Battery based electric vehicles of today and tomorrow.

[Gale Hawkins]

Suburban Chicago coal-fired power plants to shut down in 2022

I was not aware that Illinois is planning to close all coal fired plants by 2035. I'm guessing the ash ponds are an EPA nightmare cost-wise.

As fossil fuels are phased out around the world it is amazing the changes that this will bring about both positive and negative.

With two hydro electric dams nearby I just never thought about other generation options.

The more I think about it if we go solar one day I'm not sure I want to tie into the grid with the system.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

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Got a kick out of this a short at the end of this youtube video Best in Tesla with comparisons to the TV series Firebird Trans Am "KIT" car

Elon must have been a fan of Knight Rider

It is amazing how many times science fiction becomes reality.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

An electric popemobile is Fisker’s latest leap of faith

The startup has made lots of bold claims, with few results

www.theverge.com

Lots of things would be humorous if not for the sad side.

 

[gorj]

Comparing vehicle adoption between the U.S. (or Canada for that matter) and Europe is a bit apples and oranges. First of all, Europe is much more urban than the U.S., with people driving shorter distances than here in North America. Secondly, how well do you think these would be received without the heavy government subsidization they currently receive? This seems to be setting a troublesome precedent...I don't see anyone offering free gasoline/diesel to those of us who drive conventional vehicles, why should electric vehicles have "free" or heavily discounted charging? At what point will this end, or will it?
What about road use taxes? Where will the money come from for highway maintenance should these vehicles become more than a novelty?

Does the power grid have the capacity to charge all these vehicles should they become mainstream? All questions that need to be answered.

I'm sure the technology will improve over time, maybe even to the point where these vehicles are practical but I think the 10 year time frame is a bit optimistic.

One of the reasons to go electric is to rid our planet of fossil fuel use. Mainstream Americans are generally out of touch with the reality that we are killing our planet with the continued use of fossil fuels. Europeans are much more aware of pollution issues and thus the popularity of EVs there.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

One of the reasons to go electric is to rid our planet of fossil fuel use. Mainstream Americans are generally out of touch with the reality that we are killing our planet with the continued use of fossil fuels. Europeans are much more aware of pollution issues and thus the popularity of EVs there.

gorj yes there's a difference of mindsets in rural USA. Europeans have had more centuries to pollute and make a royal mess of earth so the urgency is more urgent but we are getting there. We old farm boys are slow to change.

Our auto fuels being half the cost of what some Europeans pay the $$$ reason to go whole hog on EVs is less too.

What kinds of EVs do you currently own?

 

[cqaigy2]

I won't be getting an EV or ICE till my current vehicles are worn out, i have a tendency to run them till the wheels fall off, less polluting that way. My "new" vehicle is 2014 Subaru, oldest is 2000 Ford Ranger.

 

[Solitary Man]

One of the reasons to go electric is to rid our planet of fossil fuel use. Mainstream Americans are generally out of touch with the reality that we are killing our planet with the continued use of fossil fuels. Europeans are much more aware of pollution issues and thus the popularity of EVs there.

Europeans are better educated as to the science behind their awareness.

 

[dragoneggs]

There is a chemical that leaches out of tires that kills salmon in very low concentrations. I'm sure there will be a hot discussion about that, which will end with water treatment of street and highway runoff.

Tire chemical responsible for killing coho salmon in urban streams

A team led by researchers at the University of Washington Tacoma, UW and Washington State University Puyallup have discovered why more than half of the coho salmon that return to Puget Sound’s urban...

www.washington.edu

Not only tire chemicals but also milk!

https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/article251263289.html

Bottom line, most contaminates leaking/leaching into the rivers, toxic or not have serious consequences for the fragile ecosystem.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Europeans are better educated as to the science behind their awareness.

I expect that is correct but I think a lot of people even in the United States do not understand the level of poverty in the United states. We are stuck with fossil fuel at some level for at least the next 50 years.

I have owned one new vehicle and that was a 1973 Datsun 1200 and we got 200,000 miles out of it. I'm very proud of our 2016 Nissan Leaf and it's okay for a short trip. A used Tesla Model 3 is going to cost close to the price of new relatively speaking.

In my case it's 50 mi drive to get to the closest charger low speed or high speed. If I didn't have 240 volts out to the driveway an EV just would not make sense for us so charging at home is basically a requirement.

I am for stopping all pollution but I don't see financial resources there that is going to enable that anytime soon. I expect when I die I will still have diesel tractors to pass down to the family.

