the lines of the Honda CRZ but with an A-series engine.

[Spider]

  Interestingly the range isn't mentioned either,

 

I think she did say 150 miles.

 

I'm not nearly ready to go electric, but for city commutes, I would think 150 miles would well cover it.

[hunterg30]

Now how long will the batteries last, they are basically like the ones in a mobile, at first you get full power then they slowly degrade even though they show fully charged . Also what will be the real impact on the environment in making and disposing of the batteries

[surfblue]

Now how long will the batteries last, they are basically like the ones in a mobile, at first you get full power then they slowly degrade even though they show fully charged . Also what will be the real impact on the environment in making and disposing of the batteries

And producing the power to charge them and all the infrastructure for charging them.........

[Bobbins]

By chance were your fore-fathers Ludites?

[Trissy B]

I was reading Elon Musks book the other day and he was saying the Telsas (at least the early ones) were designed so the battery comes out the bottom. They even made a "petrol station" in Paulo alto that had could change the battery packs over in a few mins.

The philosophy being that some day there would be loads of these places and swapping batteries would be part of the new normal.

[Bobbins]

I was reading Elon Musks book the other day and he was saying the Telsas (at least the early ones) were designed so the battery comes out the bottom. They even made a "petrol station" in Paulo alto that had could change the battery packs over in a few mins.

The philosophy being that some day there would be loads of these places and swapping batteries would be part of the new normal.

The system was piloted in Israel but ultimately failed, if I recall correctly the idea was that typically it takes 4-5 minutes to refuel a "normal" car so that was the target for an automated battery swap. Batteries would then be re-charged on site. Israel was chosen because it's effectively politically land-locked with very few vehicles travelling in and out, ideal if you're trialling a different technology.

Some more details about the venture and its' failure: https://www.theguard...ric-car-startup

[Trissy B]

Interesting article. Was just looking at a link for the USA version and ended up reading all sorts of other stuff. Fair to say batteries are an area of huge research so will only get better and better.

[unburntfuelinthemorning]

I remain unconvinced that converting to electric power would really reduce carbon dioxide emissions when the additional energy intensive activities of mining for rare earth minerals, manufacturing batteries etc as well as the energy used in recycling most of the current vehicles is taken into account. 

 

Increasing the distance travelled by new vehicles by one mile per gallon of fuel would probably make a bigger difference.  Maybe if we stopped making ever heavier and wider vehicles that would be possible.  I'm sure SUVs and crossover vehicles haven't helped in this regard.

 

New technology is fine but it's the wastefulness of our throwaway society which is the real problem.  I don't think some people realise that recycling uses a great deal of energy too.

 

Much better to drive and improve a classic Mini I reckon!

[Spider]

I remain unconvinced that converting to electric power would really reduce carbon dioxide emissions when the additional energy intensive activities of mining for rare earth minerals, manufacturing batteries etc as well as the energy used in recycling most of the current vehicles is taken into account. 

 

Increasing the distance travelled by new vehicles by one mile per gallon of fuel would probably make a bigger difference.  Maybe if we stopped making ever heavier and wider vehicles that would be possible.  I'm sure SUVs and crossover vehicles haven't helped in this regard.

 

New technology is fine but it's the wastefulness of our throwaway society which is the real problem.  I don't think some people realise that recycling uses a great deal of energy too.

 

Much better to drive and improve a classic Mini I reckon!

 

Getting quite off topic here, but largely, yes, I agree.

 

The issues around all this revolve around the modern world being so energy dependent and this is increasing exponentially as more modern gadgets are coming in to being.

 

Add to this an exponential growth in population and well,,,, here we are

[Dusky]

Years and years ago the German DDR had electric busses wich had replaceable battery packs. It's all possible to engineer that, but would need an enormous investment to put hundreds of batteries in "changing stations " ever X miles. Then all manufacturers should be using the same universal battery AND we still would need a way to roughly triple our electricity production.

[Bobbins]

In reality a better solution would be to have Scalextric style charging lanes on motorways that would enable electric vehicles to trickle charge when commuting and also run directly off the electric feed, reducing the dependency on the batteries. That would completely remove range anxiety from the EV concept because whenever higher miles per charge are needed to be driven they tend to include motorway miles. In turn the battery size requirement could be very much reduced as well as the battery life being extended.

This would need government input though and whichever government is in office, they've been historically dire at implementing that sort of investment project. Maybe a better use of the concept of a smart motorway though?

[hunterg30]

the old dust carts, milk floats and a few other vehicles were once battery powered but the local councils phased them out,imagine how far technology would of advanced if they had kept using them

[mab01uk]

the old dust carts, milk floats and a few other vehicles were once battery powered but the local councils phased them out,imagine how far technology would of advanced if they had kept using them

 

The old glass milk bottles were also collected, returned to base and reused several times over.......long before the throw away culture arrived here from the USA and the later need for single use materials and recycling!