EV conversions

[Bowie69]

1 hour ago, Bowie69 said:

Excellent for a web developer, as in my case.

To clarify, I have Android based phones, and would never have an apple phone, mostly for the reasons @Nonimouse outlines... and I find their software far too restrictive, and developers are more and more hamstrung by their practices, not to mention the 30% they take from sales through the App Store.

[landroversforever]

Sounds like you've got an ancient one then @Nonimouse. Zero issues with any of mine in the cold (-15C snowboarding) or hot (last few summers, Italy + Greece trips). Its also IP68. Current one has been used and abused both with work and home/Scouting.

[Snagger]

I use an iPad for visiting this forum.  It’s fine.  Nothing more than that.  I have used other devices with the same reliability.  I have had an iPhone in the past, and it wouldn’t connect to anything else on Bluetooth.  It’s phone reception was poor, battery capacity frustrating from new and every iOS update broke more apps.  I have had a few android phones since and the Samsung stuff is every bit as good at half the price.  And they don’t shorten the battery life with software updates.  Apple may have some advantages, but they are very restrictive and massively overpriced.  Seeing their brand stickers adorn so many cars tells me it has too much of a cult-like brand following for my liking.

[Nonimouse]

44 minutes ago, landroversforever said:

Sounds like you've got an ancient one then @Nonimouse. Zero issues with any of mine in the cold (-15C snowboarding) or hot (last few summers, Italy + Greece trips). Its also IP68. Current one has been used and abused both with work and home/Scouting.

iphone 12 pro. dated jan 2021. of the 6,500 of this model we have in the company, every member of our site staff have battery issues in the cold or hot weather. thats about 2,500 people

 

As for IP68, its definetly not built to IP68, has no IP 68 markings and doesn't like water

 

 

[landroversforever]

Ouch  

[Nonimouse]

2 minutes ago, landroversforever said:

Ouch  

Yes...

[elbekko]

2 hours ago, Bowie69 said:

Excellent for a web developer, as in my case.

At the risk of straying very, very far off topic: what actually makes it better for web development in your opinion? Except that all the cool kids use it

I've been a professional developer for 10+ years, and have been developing sofware and websites for 15+ years. Always on various versions of Windows. Zero issues. On the other hand, every time I have to touch an Apple anything, it tinkles me off immensely within minutes and takes way too much effort to get it to do what I want.

[Bowie69]

Well the OS being Linux based helps immensely, there's far fewer dependencies to get things up and running, e.g. development environments.

I use a 2019 27" iMac at home which has an amazing 5K screen, the OS is lighter weight than windows IMHO and has fewer time wasting idiosyncrasies. I use a silicon Mac Air for travel, which is ~1Kg so you hardly notice it, and more than powerful enough for development work.

Since the move to Windows 10, the UI has just got horrid, massive buttons everywhere , and a general dumbing down of things.

I used to develop on Windows, but glad I moved to Mac around 2012.

It depends what you are developing of course, but I do remember significant pain making thing work on Windows, because it wasn't Linux based.

[deep]

Lumping Apple in with Tesla, completely unnecessarily, is a nice, provocative way to derail a thread about electric Land Rover conversions!  I'll never understand why people want to be anti-Apple bigots, especially when the options are considerably worse (though Windows 8 was briefly quite nice and I still have it on an original Surface Pro - a gadget durable enough to have been made by Apple 😇).  I do, however, understand why people could be pro-Tesla bigots.  I personally find Teslas as bland as Toyotas, the man behind the company does distasteful things and the cars themselves perhaps a bit over-rated by the zealots.  Nevertheless, the technology they have developed has probably moved us a long way along the road to being able to produce a practical electric conversion for our dear old Land Rovers, so I won't dismiss them.

[Gazzar]

I don't like Apple products, they don't think the way I do. That's just my preference, though. I'm sure some of them are fine devices.

