Why are people buying electric cars?

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Mr Bump said:
they are competeing directly with Tesla with the seal and I don't think it is there best market
for me BYD are better at cheap , smart intelligent budget EVs which is there mainstay in China

the seagull for instance starts at equiv £7500
they need to bring that here even if it was twice the price it would be a bargain

the real future of EV is making it available to average joe thats where the money is in the UK
people are fed up with small cars in the uk costing way to much with silly nuclear 3 cylinder engines that just go bang and write themselves off
look at ford and its terrible 1l ecoboost , so may issues

New BYD Dolphin Surf is the UK version of the Seagull EV | Auto Express

BYD's entry-level electric car will aim to take on the Dacia Spring at around £15,000
www.autoexpress.co.uk www.autoexpress.co.uk
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Would be good if the price comes down a lot, at the moment an electric car is way off our budget
I never got the small engine in a big car thing, it has to be under stress , wife’s sister has one of those 1 litre eco boost fords , recently the turbo went cost more than the car was worth and she had it regularly serviced
 
Mr Bump said:
the real future of EV is making it available to average joe thats where the money is in the UK
people are fed up with small cars in the uk costing way to much with silly nuclear 3 cylinder engines that just go bang and write themselves off
look at ford and its terrible 1l ecoboost , so may issues
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I nearly bought a Puma, but a bit of research scared me off, I settled for a Q2 instead.
 
I had a Focus 1 litre 3 cylinder Ecoboost, I was the second owner, from mid 2016 until I sold it in August 2020 when I traded it for a second hand, 2nd owner, Kuga 1.5 l 4 cylinder Ecoboost.

Both had and have regular dealer servicing and so I have found the Kuga a wise choice for me. Due its next service in January 2025 and the oil right now is still on the full mark and still quite golden in colour :)

FWIW with the Focus IIRC I was doing about 12,000 miles a year between mid 2016 until I think it was May 2018......then around 6000 per year until sold. With the Kuga I think I am doing around 5000 per year and I am at this stage hoping the Kuga will last me until I may not wish to drive anymore.......so perhaps another 15 years :thinking: but that will depend how I feel about driving once into my mid 80's :LOL:

PS in the main I do still enjoy driving and only thing that reduces that enjoyment is driving in London and also the 'entitled' t***s that drive like they are the only ones that matter!!!
 
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I always thought (or was meant to think/believe) that the ethos of converting to electric vehicles was to reduce emissions - or am I being miss-guided in my thoughts. Production of these vehicles will produce as least as much emissions as do an normal IC powered vehicle just in their initial construction never mind use. They are larger than cars of as little as 5 years ago, a necessity to accommodate the bulk and weight of the lithium batteries. Then there is the harm caused when they mine the lithium in the 1st place both to the environment and to those who work in the mines.

Now talking of lithium batteries they are a source of pollution themselves when spent batteries are stored before disposal and they can and do catch fire and are exceedingly difficult to bring under control. There have been 3 major fires reported this week at dumps where spent batteries are/were kept in UK alone.

The target of net zero emissions by whatever year they conjure up is going to be well nigh impossible. Please read on.

Are they forgetting, or either deliberately ignoring the probable main source of CO2 which is staring them in the face, and that which itself cannot easily be eliminated. I am thinking about.......... us!......... Yes us!......... Human beings!......... A couple of years ago or possibly three, a report was published by the W.H.O. (Taken from their website) where they had calculated each and every human being alive creates around 1 kilo of CO2 per day merely by breathing! The current estimate of people alive is around the 8 BILLION mark which means around 8 billion kilos of CO2 are unavoidably produced every day. This is on top of that from other sources such as animals and industry.. Now multiply that 8 billion kilos by 365 being the number of days in a year then the production of CO2 takes on perhaps another level of how we are destroying the life we live. It also makes the production of CO2 by industry by the likes of China, India and the USA pale into virtual insignificance.

