What Next? A Electric Jensen?

[ajc9415]

By coincidence I went to the Waterloo Classics get together today in central London and there was an old Morris Minor that had been converted to all electric.

[felixkk]

Off topic but interesting, in an article on the Tesla truck:

„There’s a reason why UPS optimizes its routes so that truck drivers rarely have to turn left: It saves the company 10 million gallons of fuel, avoids 22,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions, and enables UPS to deliver 350,000 more packages each year.“

https://www.google.ch/amp/s/www.greente ... ghest-musk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[hemi]

I guess they'll be building a bucket load of new power stations to support the demand for electricity.

I accept I have a recessive view on the 'why' question, but it's not a question of practicality, it's the reason for owning one. Take the heart out of it and get around with an electric motor and it's just a pose - look at me. The car has no personality - I don't care about the performance or how much it costs to run, if it did I buy something cheaper and faster. I like the noise, oil leaks, vibration, headaches, skinned knuckles and frustrations - and the look of it.

About 20 years ago a got a modified car (Mk1 Ford Capri) registered with a 289 V8 and the RTA (Road and Transport Authority) officer said the RTA didn't want 'old' cars registered and getting the Capri on the road get harder and harder - so I had to jump through a lot of extra hoops despite its engineering compliance. This was well before climate change/global warming became a religion, so in Australia at least we're thankfully lagging well behind the rest of the progressive world where petrol/diesel is king and each sells for about $1.40 per litre. There's still a lot of black gooey stuff under the ground, but 'we' don't seem to want to get at it.

Australia has service centres (just a building or two) on highways that are up to 720km apart and road train trucks that weigh up to 116 tonnes. They've got a hell of a long way to go to get that lot on electric or even plausible hybrid power - and we haven't even got one nuclear power plant in the joint to power it, and its unlikely we ever will.

It's run by politicians and the 'why' is the answer to 'why the worlds gone mad'. They provide very few answers, just more questions.

I guess I'll have to keep my Jensen in the shed (with a Spitfire and Messerschmitt - and P-51, P40, P-47, F8F, F6F, F4F, F4U, Sea Fury.....) thanks.

Matt

[David Devine]

Hi Chris

just a little thing trucks can drive 24 hours a day it's the drivers who can't. Our trucks can have three drivers a day.

Dave

[Keith]

Sales of diesel cars have fallen off a cliff since the scandal over emissions as the public respond to concerns over those emissions.

Perhaps the "public" should educate themselves, rather than listening to politicians jumping onto the latest bandwagon. With a bit of research, they would realise that the modern diesel engine is cleaner than these new-fangled eco-boost type petrol engines. I have no qualms whatsoever about running my current diesel-engined car.

But the politicians will win, and the internal combustion engine is effectively finished.

As is hybrid technology. There will be little future development in this area. What sense is there in designing vehicles with two power units? Why would the customer pay for a vehicle with two power units?

So full electric it is.

I wonder where all that electricity comes from?

[Chris_R]

I wonder where all that electricity comes from?

Well, rather surprisingly, at the time of writing this (just after 11.30pm) 21% of the entire country's energy needs is coming from wind power. Unsurprisingly, none is coming from solar generation.
An interesting dashboard showing where all our energy is coming from, updated every few minutes. http://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[felixkk]

As is hybrid technology. There will be little future development in this area. What sense is there in designing vehicles with two power units? Why would the customer pay for a vehicle with two power units?

How many times was your battery exchanged in your Jensen in the past 45/50 years, and how many times the engine? How much does a new battery cost in an electric car, how much will the battery cost in the Tesla truck? How long will they last?

On the contrary side, one person I talked to said that even if the electricity is produced with brown coal, it is far better because the emissions are centralized with better filters as opposed to the individual filtration of the combustion engines in the millions of cars.

[Keith]

How many times was your battery exchanged in your Jensen in the past 45/50 years,

How much does a new battery cost in an electric car, how much will the battery cost in the Tesla truck? How long will they last?

Batteries nowadays are not the same as 50 years ago (surprisingly.....?).

[johnw]

We have had electric Jensen's since 1948. Jen Tugs, as usual Jensen were pioneers.

