Interesting read on electric cars

[gronk]

Road (& footpath!) legal in Qld at least, & when I asked, they said they've sold quite a few into NSW & haven't yet heard of anybody having problems with .

They suggested that you go into TNSW (that's their name this week, isn't it ) & ask for a ruling, & if thy say no, ask why, as e-scooters are legal in NSW & this can classify as a scooter as can be manually pushed!

Sorry, didn’t know they allowed them in Qld now.
E scooters are NOT legal in NSW.

[Mace]

Sorry, didn’t know they allowed them in Qld now.
E scooters are NOT legal in NSW.

https://roadsafety.transport.nsw.gov.au/stayingsafe/e-scooters/index.html

Not yet...

Hundreds of them down here, also on a 12-month trail throughout Hobart City.  PITA, they get left at random spots all around the city, blocking footpaths and the like. They are allowed on footpaths.... 

[austastar]

Hi,
   They need a bell. Got a start when one whizzed past me the other day on a very narrow footpath.
Cheers

Sent from my SM-T380 using Tapatalk

[GeoffA]

Hi,
   They need a bell. Got a start when one whizzed past me the other day on a very narrow footpath.
Cheers

Air horns could be fun....

[austastar]

To summon the Cardiac Resus crew?
Cheers

Sent from my SM-T380 using Tapatalk

[Fizzie]

   They need a bell. Got a start when one whizzed past me the other day on a very narrow footpath.

We had a go on Segways a couple of years ago, along the beachfront at Coolangatta. They were fun, too!

They, by law, also have to have a bell fitted so you can warn anybody that you're coming up behind them, but, as the bloke running them said, Please don't use it, because people complain to Council about the bells dinging!

[DandyD]

From a UK perspective…

TOW NO! I towed a caravan with an electric car and it was a DISASTER – you’re still better off with diesel

https://www.thesun.co.uk/motors/19466473/test-drove-electric-skoda-enyaq-caravan/

[NZMarkb]

From a UK perspective…

TOW NO! I towed a caravan with an electric car and it was a DISASTER – you’re still better off with diesel

https://www.thesun.co.uk/motors/19466473/test-drove-electric-skoda-enyaq-caravan/

I can only dream about what Jeremy Clarkson would have to say about that 

[Fizzie]

TOW NO! I towed a caravan with an electric car and it was a DISASTER – you’re still better off with diesel

But having said that:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-11/electric-bushmaster-bendigo/101322502

 

[DandyD]

But having said that:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-11/electric-bushmaster-bendigo/101322502

 

Because you can always be sure of finding a working charger on a battlefield. Perhaps they have a special phone app for that.

[Steffo1]

Because you can always be sure of finding a working charger on a battlefield. Perhaps they have a special phone app for that.

More likely....

[Bird]

Because you can always be sure of finding a working charger on a battlefield. Perhaps they have a special phone app for that.

[Bird]

your 2 week trip just got you 1/2 way to where you wanna be as you queue up for hours per car infront of you charging up LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!
then bad luck if theres 20 cars infront charging up

hahahahhaahhahaaahahahha!!!!!!!!!!!!

The government is aiming to have a charging station every 150km on major roads.

https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/climate-change/government-revisits-plan-to-impose-penalties-on-car-emissions/news-story/db9bc2b9a62551527155324e74acdda5

[sparksy]

Bushmaster are now trialling electric hybrid. 300km range and battery mode allows silent running.
https://australian5.com/2022/08/12/australian-build-armoured-vehicle-goes-electric/?fbclid=IwAR2wvlpPuiRbmXQF-Cme94YtLPgYZm78NUh8bdQp4mQV_KP5bJSr0Q8DGMw

[plusnq]

your 2 week trip just got you 1/2 way to where you wanna be as you queue up for hours per car infront of you charging up LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!
then bad luck if theres 20 cars infront charging up

hahahahhaahhahaaahahahha!!!!!!!!!!!!

The government is aiming to have a charging station every 150km on major roads.

https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/climate-change/government-revisits-plan-to-impose-penalties-on-car-emissions/news-story/db9bc2b9a62551527155324e74acdda5

The queue at Windorah after the big red bash a few years ago was kilometres long for fuel.

[Brij]

I get confused by the talk of Australia being a dumping ground for high emissions vehicles.

Part of the reason we lost our automotive manufactures was we weren't a big enough market for vehicles that are only sold in Australia. Much more efficient to build 1,000,000 vehicles in Thailand and send 10,000 of to Australia than it is to have a "small" manufacturer build 10,000 in Australia.

However the media/government tells us it is more profitable for a manufacturer to build 990,000 high efficiency vehicles on one production line, and build the odd 10,000 low efficiency vehicles on a low scale line instead of just having one production line.

So to rectify the issue we have impose efficiency standards on manufactures to force them to take the "high profit margin", small scale production line vehicles out of the market and instead give us the "low profit margin", high volume production line models.

Ironically the heavy vehicle industry has to be minimum Euro 4, but you struggle to buy anything less than Euro 5 or 6 (as far as European trucks are concerned). We just get what ever is coming down the production line.

I suspect in reality the light vehicle market is the same.

[Bird]

The queue at Windorah after the big red bash a few years ago was kilometres long for fuel.