The quote regularly handed out that since the industrial revolution the average annual global temperature has risen to what is evidently unsustainable levels. What is never EVER mentioned is the global population has probably tripled since then, and with it the increase of CO2. so naturally the average temperature will have risen and not necessarily driven by industry.

But there again they don't want us to think of that because it will blow their argument out of the water. Just stopping burning fossil fuels will not save the planet.
 
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Rodinal said:
I always thought (or was meant to think/believe) that the ethos of converting to electric vehicles was to reduce emissions - or am I being miss-guided in my thoughts. Production of these vehicles will produce as least as much emissions as do an normal IC powered vehicle just in their initial construction never mind use. They are larger than cars of as little as 5 years ago, a necessity to accommodate the bulk and weight of the lithium batteries. Then there is the harm caused when they mine the lithium in the 1st place both to the environment and to those who work in the mines.

Now talking of lithium batteries they are a source of pollution themselves when spent batteries are stored before disposal and they can and do catch fire and are exceedingly difficult to bring under control. There have been 3 major fires reported this week at dumps where spent batteries are/were kept in UK alone.

The target of net zero emissions by whatever year they conjure up is going to be well nigh impossible. Please read on.

Are they forgetting, or either deliberately ignoring the probable main source of CO2 which is staring them in the face, and that which itself cannot easily be eliminated. I am thinking about.......... us!......... Yes us!......... Human beings!......... A couple of years ago or possibly three, a report was published by the W.H.O. (Taken from their website) where they had calculated each and every human being alive creates around 1 kilo of CO2 per day merely by breathing! The current estimate of people alive is around the 8 BILLION mark which means around 8 billion kilos of CO2 are unavoidably produced every day. This is on top of that from other sources such as animals and industry.. Now multiply that 8 billion kilos by 365 being the number of days in a year then the production of CO2 takes on perhaps another level of how we are destroying the life we live. It also makes the production of CO2 by industry by the likes of China, India and the USA pale into virtual insignificance.

The quote regularly handed out that since the industrial revolution the average annual global temperature has risen to what is evidently unsustainable levels. What is never EVER mentioned is the global population has probably tripled since then, and with it the increase of CO2. so naturally the average temperature will have risen and not necessarily driven by industry.

But there again they don't want us to think of that because it will blow their argument out of the water. Just stopping burning fossil fuels will not save the planet.
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So what do you propose?
 
I would stick with what you have.

"The devil you know" and all that...
 
Rodinal said:
I always thought (or was meant to think/believe) that the ethos of converting to electric vehicles was to reduce emissions - or am I being miss-guided in my thoughts. Production of these vehicles will produce as least as much emissions as do an normal IC powered vehicle just in their initial construction never mind use. They are larger than cars of as little as 5 years ago, a necessity to accommodate the bulk and weight of the lithium batteries. Then there is the harm caused when they mine the lithium in the 1st place both to the environment and to those who work in the mines.

Now talking of lithium batteries they are a source of pollution themselves when spent batteries are stored before disposal and they can and do catch fire and are exceedingly difficult to bring under control. There have been 3 major fires reported this week at dumps where spent batteries are/were kept in UK alone.

The target of net zero emissions by whatever year they conjure up is going to be well nigh impossible. Please read on.

Are they forgetting, or either deliberately ignoring the probable main source of CO2 which is staring them in the face, and that which itself cannot easily be eliminated. I am thinking about.......... us!......... Yes us!......... Human beings!......... A couple of years ago or possibly three, a report was published by the W.H.O. (Taken from their website) where they had calculated each and every human being alive creates around 1 kilo of CO2 per day merely by breathing! The current estimate of people alive is around the 8 BILLION mark which means around 8 billion kilos of CO2 are unavoidably produced every day. This is on top of that from other sources such as animals and industry.. Now multiply that 8 billion kilos by 365 being the number of days in a year then the production of CO2 takes on perhaps another level of how we are destroying the life we live. It also makes the production of CO2 by industry by the likes of China, India and the USA pale into virtual insignificance.