[Michael Richardson]

Chris,If that figure of 20% + wind generated elec in UK,well,over this side of the channel the figure is a half of one percent....and that is unacceptable when you drive through the countryside,blighted by the sight of windmills that are so ineffective. Neuclea is 90%,and wave power comes in well at around 7%. These figures are shown on your bi-monthly bill from EDF. In my car (GolfGTD) the engine stops at a junction/lights/pause,and then has to restart when I touch the right hand pedal. What is the point of this ? ? ?It is hard on the battery. A starting engine puts in more fuel at that moment,and I believe wear and tear on the mechanicals negates any saving on the environment. So,I cancel it off each time I start a journey,however small....By the way,I can get 50+ to the gallon ,even in sport mode,partly because I have a few points on my ticket,and all my motoring is on roads limited to 60 mph . France is talking about lowering that national limit !

[Chris_R]

At around midday today wind and solar power were together providing around 34% of our power needs. Nuclear was around 22%.

[johnw]

Chris,If that figure of 20% + wind generated elec in UK,well,over this side of the channel the figure is a half of one percent....and that is unacceptable when you drive through the countryside,blighted by the sight of windmills that are so ineffective. Neuclea is 90%,and wave power comes in well at around 7%. These figures are shown on your bi-monthly bill from EDF. In my car (GolfGTD) the engine stops at a junction/lights/pause,and then has to restart when I touch the right hand pedal. What is the point of this ? ? ?It is hard on the battery. A starting engine puts in more fuel at that moment,and I believe wear and tear on the mechanicals negates any saving on the environment. So,I cancel it off each time I start a journey,however small....By the way,I can get 50+ to the gallon ,even in sport mode,partly because I have a few points on my ticket,and all my motoring is on roads limited to 60 mph . France is talking about lowering that national limit !

I think France have lowered the non motorway limit effective later this year.

In Germany ridiculous amounts of solar are generated around mid day these days, but power companies have long standing agreements that prevent it being used effectively. It sometimes gets dumped into wind turbines to spin them. It gets embarrassing to have these turbines standing idle. Consumers can't get the power cheap at that time when there is oversupply, when consumers need it most.

Stop start does work in terms of fuel savings. It also massively reduces emissions at lights/crossings where pedestrians gather. 2 seconds motor off is more than enough to recoup savings. Someone measured the extra width in the injector pulses required to restore charge after a stop/start. The wider injector pulse widths are miniscule after about 15 secs, undetectable after 30 or so seconds.

I have stop start on a 1999 Lupo 3L, which is an aluminium and magnesium 100mpg VW eco wonder, built at a loss by VW, it avoided VW paying extra green taxes on manufacturers whose majority of cars were large high average consumers, as although their cars on average use more fuel than Kia, etc, VW could prove their eco cars really were the most economical in the world. Use of Vegetable/sunflower oils etc as fuel would make it a real flower power wonder, carbon neutral. Tesla's are not cheap to run even if you ignore battery replacement. 26KWH per 100km in a Tesla, say £3.50, vs Lupo £4.50 pump fuel or £1.50 if using heating oil, perhaps half that for vegetable oils if it was legal. Despite being a super light construction, the original starter has lasted 280K kilometers. I did regrease the bendix gears, and they are only noisy when the car is cold now. I think the grease I used is too thick. Being a sceptic myself I bought a NOS starter off ebay but it is still in the box.

[AH1951]

"Stop start does work in terms of fuel savings."
Of course it does, but by how much?
I've driven cars with an automatic Stop/Start system and I hate them.

Yes, emissions will be reduced. But again, by how much?
As usual, John Cadogan has something entertaining to say on this subject.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k159M8QhCIE" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[AH1951]

There's a hybrid vehicle that has been converted to V8 power by throwing out the electric bits and fitting a Corvette engine, saving 1,100 pounds of weight in the process.
The Fisker Karma, re-named the Destino.
http://www.vlfautomotive.com/vlf-destino-v8/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Destino.jpg (51.44 KiB) Viewed 3241 times

[ChrisP]

i just wonder where all that new electricity will come from.
lets say power costs pretty much the same however its generated. Oil coal gas
nuclear wind or solar,none of it is free.
So lets say an average household consumes say £50 to £100 worth of fuel per month for the house.
And our power generation network is equal to the task but not massively over capacity
and they consume a tank of fuel (petrol or diesel per week) not unreasonable
if all the cars go electric would we not need to quadruple our electric generation
just to hit status quo
who is kidding who