I've one from work, I don't get on with it: non standard charge cable, no headphone jack, can only take one SIM card, and no space for a SD card. No doubt bought at a bargain price by our procurement experts.

 

Anyway,

I was hoping the popularity of Tesla would result in a number of high quality used motors appearing in the world, but when I see reports of some cars needing multiple replacement motors, then my hopes fade.

Because I want to convert one of my landrovers to electric in time.

[elbekko]

26 minutes ago, deep said:

 I'll never understand why people want to be anti-Apple bigots

Because Apple is a terrible company that's been riding on the laurels of a very limited and closed ecosystem. If they had to support half the hardware and legacy software Windows does, they'd be 10x worse.

2 hours ago, Bowie69 said:

Well the OS being Linux based helps immensely, there's far fewer dependencies to get things up and running, e.g. development environments.

I use a 2019 27" iMac at home which has an amazing 5K screen, the OS is lighter weight than windows IMHO and has fewer time wasting idiosyncrasies. I use a silicon Mac Air for travel, which is ~1Kg so you hardly notice it, and more than powerful enough for development work.

Since the move to Windows 10, the UI has just got horrid, massive buttons everywhere , and a general dumbing down of things.

I used to develop on Windows, but glad I moved to Mac around 2012.

It depends what you are developing of course, but I do remember significant pain making thing work on Windows, because it wasn't Linux based.

Opinions and experiences vary, I guess. Although I don't see why you use W10 "dumbing things down" as an argument, as that's been Apple's main strategy for the past decade.

Oh well, back to EVs. I've test driven two, an Audi e-Tron and a Mercedes EQC. Both were nice, was almost tempted by the EQC until I saw the price tag and realised it would be utterly useless at 50% of my usage, so no thanks. A plug-in hybrid with fairly decent range (100km) is on its way though. And that can still run on petrol for long trips and tow 3.5T.

Teslas I've never liked (except the original Roadster), they've always looked terrible inside and out, and Musk is a total idiot.

[Bowie69]

12 minutes ago, elbekko said:

I don't see why you use W10 "dumbing things down" as an argument, as that's been Apple's main strategy for the past decade

I'd agree for iOS, MacOS remains as powerful IMHO.

[Nonimouse]

I've inherited a couple of desktop iMac's from my late father. One about 7 years old and one about 3 years old. They are a thing of beauty. I'm going to have some time on my hands over the next few years - on the alternate weeks I don't have the kids, so I'm going to investigate. The little I have experienced of Mac's is that they are very similar to Windows, just a bit prettier

[jeremy996]

1 hour ago, Nonimouse said:

I've inherited a couple of desktop iMac's from my late father. One about 7 years old and one about 3 years old. They are a thing of beauty. I'm going to have some time on my hands over the next few years - on the alternate weeks I don't have the kids, so I'm going to investigate. The little I have experienced of Mac's is that they are very similar to Windows, just a bit prettier

Using Console you can get at the underlying Unix code and customise the box to your heart's content. Once you get the user process and iconography, using any Mac program becomes 2nd nature, be it video edit, photo edit, sound edit, graphic design or writing reports. It takes about a fortnight to get comfortable and then a lifetime to forgive Microsoft for all their terrible code design and software processes.

[Bowie69]

Also, MS Office works very verybwell on Macs nowadays... if you can't do the whole swap at once.

[Retroanaconda]

Can we keep this discussion to EVs and conversions please folks. The endless roundabout of Mac vs Windows, Apple vs Android etc. is not for here. 

[Snagger]

8 hours ago, deep said:

Lumping Apple in with Tesla, completely unnecessarily, is a nice, provocative way to derail a thread about electric Land Rover conversions!  I'll never understand why people want to be anti-Apple bigots, especially when the options are considerably worse (though Windows 8 was briefly quite nice and I still have it on an original Surface Pro - a gadget durable enough to have been made by Apple 😇).  I do, however, understand why people could be pro-Tesla bigots.  I personally find Teslas as bland as Toyotas, the man behind the company does distasteful things and the cars themselves perhaps a bit over-rated by the zealots.  Nevertheless, the technology they have developed has probably moved us a long way along the road to being able to produce a practical electric conversion for our dear old Land Rovers, so I won't dismiss them.

