EcoVelocity

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Went to the EcoVelocity exhibition at Battersea power station today. Pretty well every electric, hybrid and economy vehicle was on display - 4,

3 and 2 wheel.

None of them really appealed to me - especially at the prices. Although there was a tiny Hummer lookalike that didn't look just plain stupid like most of the small electric town cars.

Some very extravagant claims too. One supercar - price yet to be fixed - claimed a range of 100 - 300 miles, 0-100 mph in 5 seconds, two 125kW motors, yet could be fully re-charged in 8 hours off a domestic 13 amp supply. Another very expensive prototype claimed running costs would be low - as it didn't need oil changes, new 'mufflers' and spark plugs like a normal car. ;-)

[charles]

I haven't bought a new "muffler" for years. I had a 309 for over 110,000 miles, my present C5 has over 100,000 on the clock. Going back, I'm sure I had at least 2 for my Anglia which had only done 60,000 when we parted company.

[ARWadsworth]

you manage to be thrown out by security for shouting abuse?

[Huge]

What, the entire sales for the year?

(I understand sales of electric vehicles tripled this month compared to last year; from 11 to 30, or something.)

[The Natural Philosopher]

That's probably not that far from the truth, although Id say you need more like 10 hours and two 13A sockets..you can pull maybe 30A off a ring.

that's 60KWh. about 20-30 litres of fuel equivalent at a notional IC engine efficiency of 25%. Plus regen braking.

two x 125Kw motor is also par for the course.

Problem is battery cost and longevity.

[Jules Richardson]

206,000 on our Toyota (and 14 years). Still on the original exhaust, battery and spark plugs.

cheers

Jules

[chris French]

Yeah, our Mondeo (11 years and about 125000 miles) is AFAIK still on it's original exhuast. Which has been a bit of an amazement given the regularity that previous cars might have had bits replaced.

[Chris J Dixon]

There has certainly been a great improvement in the life of exhaust systems. Any thoughts on what has driven it?

Remember being offered stainless replacements, guaranteed for as long as you kept the car?

The small print meant that, since it is more susceptible to vibration-induced fractures, any failures were blamed on worn out engine mounts. Tough!

Chris

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I know sparkplugs now have a much longer life than once - but 200,000 miles?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

My '97 BMW is still on the original. I assume it is made of SS.

Yes - I have one of those on the old SD1. Which previously seemed to need a new rear box every year... It was a very wise purchase.

On my previous BMW, the exhaust started to get noisy at perhaps 8 years old. Not a leak - just a lot more noise. So I assumed the internal sound absorbing material had failed. Had the rear box replaced at Kwikfit, and that rotted through in a couple of years.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Catalysts. They are EXPENSIVE.

[chris French]

Doesn't explain why the rest of the system lasts though. Our old car had a cat, that was never repalced but the rest of system was a few times over all over the 14 years we had it.

[chris French]

In message , "Dave Plowman (News)" writes

Well the Mondeo's doesn't look like stainless

[The Natural Philosopher]

well a lot of it is probably down to the fact that the exhaust is a lot cleaner than it used to be - low sulphur etc. So the low cat poisoning requirement has reduced overall corrosion.

[Andy Wade]

Yes, AIUI it's a direct consequence of the removal of lead from the fuel and, in particular, the 'lead scavenger' additives that had to be used to prevent a build-up of lead oxides on the cylinder walls. The problem was that the scavenging reactions that removed the lead oxides also released hydrochloric acid and it's that that rotted the plugs and exhaust system.