Tesla S on dyno

[Rocko]

Discuss.

 

[C4L]

the noise will haunt me forever.

 

[DaddyCC]

Hyperdrive kicked in y0

 

[Amos]

Just tyre noise...?

 

[Eager]

may get it back on the charge after that

 

[stevieturbo]

Discuss.

The video cannot do it justice though. Electric setups will be able to generate enough torque pretty much from the word go to destroy most of the drivetrain or smoke the tyres. The thing that needs done right is the control of that power/torque to make it usable in a road car.
I seen a VW Beetle at Santa Pod several few years ago, it was still a budget build but performed very well. Their biggest limiting factor at the time was the driveshafts as they kept twisting them. Batteries and electric motor could provide far more grunt than they could actually use.

What we dont know is the weight of the vehicle and how long the batteries will last. Making the performance numbers is the easy bit.
More batteries, bigger/better motor = more power.

But they are always very heavy, they still take a long time to charge, and they still run flat quickly.

Functional electric/battery powered vehicles are still a long long way off. If one was available and had sensible range from a charge, I'd own one ( a small van anyway )

 

[Paddy_R]

Functional electric/battery powered vehicles are still a long long way off. If one was available and had sensible range from a charge, I'd own one ( a small van anyway )

Here you go:
http://www.renault-ze.com/en-gb/z.e.-range/kangoo-z.e./kangoo-van-z.e.-1939.html

 

[Arfur]

You know that noise the washing machine makes when it goes into the spin dry at the end of the wash??!!!!!!!!
I will mourn on the day ev sales overtake petrol/diesel powered vehicles... I understand it may be an essential move forward but not looking forward to it.

 

[stevieturbo]

Here you go:
http://www.renault-ze.com/en-gb/z.e.-range/kangoo-z.e./kangoo-van-z.e.-1939.html

That has to be the most horrific website ever. So how far can it go on a single charge ?

Ahh, just found it on an autocar website.

The Kangoo Van ZE has a range of 100 miles on the NEDC combined cycle and can be monitored by the driver through what Renault calls an MMI (man machine interface).

Now that would last me about 3 hours in a day. It then needs a 6-8 hour charge. So pretty useless really. Until there is a minimum of 400 mile range, plus some sort of backup then it is useless for me.

 

[stevieturbo]

You know that noise the washing machine makes when it goes into the spin dry at the end of the wash??!!!!!!!!
I will mourn on the day ev sales overtake petrol/diesel powered vehicles... I understand it may be an essential move forward but not looking forward to it.

I read somewhere recently that most manufacturers are giving up with the battery route. Batteries are just a very very inefficient method of power storage. Until there are are huge leaps forward in the technology, they will never be a sensible option.

 

[Mark_C]

Haven't come on much then! Mate of mine has a peugeot (partner electrique) electric van, and it does about 90 miles, 110 or so if you make use of the regenerative braking.

He lives near newry, and it just manages sprucefield and back on a rainy day - it's a ropey journey back!!

 

[Nigelo]

It seems range extender motors are looking popular for extending the battery charge. Shame the original jag supercar plan was canned, even just to see how the 2 turbine engines would have worked out.

 

[stevieturbo]

Even if it claims a 100 mile range. In cold weather when you need a heater, and using lights etc...I'm sure that range will be way less than 100 miles.

For it to be practical as a van, that sort of range is totally useless unless the van is only used for short journey's do and from a single location.

But you'd think as a van, they could sacrifice some load space under the floor and double the amount of batteries used. Although maybe that would give it more range...but take twice as long to charge. Which would make it useless as it would be forever plugged in.

Batteries are just ****, they always have been and will be for the foreseeable future. It's the only real weak link in creating useful electric vehicles.
Hybrids dont really work either for the exact same reasons. Except when running on normal fuel...they have to lug about the extra weight of all the hybrid crap, making them even less efficient.

 

[Arfur]

stevieturbo your quite right.. Battery vehicles are useless however when someone makes a breakthrough with the mass capture, refinement and distribution of hydrogen on levels required to support everyone using fuel cell vehicles I think the age of the petrol and diesel engine will come to an end.

