Would you have an electric car if you had the money for a new car and were in the market for one?

[wheelnut]

I’m pretty sure it will get kicked down further down the road in the next few years.

The elephant in the room that no one seems to be mentioning is that are there enough minerals to mine to fill the need for the batteries? Not sure how many cars are on the road worldwide but it’s got to be well over a billion.

I would bet that if there’s a study to examine the amount of rare earth metals available (let alone those available in politically stable countries) then it would probably not be enough to replace the current cars on the road with EVs. Let alone do the same again in 7 years when the batteries wear out.

Yes we will move to zero emission tech for cars, but batteries aren’t the answer.

[Mr. Dazzle]

The answer of course, is find something other than lithium. People are kinda working on it Ditto on rare earth magnets, you don't have to use rare earth magnets, they're just the low hanging fruit and hence what you see the most now.

Also assuming you only use brand new lithium. Unlike petrol lithium can be recycled.

It's another one of those "if it's obvious to a layperson how obvious do you think it is to the industry?" things. They just don't talk about it much cause press offices like to talk about what they've got to sell right now.

https://www.apcuk.co.uk/future-lithium- ... r-concern/

APC by the way is a legit government organisation, not a dodgy advocate website! They work on all parts of vehicle propulsion, including ICE.

[Horse]

An aside:

It's another one of those "if it's obvious to a layperson how obvious do you think it is to the industry?" things.

Same happens with automated vehicles, the "Ah, yes, but what about ... ?" challenges.

[Mr. Dazzle]

"Original" Teslas don't use any rare earth magnets for example, they used AC induction motors hence the name of the company. Model 3s and later do have some rare earth in them but they'd work without it, just less well.

Rare earth free motors are absolutely possible, its just harder to make them "as good" as the easy to make motors right now. Supply/demand takes over and there you go...sorta like leaded petrol and asbestos brakes. Both of those are "better" but we've got some pretty spiffy ICE vehicles without them.

Low/no rare earth and no lithium cars are 100% in 'the plan' though. At least, they are in my office

[wheelnut]

An aside:

Same happens with automated vehicles, the "Ah, yes, but what about ... ?" challenges.

…and hence a lot of manufacturers are abandoning plans for full automation.

[Horse]

An aside:

Same happens with automated vehicles, the "Ah, yes, but what about ... ?" challenges.

…and hence a lot of manufacturers are abandoning plans for full automation.

Totally off topic now so briefly: on-road isn't the main focus of AV development. There are many places where AVs are operating successfully. Markets such as quarrying / mining and agriculture are big investors. I've put plenty of examples in the AV thread in Staying Alive:
http://revtothelimit.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=6096

[wheelnut]

Totally off topic now so briefly: on-road isn't the main focus of AV development.

I know, that’s exactly my point.

[Horse]

Totally off topic now so briefly: on-road isn't the main focus of AV development.

I know, that’s exactly my point.

The emphasis hasn't transferred onto off-road, development has been going on there for ages, ahead of on-road. For example, agriculture has had GPS integration for accurative control of vehicles.

[Dodgy69]

I think so...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_R ... eneration)

[Mr. Dazzle]

It's getting daft now

You're at the point where tyres are the limiting factor. That Tesla will probably be lighting its wheels up all the way to 200mph. That's not even an exaggeration!

[Yambo]

The emphasis hasn't transferred onto off-road, development has been going on there for ages, ahead of on-road. For example, agriculture has had GPS integration for accurative control of vehicles.

I know I'm thick an' all but is accurative one of those new words we're all supposed to know what it is/means as soon as they're used?

What's wrong with accurate? Is accurative different to accurate?

[Horse]

The emphasis hasn't transferred onto off-road, development has been going on there for ages, ahead of on-road. For example, agriculture has had GPS integration for accurative control of vehicles.

I know I'm thick an' all but is accurative one of those new words we're all supposed to know what it is/means as soon as they're used?

What's wrong with accurate? Is accurative different to accurate?

Serious answer is that it's a side effect of already suffering from nystagmus, then having covid which is worsening the problem, and then trying to editivate the text before postificationating it.

[Pirahna]

The emphasis hasn't transferred onto off-road, development has been going on there for ages, ahead of on-road. For example, agriculture has had GPS integration for accurative control of vehicles.

I know I'm thick an' all but is accurative one of those new words we're all supposed to know what it is/means as soon as they're used?

What's wrong with accurate? Is accurative different to accurate?

Serious answer is that it's a side effect of already suffering from nystagmus, then having covid which is worsening the problem, and then trying to editivate the text before postificationating it.

[Yambo]

Serious answer is that it's a side effect of already suffering from nystagmus, then having covid which is worsening the problem, and then trying to editivate the text before postificationating it.

Ah got you. Geçmiş olsun!

[Horse]

20231011_073954.jpg (147.03 KiB) Viewed 463 times

[Mr. Dazzle]

You need that big throbbing set of pistons to give you more than a semi after all.

[Felix]

Wonder if one caught fire at Luton Airport?

[Slenver]

Wonder if one caught fire at Luton Airport?

A diesel car apparently. Which is no great surprise seeing as petrol cars are 60x more likely to catch fire then EVs, supposedly.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Wonder if one caught fire at Luton Airport?

I saw this mentioned on LinkedIn - the same article immediately pointed out that the charging points are in the other car park, not the one which caught fire! We shall see.

In other LinkedIn news, Tesla are doing quite well. Their model Y is looking like it might be the best selling car of 2023.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... ompetition

[Stig]

For three years I had a Tesla. I’ll never own an EV again so long as I can get fuel