81–90 of 125 posts
Lets say EV cut co2 emissions by factor of 100x for each km traveled. Lets say number of cars in total follows exponential progression, 5% growth per year. It follows that after 100 years due to growth co2 gets back to original level. (Log100/log1.05=94) EVs are required bandaid, but degrowth will come eventually. (Possibly due to climate change supply will decrease and so will consumption)
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Wasn't there just a gas shortage in France and half a year ago in UK? How constant and long lasting are your power outages there? I mean no electricity for a week and all my food in the freezer is gone, no heating in winter due to pumps needing electricity and no water as well. Sounds really bad over there then?
Yeah, there are week long outages by accident or design every year. It may not hit you every year, but no one is immune. This year there was a 4+ day outage that hit Atherton, and you can imagine they have more political pull than virtually anywhere. Food in the fridge goes bad, there is no HVAC (mostly an issue for AC, since it happens when it’s not that cold), but we have water.
And if you don't need it because you have a generator, than you could even charge your car
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The Aptera is a huge beast of a car designed specifically for solar, and I believe the current figure is that it can get 700W at a nice solar optimum. Big sweeping hood, roof, and trunk of solar. I doubt many cars can get 400W. I don't think most cars could maintain even 80 degrees on a 100+ day, but that's just a guess.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aptera_(solar_electric_vehicle... The Aptera is not "a huge best of a car", it more resembles a seed pod on three wheels. The roof and hood area are quite limited due to this shape which leads to the relatively low solar yield.
The total % of solar seems quite impressive to me. The elongated teardrop looks of anything to do quite a good job exposing surface for solar. There is some loss of "fill factor" with cells having some space between them rather than being totally dense.
I'd love to see a car that had more solar. I have a hard time imagining it.
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As a Floridian who has always consumed a lot of energy trying to keep cool, I am surprised by: "An average car roof is big enough to provide 400W to 600W which goes a long way in offsetting the power consumed by the AC." These numbers don't seem correct to me. What are you using for average surface area for a roof, expected solar collected, and AC consumption?
The available roof area of a Skoda Octavia Estate - a common car in Europe - measures 2m x 1m which, given common 21% efficiency PV cells provides 420W at 1000 W/m² irradiance. This is considered a "medium sized" car. Add the hood and 600W is easily reached.
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> 1. Heat in the winter, this will reduce you range, some just a little, but in places like Minnesota in Feb, a lot. Better inform the folks in Norway (75% EV share), Iceland (45%), and Sweden (32%): * https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/02/electric-vehicles-eur... * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_the_Nordic_countrie... > 2. Stuck in traffic. If you are stuck in grid lock, that will cut in range, there have…
>Better inform the folks in Norway (75% EV share), Iceland (45%), and Sweden (32%): I was waiting for this, those countries do not get the winter people in Minnesota and Montana get. Far less sever on average. A quick search: Is Minnesota or Norway colder? What is this? FARGO — Oslo, the capital of Norway, is located at 60 degrees north. Fargo and Duluth are closer to 47 degrees north. Winter weather in the Dakotas a…
Yeah, this entire article has a single mention of "charging infrastructure", and even that's a passing reference. This doesn't address all the arguments against an EV. The fact of the matter is, if I don't have a Tesla and rent my apartment, I won't be able to reliably charge this vehicle. Even for someone with a house, long trips face unreliable charging infrastructure. It's gonna take a few more years
I've been going in range-anxiety circles with my dad for over 10 years. He insists he needs a car that can take him hundreds of miles into the wilderness for camping. I ask whether he's ever done that. He says no, but he intends to. He's 84. EV manufacturers should offer the 500-mile-range vehicle, but as an option. Pay $X for a car with 250 miles range, and an extra $20,000 for another 250 miles range. Most people w…
I come from a small country where realistically, you leave the country before your battery runs out pretty much from any point in the country. Despite this, a lot of people who definitely don't leave the country very often feel very anxious about range. It's completely irrational. There's always the weird uncle who somehow has to drive hundreds of miles every day while never stopping for lunch, restroom breaks, etc. that has this imaginary need to do all of that without stopping.
It's the Netherlands, if you are wondering. And for those few people that actually live up north there in say Groningen and actually do want to regularly drive all the way down to Maastricht, that would be about 230 miles. And this is about as long as it gets in terms of journey length "inside" (the fastest route is actually via Germany) the country.
The point is that you can do that on a single charge with most decent EVs. Of course you'll need a charge to get back. And probably a few other things like a rest room break, stretching your legs, or taking care of whatever it was that caused you to drive that far to begin with. Great opportunity to plug in in while you do all of that. It's called destination charging.
For warm climates in urban areas, I can agree, but here are things never fully covered anywhere: 1. Heat in the winter, this will reduce you range, some just a little, but in places like Minnesota in Feb, a lot. 2. Stuck in traffic. If you are stuck in grid lock, that will cut in range, there have been cases were gridlock could last hours. Granted maybe EV stop power usage in this case. But under very hot or cold wea…
I've been going in range-anxiety circles with my dad for over 10 years. He insists he needs a car that can take him hundreds of miles into the wilderness for camping. I ask whether he's ever done that. He says no, but he intends to. He's 84. EV manufacturers should offer the 500-mile-range vehicle, but as an option. Pay $X for a car with 250 miles range, and an extra $20,000 for another 250 miles range. Most people w…
I think this is pretty much what they all do already? Seems like most manufacturers offer a "long range" version? Perhaps not 250 Vs 500, but certainly like 150 to 250 sort of order of magnitude Take a look at http://ev-database.uk
Yes, but still not as long range as the longest-range gas cars. Tesla extinguished the "is it a real car?" questions by offering the 2014 P85D, which was briefly the quickest production car on Earth (though it cost $140,000). You don't hear anyone talking about slow EVs the way they did 10 years ago when Nissan Leafs were going 53 mph on highways.
If there were an equivalent EV but for range rather than acceleration, the discussion would no longer be about range. Charging time and availability would still be legitimate (but diminishing) issues, as sig points out.
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The available roof area of a Skoda Octavia Estate - a common car in Europe - measures 2m x 1m which, given common 21% efficiency PV cells provides 420W at 1000 W/m² irradiance. This is considered a "medium sized" car. Add the hood and 600W is easily reached.
I have read Tesla owners reporting the AC consuming 1-3 kW. I still don't see how a roof of solar panels "goes a long way in offsetting the power consumed by the AC".
Put it another way, a 20% efficient PV panel covering most of the vehicle combined with an AC with a COP of 5 should theoretically enable you to negate the total solar irradiance. Since the car is exposed to other heat sources - indirect irradiance, hot roads, hot outside air, warm people inside it - this is not enough to remove all excess heat from the vehicle but it should at least be able to offset direct irradiance.