The NYC Fire Commissioner gave testimony to US Congress this morning stating that battery fires (200 in 2023) resulted in 17 deaths. I would venture a guess that these were all electric scooter battery fires.
I hadn't realized that the opposite was true for batteries concerning too high of an ambient temperature. I realized it full swing when I moved to Tucson AZ! I don't know at what temperature that a battery suffers from heat, but once they are gone, they are gone.
I had grown up in Wyoming where, when I worked at an auto parts store as a kid, we sold one hell of a lot of batteries, alternators, starters, and starter drives. I know because I hauled all of them from the dock. Half of the batteries were probably still good or at least could have been saved with proper previous maintenance.
I had grown up in Wyoming where, when I worked at an auto parts store as a kid, we sold one hell of a lot of batteries, alternators, starters, and starter drives. I know because I hauled all of them from the dock. Half of the batteries were probably still good or at least could have been saved with proper previous maintenance.
A frustrated Tesla owner shares his solution to the problem:
Orso Maria Guerrini - ''I Wanna Go''
No, it's not funny.
Orso Maria Guerrini - ''I Wanna Go''
Yes! It was most evident to me in the Philippines. A lot of vehicles ran on diesel. Clouds of it on the streets. People wrapping their heads with T shirts to try and filter it.
There are a lot more than just teething problems with the attempted move to all electric vehicles and the companion Net Zero concept itself. Here is an article with some more insight:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/oth...1&cvid=9323eacb3da64f7abbc4eec7311b6ee9&ei=15
And a few quotes from the article for those who don't want to read the whole thing:
Resilience is the long-forgotten element of net zero – and not just for electric vehicles. We are being sold a future where almost everything will be powered by electricity – without much thought being put into what happens if the grid fails.
…
A power cut lasting more than a few hours will be a very serious matter for communities, which face being totally cut off, shivering.
…
In a future where we are trying to use heat pumps to keep us warm, cold weather might well deliver a double whammy: we will need more power because the heat pump will be working overtime at a lower rate of efficiency, and yet the supply of renewable power could dip, in some weather conditions to disastrous lows.
…
There is no point in telling us we’ve got to get to net zero if you can’t tell us how we cope when we reach sub-zero. Yes, it does get cold sometimes, in spite of global warming, and we need to keep society running when it does.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/oth...1&cvid=9323eacb3da64f7abbc4eec7311b6ee9&ei=15
And a few quotes from the article for those who don't want to read the whole thing:
Resilience is the long-forgotten element of net zero – and not just for electric vehicles. We are being sold a future where almost everything will be powered by electricity – without much thought being put into what happens if the grid fails.
…
A power cut lasting more than a few hours will be a very serious matter for communities, which face being totally cut off, shivering.
…
In a future where we are trying to use heat pumps to keep us warm, cold weather might well deliver a double whammy: we will need more power because the heat pump will be working overtime at a lower rate of efficiency, and yet the supply of renewable power could dip, in some weather conditions to disastrous lows.
…
There is no point in telling us we’ve got to get to net zero if you can’t tell us how we cope when we reach sub-zero. Yes, it does get cold sometimes, in spite of global warming, and we need to keep society running when it does.
Some week ago, when it was more than 20 deg below zero and, suprise, suprise, all of em windmills stood still and needed heating to keep theyr rotors from from freezing up, the price for electric energy ("transport" = grid-costs, not included ) went up to 2.35 euro/kWh !!! And this dispite the fact that people curbed theyr electricity consumtion equivalent to the amount a nuclear power plant produces. B.t.w., 40% of worlds electricity production is still powered by coal. Net zero will not happen for a long long time.
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I've never examined a supercharger station but if this is correct then
1. I owe classicalfan an apology
2. Someone at Tesla did not do a full FMEA on this. I can understand that, due to trying to turn around cars as fast as possible they might prefer not to run at low power for 20 mins whilst the battery preheats before hitting the full juice as that doubles the time a car needs to spend there but someone will always turn up nearly empty with a cold battery.
