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Volvo signals 'end of the solely combustion engine-powered car'

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Re: Volvo signals 'end of the solely combustion engine-powered car'

#91
post #79
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But will they include strain relief on the cable?

Actually a magnetically holding cable would make sense in the context of a loading station for electric cars. Some stupid guy will drive forgetting that the power cable is still attached.

I've been that stupid guy in my own garage. Thankfully, a Nissan Leaf has helpful lights and noises to tell you you're forgetful, meanwhile the car refuses to energize the motor until you fix the problem.

Re: Volvo signals 'end of the solely combustion engine-powered car'

#92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Can we please standardize charging stations to not require a person to manually establish a connection? It seems that it would pose such an awkward and unnecessary hurdle. It's a total non-issue in practice. Inductive charging has barely made an impact for mobile phones, because plugging in a cable just isn't a big chore. It very quickly becomes an automatic habit that requires no conscious effort.

While it's obviously impractical for cars, my experience using a wireless charger with my phone is that despite being a seemingly minor change, it makes quite a bit of difference for me in practice. Plugging in a micro USB cable is often quite fiddly, and sometimes the cable can fall behind the table and require crawling around on the floor. Not to mention the cables and ports can be quite fragile and end up breaking…

Nitpicking can reveal a lot of issues. The argument has to be generalized to a significant fraction of the total user base to be a convincing argument.

In the spirit of nitpicking, all you have said does not bother me at all.

Re: Volvo signals 'end of the solely combustion engine-powered car'

#93

Can we please standardize charging stations to not require a person to manually establish a connection? It seems that it would pose such an awkward and unnecessary hurdle. Especially in the coming age of self driving cars. Every time you arrive or leave you have to remember to (dis-)connect the charger. Why not just have some kind of inductive energy transfer or I dunno... something. Edit1: Heh, this could work I gue…

>Can we please standardize charging stations to not require a person to manually establish a connection? It seems that it would pose such an awkward and unnecessary hurdle. It's a total non-issue in practice. Inductive charging has barely made an impact for mobile phones, because plugging in a cable just isn't a big chore. It very quickly becomes an automatic habit that requires no conscious effort.

Uh, I must politely disagree.

The wireless charging on my beloved Nexus 7 was a technological marvel.

I dropped it and bought a Tab S2 that I now have to plug in like a pleb.

Re: Volvo signals 'end of the solely combustion engine-powered car'

#94
post #82
post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

93% efficiency at 1kW and 30kW wireless power delivery (from AC plug to vehicle, not 93% only for the transmission): http://www.deltaenergysystems.com/en/Wireless-Charging-Syste... This is very close to systems that are using cables and connectors.

I'm not sure of what effects you are talking about, but at home a reasonably probable 32 A 400V 10mm cable that is 8m long is about 99.75% efficient. I'm not sure about contacts but let's say it's at least 99%efficient in total. Fast charging stations is probably worse though.

AC plug to vehicle means you are doing AC > DC conversion which is not 99.75% efficient. So, if this is 93% including AC > DC that's actually fairly good.

Re: Volvo signals 'end of the solely combustion engine-powered car'

#95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Can we please standardize charging stations to not require a person to manually establish a connection? It seems that it would pose such an awkward and unnecessary hurdle. It's a total non-issue in practice. Inductive charging has barely made an impact for mobile phones, because plugging in a cable just isn't a big chore. It very quickly becomes an automatic habit that requires no conscious effort.

Man on my old HP Touchpad, the charger dock was the best feature ever. Just set it down in the stand you were going to set it in anyway, and the whole time it's sitting there it's charging. Never have to plug it in, just set it on the stand and forget about it. Wireless charging of phones might not be all that extra convenient because they're either in our hands or in our pockets, but at least in my house tablets spe…

My wife still uses her TouchPad every day. WebOS is a gem.

Re: Volvo signals 'end of the solely combustion engine-powered car'

#96
post #85
post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

93% efficiency at 1kW and 30kW wireless power delivery (from AC plug to vehicle, not 93% only for the transmission): http://www.deltaenergysystems.com/en/Wireless-Charging-Syste... This is very close to systems that are using cables and connectors.

Very close? There's no way you're losing anywhere near 2kW (7% loss in a 30kW charger) to cables and connectors.

~5+% in AC > DC is not that uncommon. Which is why wall warts get hot. But yea if this is just about replacing cables then that's poor.

PS: I do wonder about efficiency limits because transformers are effectively wireless power just at cm range.

Re: Volvo signals 'end of the solely combustion engine-powered car'

#97
post #79
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But will they include strain relief on the cable?

Actually a magnetically holding cable would make sense in the context of a loading station for electric cars. Some stupid guy will drive forgetting that the power cable is still attached.

Manufactures could easily make it impossible to drive away while still charging.

Re: Volvo signals 'end of the solely combustion engine-powered car'

#98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Can we please standardize charging stations to not require a person to manually establish a connection? It seems that it would pose such an awkward and unnecessary hurdle. It's a total non-issue in practice. Inductive charging has barely made an impact for mobile phones, because plugging in a cable just isn't a big chore. It very quickly becomes an automatic habit that requires no conscious effort.

Uh, I must politely disagree. The wireless charging on my beloved Nexus 7 was a technological marvel. I dropped it and bought a Tab S2 that I now have to plug in like a pleb.

YMMV. I personally don't know anyone who uses wireless charging for anything, and I work in IT.

Re: Volvo signals 'end of the solely combustion engine-powered car'

#99
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The lying about emissions thing only became a problem because the testing wasn't sufficient enough to catch the cheats. Companies are going to cheat, they're going to lie, they're going to skirt as much regulation as they can. That's a fact of capitalism, companies are going to do whatever they can to make as much money as possible. It's the job of government inspectors to make sure the regulations are being followed…

Not sure cheating, lying and skirting regulations are a fact of capitalism so much as a fact of any economic system. Many Soviet factories lied to meet quotas, both numerical and qualitative.

Well that phrase was attached to the idea that followed it in the same sentence more than it was attached to the entirely different sentence that came before it. People lie and cheat inherently, but the goal of capitalism is to make as much money as possible. So naturally companies are going to do that, which is why government regulation exists.

Note that I'm not trying to compare economic systems or argue for/against any particular economic system, just pointing out that the goal of capitalism is to make money, people inherently cheat and lie, so in a capitalistic society people will lie and cheat to make money. We all know this is true, which is why private companies are regulated by public agencies. The diesel cheating scandal was a failure of regulation enforcement more than anything.

Re: Volvo signals 'end of the solely combustion engine-powered car'

#100

Plug in ignores one very large population: people who live in apartments. Unless the apartment builders start to consider charging stations sufficient to the population, plug-ins are pointless. A hybrid works since I don't need a plug.

There's a recent news post about tech to retrofit EV charging stations onto streetlights.

That seems to address on street charging and parking.

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