Electric cars a step nearer mainstream?

[Roland Perry]

In message , at 19:27:58 on Fri,

6 Jun 2008, Adrian remarked:

Because having dozens of different types makes replacement harder to find.

[Rod]

Mmmm - lovely boiling battery acid. (I used to have a Saab turbo 16v tii

- I know.) But perhaps a small number of basic batteries with a couple of shape variants? It might have been possible to fit a long thin battery somewhere else.

[Adrian]

Roland Perry gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

No more so than oil filters, headlamps, tyres, windscreens. Should they all be forced to be one of four or five basic types? How about front wings or bumpers?

[Steve Firth]

Beleive me, in any macho display I shall be the male at the edge of the group trying to work out how a mobile phone works, rather than displaying my bottom to the crowd.

[Andy Hall]

Oh, I say...

[Roland Perry]

In message , at 20:03:25 on Fri,

6 Jun 2008, Adrian remarked:

Headlamp bulbs are quite standard, no excuse for lots of different sorts of oil filter, and there are too many different sorts of tyre.

Windscreens and...

... aren't routinely replaced, however they are probably much the same for all variants of a particular model of car. Which you can't say for tyres.

[Adrian]

Roland Perry gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

I said "headlamps", not bulbs.

Sorry, but I disagree.

You'd be surprised. When I replaced the 'screen on the Saab, there was four different 'screens. Clear and three tints. Oh, and the convertible's a different 'screen entirely.

You seem to be forgetting that many tyre sizes would be common across a variety of different makes and models, though.

[Rod]

Unfortunately, not always. (You did write "many".) Just needed to order some specially - the *only* car that takes the specific tyre. And it's only a Nissan.

[Adrian]

Rod gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Indeed I did... - not much else takes 125x15s...

No close-alternative common tyre size?

[Dave Liquorice]

But there are dozens of different types. My quickly knocked together "battery finder" page(*) has 69 different 12v batteries in it. And that is from the scant information I could find on the web.

(*) Plugin the dimensions and a tolerance and voltage (6 or 12) and it'll return all the batteries it knows about that match.

[The Natural Philosopher]

That doesn't surprise me.

[The Natural Philosopher]

..and limit its current contributun if it starts to get hot, or show distress.

Careful conditioning of the expensive LIPO is the key to long life.

[Rod]

175/60 R 15 H

Gawd alone knows why an H rating. Any suggestions?

[Dave Liquorice]

Why not? This is only a car, something to move you from one place to another, not a fashion accessory.

[Duncan Wood]

A V rating? In which case it's a fairly common size.

[Rod]

But more expensive? No - I've just checked - cheaper!!! Bizarre world we live in.

I went round several tyre places the other day - not one offered V. Not one offered a lower rating. All sucked their teeth and said "Only one car uses them".

[Duncan Wood]

Even if it was true Nissan Micras are hardly unusual.

[Duncan Wood]

Because the advantages would be miniscule?

[Andy Champ]

I have had the dealer correctly identify my make and model when I called to ask if they had stock of a set size.

And that's just a Toyota...

Andy.

[Rod]

Knock me down wiv' a feather! Common as muck. And, BTW, not the ideal car for carrying fence panels. :-(

Is there any reason not to go for V-rated? Do they wear faster or anything silly like that?