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

[Cousin Jack]

How about a charging lane on motorways for say, 50 mile stretches. When in the charging lane it fills your battery, then your good to go into faster lanes, keep it moving. Have these lanes spread up and down the country on our multi- lane major routes. There you go, all sorted.

Very good idea!

Lets see, 80 miles to my nearest M'way, 50 miles up, 50 miles back, then 80 miles home. That should be just as quick as dropping in to my local Tesco and loading up with 50 litres.

[Wreckless Rat]

@Mr. Dazzle if you think I hang in your every post and recall everything or even read everything you post, you’re sorely mistaken.

Although I think you’re overselling your “insight” somewhat, but it’s your day job, we mustn’t forget that

I find it interesting that most of the really pro leccy folk I know irl or virtual, aren’t yet ready to dive in, waiting for everyone else to.

[Horse]

When the tax raised from petrol/diesel starts to drop significantly the Treasury will have a new wheeze to get the money back. Probably road pricing.

Hardly a new wheeze, off-road trials were carried out 15 years ago , it was probably just a case of the technology catching up. Which it has.

[Dodgy69]

They already have wireless charging buried in the road for stationary stuff.

Overhead catenary for long distance freight - sounds familiar !

Like a train?

Yup!

So, we have:
- electric toothbrush
- scalextric car
- tram

What next?

I'll have another look tomorrow.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Although I think you’re overselling your “insight” somewhat, but it’s your day job, we mustn’t forget that

I'm in a lead development engineer in the new technologies department of a company which makes some of the highest performing EV motors you can buy. We make thousands of motors a year for road cars and I currently work with OEMs on their next generation of EVs currently being developed to go on sale in a few years time.

Not really sure how much more I can do to gain insight into the future trends in EV technologies.

So yeah day job. Its a day job to have until at least 2030 it would seem

[Mr. Dazzle]

By the way I don't recall anyone saying that everyone had to dive in? I am a case in point myself, 5 years ago ot didn't make sense for me to buy an EV.

4 years ago it probably would have but I wasn't looking to change cars...mundane stuff such as it making financial sense still applies after all, I would have lost thousands so I'm not gonna do that.

A little over a year ago it made quite a lot of sense, then Covid turned the world upside down.

Next year it probably will make sense.

I don't expect it to be the right decision for everyone overnight. I just expect it to make more and more sense for more and more people as things change, as indeed is already happening. That's why the law change is 2030 and not 2022.

[Wreckless Rat]

The motors aren’t bit that needs a massive leap forward. It’s the uk leccy infrastructure more than anything and even being a lead engineer with an EV motor company doesn’t give you insight into that. But, more than that, if that is the case, you’re always going to be so insightful that you’ll be forever waiting for the next great thing. Your very position may well mean you’re at a disadvantage

We are multiple decades away from any form of en route lane charging, the autonomous lease pool cars will not be a thing in our lifetime, if ever. That daft assumption forgets for most people a car is far more than a way to get from a to b and we still have no real thought of how the millions who park in the street will be able to charge their cars.

[Mr. Dazzle]

I'm just gonna have to disagree with you on the appropriate level of optimism then. I think if you look at how far electric 'things' and renewable power have come in the last 10 years alone there's reason enough to believe 'it' is possible.

Besides....the government have basically mandated my job security for the next 14 years at least so IDGAS.

[Wreckless Rat]

Come a long way. But still over 50% of our leccy energy comes from dead dinos.

I’ve said it before (touché) imho leccy charge cars will have their place but they are but a stepping stone.

[Mr. Dazzle]

To what exactly?

Am I gonna have to pedal?

[Wreckless Rat]

To what exactly?

Am I gonna have to pedal?

Fuel cells

[Mr. Dazzle]

They're still electric cars.
We already talked about that too.

Edit: But yes I agree fuel cells will be 'a thing' (I already said that too!). Thing is, fuel cell cars will always have a battery or similar for regen braking and power smoothing. They will almost certainly be grid chargeable too because batteries are more efficient. Fuel cells are around 40-60% efficient whereas batteries are up around 90%, so it will probably be cheaper to charge a battery than fill a fuel tank with hydrogen. So very probably most cars will support both.