The quote regularly handed out that since the industrial revolution the average annual global temperature has risen to what is evidently unsustainable levels. What is never EVER mentioned is the global population has probably tripled since then, and with it the increase of CO2. so naturally the average temperature will have risen and not necessarily driven by industry.

But there again they don't want us to think of that because it will blow their argument out of the water. Just stopping burning fossil fuels will not save the planet.
Click to expand...

I remember saying about population before on a similar subject on here but it didn't go anywhere :)
 
LeeRatters said:
I remember saying about population before on a similar subject on here but it didn't go anywhere :)
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Isn't there a saying along the lines of "when the lunatics take over the asylum, the sane become the outcasts"? :naughty:
 
Rodinal said:
Just stopping burning fossil fuels will not save the planet.
Click to expand...
Would be interested to know what people's thoughts are on stopping burning fossil fuels when reserve are so low as to be economically impossible (which will happen after a period of increasing prices). The fossil fuel will run out. To not accept this and find alternatives is to dump all over future generations.
 
jerry12953 said:
Exactly. We can't do much about over-population but before long Nature will probably do it for us.
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Weeeeeeellllll, we can. But people tend not to like what it involves.

There are several things we _can_ do. None of them (with the possible exception of, you know, killing like 2 billion people) will fix things on their own. But to say that we shouldn't do *any* of them because no single thing will work seems a little defeatist.

Pound Coin said:
Would be interested to know what people's thoughts are on stopping burning fossil fuels when reserve are so low as to be economically impossible (which will happen after a period of increasing prices). The fossil fuel will run out. To not accept this and find alternatives is to dump all over future generations.
Click to expand...
I think we should save fossil fuels for important stuff. Kind of like how we should immediately ban party balloons so our MRI scanners work for longer. But I don't actually know enough about fossil fuels to know what's the vial use that can't be replicated by anything else. Obviously, if we carry on burning it then prices will rise and we'll get (more) wars over the dwindling supplies which will reduce population. Then there's all the natural disasters that 97% of climate scientists say this will cause / is currently causing*.

Gaia plays a pretty long and complex game.

-------
* Nasa's figures.
 
JonathanRyan said:
There are several things we _can_ do. None of them (with the possible exception of, you know, killing like 2 billion people) will fix things on their own. But to say that we shouldn't do *any* of them because no single thing will work seems a little defeatist.
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Of course there are things we can/could do and the new government seems to be pretty determined to do some of them, not withstanding the unpopularity that will bring them. But with what we know will now happen in the USA I am not at all optimistic that we will be able to do enough quickly enough to prevent major disruption, bloodshed and ultimately death of millions of people. The far right in the UK and various parts of Europe all seem to believe that Climate Change is a hoax and they are getting more and more powerful. Most of Europe could be going down the Trump route in the next ten years. What will happen when parts of southern Europe (Spain, Italy, Greece?) become uninhabitable? Where will millions of people go? The current migrant situation will be nothing compared to what we might see in the future.
 
jerry12953 said:
The far right in the UK and various parts of Europe all seem to believe that Climate Change is a hoax
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I think, rather, that many people know the climate is changing but realise that it is a natural part of planetary evolution. Those who have created and/or joined the religion of human influenced climate change, appear to be getting ever more aggressive, as is typical of "religious" belief groups.
jerry12953 said:
... and they are getting more and more powerful.
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Possibly, understanding the essential untruth of human influenced climate change, some right wing groups have seen a soft target whithin the leftist groups.
jerry12953 said:
What will happen when parts of southern Europe (Spain, Italy, Greece?) become uninhabitable?
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That seems a remote possibility at this stage. If the current heating does continue, changes of habitation and a more proactive approach to coastal erosion will become necessary. On the other hand, a warmer global climate will probably open up new areas for agriculture towards the polar regions
jerry12953 said:
Where will millions of people go?
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As has always been the case, migration will take many forms but if the average temperature continues to climb, as pointed out above, new areas will become practical places to live.
jerry12953 said:
The current migrant situation will be nothing compared to what we might see in the future.
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Mass migration has always been a problem and there have been many examples in the past of such large movements.
 
