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DeLorean considering all-electric reboot

newdelorean.com

241–250 of 343 posts

Re: DeLorean considering all-electric reboot

#241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know. I have one and while its performance is awful its certainly the most comfortable car I've ever owned.

My father has one (restored) that I've driven a fair amount. I really like the car, but I just can't see it as a daily driver. (For a taste comparison, my '99 Nissan Maxima was probably my most comfortable car, both for passenger comfort, and for the driving experience.) The DMC-12 is a hotbox in the summer and the stock AC just can't keep up. That's my biggest memory. Rolling the window down would be fine, except th…

> The DMC-12 is a hotbox in the summer and the stock AC just can't keep up.

Did you turn on the flux capacitor?

Re: DeLorean considering all-electric reboot

#242
post #157

The premise of Back to the Future III was that the vehicle still had electrical power from the Mr. Fusion, but couldn't get up to 88 MPH due to problems with the gasoline engine. So this solution has been staring us in the face. Really they should've just dropped in a motor as part of the hover conversion.

Now that's unrealistic. Had the Mr Fusion been an actual appliance from 2015 it would have stopped working without internet connection.

Re: DeLorean considering all-electric reboot

#243
post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't expect stickshift EVs to be common either, but still I think it's surprising that no one has made a non-luxury-car EV that isn't direct drive. Manual transmissions seem like a pretty mature technology at this point. For any car company that already makes a manual transmission car it would be easy to do. They might change the design a little (maybe 3 speeds instead of 5, and use sturdier gears and different ra…

In Europe, manual transmissions are generally preferred because they're cheaper, not because they're more fun to drive.

Also European cars tended to have smaller engines, which weren't a great combination with the relative inefficiencies of torque converter style automatic transmissions.

However, newer dual clutch style transmissions work pretty well with small engines - I have a car with a 1l engine and DCT and it is a delight to drive.

Re: DeLorean considering all-electric reboot

#244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least here in Poland you can only take the exam in the car provided by the testing centre, you can't have the exam in your own car(with some exceptions like when you need to have a car adjusted to your disabilities)

I do not think this is the case anymore. I have seen driving schools ads promising you can take the test on their cars(still not your own, but at least the one you got used to during training).

In Poland? Huh, that's news to me(but admittedly, it's been a while sinve I've taken my test :D )

Re: DeLorean considering all-electric reboot

#246
post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't expect stickshift EVs to be common either, but still I think it's surprising that no one has made a non-luxury-car EV that isn't direct drive. Manual transmissions seem like a pretty mature technology at this point. For any car company that already makes a manual transmission car it would be easy to do. They might change the design a little (maybe 3 speeds instead of 5, and use sturdier gears and different ra…

In Europe, manual transmissions are generally preferred because they're cheaper, not because they're more fun to drive.

Manual transmissions are preferred because on a continent where 1L engines drag around 4000lb cars (because displacement taxes) being able to shift when you want (as opposed to just having to live with whatever gear the OEM engineers who have emissions to consider think you should be in) translates into a much improved driving experience.

They're marginally cheaper but the real key is that they let the consumer side step engineering decisions that were made against the consumers interests.

Re: DeLorean considering all-electric reboot

#247
post #157

The premise of Back to the Future III was that the vehicle still had electrical power from the Mr. Fusion, but couldn't get up to 88 MPH due to problems with the gasoline engine. So this solution has been staring us in the face. Really they should've just dropped in a motor as part of the hover conversion.

The problem being no fuel was left due to a leak in the tank. So Doc wrote another letter to his futre self and said "include a spare can of gas in the boot", end of film.

"Mr Fusion" could product 1.21GW.

For about a tenth of a second. It then needed a recharge, so about 33kWh, half that of a Model 3

Re: DeLorean considering all-electric reboot

#248
post #7

> National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has completed a regulation permitting low volume motor vehicle manufacturers to begin selling replica cars that resemble vehicles produced at least 25 years ago. Congress enacted a DeLorean Motor Company-backed bill backed by the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) DeLorean Motor Company, and others into law in 2015, which streamlined requirements for…

> They could even do a stickshift EV if they wanted to, though most car companies seem to not think it's worth the complexity/maintenance, and I get the impression that electric motors are hard on transmissions. Electric motors have a wider power band, so there’s less need for gear shifting. They could get more efficiency with multiple gears, but it’s be a smaller benefit than in an ICE vehicle. One of the big early…

>> You could limit the initial torque in software, but that’d kill the joy of the EV.

All electric cars are torque-limited. They simply have to be. A static electric motor, of the type needed for higher speeds, given full voltage would not only snap bits of the drivetrain but rip apart its own mounts. So they are all limited to various degrees.

The limiting factor on low-speed power for EVs isn't the motor. It's the strength of the drivetrain and ability of the battery system to provide the necessary current/voltage without cooking something.

Re: DeLorean considering all-electric reboot

#249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's why they call it "stainless" -- it doesn't rust.

It doesn’t rust as much . It very definitely does rust.

It doesn't rust as much as the steel that typical cars are made of.

Re: DeLorean considering all-electric reboot

#250
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> On the other hand, different axles don’t have to use the same gearing ratio. That’s how dual motor Teslas work - the front wheels are geared for higher speeds, and more power is shifted towards those as you go faster. No gear-shifting required. Yep. Alternatively, the Porsche Taycan has an 2-speed transmission gearbox (cf. https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a28903274/porsche-taycan-t... ). I don't think gearboxes ar…

Do the Tesla’s still have differentials then? It would be cool to eliminate those two but then you’d need a motor for each wheel I guess.

Differentials still have a place. They allow wheels to be perfectly balanced when negotiating corners. That can be done with independent electric motors, but never perfectly. Lot of little factors have to be considered in the software. For instance, as a car corners weight shifts, this causes the diameters of pneumatic tires to change slightly. A mechanical differential handles this tiny effect seamlessly. Independent motors on each wheel would have to sense, calculate and react to this via software. That is just one effect. There are also uneven road surfaces to deal with. Any slight error would result in one wheel dragging or trying to accelerate, resulting in instability or at least chewing through tire rubber.

Differentials are cheap and reliable, most going for the lifetime of a car without any issue or even real servicing. They are likely the cheaper option than running multiple motors.

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