[Wreckless Rat]

That’s why I said leccy charge cars innit

[Horse]

It’s the uk leccy infrastructure more than anything and even being a lead engineer with an EV motor company doesn’t give you insight into that.

Tosh. Absolute nonsense.

I work, largely, in various aspects of road safety.

But we get involved in all sorts of transport stuff and you can't help but hear about what's going on (it's encouraged). Stuff that is in the news as 'the future' is often what we were working on a couple of years ago.

Also, if you have any curiosity, you learn about what other research is going on in associated fields.

[Mr. Dazzle]

That’s why I said leccy charge cars innit

Yeah fair enough.

But as I (I think) said before, I would anticipate the fuel cell equivalent of a PHEV maybe being popular. Anything less than 100 miles or so is done on pure battery from the grid.

It doesn't even matter if 'they' slap a massive tax on electricity, I can't imagine they do that but then not do the same to Hydrogen.

[Mr. Dazzle]

It’s the uk leccy infrastructure more than anything and even being a lead engineer with an EV motor company doesn’t give you insight into that.

Tosh. Absolute nonsense.

I work, largely, in various aspects of road safety.

But we get involved in all sorts of transport stuff and you can't help but hear about what's going on (it's encouraged). Stuff that is in the news as 'the future' is often what we were working on a couple of years ago.

Also, if you have any curiosity, you learn about what other research is going on in associated fields.

I should clarify that when I say "I know what's coming" I mean I literally know the hard figures about (some of) the road cars that are hitting the market in the next few years.

We do the whole package...motor, controller, software, integration with gearboxes, integration with cooling and so on. Either by ourselves or with external partners like battery firms. We simply couldn't design a motor unless we knew what all the other bits of the drivetrain were doing. That includes lots of "usage profile" info from the OEMs.

I don't do it all myself of course, but my position means I have to have a nose in nearly all of it. Plus my main job is looking into what we're gonna do next and I'm a nozy/curious bugger anyway.

[Yambo]

TBF, combining the two for the long distance bit is a pretty good idea. Trains are way more efficient but pretty crap at parking in a supermarket loading bay.

Trains may be more efficient (but not 'way more') if all the goods going on them originate in the same place and are all going to the same destination. So for things like providing coal to power stations, rail is a no brainer but if you have two truck loads of widgets to move from Aberdeen to Oswestry the two trucks will be halfway there before the whole train is put together and the trucks will be halfway home again (possibly with a back load) before the important bits of the train are uncoupled/unloaded somewhere to be put on a truck.

That's before there are leaves on the line.

I like trains but the reason more freight isn't moved on them is because of efficiency - not rail efficiency. Part of my (all) day job a lifetime ago
was logistics, the real logistics, supplying an army in the field. We regularly trained on unloading and delivering ammunition from trains, we moved tanks and other armoured vehicles on trains etc but I can assure you, even in peace time it was hardly what you could call efficient.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Efficient as in fuel efficient.

Ships and trains knock trucks into a cocked hat in terms of mpg per weight moved. You don't have to even look at the numbers...."Rolling Motorways" are growing in use and they wouldn't do it unless there was some benefits would they? The main one being reduced cost through fuel savings.

[Mussels]

Efficient as in fuel efficient.

Ships and trains knock trucks into a cocked hat in terms of mpg per weight moved. You don't have to even look at the numbers...."Rolling Motorways" are growing in use and they wouldn't do it unless there was some benefits would they? The main one being reduced cost through fuel savings.

Freight doesn't mix well with passenger services, they need to decide if they want to get cars or lorries off the road.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Freight doesn't mix well with passenger services, they need to decide if they want to get cars or lorries off the road.

Not necessarily. You can bias freight to night and passengers to day for example.

Rolling Motorways are never going to be that big in the UK cause the UK isn't that big!

It makes much more sense in vast countries with big overland distances like America, Australia, India etc. Or across continental Europe, taking stuff from ports to the 'interior'.