AndrewFlannigan said:
I think, rather, that many people know the climate is changing but realise that it is a natural part of planetary evolution. Those who have created and/or joined the religion of human influenced climate change, appear to be getting ever more aggressive, as is typical of "religious" belief groups.
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Ah look! An opinion!!!
 
Rodinal said:
I always thought (or was meant to think/believe) that the ethos of converting to electric vehicles was to reduce emissions - or am I being miss-guided in my thoughts. Production of these vehicles will produce as least as much emissions as do an normal IC powered vehicle just in their initial construction never mind use.
Click to expand...
The key measurement is over the full lifecycle of the vehicle from construction to destruction including everything (e.g. mining the materials for the battery, generating electricity etc etc)

BEVs win on this measure, causing about half the greenhouse gas emissions that an equivalent ICE car would cause (source : International Energy Agency). There is a higher construction cost due to the battery but the fuel use for average miles massively moves that in the opposite direction. Now, if you buy a car and only run it 2,000 miles a year then an ICE car might achieve lifetime parity or even be better. The vast majority don't, however.

I drive an ICE car and ICE van and am likely to continue to do so for many more years, but I cannot deny the numbers.
 
jerry12953 said:
That's all - an opinion......
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Quite right, just like everything you have written.

This is not "Nature" or "Scientific American" and all any of us have to offer is opinions,
 
JonathanRyan said:
So what do you propose?
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Not proposing anything, merely pointing out the futile efforts of so called experts who still think we can get to net zero carbon emissions and have performed a miraculous confidence trick in doing so.
Have you any bright ideas? Perhaps not!
 
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AndrewFlannigan said:
Quite right, just like everything you have written.

This is not "Nature" or "Scientific American" and all any of us have to offer is opinions,
Click to expand...
Opinions based on fact are better than those that aren't...
 
Rodinal said:
Have you any bright ideas? Perhaps not!
Click to expand...
As it happens I have a couple....these are generally recognised to be the best things a person can do to reduce their impact on the earth in order of impact
  1. Don't have children (I said people might not like this but the best way to avoid over population and its effects on resources is simply not to breed)
  2. Adopt a plant based whole food diet (this is what used to be called vegan but we've split into many tribes now. Even junk food vegan is way better than pretty much anything but PBWF is the best)
  3. Convert to renewable energy use. Heating and lighting your home from renewables won't make a massive difference compared to industry but everybody doing it will. The easiest thing on this list. Even better, generate your own power - but if you can't do that, look into batteries for domestic storage - this shifts load from the busy times meaning we can smooth out energy usage. It will also save you money.
  4. Travel responsibly both for one offs (avoid flying) and especially every day (walk, cycle, electric car / train)
You can then get into the more complex and less effective ones such as responsible clothing (hemp or bamboo over cotton), political and social activism, volunteering with environmental projects, stop buying stuff you don't need, supporting local initiatives etc etc.

I'm sure you can think of others that may be more appropriate for you.
 
JonathanRyan said:
As it happens I have a couple....these are generally recognised to be the best things a person can do to reduce their impact on the earth in order of impact
  1. Don't have children (I said people might not like this but the best way to avoid over population and its effects on resources is simply not to breed)
  2. Adopt a plant based whole food diet (this is what used to be called vegan but we've split into many tribes now. Even junk food vegan is way better than pretty much anything but PBWF is the best)
  3. Convert to renewable energy use. Heating and lighting your home from renewables won't make a massive difference compared to industry but everybody doing it will. The easiest thing on this list. Even better, generate your own power - but if you can't do that, look into batteries for domestic storage - this shifts load from the busy times meaning we can smooth out energy usage. It will also save you money.
  4. Travel responsibly both for one offs (avoid flying) and especially every day (walk, cycle, electric car / train)
You can then get into the more complex and less effective ones such as responsible clothing (hemp or bamboo over cotton), political and social activism, volunteering with environmental projects, stop buying stuff you don't need, supporting local initiatives etc etc.