 

[Mark_D]

Super capacitors are another possible solution. They charge almost instantly, but the present technology has an upper temperature limit of about 60 to 70 degrees. Automotive specs demand parts that operate upto 100 to 125 degrees, but it's early days in the development of the technology.

 

[svensktoppen]

Super capacitors are another possible solution. They charge almost instantly,

Lol, a capacitor is just a different kind of battery. It is the same old "oh, batteries will get better and quicker to charge". Which is nonsense.

Basic physics. To extend the range, you need to store more energy (like for like). To store more energy, you have to put more in to start with. Putting more in mean charging for longer - regardless what kind of battery is used, even those not invented yet.

Putting more power in also means higher charge currents. Our domestic electric supplies just are not up to that. So we are stuck with long charge times (or expensive dedicated power generation just for charging the car, like Tessla and Honda do).

Remember, electric cars have been around since long before internal combustion. They have their uses in milk floats, and for short inner city journeys, but that is it. The "new breed" is no different from the first ones 150+ years ago. Sure, batteries are a bit smaller (and much harder to manufacture), but that is it.

The only reason everyone is building hybrid and electric is because it is favoured by regulation - car tax, c-charging, EU consumption cycles, etc., all favour electric/hybrid. So you see Porsches and Range Rovers and what not, with big petrol engines and a tiny electric motor, just for tax reasons. Nothing to do with if it actually makes sense.

 

[Mark_D]

Lol, a capacitor is just a different kind of battery. It is the same old "oh, batteries will get better and quicker to charge". Which is nonsense.

Not sure I see the joke.

A battery is a device consisting of one or more electrochemical cells that convert stored chemical energy into electrical energy.
A capacitor is a pair of conductors separated by an insulator that stores charge.

A capacitor can take charge as quickly as the source can supply it, with a battery you have to supply current in a controlled manner so as not to destroy the chemistry of the battery.

Whilst a super cap does use some parts similar to that of a battery, it doesn't rely on a chemical reaction to store charge.

It is early days in the development, but there is a reason why big car companies are developing with the technology.

 

[stevieturbo]

True, some governments are forcing manufacturers to have a % of their range with either zero or very low emissions. It's why Aston Martin produced that stupid Smart based car.

It's ok in theory, but as things stand there dont seem to be any battery breakthroughs in the foreseeable future. So Electric will be crap for a few years to come.
If another source for generating electric can be found, be it hydrogen, nuclear or other, that is the way forward.

The reason a lot of hybrids choose petrol over diesel...the engines/technology is cheaper and petrol is a cleaner burning fuel that the poisonous diesel. So it's easier to get the emissions levels down so it can fall into a certain category.

 

[Con S3]

Test drove a Tesla model S in New York just before Christmas there. Seriously quick car. Very strange experience!

 

[Pumesta]

FFS current battery technology can't handle the power demands of a modern smartphone, never mind a car.

 

[Paul RS]

lipo batteries are starting to become realistic as a replacement to lead acid. Do the electric cars use them?

 

[stevieturbo]

FFS current battery technology can't handle the power demands of a modern smartphone, never mind a car.

That's very true. And some modern smartphones are huge, so must have a big battery

 

[56oval]

I seen a VW Beetle at Santa Pod several few years ago, it was still a budget build but performed very well. Their biggest limiting factor at the time was the driveshafts as they kept twisting them. Batteries and electric motor could provide far more grunt than they could actually use.

thats an old pal of mine sam young, he got that bug properly sorted and ran 9.5's on the quarter with it, unfortunately the batteries caught fire last year whilst racing in hokenheim and the car was very badly damaged almost to the point of being totally destroyed, once the batteries caught they were a nightmare to put out.

The car is now fully rebuilt and ready for the 2013 season, fair play to anyone who pushes electric performance, its not my cuppa (electric), i prefer a combustion engine, but i like folk who fly against the wind.

 

[big cyril]

The diff in that beetle is huge

 

[Storm]