Back in the 90s I worked for a few years on satellites. Back then sodium sulpher seemed to be the up and coming new tech, but they had the problem that they needed to be kept slightly north of 300C. I remember debating if these could be used in electric cars and it was pointed out to me that, since people run out of petrol, they will run their EVs flat as well which will completely banjax their expensive battery.
The trick with diesels used to be (I say used as the rules are a bit different with common rail stuff at 2500Bar injector pressure) to put a gallon or two of gas in the tank with the diesel to prevent waxing. For some time they have changed the formulation for winter as you can see the economy drop a chunk in cold weather. Come to think of it that might be why I thought my battery was on the way out as I hadn't filled up for a few weeks. hmm That'll learn me. Only very mildly chilly today (-6) and the car chugged into life at the first crank still on the old battery.
Bill,
Since I don't use my truck for more than running around town, I decided a few years back to see how long I could pamper my battery in to running a longer than normal life of about 5-6 years in Wyoming climate. Mostly it was just to keep an eye on maintenance such as charging before trouble showed itself. FWIW, I got almost 8 years from it. Last winter killed it with a longer than usual sub-zero season. Of course, that meant that my wife's car battery died about the same time.
Anyone out there remember when I think it was actually J.C. Penny guaranteed their batteries for 5 years, no questions asked? That didn't last long.
Since I don't use my truck for more than running around town, I decided a few years back to see how long I could pamper my battery in to running a longer than normal life of about 5-6 years in Wyoming climate. Mostly it was just to keep an eye on maintenance such as charging before trouble showed itself. FWIW, I got almost 8 years from it. Last winter killed it with a longer than usual sub-zero season. Of course, that meant that my wife's car battery died about the same time.
Anyone out there remember when I think it was actually J.C. Penny guaranteed their batteries for 5 years, no questions asked? That didn't last long.
Everybody seems to guarantee batteries for 5 years. But many times the warranty is prorated. They seem to die at 5 years and one week, plus or minus two days, under “normal” use. How they can get the distribution that tight is uncanny.
Anything lasting 8 years, even with pampering, is an outlier way the hell outside six sigma.
Anything lasting 8 years, even with pampering, is an outlier way the hell outside six sigma.
Well, I think you're writing about a Battery EV... not a PHEV, serial hybrid or hydrogen fuel cell (FCEV). All of them are electric vehicles because they have an electric motor driving the wheels. No transmission. Instant throttle response and gobs of torque off the line.
Toyota's Synergy is sort of a parallel hybrid ( like my old Honda IMA ) because there's a transmission (CVT) between the ICE/electric motors (working in parallel) and the wheels.
We've had EVs for eons, alongside our ICE/mechanical transmission cars. BUT, we have never had a BEV and have no desire to do so.
Many of my neighbors have BEVs... actually Teslas because they are Luxury mobiles... not the $50K versions, nope, we're talking $100K here. Teslas have pretty much displaced Benzes, Bimmers, Audis, Jags, etc... only the top versions like AMG, M and Rolls exist anymore on our streets. Plus Lexus, naturally.
You see, in the USA driving distances are long. So a BEV is impractical for interstate driving, say 400 miles and above. They are border line for the LA to Vegas trip... but for metropolitan driving, a 300 mile Tesla is sufficient and the people who get a $100K Tesla have a garage with a 220V charger and a special rate plan from the Power Company. So, my neighbors with Teslas have multiple cars and they tend to fly when the trip is more than 400 miles.
Now, chez moi, we are outliers... I love to drive 1200 miles non stop... done it many, MANY times. And both of us, wife and I, are car people, so we love cars and BEV leave us sort of cold. For one thing, the ergonomics are abysmal and for another, they are a one pony trick when you try to do some late breaking into the apex of a curve. So, we have multiple cars and our current EV is used only in suburban driving.
However, the Accord iMMDs.. well those had a range of 575 miles per tank.... and we took those in bladder busting looooong trips.
Now, we do love have EVs drive. The concept of an electric motor driving the wheels is perfect for every car except for a race car that goes at WOT (wide open throttle) most of the time... the idea of instant on torque off the line is perfect in city and metropolitan congested freeway traffic.