 

[lman]

I won't be getting an EV or ICE till my current vehicles are worn out, i have a tendency to run them till the wheels fall off, less polluting that way. My "new" vehicle is 2014 Subaru, oldest is 2000 Ford Ranger.

When the price of gas gets up to $6.00 in a couple of years you'll be looking for a horse or an ev. I've already got the horse I just need a buggy.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

When the price of gas gets up to $6.00 in a couple of years you'll be looking for a horse or an ev. I've already got the horse I just need a buggy.

Our local Lowe's store actually has a hitching Post for the Amish horses and carriages and wagons. It may be surprising who gets the last laugh.

$6.00 is meaningless if the gas station tanks are empty. I read today they are putting more drilling rigs back out in the oil patch.

At least EVS require less computer chips than the internal combustion engine vehicles.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

This thread has gotten as useful as the guy who installs blinkers on BMWs.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

The power of fossil fuel.

 

[txdon]

This thread has gotten as useful as the guy who installs blinkers on BMWs.

His life work is meaningful only when the BMW owner uses the turn signal?

 

[txdon]

The power of fossil fuel.

That car hates EVs. I saw it head directly into the electric pole trying to destroy the grid.

 

[Solitary Man]

This thread has gotten as useful as the guy who installs blinkers on BMWs.

Yeah. Let's go back to discussing open defecation.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

I expect that is correct but I think a lot of people even in the United States do not understand the level of poverty in the United states. We are stuck with fossil fuel at some level for at least the next 50 years.

I have owned one new vehicle and that was a 1973 Datsun 1200 and we got 200,000 miles out of it. I'm very proud of our 2016 Nissan Leaf and it's okay for a short trip. A used Tesla Model 3 is going to cost close to the price of new relatively speaking.

In my case it's 50 mi drive to get to the closest charger low speed or high speed. If I didn't have 240 volts out to the driveway an EV just would not make sense for us so charging at home is basically a requirement.

I am for stopping all pollution but I don't see financial resources there that is going to enable that anytime soon. I expect when I die I will still have diesel tractors to pass down to the family.

I always thought people woke up too late. One of the biggest industrial CO2 sources is cooking portland cement out of limestone. You can't use an induction furnace for that, and arc furnaces are expensive to run. Their goal of limiting global temperature rise to 2.5 degrees C is a fantasy.

If they electrify all rail and build high speed rail lines to eliminate short hop air travel, move distance hauling back onto rails, and raise a whole lot of oil seeds, they might be able to run the remnants on biodiesel. If that happens within 50 years, I'll be dead, so will leave it to the young guys to be astonished. Not in my lifetime.

I don't think people have any concept of how much fossil fuel we use. I have seen the coal trains from 35,000 feet, stretching from horizon to horizon. They have mined whole mountain ranges in Wyoming and shipped it to Chicago. Rail couldn't keep up with the oil shipments, so they squirt it through pipelines and to * with the friction losses.

We don't have a good record at avoiding future problems, and we really don't have a good record of a coherent century-long project to save civilization. I doubt nagging people will get us there.

I see electric vehicles as a survivalist tool. If our oil production system gets interrupted, an ICE will be yard art, while there may be some way to charge an EV from local generating capacity. I agree that convenient home access to a 240v. receptacle will be the "required accessory" for EV ownership. Until our whole energy infrastructure gets rebuilt, driving an EV will make very little difference in our fossil fuel usage.

U.S. Energy Information Administration - EIA - Independent Statistics and Analysis

www.eia.gov

 

[California]

If I didn't have 240 volts out to the driveway an EV just would not make sense for us so charging at home is basically a requirement.

I would like to see welding supply stores encourage each customer to offer EV charging, in cases where it would be convenient. Maybe just a 240v outlet on the outside of the building. Any shop that includes welding in the services they offer would have the heavy wiring, and some might make this service a sideline. The welding supply stores could make a little money on this new line of products.

Also - remote ranches might make this a sideline when there are no other public chargers for miles around. US-395 down the Eastern (desert) edge of California has nothing for many miles. After reading that, it occurred to me that pulling into one of the remote ranches near the highway might be the only alternative to a very expensive flatbed tow.

In both cases - welding shops and remote ranches - listing their service on the public lists of chargers that EV owners refer to, might be a new revenue opportunity.

Think outside the box ....

 

[goeduck]

Not only tire chemicals but also milk!

https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/article251263289.html

Bottom line, most contaminates leaking/leaching into the rivers, toxic or not have serious consequences for the fragile ecosystem.

The fish were dying over spilled milk.

 

[California]

Booo!