Electric Vehicles - Yet another 'BreakThrough'?

Cupie · Guru

Electric Vehicles - Yet another 'BreakThrough'?

Tony Bev · Guru

Time will tell if it is a breakthrough, Cupie

I believe that Mercedes are also in the mix, plus Tesla did purchase a company, that claimed groundbreaking solid cell battery technology

I am sure that I read in the past, that a (much smaller version), of a solid state battery, has worked in a laboratory

Perhaps this could be one of those batteries, which may not perform as good, when it is enlarged

I certainly hope that it becomes a breakthrough

jade46 · Senior Member

I don't mean to highjack your post but I figure this is probably a similar battery.....
newatlas.com/energy/nano-diamond-self-charging-batteries-ndb/

Bicyclecamper · Guru

As soon as they do this in a Suzuki AWD, I will buy it. The next vehicle for us will be electric.

Tony Bev · Guru

jade46 wrote:
I don't mean to highjack your post but I figure this is probably a similar battery.....
newatlas.com/energy/nano-diamond-self-charging-batteries-ndb/

Thanks for putting that up, Jade46

I am not a techie, but after reading the article, I have interpreted it, in the following way

Although it is a self charging, (spent nuclear fuel) battery, which self charges itself
It only trickle charges a capacitor, and probably only good enough for a UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply) battery

Unfortunately not enough power, to drive an electric car, as good as what batteries are already available

This does not mean, that they will not improve on it, as time goes by

But... I do have my doubts, when they say that it only gives off, the same radiation background, as a normal person

Perhaps they had Homer Simpson, in mind

yobarr · Guru

Bicyclecamper wrote:
As soon as they do this in a Suzuki AWD, I will buy it. The next vehicle for us will be electric.

Horror of horrors.....seems Toyota is planning to release a battery-powered 70 series? You can be sure that I never will buy one....nothing like the sound of the little V8 with 3" pipes,echoing through the bush,particularly in the stillness of the night!Cheers.

Derek Barnes · Senior Member

Remember that along with the efficient batteries, we will also need a VAST amount of infrastructure across Australia in order to support our grey nomad lifestyle. We will need sufficient charging stations in the outback to travel across the thousands of km from Sydney to Perth and along the huge network of roads through every state.

Currently many outback locations can get away with a simple large petrol/diesel tank and a pump in order to refill your car. Outback CHARGING stations on the other hand will have to include a lot more hardware such as, a large number of solar panels or wind turbines, a large bank of storage batteries for nights or cloudy days, and a fast charging station, in order to provide a similar quick refill as for petrol/diesel.

So in order to fulfil everyone's desire for a solar car future we will need a lot of support from the Government and a lot of rich people in the outback.

I'd prefer to stick with my 5.6l V8 petrol Patrol (I just love that engine sound), but I know I will eventually be forced to go electric.

Whenarewethere · Guru

I have stuffed my car with acoustic insulation, looking forward to quiet cars so I don't have to do this.

dorian · Guru

What happens if the battery goes flat on the road? You can't just fetch more juice with a jerry can.

dogbox · Guru

dorian wrote:

What happens if the battery goes flat on the road? You can't just fetch more juice with a jerry can.

just have to carry a spare generator as well as a spare tyre

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

Long range vehicles (semis, ships, trains, touring 4WDs etc) will use hydrogen and a fuel cell to make electricity on road.
If you battery goes flat on the road it means that you ignored all the warnings. I expect there will be capacitor storage in roadside service vehicles to give a quick charge.
Cheers,
Peter

Greystone · Senior Member

The problem is that we predict the future based on what we do today. The old horse and cart drivers would never have foreseen how we travel by car today. Similarly, in the electric future we will not be driving cars the way we do now. For example self driving cars, who would have thought of that? How is that going to affect our driving? Would we be driving long distance at night whilst sleeping to enjoy sight seeing during the day while the car is charging? Who knows, you are only limited by your own imagination.

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

Absolutely, and the rate of change that we are seeing will make our eyes water :)
Changes that might have taken 20 or 30 years in the past will happen in a couple of years.
In the past it has taken a decade or more to develop a virus vaccine. Now we have several within a year.
Exciting times to be alive and witness some of it.
Cheers,
Peter

Whenarewethere · Guru

What happens if petrol tank goes empty in the outback. You just can't walk to the corner!

On our last trip we gave someone 10L of petrol in the outback, it was enough to get to a petrol station plus a safety margin, & it was 98! They would have been stuffed at most have diesel. Additionally we carry a tow rope.

An 8 year old could work out the range of the car. If you run out of fuel I suggest a few more years at primary school will be advantageous!

Whenarewethere · Guru

Peter_n_Margaret wrote:
Absolutely, and the rate of change that we are seeing will make our eyes water :)
Changes that might have taken 20 or 30 years in the past will happen in a couple of years.
In the past it has taken a decade or more to develop a virus vaccine. Now we have several within a year.
Exciting times to be alive and witness some of it.
Cheers,
Peter

I was using medium format cameras & thought it would take a long time to get digital with worthwhile resolution.

Still today I am shocked at how quickly digital photography took over.

It will be the same with cars. In our block of units the garage owners have got 3 phase in our garages ready to go.

Derek Barnes · Senior Member

Dogbox

Will you be able to use a petrol generator in the future? If they go out of the production of bulk petrol for cars why continue to produce petrol for generators?

Peter

I'm not holding my breath before hydrogen cars and trucks take over the streets. People have been selling the benefits of hydrogen cars for decades and yet nothing has come of it much yet, with respect to infrastructure.

For those who expect self drive cars to become available soon, I think you will have a VERY long wait. When I consider that they still can't produce a reliable navigation system after 20 years work, how are they ever going to make a computer that can handle the amazing number of problems the human mind faces every day while simply driving to work. Judgement of what is reasonable is one of the hardest things to wire into a computer (see all the science fiction books about it).

Jaahn · Guru

Hi smile

Well while watching the Daka rally tonight, Thursday, they had a short discussion about proposed green cars for future raceing. A battery powered buggy is being trialed now with 500KM range. And a hydrogen powered hybrid that has an onboard hydrogen generator charging the batteries. aww

Both types are expected to be racing in the next two years.

Jaahn

-- Edited by Jaahn on Thursday 14th of January 2021 06:21:43 PM

Mike Harding · Guru

Look like this battery is still some way off from being a battery rather than a cell:

New battery

bgt · Guru

Back around 1900 they were promoting electric cars. Still waiting 120 years later. Limited use in much of Australia until they install power points in gum trees.

nomadz · Veteran Member

Here you go!,

Whenarewethere · Guru

nomadz wrote:
Here you go!,

That reminds me of 40+ years ago in the scouts. We wired up our camp site with 240 outlets which were actually 12v, with a few car batteries, all hidden in an esky.

We had plenty of gadgets running. All the other groups wondered why we had 240. We all acted quite surprised that they didn't have 240. We didn't even say anything at the end of the camping.