rtbarton Posted February 27, 2009 Share Posted February 27, 2009 Electric Range Rover Not many tech details though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruurd Posted February 27, 2009 Share Posted February 27, 2009 Well... Hate to rain on that parade, but how is electricity made again? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtbarton Posted February 27, 2009 Author Share Posted February 27, 2009 Well... Hate to rain on that parade, but how is electricity made again? By paying someone to produce the pollution. According to the lunchtime news thay claim a range of 200 miles and a top speed of 100 mph. Apparently they use a new method of storing electricity. Costs about £120,000 pounds, vehicles are supplied by Landrover to this company who are setting up in the North east. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonr Posted February 27, 2009 Share Posted February 27, 2009 They use Ultra-Capacitors - probably in conjunction with LiFePo batteries. Although eleccy vehicles are not zero emission by any means - they can give very good fuel economy even taking in the full cradle to grave emissions compared to ICE's. Ultra Capacitors are an important part of this - giving a huge increase in charge/discharge cycle life as well as very fast charging. They are also pretty environmentally friendly to make and dispose of compared to other technologies. Where eleccy vehicles really come in to their own is around town and on short journeys where ICE's do not get a chance to heat up properly. Since X-Eng moved to a unit on a farm, my journey to work is 3m each way. My Land Rover has gone from an average of 28.4mpg to 12.8mpg! For that reason - I have been looking seriously at an eleccy alternative! I'm planning on using SLA batteries from the local scrappy (so re-cycled) which cost £2 each with a traction motor which cost £50 from the same scrappy. If I can find a decent (cheap) 4x4 to put it all in - I may well end up with the scrap-yard equivalent of the above! Si Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T1G UP Posted February 27, 2009 Share Posted February 27, 2009 They use Ultra-Capacitors - probably in conjunction with LiFePo batteries.Although eleccy vehicles are not zero emission by any means - they can give very good fuel economy even taking in the full cradle to grave emissions compared to ICE's. Ultra Capacitors are an important part of this - giving a huge increase in charge/discharge cycle life as well as very fast charging. They are also pretty environmentally friendly to make and dispose of compared to other technologies. Where eleccy vehicles really come in to their own is around town and on short journeys where ICE's do not get a chance to heat up properly. Since X-Eng moved to a unit on a farm, my journey to work is 3m each way. My Land Rover has gone from an average of 28.4mpg to 12.8mpg! For that reason - I have been looking seriously at an eleccy alternative! I'm planning on using SLA batteries from the local scrappy (so re-cycled) which cost £2 each with a traction motor which cost £50 from the same scrappy. If I can find a decent (cheap) 4x4 to put it all in - I may well end up with the scrap-yard equivalent of the above! Si Or get a push bike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonr Posted February 27, 2009 Share Posted February 27, 2009 Or get a push bike I have and do occasionally! Any ideas what the towing weight limits are for a bike? Is it still 3/4 ton unbraked? Si Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T1G UP Posted February 27, 2009 Share Posted February 27, 2009 I have and do occasionally! Any ideas what the towing weight limits are for a bike? Is it still 3/4 ton unbraked? Si Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retroanaconda Posted February 27, 2009 Share Posted February 27, 2009 Personally I prefer the concept of the hydrogen fuel cell technology they had on an episode in the last series of Top gear. The idea of having to 're-charge' a car's batteries doesn't sit well with me, I'd much rather just fill it with fuel (hydrogen) in this case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Train Posted February 27, 2009 Share Posted February 27, 2009 Personally I prefer the concept of the hydrogen fuel cell technology they had on an episode in the last series of Top gear.The idea of having to 're-charge' a car's batteries doesn't sit well with me, I'd much rather just fill it with fuel (hydrogen) in this case. And how is hydrogen made? It is just an extra step, and loss of efficiency, in the electric vehicle supply chain to give the convenience of faster refueling. I don't know that there is a maximum trailer weight for a bike but I do know of people who have moved house by pedal power, like on this webpage. I am designing a hybrid human/electric velomobile and powered trailer for local work runs to save on using the car where I can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retroanaconda Posted February 27, 2009 Share Posted February 27, 2009 Electrolysing water, which of course uses electricity. One would have to produce that electricity with 'clean' methods such as nuclear, hydro, geothermal, wind, tidal etc. Hydrogen is also massively abundant, so it's unlikely we'd ever run out. I'm no eco-maniac, if I could afford a big V8 Range Rover then I would have one, but the new technology interests me a fair bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtbarton Posted February 27, 2009 Author Share Posted February 27, 2009 You use a lot of energy compressing H2 into a liquid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retroanaconda Posted February 27, 2009 Share Posted February 27, 2009 It's not necessarily about being more or less efficient or good to the environment, the point with hydrogen is that providing you get your electricity from the sources I outlined above (ie renewable ones), it's pretty much sustainable for ever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparg Posted February 27, 2009 Share Posted February 27, 2009 if only there were a combustion engine that burns carbon and oxygen... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtbarton Posted February 27, 2009 Author Share Posted February 27, 2009 if only there were a combustion engine that burns carbon and oxygen... It's called a steam engine, making the carbon takes a long time though! I think it was on one of Richard Hammonds programmes I saw a couple of backyard inventors who reckoned they could suck CO2 out of the atmosphere and reconstitute it back into fuel oil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Train Posted February 27, 2009 Share Posted February 27, 2009 if only there were a combustion engine that burns carbon and oxygen... Steam engine? Run it on coppice timber. The hydrogen option is more about 'business as usual' rather then reducing our reliance on huge energy hungry machines that might require a little forward planning in use. If we were able to make hydrogen from renewable sources of electricity then that would be good but it might be easier to just skip the energy conversion of making, compressing and transporting hydrogen as well as mining platinum for the fuel cell and to use a more efficient and less resource hungry method of storing electricity like flywheel motor generators. Flywheels are quick to charge up and don't contain toxic or hazardous chemicals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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