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Post by slh1234 on May 12, 2023 23:25:47 GMT
There are probably several different pages where I could post this, but since this thread is where I've done most of my arguing on the topic, this is on developments in Sodium Ion batteries for commercial usages: www.technologyreview.com/2023/05/11/1072865/how-sodium-could-change-the-game-for-batteries/Sodium ion does not have as great of an energy density as lithium, but the point being discussed is that there is more demand for lithium than can currently be kept up with, and so for many applications, sodium is a suitable substitute, and is much more readily available. It is possible it could be used in EVs as well, and it looks as if some companies in China *may* be moving in this direction commercially. Sodium burns (As do all metals in that family), so the fire potential doesn't go away with Sodium. In fact, chemical properties are very similar. He has some links to other things he has written about recently, but I found this particular article to contain the non-technical discussion I would be most interested in. |
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Post by ratty on May 12, 2023 23:55:19 GMT
There are probably several different pages where I could post this, but since this thread is where I've done most of my arguing on the topic, this is on developments in Sodium Ion batteries for commercial usages: www.technologyreview.com/2023/05/11/1072865/how-sodium-could-change-the-game-for-batteries/Sodium ion does not have as great of an energy density as lithium, but the point being discussed is that there is more demand for lithium than can currently be kept up with, and so for many applications, sodium is a suitable substitute, and is much more readily available. It is possible it could be used in EVs as well, and it looks as if some companies in China *may* be moving in this direction commercially. Sodium burns (As do all metals in that family), so the fire potential doesn't go away with Sodium. In fact, chemical properties are very similar. He has some links to other things he has written about recently, but I found this particular article to contain the non-technical discussion I would be most interested in. Freudian slip?  An interesting article nonetheless .... |
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Post by acidohm on Jun 3, 2023 19:35:35 GMT
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Post by missouriboy on Jun 3, 2023 20:14:57 GMT
But since the Guardian is ... that evens things up.  |
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EV Nation
Jun 3, 2023 21:17:23 GMT
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Post by acidohm on Jun 3, 2023 21:17:23 GMT
But since the Guardian is ... that evens things up. For sure! I enjoy mine, its really nice to drive...its still cheaper then my pickup. Taken a hit on its value tho, these things have dropped value on 2nd hand market in 12 months. Honestly I'd rather, chop and change in the used market then go back to ice atm. I wouldn't buy a new one because of the depreciation, and I don't want a high mileage one. If petroleum came back down to 2019 prices I might consider a very good mpg ice, but we're not there yet.... I don't give a monkey about "environment" impacts for obvious reasons! |
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Post by ratty on Jun 4, 2023 1:10:04 GMT
But since the Guardian is ... that evens things up. For sure! I enjoy mine, its really nice to drive...its still cheaper then my pickup. Taken a hit on its value tho, these things have dropped value on 2nd hand market in 12 months. Honestly I'd rather, chop and change in the used market then go back to ice atm. I wouldn't buy a new one because of the depreciation, and I don't want a high mileage one. If petroleum came back down to 2019 prices I might consider a very good mpg ice, but we're not there yet.... I don't give a monkey about "environment" impacts for obvious reasons! Is there much of a secondhand EV market for your requirements? |
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Post by acidohm on Jun 4, 2023 6:38:21 GMT
Yes, and there's some bargains! Jaguar I pace, £70,000 new. 3 years old, 30,000 miles, £27,000.
Staggering depreciation (always the same with jags apparently?)
Generally we're now past a point where new purchases were in sufficient quantities that 3 year lease vehicles have come to the end of the initial agreement and are on the market.
Tesla reducing their prices and high electricity costs are having a negative impact on the 2nd hand market. Its really a question of how far can it fall? At some point these cars become such a bargain they generate a whole new market. Buying a 3 year old premium SUV for compact car money is not bad.
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Post by ratty on Jun 4, 2023 7:57:20 GMT
Yes, and there's some bargains! Jaguar I pace, £70,000 new. 3 years old, 30,000 miles, £27,000. Staggering depreciation (always the same with jags apparently?) Generally we're now past a point where new purchases were in sufficient quantities that 3 year lease vehicles have come to the end of the initial agreement and are on the market. Tesla reducing their prices and high electricity costs are having a negative impact on the 2nd hand market. Its really a question of how far can it fall? At some point these cars become such a bargain they generate a whole new market. Buying a 3 year old premium SUV for compact car money is not bad. If you buy one, charge it outside .... Jaguar I-PACE Battery Fires Lead to Recall in the U.S. |
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EV Nation
Jun 4, 2023 12:08:28 GMT
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Post by acidohm on Jun 4, 2023 12:08:28 GMT
Yes, and there's some bargains! Jaguar I pace, £70,000 new. 3 years old, 30,000 miles, £27,000. Staggering depreciation (always the same with jags apparently?) Generally we're now past a point where new purchases were in sufficient quantities that 3 year lease vehicles have come to the end of the initial agreement and are on the market. Tesla reducing their prices and high electricity costs are having a negative impact on the 2nd hand market. Its really a question of how far can it fall? At some point these cars become such a bargain they generate a whole new market. Buying a 3 year old premium SUV for compact car money is not bad. If you buy one, charge it outside .... Jaguar I-PACE Battery Fires Lead to Recall in the U.S.Only 3500 sold in US? So that's not very good! 40,000 sold in UK, not seen any reports here. |
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Post by phydeaux2363 on Jun 4, 2023 15:24:39 GMT
I think they might be able to salvage the left front wheel and tire!
