I think batteries are only a stop gap for a couple of decades till hydrogen fuel cells come on line, which are essentially clean batteries. The electric motor tech in the vehicles will stay the same. Think this topic has been covered elsewhere maybe?
My take is this is being overstated though and unfounded claims are being widely reported. For example, the claim that EVs need to be driven 50,000 miles before they are cleaner than ICE vehicles, reported in the UK press last year, was concocted by a motor-industry think tank.
Initial carbon footprint for manufacturing was around 50% higher for the electric model at ~26 tonnes CO2 vs 17 tonnes CO2 for the petrol car.
Interesting. In all the scenarios that Volvo lay out the EV has lower lifetime CO2 emissions, and if only charged with renewable power the total carbon footprint is less than half that of the ICE vehicle.
Hey Paul I've had a Model S for a couple of years now
I run a couple of electric vehicles and...
If you're wondering how the above is at all possible then it's all based on my business www.ember.to Not easy to do >200,000 miles per year per vehicle unless you have a team of drivers!
How come you started up in Scotland? Are you living up his way now? Great to know there's an e-bus. I'm originally from just outside Perth but live in Glasgow, so could use it for going up to see her. Edited due to actually reading it the second time and seeing Glasgow wasn't on the list! Great venture anyway
We're launching more routes later in the year which will probably include Glasgow - Fort William. Will be nice to take bikes and people up there.
@Fultonius. Basically i work a lot more than i climb nowadays but am still a dirtbag at heart in a cheap part of the country Running costs are actually lower than any car i've ever had as we're saving £2-3000 per year on fuel and much of the expensive stuff on the car has warranties on. In fact if buying out right i dont know why anyone who could afford one would buy a new 3 over a pre 2018 second hand S unless they specifically wanted a small car and dont need boot space. As with the 8 year unlimited mileage warranty on the major parts, free premium connection and free supercharging for life the year on year benefits are formidable regardless of the size and spec difference (supercharging anywhere isn't cheap) Some things to note when buying Ev's second hand are that battery degradation isnt a huge worry and actually cars with lower mileage might be in a worse degradation state if they've sat a few winters without frequent charging. Autotrader is still set up for ICE engines so EVs with higher milages still depreciate faster on there but you can play that curve and set money aside from the saving. Provided you do all the relevant history checks it might work out much better buying a car thats done 10K per year since it was made than one thats done 2-5K unless its been in a heated garage. Electric motors are one of humanitys more reliable inventions so trusting the lack of parts + 8year warranty on that does present a pretty unique opportunity to travel round the country for free for the life of the vehicle, as well as a strong incentive to keep it on the road (https://electrek.co/2020/06/12/tesla-data-battery-degradation-limited-mileage-packs-equal/) In Cumbria its easy to overnight charge at <100gm CO2 per Kw so it is a really green option and so was compelling to save up and make the switch (sellafield + lots of offshore wind)I've got some funny stories from the past couple of years. As every other person i've seen with one is has been an over 50 beardy elderly Uni professor type, and all the model 3 chaps that appeared last year are young cool hipsters or nice families so we've been getting properly stared at with a big organic pad stuffed in the boot dressed in scruffy climbing togs. That and taking it off road upto some random forest crags and accomodation about the place, i like to think its a happy car for being saved a life of slow drives to posho restaurants and ritual weekend washes.I still use all my Corsa coasting skills but its even more fun now as you get realtime energy use. 0.24 drag coefficient!To add to Uncles quality info, Hydrogen is deemed as green, blue and grey in terms of source, whether green hydrogen kills flexible tariff charging from windfarms remains to be seen but it's likely to play a role only as a spare capacity producer, it's 4X more efficient to charge electric cars with that energy if the demands there. most current hydrogen is blue (eg. methane landfill) or grey (fossil) but it seems most likely to go into large transport (ferries, planes) at this time as well as >battery < pumped oxygen or hydro in terms of grid storage. If you watched the market moving last year you could see all the legacy carmakers finally u turning their approaches and getting on board for fear of death by Tesla and there are now fantastic options appearing monthly. When i bought my car my only option for an EV that would fit a large pad in the boot (seats up) was literally an S or X!If all else fails Paul just quietly mention your mother in laws generation will have overseen the greatest carbon use per person of any generation in the history of the planet, and thats why all those smirky "woke" kids have fallen out with the boomers https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-why-children-must-emit-eight-times-less-co2-than-their-grandparents
Now i'm not going to say that disproves the case for nickel and cobalt use but it shows signs of change. Market forces will still just move the next contract into those areas and someone elses cars might have dirtier batteries, if consumers care they'll vote with their wallets. The Lithium mining in Bolivia involves sweating it off the salt pans in one of the most arid parts of the planet which is knacking the water table. Thankfully it looks like this will get phased out as new mines open up in different locations and extraction techniques change (covered in Teslas battery day) The
How are electric vehicles in snow? We normally have 4x4 as our road is fairly spicy and we get a fair bit of snow usually. Slightly worried about the amount of torque. It’s rear wheel drive with good clearance and the batteries in the back so I’m hoping it’ll be ok? We couldn’t bring ourselves to wait for the 4x4 version to come out. Hopefully we won’t regret that.....
Quote from: northern yob on April 30, 2021, 01:35:11 pmHow are electric vehicles in snow? We normally have 4x4 as our road is fairly spicy and we get a fair bit of snow usually. Slightly worried about the amount of torque. It’s rear wheel drive with good clearance and the batteries in the back so I’m hoping it’ll be ok? We couldn’t bring ourselves to wait for the 4x4 version to come out. Hopefully we won’t regret that.....You're not doing regular trips over past Widdop are you in a blue/green one (although I'd have expected more shit when passing if so)?I'll make sure to have some for next winter.