You can change lanes RIGHT NOW in front of that Prius hogging 20 car lengths of free space in front of them.... NOW... there,
So we've had one Civic IMA, two Accord iMMDs, one Clarity FCEV and now a Clarity PHEV. Hopefully our next one will be new Accord iMMD.
So yeah, we love how EVs drive, we just don't care for the battery (BEV) types.
Oh, btw, the hydrogen fuel cell is by far the BEST EV around. Sadly, the environazis in San Francisco and Sacramento killed it off.
Another thing.. the HEATER... sorry to tell you but using the heater of an electric car (BEV of FCEV) is costly in energy. Very costly. An ICE hybrid EV is far better because ICE generate LOTS of hot liquid to run them...
...and nowadays we have remote start cars too... in our case, here in SoCal we used them to cool the car in our summer days.
We had a Honda Clarity FCEV car. It was by far the best overall car we've ever had... luxurious, big, quiet, good handling, easy to refuel, but it was killed by the politics of the crazy apparatchiks in San Francisco and Sacramento.
We also have/had hybrids. Love them. Currently we have a Honda Clarity PHEV (plug in). It can go almost 45 miles on the battery and about 300 miles on the gas tank.
But the best... both the FCEV and PHEV have unlimited car pool access stickers... meaning, you can drive by yourself in the car pool lanes of the freeway!
The Russians ( and Soviets ) are (were) known for using the cooling systems of their thermal power plants to provide hot water to entire cities.
I believe in NYC they do something similar: steam is piped into high rises in downtown Manhattan.
I've always wondered what if all cars goes Ev, where's the electricity coming from, can all the power stations etc
be able to coup & still be green ? Could it be a solving 1 problem & creating a bigger problem down the road ?
be able to coup & still be green ? Could it be a solving 1 problem & creating a bigger problem down the road ?
I should have said that their batteries were NOT prorated, which is strange. You could use one for say 3 or 4 years, and then get a new one under warranty! Never saw that before or since. FWIW, they were not great batteries to begin with.
That's nothing. When supplies get tight in Texas, the wholesale price hits USD8/KWh. We recently had a tight morning as wind was pretty still (around 2GW output out of a possible 30) and it was bone chilling cold. So they asked for conservation. It is a problem. We still have enough coal/nat gas/nuclear to get up to around 80GW of production, which is almost enough to cover even a cold windless morning.
Ok, here we go...
https://thefifthestate.com.au/energ...la-dreamed-of-free-electricity-what-happened/
Here's the excerpt of interest:
"His (Nikola Tesla's) grand vision was to free humankind from the burdens of extracting, pumping, transporting, and burning fossil fuels — which he viewed as “sinful waste”.
Tesla was eventually undone by what he called “ignorant, unimaginative people, consumed by self-interest”— powerful men who sought to protect the immensely profitable, low-tech industries they had spent a lifetime building."
Nikola seems to be a winning name... first, there was Mr Tesla, and now we have Mr Jokic... 🙂
https://thefifthestate.com.au/energ...la-dreamed-of-free-electricity-what-happened/
Here's the excerpt of interest:
"His (Nikola Tesla's) grand vision was to free humankind from the burdens of extracting, pumping, transporting, and burning fossil fuels — which he viewed as “sinful waste”.
Tesla was eventually undone by what he called “ignorant, unimaginative people, consumed by self-interest”— powerful men who sought to protect the immensely profitable, low-tech industries they had spent a lifetime building."
Nikola seems to be a winning name... first, there was Mr Tesla, and now we have Mr Jokic... 🙂
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Mike, when it is 20 below freezing outside i need more than 200kWh a day to heat my house, with 8 bucks a kWh it would be cheaper to set the house on fire
Some of the TA Truckstops (and I assume others) in the US were using heaters to warm up the big rigs in the Midwest.
Why no diesel-electric cars, the economics just don't work?
Why no diesel-electric cars, the economics just don't work?
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