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Post by ratty on Jun 4, 2023 23:30:09 GMT
[ Snip ] Only 3500 sold in US? So that's not very good! 40,000 sold in UK, not seen any reports here. Need a statistician to extrapolate - from those figures, relative to population - how much smarter the Yanks are. ** ** by NOT buying the Jaguar brand |
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Post by missouriboy on Jun 5, 2023 0:28:26 GMT
I think they might be able to salvage the left front wheel and tire! Enough to give the driver a proper headstone. |
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Post by acidohm on Jun 5, 2023 4:52:09 GMT
[ Snip ] Only 3500 sold in US? So that's not very good! 40,000 sold in UK, not seen any reports here. Need a statistician to extrapolate - from those figures, relative to population - how much smarter the Yanks are. ** ** by NOT buying the Jaguar brand Savage Ratty! 🤣🤣 |
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Post by slh1234 on Jun 20, 2023 17:15:48 GMT
Necro bump  The roof on my house in Washington is too old to insure, even though it's not problematic ATM. So since it was time to replace the roof, it was time to give solar a serious look. The last time I lived in California, I had solar on my house - bought that house new and had the solar installed as part of construction. Long story short: Although the angle was not optimal on my roof in CA, Solar worked great for us. I also had plenty of time to consider that, unlike wind power, solar produces at peak during peak demand hours, and that's pretty predictable. But Washington state's climate is completely different from California's, and I've been a bit skeptical. The first company I contacted here mostly blew fluff at me, but couldn't actually get into numbers, expected production, etc. That was frustrating, but I quickly discovered that not all companies are like that, and I was able to not only get a history based projection, but some companies actually give you a guaranteed output, and will back that up monetarily. We spent some good time on this, and as you might expect, production is high in summer in WA, but not very much in the short dark winter days (those days I'll be in Mexico). It doesn't offset all of my electrical usage, but it does offset well over half with the system designed to go onto my roof. So this made me think back to all those memes of boxcars of coal captioned "EV fuel." Of course, the memes are ridiculous. The other side of the argument isn't as simple as people make it, either. But with the total cost of the system considered, here are a few bullet points I find significant: - The cost of electricity over the lifetime of the solar system is less than 1/2 the current cost of power from our electric company. The price from the solar panels is locked in as of now, but electric rates will rise in the future.
- The cost of fuel from the electric grid is currently about 1/3 the cost of gasoline to go the same distance. Considering the bullet above, the cost of electricity from the panels is about 1/6 the cost of gasoline for every mile on the EV.
- The power produced by the solar panels is much greater than the amount of power that will be used by the EV.
So it is overly simplistic to just say "I'm carbon-free," and I won't make that claim. But all of the ICE cars in the US combined will not drive a single mile this year on solar power, and any way you look at it, our car will go many miles on solar power. So in the interest of efficiency, that really saves fuel oils for other uses where electricity is not currently practical. It becomes a matter of efficiency, not just for me personally, but for the country in general.
I don't think that wind generation really allows for any natural gas or other electrical generators to be shut down or scaled down, but solar really does, and it targets specifically the peak demand hours which means, since less generation capacity (which takes time to spin up and down) needs to be spun up for peak demand, the waste of generators running during off-peak is also decreased. Of course, I've already talked before about how electrical cars can be scheduled to charge during off-peak electrical demand hours, thus using generation capacity that was previously just waste - a kind of time shift of electrical generation to usage.
Anyway, just a few thoughts on that since it was time to look at solar.
Now on the Mexico house: Tesla just signed the deal to build a big production facility in Mexico. There is a lot of debate about whether EVs will be successful in Mexico. For one thing, Mexico produces a lot of oil, and car ownership is not as common in Mexico as it is in the US anyway. Worst case, though, it gives Mexico an export, and even the critics see that. So far as how many EVs I see in Mexico: I see only one in the neighborhoods around our house, and that guy is an IT worker in Mexico (not an expat like me). All of the car rental companies in Mexico offer upgrades to EVs, though, and you do see some of those on the roads. Mexico really has not developed the charging network like the US has, though, so longer distance travel might be a bit more of a challenge for a few years. So bottom line: a significant percentage of cars on the road in Washington are EV's and they become more prominent all the time. In Mexico, I see one here and there, and only know of one person who owns one there. (My car in Mexico is a Suzuki Ignis which basically has a motorcycle engine )
So ... FWIW. |
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Post by blustnmtn on Jun 26, 2023 15:32:25 GMT
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An interesting article nonetheless .... 
