New electric vehicles to be built in Adelaide...

[rtmpgt]

The funny thing about the need for increased use of EV, 's is that it comes on the heels of a huge switch to larger utes and light trucks at the expense of more economical cars. I often think those buying these wretched things lack any foresight, as well as any idea of what a decent vehicle is. My son in law recently purchased a four door Triton ute for family use. Three young kids, one a newborn. Absolutely useless as a family vehicle. Cramped rear seat and harsh, bumpy ride. What exactly is the point of them? FIIK.

More car for less dollars. Four seats, offroad capability and a tray. Who cares about driving dynamics if you can't go past 110kph on most roads?

 

[J_D 2.0]

As much as everyone is expecting EVs to replace ICE vehicles and make them obsolete it’s not likely to happen unless something major comes from left field with battery tech. With current battery technology the world doesn’t have enough of the rare metals used in these batteries to convert the world’s vehicles to being EVs.

It’s not even about copper although it would run out too but the rarer stuff like cadmium, lithium, cobalt etc. These minerals will run out long before copper does and long before even half the worlds cars were replaced with EVs.

The fact of the matter is that there is nothing like liquid fossil fuels for the energy yield contained in it and petrol and diesel vehicles will still be sold for a long time yet with EVs only making a difference at the margins.

 

[rtmpgt]

As much as everyone is expecting EVs to replace ICE vehicles and make them obsolete it’s not likely to happen unless something major comes from left field with battery tech. With current battery technology the world doesn’t have enough of the rare metals used in these batteries to convert the world’s vehicles to being EVs.

It’s not even about copper although it would run out too but the rarer stuff like cadmium, lithium, cobalt etc. These minerals will run out long before copper does and long before even half the worlds cars were replaced with EVs.

The fact of the matter is that there is nothing like liquid fossil fuels for the energy yield contained in it and petrol and diesel vehicles will still be sold for a long time yet with EVs only making a difference at the margins.

Give it time, like anything. Batteries will only get better over time, and the knock-on effects of better batteries benefits more than just the transport/automotive industry. Phones, Laptops and other small devices also benefit from better battery tech.

The big issue is not necessarily charge capacity, 600km to a single charge is the norm for Teslas and some other EVs with larger batteries. The clincher is the charge time. It takes about 5 minutes on average to fill your gasser up. Once charge times hit this threshold, You'll see the massive push to EVs really take shape. It all really comes down to the chemistry of the batteries, and how hard they can be pushed. Right now Tesla's supercharging takes about 20-30 minutes to fully charge a pack from 3/4 full, which is pretty amazing considering that 10 years ago, all EV enthusiasts had for themselves is their wall sockets. The issue is though, that infrastructure's entirely Tesla-centric, and Tesla being Tesla, they act like Apple in that regard. **** all the other manufacturers, Supercharging is only for Teslas.

Companies like Bosch and ACDelco (as in parts developers for multiple corporations) need to really jump on board and develop better charging tech. We're already seeing this with Rimac, who's allowing other companies to share their tech.

So what about us Petrolheads? Well, for now you've got other fuels like Biodiesels and Ethanol fuels to provide a potential stop-gap if **** does hit the fan and ICE has to keep going for a while longer. Luckily our cars can be flashed to take E85 if need be. In fact I can see E85 and Pure alcohol being the enthusiast's fuel of choice unless E-Crates don't end up taking off.

 

[J_D 2.0]

Give it time, like anything. Batteries will only get better over time, and the knock-on effects of better batteries benefits more than just the transport/automotive industry. Phones, Laptops and other small devices also benefit from better battery tech.

The big issue is not necessarily charge capacity, 600km to a single charge is the norm for Teslas and some other EVs with larger batteries. The clincher is the charge time. It takes about 5 minutes on average to fill your gasser up. Once charge times hit this threshold, You'll see the massive push to EVs really take shape. It all really comes down to the chemistry of the batteries, and how hard they can be pushed. Right now Tesla's supercharging takes about 20-30 minutes to fully charge a pack from 3/4 full, which is pretty amazing considering that 10 years ago, all EV enthusiasts had for themselves is their wall sockets. The issue is though, that infrastructure's entirely Tesla-centric, and Tesla being Tesla, they act like Apple in that regard. **** all the other manufacturers, Supercharging is only for Teslas.

Companies like Bosch and ACDelco (as in parts developers for multiple corporations) need to really jump on board and develop better charging tech. We're already seeing this with Rimac, who's allowing other companies to share their tech.

So what about us Petrolheads? Well, for now you've got other fuels like Biodiesels and Ethanol fuels to provide a potential stop-gap if **** does hit the fan and ICE has to keep going for a while longer. Luckily our cars can be flashed to take E85 if need be. In fact I can see E85 and Pure alcohol being the enthusiast's fuel of choice unless E-Crates don't end up taking off.