I'm sure you can think of others that may be more appropriate for you.
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Agree meat farming is one of the the most damaging things for the environment, in terms of emissions as well as rainforest being cleared
 
This popped up on my Facebook page this morning so I copied it...... It's not me speaking....... (and because its American "gas" = ice in this context.

Alright everyone, I think we might be going back to gas vehicles. After 3 years with the below pictured electric vehicle and having saved at least $11k in gas or more, no repairs at all except for tire rotation, no oil changes, free or low cost charging , overnight charging at my house…I think the choice is clear to go back.
But I need some help before I consider making the switch to gas so my gas guzzling friends please help answer these questions!!
________________________________
1. I have heard that gas cars can’t refuel at home while you sleep? How often do you have to refill elsewhere? Will there be a solution for refuelling at home? What happens if the gas station loses power, how do I pump gas then?
2. Which parts will I need to service and how often? The car salesman mentioned oil in the engine and timing belts that need replacing and a box with gears in it. What is this? How much will this service oil change cost and how often – and what happens to the old oil. Also apparently these petrol type cars generally stop on the brakes alone – so the brakes wear out much faster – how long will they last compared to my current electric car which is estimated to last over 100k miles?
3. Do I get fuel back when I slow down or drive downhill? How about during stop and start traffic?
4. The car I test drove seemed to have a delay from the time I pressed the accelerator pedal until it began to accelerate. Is that normal in gas cars?
5. We currently pay about 1.2p per mile to drive our electric car. I have heard that gas can cost up to 8 times as much. Is this true?
6. Is it true that gas is flammable? Isn’t that dangerous?
7. I understand that the main ingredient in gas is oil. Is it true that the extraction and refining of oil causes environmental problems as well as conflicts and major wars that over the last 100 years have cost millions of lives? Is there a solution? I don’t know if I can support something like this.
8. I have also been told that you have to transport oil all over the world to turn into petrol or diesel, and these ships have in the past damaged the environment by leaking the oil.
9. I have heard that cars with internal combustion engines are being banned to enter more and more cities around the world, as it is claimed that they tend to harm the environment and health of their citizens? Is that true?
10. I have been told that these internal combustion engines make a noise when you start them – so early starts can wake people up, and driving a lot of internal combustion engine cars in towns makes towns noisy.
11. is it true people can steal the fuel from your tank? I worry about that because nobody’s ever been able to steal my electricity off my car.
12. what is the drop in range in cold weather, I've been told a car that does 45mpg can drop to 37 mpg in winter – just curious on that one.
13. a friend told me that the exhausts wear out – is that true, and people steal them for the rare material used in them?
14. I was also told – that the exhaust gas isn’t good for you – and if you leave the car running in a confined space – like a garage – you will die – surely that isn’t true is it??
15. next door told me – these gas cars – carry around 40 to 60 litres of highly flammable liquid which is pumped into a steel cylinder, and its then exploded to generate expanding gas to move a piston, and turn linear motion into rotary motion.
Why would anyone want thousands of explosions happening within a few feet of where your sitting.
16. a guy at work told me – he has a gas car, and it leaks oil. When he parks it – surely that’s not right is it – leaving dirty marks on the floor and contaminating the environment so directly. How long before this happens if I change to a gas car?
17. my dad told me – if you buy a diesel car – the hand pump smells very bad, and you have to wear special gloves to stop your hand smelling, and if you spill it on your clothes it’s terrible.
18. is it true – the petrol and diesel is so dangerous, that you can only buy the fuel at a special filling station, and not anywhere like electric charging stations (hotels/Car parks/Home/Work)
________________________
Thanks in advance everyone!! Want to be informed before I make the switch back to gas!
1f92a.png


Ends......
 
jerry12953 said:
This popped up on my Facebook page this morning so I copied it...... It's not me speaking....... (and because its American "gas" = ice in this context.

