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Off-peak charging is a very good point. I hadn't considered that. But do we have sufficient off-peak energy available? I mean, are we not already offsetting peak usage to some degree with things like 'pumped hydroelectric energy storage'. And incentives such as 'Economy 7', for electricity consumers to use off-peak electricity for storage heaters, etc, must go some way towards balancing the demand. No doubt smart charging systems could take advantage of any remaining dips in demand and store the energy for later use, but will that really be enough? There's also storage efficiency to bear in mind. I don't know how efficient the latest energy storage systems are, but there will always be energy losses in the charging/discharging stages. I would be surprised if they manage any better than around 60-80% efficiency. The BBC news article about the National Grid capacity is the newest info I could find (with just a quick search) but has the notable downward trend really been reversed in recent years? I suppose the switch to technologies such as LED lighting, for example, will have had some positive effects, but is that enough to offset our increasing use of technology and the energy needed to power it? I'm very much pro-EV and I really do hope that we can 'make room' for EV charging by making use of off-peak electricity and reducing energy demands in other areas but how do the figures stack up? It would certainly be interesting to see a 5/10 year projection, comparing EV growth and energy requirements vs the available/surplus electrical energy capacity. I'm confident we can solve all the technical challenges over time, I'm just not sure we can solve them quickly enough to make the leap from ICE to EV as quickly as we perhaps need to, but I remain open to persuasion if there's good evidence to indicate that we have sufficient surplus electrical energy to accommodate the huge demand of charging millions of EVs. In the absence of such evidence my money would still be on hybrid vehicles continuing to bridge the gap in the short-term. I think one way forward might be hybrid vehicles that use small combustion engines purely to charge the batteries. I drove a brand new Prius recently and I was actually quite surprised how good they are. Ugliness and mini-cab associations aside, they do drive well and, with the help of regenerative braking, they're extremely efficient. The Prius of course sits half way between being an ICE car and and EV, with a small engine supplementing the electric motor and making up for the lack of battery range. They have some of the advantages of both ICE cars and EVs but most of the disadvantages too. I think it would be better to go full-EV (like the Teslas) but provide a small on-board generator for charging the batteries instead of an engine. Such a generator could run on fuels that are much more environmentally-friendly and it could even be made removable/optional. One way to give the vehicle wider appeal would be to use a removable, modular battery section. If you had say 20% of the battery that was removable, which could be replaced with a generator for those that need/want to be able to charge their batteries on the move. Anyone who doesn't need/want the generator could instead remove it and plug in the battery extension for a greater range.
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Mark ------------------------------------------------------ 2002 FE S8 Ebony Black Pearl ------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------ Cars Owned: The Tesla Era: 2020 Model S Performance Ludicrous+ (present) (Black, with all black premium interior and carbon fibre décor, 21" sonic carbon twin turbine wheels and FSD capability) The Audi Era: '97 A8 4.2 (Ming Blue) --> '96 A8 4.2 QS (Dark Green) --> '02 FE S8 (present) The Citroen Era: '84 BX 1.6 RS --> '89 BX 1.9 DTR Turbo --> '94 XM 2.0L Turbo --> '96 XM 2.0L Turbo Exclusive --> '00 Xantia Activa 2.0L Turbo The Banger Era: '76 1.2L Lada VAZ-2101 (Ruski Fiat 124) --> '80 1.7L Morris Ital HL, finished in Ermine White and Rust |
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