I agree.  Tesla have been an extraordinarily effective catalyst in accelerating an alternative vehicle system, one which has benefits in the right environment and role.  They have some very smart ideas, like using heat pumps for warming the cabin instead of filament heaters.  But they have stupid ideas too, like their “autopilot” and their insistence (Musk personally, I believe) on using a single camera instead of LIDAR for obstacle detection.  But like you said, their quality control is dire, especially for the price.  And I also agree their styling is incredibly bland.  Musk thinks they’re sexy, hence the Model S, 3 X and Y.  I find them frumpy.  And Musk, while also a catalyst for new technologies and idea, is a child.  The way he treated the organiser of the Thai kids’ cave rescue was despicable.

As for EV conversions, LRs particularly, I like the idea, even after the recent revelation that noise will still be as high on the dual carriageway, but the costs and the range for retrofits is still a big problem.  It’s not just for amateurs like us or even the niche classic converters like London Electric Cars (their 90 was featured in LRM recently, and has only 60 miles range), but afflicts the big manufacturers - the MIN-E, the electric version of the current Mini, has very low range compared to its peers because enter system has been shoehorned into an older platform.  That “skateboard” battery is fundamental to decent range, it seems.  Still, I am glad companies are trying and that they are getting enough trade to continue to develop.  Baby steps…

[jeremy996]

Both consumers and manufacturers need to "right size" their cars and batteries for the brave new world. Most of us really don't need batteries with 300+ miles range, with the cost of batteries being the limiting factor. Most ICE tanks sizes are based around a week to a fortnights driving around. At the moment, selling cars with small batteries is very hard, with Mazda and Honda getting a great deal of stick over perceived undersized batteries.

If we can sort out the charging infrastructure, cars with 70-150 miles range will be adequate for most people in Europe. There a Frenchman developing drop-in kits to convert small cars like the Peugeot 206/Fiat 500/Ford Ka and others for around £5000; my wife is looking forward to having the option of changing her ICE Fiat 500C to electric

[Snagger]

For most cases, that is quite true.  For commuting cars, most could manage with 150 miles as long as there was an easy way to charge the car.  That would have got me to Luton and back on the commute, but would not have covered the days I had to work from Stansted unless the car park had charging, and that would be expensive to set up.  Many people have to commute a long way, or variable amounts, and moving nearer to their work or getting a job near home may not be possible.   So, while suitable for many, it’s still unsuitable for a lot of drivers.

[miketomcat]

Unfortunately the solution to battery range needs to be a move back to living where you work. Whilst unstainable at the moment due to house prices it will have to change and this needs to start at the top to enable it to filter down. So if the government and well off really want to tackle climate change it needs to start with them, which we all know it won't so we are doomed to not get anywhere.

Mike

[FridgeFreezer]

47 minutes ago, miketomcat said:

living where you work

A lot of us have moved back to that, AKA working from home - although of course it only applies to jobs that can be done remotely.

[landroversforever]

1 hour ago, FridgeFreezer said:

A lot of us have moved back to that, AKA working from home - although of course it only applies to jobs that can be done remotely.

Not sure neighbours would fancy a nuclear reactor in the garden  

[Ed Poore]

8 minutes ago, landroversforever said:

Not sure neighbours would fancy a nuclear reactor in the garden  

If I get my power supplied free of charge by them then I'd be up for it 

[Gazzar]

How big is this reactor?

 

And could I get 3 phase?

[landroversforever]

1 minute ago, Gazzar said:

How big is this reactor?

 

And could I get 3 phase?

Think 4m Diameter Dustbin..... 4m tall.