Agree with most of what you say but unless someone comes up with a way to remove the precious/rare metals out of the batteries and still get decent performance from them EVs will never become as ubiquitous as ICE cars as there won’t be enough precious metals to go around. Making better batteries out of common materials isn’t out of the realms of possibility of course as by and large human beings are a pretty clever bunch (well the ones that don’t hoard toilet paper anyway!).

 

[rtmpgt]

Agree with most of what you say but unless someone comes up with a way to remove the precious/rare metals out of the batteries and still get decent performance from them EVs will never become as ubiquitous as ICE cars as there won’t be enough precious metals to go around. Making better batteries out of common materials isn’t out of the realms of possibility of course as by and large human beings are a pretty clever bunch (well the ones that don’t hoard toilet paper anyway!).

I work in a Mining-related field, So I can give you a little info on this.

For context, Lithium is the 25th most abundant element on earth to date. (I say to date because as more exploration occurs more or less material is found, ask any geologist about this.) and it makes up about 0.0007% of the earth's mass. Considering the earth weighs a good 5.972 × 10^24 kg (about 5.9 sextillion tons, or 5,900,000,000,000,000,000,000 tons) and at that mass, 0.0007% of that is 1.8x10^15 tons, or 1.8 Quadrillion tons. That's a fuckton (literally) of lithium. More than enough to supplant the entire world's need for batteries, although I do agree that better batteries are needed, in regards to charge and discharge rates. Silicon Graphene packs are a step in the right direction, where the polymer cathode is replaced with a graphene cathode to facilitate better charge and discharge rates, but these packs have yet to hit EVs due to heat sensitivity issues. They're only just beginning to trickle into smartphones and laptops, however they've been in the Hobbyist space for a long-ass time as they're lighter and more powerful, making them perfect for RC models and drones. The most common chemistry used in cars is LiFePO4, or Lithium-Iron Phosphate, due to their charge rates and stability at those charge rates, as well as their improved heat resilience.

Lithium is also a recyclable metal, but not in the conventional sense. You can't just chuck your batteries in the recycle bin with your plastics, cardboard and glass, it requires specialised equipment to recycle the materials, which is often why there's special disposal requirements for batteries, as there's certain companies which dedicate themselves to extracting the raw materials from batteries. Batteries can also be repurposed into low-current applications (such as house PV systems and battery backup supplies) once their high-current usefulness has been exploited. Tesla Powerwalls for example are all made from recycled batteries taken from older Tesla cars and from old laptops which use 18650 cells.

Now, once again, I agree with you wholeheartedly about the idea of reducing the consumption of rarer metals and building much better batteries, but i'd be less concerned about the batteries and more concerned about motor tech, especially companies which depend on making BLDC motors with permanent magnets. Tesla uses AC induction motors, which do not use permanent Neodymium magnets.

https://www.tesla.com/en_AU/blog/induction-versus-dc-brushless-motors

Take a read of that when you get the time.

 

[homerrichard]

This is so cool! I would love to test drive!

 

[Martbar]

This is so cool! I would love to test drive!

The EVs on the market now are latter
day model As. When they can incorporate solar panel type receptors into the paint and glass, charging as we know it will become obsolete. As mentioned previously the power/weight ratio of these things will only get better and better
In the Moto GP ebikes it will be interesting to see what rider aids they introduce (bike seatbelts) lol to stop them from falling off when powering out. The way they've evolved even in the last few years.
The sky would seem to be the limit.

 

[Fu Manchu]

Yep, this country is slowing becoming two countries with very different thinking and needs. Inner-city Australia and the rest of Australia. Inner-city Australia fails to acknowledge the rest of Australia in its thinking and car like this would only make sense in ultra built-up CBDs where everything is basically close enough to walk. So-called 'progressive' leftist politics is another example...

I was going to say the amazing and glorious Western Australia with one of the strongest economies in the world right now, and then the rest of Australia, but there you go.

 

[VT II Executive]

Please don’t get me started on how much of a lie ecars are.
they create way more c02 to make than normal cars, not to mention cars are producing less co2 then they were in the 70s. Also lithium is really bad for the environment and can’t be recycle, the batteries need to be replaced every 8 years aslwell! Not to mention that they won’t hold as much charge over the years.
that’s just some of the reasons on why the suck, I could go on for hours.

 

[Martbar]

Please don’t get me started on how much of a lie ecars are.
they create way more c02 to make than normal cars, not to mention cars are producing less co2 then they were in the 70s. Also lithium is really bad for the environment and can’t be recycle, the batteries need to be replaced every 8 years aslwell! Not to mention that they won’t hold as much charge over the years.
that’s just some of the reasons on why the suck, I could go on for hours.

Mate, glad you didn't. The recycling of batteries needs to be addressed for sure. The Electrical Technology is only going to get better and more efficient. In the next year or so l would expect an ecar post a 2-3 second 1/4 mile and it won't take long for that technology to filter down to production cars and bikes.