Battery based electric vehicles of today and tomorrow.

[FarmerPhilip]

My point is that EV makes sense, you can close your coal powerplant and replace it with solar panels and all the EV will be a lot more environmental friendly over night, what other cars can do that?

Good point! It consolidates the energy into a single place which could be replaced more easily.

For the foreseeable future though, we're stuck with pollution from all of these and we will continue to tax our natural resources. Driving an EV today does not help the environment or our reliance on gas/oil/etc. Maybe one day in the future it will though.

 

[airbiscuit]

Coal Fired Power Plants in the US continue to be decommissioned or converted to natural gas. It will be a good day when the last mountain top is obliterated for coal, the last stream is polluted, no more ground water is contaminated by fly ash, the last case of black lung is diagnosed, the last coal miner is killed, etc. All better for humanity.

 

[Egon]

I’d prefer to see the last coal miner to live a fulfilling and satisfying life.

The coal economic system has used/abused them well as a reliable captive labour pool!!

 

[California]

... The heads of Ford, MB, etc must be spinning at the speed of change that will soon take them out of the game if they do not play catch up to the train that has already pulled out of the station. Clearly the USA is trailing Europe and Asia. Maybe we should not be focusing on each other on the inside and look at what is happening outside of the USA in the rest of the world.

Or perhaps the US makers will follow the path of the daily newspaper. Going down like the Titanic with all hands lost while the band played on.

Their present way to make income, counting on lifetime service of cars they sold, is going to disappear and they don't have an alternate source of income planned out.

 

[herm0016]

No room for the fuel tank ;-)

chevy volt. we own one. gas generator. electric car. we love it.

 

[drssg]

Inside The High-Tech TESLA Factory | Mind Blowing Facts - YouTube

I am starting to wonder if the 100 year old car makers have a shot at competing going up against this level of technology? The current dealership scheme of 100 years ago just is not appealing. My 22 year old twins do not need a human to sell them anything if they have all of the facts at their finger tips.

Even if current car makers can give up the ICE mindset can they compete at the factory level? Do they have to money to do this then sell at the price of a commodity?

I have no idea what will win out long term when it comes to batteries, fuel cells, etc or a combination of power sources yet to be invented. The heads of Ford, MB, etc must be spinning at the speed of change that will soon take them out of the game if they do not play catch up to the train that has already pulled out of the station. Clearly the USA is trailing Europe and Asia. Maybe we should not be focusing on each other on the inside and look at what is happening outside of the USA in the rest of the world.

I suspect that the old automakers will do OK. If anything, Musk is the one that still needs to prove that he can do something really boring, like show a profit for the year. He has been burning through money like a startup company for a good while, and that can't continue.

Also, Musk is a late comer to the mass production world. I haven't seen a regular auto manufacturing line in a while, but they have been mass producing for ages. I suspect they are perfectly capable of automating to the level of need.

Several companies have been producing reasonably priced EVs for quite a while, so there is not an issue with making them. IMO, Musk's biggest accomplishment was to make them cool.

 

[sd455dan]

Report from Germany: Tesla years ahead, German automakers falling behind

This story from a German magazine is on a subject that has crossed my mind of late.

Can MB, BMW, Ford, etc even make it if they could get a profitable EV selection to the market?

Where the free chargers are at the local Ford dealer are near the main to doors to the service bays. They make money on warranted work and from customers. Both of these cash flow sources will be reduced on EV's all agree.

If an old name auto maker bought Tesla would it be good for all parties involved?

EV's may not get traction for a long time if the old line car makers are going to be the major source of EV's. If it plays out like the Ford Pinto and Chevy Vega of 50 years ago the EV's will be imported. I bought my only new car in 1973 and it was a Datsun 1200 (Nissan B-110) because of the Pinto and Vega failure in the high MPG small vehicles. The $10K EV niche is not going to be filled by GM or MB so China may become the new Japan for EV's.

More EV news from Tesla: Gigafactory 3 is to built in Berlin.

UPDATE 3-Tesla to build first European plant in Berlin, Musk says

Some drone vids may have supposedly spotted Model Y's parked outside the Shanghai factory- but no "definitive" shots have been verified. Both Model Y and 3 production capability would be amazing for a factory that was just a field 9 months ago.

 

[Jstpssng]

Coal Fired Power Plants in the US continue to be decommissioned or converted to natural gas. It will be a good day when the last mountain top is obliterated for coal, the last stream is polluted, no more ground water is contaminated by fly ash, the last case of black lung is diagnosed, the last coal miner is killed, etc. All better for humanity.

better for the coal miners at least. Some don't believe that NG is the silver bullet that it's made out to be.

Natural gas is a fossil fuel, mostly methane, and produces 33% of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generation, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

from
No more fire in the kitchen: Cities are banning natural gas in homes to save the planet

The real truth is that as long as the population keeps growing at the rate it has for the last century, we are going to keep creating problems with every solution. Eventually we are either going to recognize that on a global basis; or/and get over our aversion to nuclear, preferably by addressing the risks involved. Appaently the only reason that the US poplation is still increasing is because of immigration; the latter is mainly a result of overpopulation in the countries whose citizens keep trying to come here.

 

[Industrial Toys]

There are still many people who harbour a belief that man can do whatever he wants to the planet and nature. I think those will learn a hard lesson, or at least their children.

I have no idea what is available in the EV market, but found this video and it's technical talk very interesting. Many things I had wondered about.

There is no such thing as a Level 3 EV charger - YouTube

 

[Alan W.]

When I worked at Hitachi we were given the opportunity to buy a Leaf at a very discounted price. This was because we were building the batteries for it.
I wanted one but the lack of range at the time was a deal killer.
Remember battery development is an ongoing process and an older EV even with low miles wont compare to the newer ones.
One day I would love to have one with a solar array. Best of both worlds.