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

[niggle]

Luckily, they have the key styling team behind the MZ TS250, Suzuki RE5 and Bimota Mantra already on the case.

Oi! What’s wrong with looking like my old Supa Five?

[Mr. Dazzle]

I already posted this another thread about swappable batteries, but its relevant none the less...

It seems swappable batteries are being targeted at small bikes (scooters basically). This makes sense, because with current volume automotive battery tech the packs are just too damned big for high power bikes.

Take a look at this guy swapping a battery (pic is from the MCN article). And then consider than in ~100bhp bikes the battery is more like 50, 60 or even 100kg!

Unfortunately battery power, battery capacity and battery size are linked. You're unlikely to see a high power battery that is also small and light capacity...not for a while anyway. But you will one day not too far off.



Just for scale, Lithium Ion batteries are currently about 500-1200W/kg power density. I.e. for every 1kg of battery you can get about 500-1200W of power out. It's a really wide spread because with EV stuff you can massively overate it for "a bit" before it overheats and catches fire. So a 50kW battery might actually be able to output more than 100kW for a few seconds.

If you have a 100kW electric motor (about 135bhp) you need a slightly more than 100kW battery to power it due to efficiency losses. So say for argument's sake that is a 105kW battery. Said battery is going to be somewhere in the range 80kg and 200kg. You're not swapping that in a hurry! THe only real reason electric bikes are "a bit lardy" rather than "catastrophically heavy" is 'cause the engine - the electric motor - is hugely lighter than the piston engine it replaced, thus offsetting the massive (in the literal sense) battery.

[Horse]

https://www.engadget.com/arrival-ups-de ... jpW_Bhzban


Anglo-American vehicle manufacturer Arrival has today unveiled its electric van in a form ready to begin testing. 25 vans, currently under construction in Oxfordshire, will be spending the summer on roads in the UK in the run-up to mass production. There’s a lot riding on the success of these tests, especially since UPS has already committed to purchase 10,000 units.

[Mr. Dazzle]

They've got a Bus in the works too. Loads and loads of my ex colleagues work there. I jumped ship to a different EV firm instead

Note that its got a 20 plate registration...I.e. they're driving it for a real, it's not a mockup.

[Wreckless Rat]

Unfortunately battery power, battery capacity and battery size are linked. You're unlikely to see a high power battery that is also small and light capacity...not for a while anyway. But you will one day not too far off.

When is soon though. We keep hearing about these big leaps - air cells, aluminium/graphite etc but they all seem to fizzle out and never arrive.

[Mr. Dazzle]

First solid state battery car hits the road this year AFAIK.

Edit: Here you go, several companies anticipate having SS battery cars with 500km range and 10 min charge times on sale in the second half of this decade. As far as I know a Chinese company is putting one on sale late this year / early next.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Most- ... 2021-debut

[Asian Boss]

It's all coming together, the exponential increase of the transition to the Circular Economy.

You can almost taste the textured insect protein!

The workers break rocks, they pay for their gruel!

[demographic]

Think we covered this a little a wbile ago and it seems that snow on solar panels isn't really that big an issue.

[ZRX61]

Latest here is a move to take out 4 hydro-electric dams in the PNW because *salmon*.. yanno, because we have decreasing demand for electricity & they are banning the use of gas in new construction...

[Horse]

Latest here is a move to take out 4 hydro-electric dams in the PNW because *salmon*.. yanno, because we have decreasing demand for electricity & they are banning the use of gas in new construction...

Earn yourself some kudos by introducing them to 'salmon ladders'.

[ZRX61]

Latest here is a move to take out 4 hydro-electric dams in the PNW because *salmon*.. yanno, because we have decreasing demand for electricity & they are banning the use of gas in new construction...

Earn yourself some kudos by introducing them to 'salmon ladders'.

Edit, my mistook, the pics clearly show salmon ladders either side of the dam:
https://www.cfact.org/2021/03/02/breach ... northwest/

[Horse]

So revisiting the earlier post, why do they want to remove them?

Edit. Sorry, thought you meant the link was only to a photo.

[ZRX61]

So revisiting the earlier post, why do they want to remove them?

Edit. Sorry, thought you meant the link was only to a photo.

Insanity is my guess...
Calizuela Governor Nero Newsolini is involved...

[Mr. Dazzle]

Just for balance like, since ZX didn't say why they want to take the Dams down

https://e360.yale.edu/features/on-the-n ... oval-grows

[ZRX61]

Just for balance like, since ZX didn't say why they want to take the Dams down

https://e360.yale.edu/features/on-the-n ... oval-grows

I notice they conveniently left out the soaring seal numbers which have decimated the salmon population... There's a case to be made for allowing seal hunting to restore the balance.... & we all know how that will go over with the fucking morons whose campaigns lead to us losing 4 million acres to fire last year.

[Horse]

I notice they conveniently left out the soaring seal numbers which have decimated the salmon population... There's a case to be made for allowing seal hunting to restore the balance

Too many seals, but not enough food = fewer seals, or they clear off elsewhere.

[ZRX61]

I notice they conveniently left out the soaring seal numbers which have decimated the salmon population... There's a case to be made for allowing seal hunting to restore the balance

Too many seals, but not enough food = fewer seals, or they clear off elsewhere.

The seals are having a field day on salmon leading to vast numbers of seals, but the Orca's are starving owing to a lack of Salmon.. even though Orca's prey on seals.
There is both an abundance of salmon for seals,but a shortage of salmon for the orcas...It would appear there's a contradiction here...I think the environmentalists need to get their story straight.

[Cousin Jack]

The seals are having a field day on salmon leading to vast numbers of seals, but the Orca's are starving owing to a lack of Salmon.. even though Orca's prey on seals.
There is both an abundance of salmon for seals,but a shortage of salmon for the orcas...It would appear there's a contradiction here...I think the environmentalists need to get their story straight.

Meanwhile, nobody dare speak of the real problem -too many humans!

Less humans, less need for electricity/water/all the other resources.
Less humans, less pollution, less damage to the environment.

Covid-19 was a small step forward, the big one IS coming. Not sure where, not sure when, but................

[Horse]

the big one IS coming. Not sure where, not sure when, but................

Antibiotic resistance.

It's increasing.

[Cousin Jack]

Antibiotic resistance.

It's increasing.

Could be. Or maybe global warming (or cooling)? Or perhaps the next pandemic will be something like Ebola? Or an extremis group will get a nuke and mange to trigger a full-on nuclear exchange? Or a big meteorite? Or magnetic pole reversal? Or a big super-volcano eruption?

There is an almost limitless choice of catastrophes waiting, some we can do nothing about, some we have created ourselves.