I might have wanted a Tesla but I don't like Elon Musk

[micky]

I might have wanted a Tesla but I don't like Elon Musk

and there's this too:

[Ed P]

There was another article recently about Tesla and the recent decline. Dislike of Musk was one reason some people won't buy the car.

I won't buy one either. Model S looks OK, most of the others look too ugly to me. Quality has been an issue too.

[invalid unparseable]

Musk probably would not like you guys but would gladly sell you a Tesla.

I like Musk but I'll be damned if I will buy a Tesla or any other electric car.

[Ed P]

My next car will be an electric, but not like the ones today. Solid state batteries (no lithium) will have 600 to 800 mile range and less than 10 minute charge

Think of the EV of today as part of the evolution, like the gas cars of the 1920s. It will take time to get the charging stations in place, same as it was for gas stations for our grandparents.

There are infrastructure issues to overcome, people need to adapt to new technology. Electric grid needs to grow.

If you think these are reasons no to change to EVs, think about the Wright Brothers. It was really stupid of them to invent the airplane where there were no airports in existence.

[danny burstein]

In <6616b0af$0$2909313$ [e-mail]> Ed P [e-mail] writes: [snip]

hahahaha.

the 600 - 800 mile range is a plausible improvement over what's available today, if some of the lab-shelf stuff actually pans out. Not exactly likely, but not off the wall crazy.

But that 10 minute charge? hahahahah

It takes about 1/4 kw-hr for a mile of steady state driving on level road. So 800 miles of range would need 200 kw-hr.

(A kw-hr is roughly what a toaster oven would use in an hour...)

So if you want 200-kw-hr in 10 minutes, you'd have to feed 1,200 kws through that wire.

That's 1,200 KVA (or similarly, 1,000 toaster ovens)

[ignoring power factor issues]

or at 240V, 5,000 amps.

That's, umm, some pretty thick wire.

Oh, for good measure, if you have a super duper unobtanium transformer/regulator/charger which is 90% efficient, meaning 10% goes poof as heat, you've got to blow away about 100 toaster ovens of hot air.

[Scott Lurndal]

Or, at the typical distribution voltage of 12.5kv/22kv,

100 to 50 amps (1-aught or AWG6).

[danny burstein]

So in other words, your local, electrified, cateneray based commuter railroad can set up charging stations....

(no, that's NOT practical.)

[Scott Lurndal]

Most of the local pole pigs have a 12/22kv primary. The underground distribution lines to the neighborhood transformer is usually 12kv or 22kv.

It's available pretty much everywhere.

It's certainly practical for charging stations; it was not my suggestion that it be available for home use.

[invalid unparseable]

There is a flaw in your math. Charging a battery is by driving electrical current through the battery. When you charge a 12V car battery, you use a voltage slightly higher than 12V in order to drive the current through the battery. You will be wasting energy if you rectify a 110V AC source to drive DC through a 12V battery. You will waste even more energy if you rectify 12.5v/22kv AC to drive DC through a 12V battery. EV battery is about 350-450V. When you use a transformer to step down the voltage from 12.5v/22kv, you still end up with extraordinarily high current to try to charge the battery in such a short time (if the battery doesn't explode in your face when you plug the charger in).

[Ed P]

So the people that have done it (Toyota) lied to us?

Toyota confirmed plans to launch solid-state EV batteries with 10-minute fast charging and up to 750 miles (1,200 km) WLTP range to close the gap with Tesla. However, with the new EV battery tech still a few years out, Toyota could fall further behind

[T]

1+

[Clare Snyder]

[Clare Snyder]

I'm likely the reader on this list with the earliest EV experience - both building and driving - back in 1979. Lead acid batteries and rudimentary speed control - 50 mile range at

30MPH and 30 miles at 50 MPH - back then the onboard charger recharged drom a 15 amp circuit in 8 hours or so for a quarter.

It was a converted 1975 Fiat 128 Sport with an aircraft starter-generator for a motor

[Ed P]

That sounds cool.

If I had two cars, one would be an EV. For my local driving it would easily go a couple of weeks on a charge. Right now the problem is a couple of long trips a year that I make.

Oh, I saw a cyber truck today. Did not get a good look as I was behind it for a couple of miles and could not get a side view. It is a bit bigger than I thought from photos, but it is just as ugly as I thought it was.

[bud--]

Distribution in Minneapolis is about all 13.8/8kV with 8kV single phase to residential transformers.

I can't picture how an average consumer could connect 12kV 100A to a car and how it would be safe. 12kV GFCI?

[micky]

Just use rubber gloves. And maybe a long stick.

If children don't have sense enough to stay clear, it would help evolve smarter children.