Alright everyone, I think we might be going back to gas vehicles. After 3 years with the below pictured electric vehicle and having saved at least $11k in gas or more, no repairs at all except for tire rotation, no oil changes, free or low cost charging , overnight charging at my house…I think the choice is clear to go back.
But I need some help before I consider making the switch to gas so my gas guzzling friends please help answer these questions!!
________________________________
1. I have heard that gas cars can’t refuel at home while you sleep? How often do you have to refill elsewhere? Will there be a solution for refuelling at home? What happens if the gas station loses power, how do I pump gas then?
2. Which parts will I need to service and how often? The car salesman mentioned oil in the engine and timing belts that need replacing and a box with gears in it. What is this? How much will this service oil change cost and how often – and what happens to the old oil. Also apparently these petrol type cars generally stop on the brakes alone – so the brakes wear out much faster – how long will they last compared to my current electric car which is estimated to last over 100k miles?
3. Do I get fuel back when I slow down or drive downhill? How about during stop and start traffic?
4. The car I test drove seemed to have a delay from the time I pressed the accelerator pedal until it began to accelerate. Is that normal in gas cars?
5. We currently pay about 1.2p per mile to drive our electric car. I have heard that gas can cost up to 8 times as much. Is this true?
6. Is it true that gas is flammable? Isn’t that dangerous?
7. I understand that the main ingredient in gas is oil. Is it true that the extraction and refining of oil causes environmental problems as well as conflicts and major wars that over the last 100 years have cost millions of lives? Is there a solution? I don’t know if I can support something like this.
8. I have also been told that you have to transport oil all over the world to turn into petrol or diesel, and these ships have in the past damaged the environment by leaking the oil.
9. I have heard that cars with internal combustion engines are being banned to enter more and more cities around the world, as it is claimed that they tend to harm the environment and health of their citizens? Is that true?
10. I have been told that these internal combustion engines make a noise when you start them – so early starts can wake people up, and driving a lot of internal combustion engine cars in towns makes towns noisy.
11. is it true people can steal the fuel from your tank? I worry about that because nobody’s ever been able to steal my electricity off my car.
12. what is the drop in range in cold weather, I've been told a car that does 45mpg can drop to 37 mpg in winter – just curious on that one.
13. a friend told me that the exhausts wear out – is that true, and people steal them for the rare material used in them?
14. I was also told – that the exhaust gas isn’t good for you – and if you leave the car running in a confined space – like a garage – you will die – surely that isn’t true is it??
15. next door told me – these gas cars – carry around 40 to 60 litres of highly flammable liquid which is pumped into a steel cylinder, and its then exploded to generate expanding gas to move a piston, and turn linear motion into rotary motion.
Why would anyone want thousands of explosions happening within a few feet of where your sitting.
16. a guy at work told me – he has a gas car, and it leaks oil. When he parks it – surely that’s not right is it – leaving dirty marks on the floor and contaminating the environment so directly. How long before this happens if I change to a gas car?
17. my dad told me – if you buy a diesel car – the hand pump smells very bad, and you have to wear special gloves to stop your hand smelling, and if you spill it on your clothes it’s terrible.
18. is it true – the petrol and diesel is so dangerous, that you can only buy the fuel at a special filling station, and not anywhere like electric charging stations (hotels/Car parks/Home/Work)
________________________
Thanks in advance everyone!! Want to be informed before I make the switch back to gas!
1f92a.png


Ends......
Click to expand...
I take it that is this year's winner of the Goebbels and Pravda Memorial Prize for crude propaganda...
 
AndrewFlannigan said:
I take it that is this year's winner of the Goebbels and Pravda Memorial Prize for crude propaganda...
Click to expand...


And how many points in that list are wrong? Not in YOUR opinion but actually wrong.
 
Raincloud said:
Closest i came to buying an electric car was Scalextric!
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Me too.

I think I played with it for about a fortnight then I lost interest. Going round and round became quite boring after a short time.
 
