Electric car rapid charging costs soar, says RAC - BBC News
"Right now, VAT on electricity from a public charger is levied at a rate four-times that which applies to domestic electricity, which makes it far more expensive to charge on-the-go than it should be,"
Z.
Add more solar? That simply doesn't help does it B, what happens on wet, dull, winter, or other useless days, is charging then not allowed? This whole scam is crazy, yet few see it for reasons which are completely beyond understanding. Electricity has to be dispatchable, there is no alternative. I know Boris and co cannot understand this, but Engineers?
Are..............."strain" is expecting too much of an overused often undersized grid then. Yep, we should all be using bicycles and horses for transport, that would be less polluting and greener. Also it would teach the youngsters about responsibility of machines and animals. This inflation business where prices are rising is already teaching young people who want everything NOW about economy, but that is by the hard way. They should have learnt that in advance though, it would have made things a little easier for them now.
I was shown inside a modern hybrid car recently. The dashboard and steering column controls were numerous. There were knobs, lights, buttons and levers everywhere. The car's driver's seat was like the cock-pit of a modern aeroplane. Too much manufactured stuff in my opinion. Just consider all of the materials. Just consider the costs. Just consider disposing of that all when the car is eventually scrapped. Pollution galore.
Oh, and the owner said that he did not know what many of the controls did in function.
Madness. Too much manufactured stuff.
Z.
Right Dave.
I still not got mee heed round hybrids of the type that are electric yet solely powered from the fossil fuel in yer fuel tank. Can`t be green energy at all can it?
The way I see it anyway.
1/ If you drive your fossil fuel car up a hill purely to charge your batteries on the downhill journey = poor use.
2/ If you are going to drive up that hill irrespective and on the downhill journey you may as well charge your battery up anyway, well I suppose a little greener than option 1/.
3/ If you charge your batteries from the grid and/or renewables (hoping the grid is more efficient that your fossil fuel car engine plus some grid power might derived from renewables) then I can see a bit of sense in that.
4/ If you are using Electric as primary and a fossil fuel tank ONLY as a mostly do not use reserve , well yes OK I suppose
Do the Swiss still have those buses with a giant concrete flywheel inbuilt that they spun back up on downhill journeys?
And, the wonderful thing about liquid fuels such as petrol or diesel in a vehicle, is that the further you drive the lighter the vehicle gets.
Flywheel Energy Storage - TheGreenAge
In June 2011, the Beacon Power Corporation completed the company’s first flywheel energy storage plant in Stephentown, New York at a cost of $60m. The plant utilises 200 flywheels spinning at a maximum speed of 16000 rpm to store excess energy and help regulate the supply to the local grid.
Z.
yeah I think about 70s to 90s Swiss had these flywheel buses, used spin to go flat/uphill and recharged the spin on downhills, lasted half day to one day on one spin charge so they reckoned at the time. Musta been a big heavy load of concrete in that flywheel
I still not got mee heed round hybrids of the type that are electric yet solely powered from the fossil fuel in yer fuel tank. Can`t be green energy at all can it?
How about a new M-B? https://www.mercedes-benz.co.uk/passengercars/mercedes-benz-cars/models/amg-gt/4-door-coupe-x290-fl/e-performance/footnote.module.html
600-odd bhp from the ICE plus a couple of hundred from the battery, except that it only goes 8 miles on 'lectric only.
I am sure that the extra grunt is thrilling, but having cut 1.5 sec off the petrol version's 0-60 time, that thrill is so much briefer.
Naturally, 'cos it is hybrid, it squeezes into a lower tax bracket.
Adding more solar would help considerably in bright weather, and help a little in dull weather. In winter there should hopefully be more wind power available.
Neither wind nor solar is the complete answer but both should be used to the maximum extent permitted by weather conditions. To burn hugely expensive gas in bright weather, or in windy conditions is in my view simply silly.
In the absence of any new developments, we will need natural gas for many years yet, but should be reducing use, not expanding it.
The burning of natural gas and other fossil fuels is generally accepted to be accelerating climate change. I fully appreciate that some disagree with this view, but those who do not agree WRT climate change should support increased renewables simply due to the great cost of gas at present.
And if anyone believes that natural gas is OK as regards climate change, AND IS ALSO affordable, or going to become affordable, should consider the implications of being reliant on foreign powers for supplies of gas.
Hands up those who believe that
Firstly that gas is harmless to the climate.
AND secondly who believe that it will remain cheap
AND finally who believe that Russia, and the middle east are lovely places really and that being reliant on them for fuel is fine.
I still not got mee heed round hybrids of the type that are electric yet solely powered from the fossil fuel in yer fuel tank. Can`t be green energy at all can it?
Most diesel railway locomotives have been diesel-electric for a very long time - if you like hybrid without the battery, but even that has proved worthwhile. The fundamental problem with internal combustion engines is that they're only remotely efficient within a narrow range of rpm/torque. We try to use gears to better match road speed to a suitable engine r.p.m. but it's still pretty poor system, especially in situations with a lot of start/stop. Electric motors are far better for driving vehicles (cars or trains- good torque and efficiency at almost any speed) - so the locos used the diesel engines running at near optimal conditions to generate electricity and then used that electricity to drive electric motors. The fuel saving more than paid for the extra machinery.
Add a battery and even more savings become possible. Rather than having to size the engine for the maximum required output, you can have a somewhat smaller engine, and make up the difference in power from the battery - so smaller lighter engine, lower fuel consumption for the same performance. Then you can add regenerative breaking - so more fuel savings. Yes it's still 100% petrol powered, but uses significantly less petrol that would otherwise be the case - so while still not perfect, certainly significantly better. The ability to pre-charge the the battery from (renewable) grid supplies, is then a further benefit.
Of course a much simpler approach is just to have the motor on the vehicle and connect direct to the grid for power - like electric trains do, and trams and indeed the old trolley buses.
- Andy.
We're about to take you to the IET registration website. Don't worry though, you'll be sent straight back to the community after completing the registration.
Continue to the IET registration site