Yep, and you can fuel up in minutes 

[gronk]

Yep, and you can fuel up in minutes 

Imagine what it would be like if it was EV’s…….take a ticket and we’ll call you when it’s your turn !!   

[Bird]

Imagine what it would be like if it was EV’s…….take a ticket and we’ll call you when it’s your turn !!   

Sorry our charging system has failed....  LOL

[gronk]

Sorry our charging system has failed....  LOL

While you’re waiting, get out the solar panels and try and put some trickle charge in !

Hang on…light bulb moment….just like the space station, for just an extra 25grand you can option the huge fold out solar panel array that unfolds out of the bonnet ( plenty of room seeing as there is no engine ).
And in “only” an hour, you have a 1/2 charged battery !!

[Bird]

While you’re waiting, get out the solar panels and try and put some trickle charge in !

Hang on…light bulb moment….just like the space station, for just an extra 25grand you can option the huge fold out solar panel array that unfolds out of the bonnet ( plenty of room seeing as there is no engine ).
And in “only” an hour, you have a 1/2 charged battery !!

its ok its only 43 degrees while ya charge up

[OldPaj]

Bushmaster are now trialling electric hybrid. 300km range and battery mode allows silent running.
https://australian5.com/2022/08/12/australian-build-armoured-vehicle-goes-electric/?fbclid=IwAR2wvlpPuiRbmXQF-Cme94YtLPgYZm78NUh8bdQp4mQV_KP5bJSr0Q8DGMw

Ask yourself why Thales (a CIVILIAN) contractor to Defence is doing this!

Simples - Research = Government (taxpayer) money by the bucket load!

[sparksy]

Ask yourself why Thales (a CIVILIAN) contractor to Defence is doing this!

Simples - Research = Government (taxpayer) money by the bucket load!

I suppose they have to start design and research somewhere but thing of the advantages for warfare with silent running and the advantage of auxillary uses of the battery supply.

[sparksy]

This make an interesting read for the installation of the chargers that will need to be done for everybody's new EV. It highlights the lack of taking into consideration the existing electrical infrastructure and problem that will arise with added load to the systems.
Think of the problems that will arise when everyone in a highrise with a parking space needs to have a charger installed and then puts their EV on charge when they get home.
This post relates to the docklands in Melbourne but every city will be the same.

"Thinking of an electric car??
Some Wise Words From An Electrical Contractor In Melbourne…
I recently did some work for the body corporate at the ****** Apartment Building in Docklands in Melbourne to see if we could install a small number of electric charging points for owners to charge their electric vehicles.
We had our first three applications and we discovered:
1.      The  building has no non- allocated parking spaces ie public ones. This is typical of most apartment buildings so we cannot provide shared outlets.
2.      The power supply in the building was designed for the loads in the building with virtually no spare capacity. Only 5 or 6 chargers could be installed in total in a building with 188 apartments!!
3.      How do you allocate them as they would add value to any apartment owning one. The Shit-fight started on day one with about 20 applications received 1st day and with many more following.
4.      The car park sub-boards cannot carry the extra loads of even one charger and would have to be upgraded on any floors with a charger as would the supply mains to each sub- board.
5.      The main switch board would then have to be upgraded to add the heavier circuit breakers for the sub mains upgrade and furthermore:
6.      When Docklands was designed a limit was put on the number of apartments in each precinct and the mains and transformers in the streets designed accordingly.
This means there is no capacity in the Docklands street grid for any significant quantity of car chargers in any building in the area.
7.      It gets better. The whole CBD (Hoddle Grid, Docklands) and Southbank is fed by two sub stations. One in Port Melbourne and one in West Melbourne.
This was done to have two alternate feeds in case one failed or was down for maintenance. Because of the growth in the city /Docklands and Southbank now neither one is capable of supplying the full requirement of Melbourne zone at peak usage in mid- summer if the other is out of action. The Port Melbourne 66,000 volt feeder runs on 50 or 60 year old wooden power poles above ground along Dorcas Street South Melbourne. One is pole is located 40 cm from the corner Kerb at the incredibly busy Ferrars /St Dorcas St Intersection and is very vulnerable to being wiped out by a wayward vehicle.
The infrastructure expenditure required would dwarf the NBN cost & that’s not including the new power stations required!

These advocates of electric vehicles by 2040 are completely bonkers! It takes 5-8 years to design and build a large coal fired power station like Loy Yang and even longer for a Nuclear one (That’s after you get the political will, permits and legislative changes needed). Wind and solar just can’t produce enough. Tidal power might but that’s further away than nuclear.
MOST AUSTRALIANS DON’T UNDERSTAND THIS YET……………..!
It's just a Greenie’s dream for the foreseeable future, other than in small wealthy countries.
The grid simply cannot support it in most places in Australia!
An agenda driven by stupid Greenies and supported by stupider Politicians."

[Symon]

The counter argument to that is to have local battery storage that is charged either by solar or by off-peak grid power to avoid the need for the charger to be supplied directly from the grid.  This smooths out the load over a longer period to lessen the peak demand on the grid.  Obviously you need to find somewhere for all those batteries and the cost is not negligible either.

Regardless, the grid capacity is a significant problem.  I don't buy the argument from the green groups that decentralised grids are the solution, at a small scale sure, there are plenty of examples on islands and small population centres where that works.  A highly populated metro area is a very different scenario.