Dragging this back up to put out some news.

Sodium Ion batteries were mentioned in this thread as being 'in development', well not any more. CATL (worlds biggest battery maker) has released the first one to market, first ones currently in a Huawei model but expect to see them everywhere in the next year or so.
Sodium takes the place of Lithium
The batteries are cheaper
Will charge at 1,200 kWh, meaning a 100kwh battery will charge from 0-100% in ~10 minutes
Will be more energy dense (goes further for the same size/weight) meaning 800+ miles per charge.

Technology moves on at speed!

Some info here.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsPPDnw5Bg4&t=420s
 
Steep said:
Dragging this back up to put out some news.

Sodium Ion batteries were mentioned in this thread as being 'in development', well not any more. CATL (worlds biggest battery maker) has released the first one to market, first ones currently in a Huawei model but expect to see them everywhere in the next year or so.
Sodium takes the place of Lithium
The batteries are cheaper
Will charge at 1,200 kWh, meaning a 100kwh battery will charge from 0-100% in ~10 minutes
Will be more energy dense (goes further for the same size/weight) meaning 800+ miles per charge.

Technology moves on at speed!

Some info here.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsPPDnw5Bg4&t=420s
Click to expand...
With the added benefit that Lithium, which is costly to mine & refine will be available for non energy uses.

Sodium is I understand relatively easy to produce either by mining & refining (compared to Lithium(?) or from desalination and breaking down salt molecules.

PS and hopefully Gigabattery farms will be smaller and more efficient too.
 
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Steep said:
Will charge at 1,200 kWh, meaning a 100kwh battery will charge from 0-100% in ~10 minutes
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsPPDnw5Bg4&t=420s
Click to expand...
Great news on the batteries for everything except second hand prices :)

But this bit has to be vapourware, right?

I don't think there's any current battery tech that can be charged at anything like 100% speed for 100% of the battery.

Most take much longer to go from 80% to 100 than 0-80. When I looked at the ev6 they were very careful to state that it could charge 20-80% in 20 minutes. And that was using chargers that didn't exist :)
 
JonathanRyan said:
Great news on the batteries for everything except second hand prices :)

But this bit has to be vapourware, right?

I don't think there's any current battery tech that can be charged at anything like 100% speed for 100% of the battery.

Most take much longer to go from 80% to 100 than 0-80. When I looked at the ev6 they were very careful to state that it could charge 20-80% in 20 minutes. And that was using chargers that didn't exist :)
Click to expand...

But this is new tech... The slowing of charging speed in Lithium batteries is to protect the battery from damage caused by overheating. If you change the chemistry you change the reaction to high/low temperature. I say low because the Sodium Ion battery also has much better low temperature performance (as stated in the video) which is great news for winter driving.

The existence of capable chargers is not a reflection of the possible speed attainable and in fact there were 350kw chargers in hubs before the EV6 existed. Right now I expect there's only one or two 1200 kilowatt chargers but that will change as and when the battery type becomes more common. That said even the standard UK 50kw charger will charge a Sodium battery faster because they won't need to slow down at either end of the process and access to a massively fast charger isn't going to be important when you have a range of 800 odd miles.
 
As long as somebody other than marketeers have checked their numbers :)

But you're right, 800 mille range from 100kwh is the real fact here. I could charge at home for 7 quid then drive from London to Edinburgh and back. Or go on a motoring tour of Wales.

My guess though is that if these batteries are so efficient they would actually fit much smaller packs. Create a very cheap car with 200 mile range which could be charged about as fast as filling with petrol (I refuse to believe anybody can stop at a petrol station, fill up, pay and drive off safely in less than 5 minutes. I bet the average is close to 10)
 
New battery technology is good news not just for cars, am thinking camera batteries etc
As Jonathan said would make an electric car a viable option for many more people, an 800 mile range would be all most people in the UK would need
Also if the new technology is cheaper we would consider one , at the moment an electric car is out if our budget even second hand
 
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