OT: Fire at Moss Landing

I agree with the hard to put out, but I'm not sure about more energy.

A typical car tank will take the car further than a typical battery, even though a petrol or diesel engine wastes far more than it uses.

Andy

Not far more. Just a bit more

The computer on my car tells me I have 700+ miles range when filled to near the top of the neck.

Are there any batteries which could go that far without a recharge?

Hmmm... that could be read in more than one way...

Let's try:

"My car's computer tells me that the vehicle has more than seven hundred miles range when the fuel tank is filled to near the top of the neck".

Yes, there are.

Aluminum-air.

Paul

I think that the current limit on a mild day that needs no aircon or cabin heat is about 350 miles if driven like you own it.

I agree, I can - on a decent trip - get 450 miles out of a tank which ain't bad for a 280bhp car.

Electric cars are not totally useless. I could definitely use one as my 'shopping trolley' But the insurance and the danger of setting my house on fire and the extra capital cost put me off. I cant afford to run two cars...

Well if you want to go that route Lithium air is even better, but no one has made a practicable lithium air battery - fast charge, fast discharge, robust etc etc.

At the limit I did calculate that a Lithium air battery might just be able to fly a plane across the atlantic. But that would be a perfect battery and there wouldn't be much margin for error. And the fire risk...

How long can *you* drive without a recharge? Do you have an Xtra-Long-Range Bladder?

It's possible to build an EV with 700 miles range but it would be heavy, expensive and most people wouldn't use all of it, because they aren't physically capable of driving 700 miles in one go.

Production EVs are in the 400-500 mile territory. There are hyper-efficient EVs like Aptera (not actually in production) which claim 1000 miles, but that's more like a covered motorbike.

Theo

That doesn't matter at all, because lots of places have toilets and I can, in extremis, manage behind a bush. The place doesn't have to have either petrol or diesel pumps and certainly doesn't have to have any EV charging points.

Addiotionally, when stopping for a bladder break, I don't have to queue up behind another user plugged in for a half-hour minimum and then face another half-hour minimum of plugging-in before I can get underway again.

There is just no comparison.

Again, that doesn't matter. The point is that one does not seek out a charging / refuelling point for days (the last full tank I paid for came over a month after the previous one).

When they eventually manage to perfect the safe (from spontaneous fire), efficient and convenient EV with doors, doorlocks and seats, as well as an acceptable range between refuelling stops (who needs to be refuelling every night, on the driveway or elsewhere?) and most of all, a reasonable purchase price, I'll think about it. Maybe.

It doesn't take 2 hours to take a piss

I think you will find that in real world conditions is an upper limit of

and it doesn't take that lenght of time to recharge unless you've done something silly. 3 hours driving , coffee stop and recharge at same time

Some 18 months ago, I was charging my 300 mile range Enyaq and was taling to the owner of a Mercedes who reckoned he had a 700 mile range. Merseyside to Inverness & back.

says "Modern gasoline engines have a maximum thermal efficiency of more than 50%, but most road legal cars only achieve about 20% to 40% efficiency."

That agrees with the old rule I learned: 1/3 out of the radiator, 1/3 out of the exhaust, and 1/3 out of the wheels. That's why I said far more.

(Later it says "Low speed diesel engines like the MAN S80ME-C7 have achieved an overall energy conversion efficiency of 54.4%, which is the highest conversion of fuel into power by any single-cycle internal or external combustion engine." - but that's a peak, not a real world average)

Andy

In message snipped-for-privacy@candehope.me.uk>, charles snipped-for-privacy@candehope.me.uk> writes

In my younger days, to visit family etc I used to make the 350 mile return journey between London and north-east England maybe four times each year. Such a trip is essentially an all-day event, and apart from stopping the shortest time possible for a pee, a mouthful of drink and bite of a sandwich (and if absolutely necessary, a quick fuel top-up, preferably not at an exorbitantly-priced motorway services) , the last thing I ever wanted to do have to spend much time not driving.

Ian Aims and ambitions are neither attainments nor achievements

In my father's last year (1995), I drove from Surrey to Edinburgh (and back) 13 times! I now only do it 2 or 3 times a year, and I decided, 4 years ago, that it was too far to do in one day. So, I now take it far more leisurely than I used to. So, my EV suits me perfectly.