View Full Version : Vauxhall electric city car (concept)
http://www.topgear.com/uk/car-news/vauxhall-electric-city-car-concept-frankfurt-motor-show-2011-09-08
it looks like something from i robot...
top gear are, quite rightly sceptical with the current crop of electric cars.. unless the electricity is from a renewable source, then the car is pretty much less green than a petrol car.
the technology needs to advance a lot more before an electric car is as viable as a normal car.
have you been watching the tesla lawsuit against top gear story...... they reckon the top gear team deliberately misled the public by claiming the tesla (lotus with lots of phone batteries) only managed 50 miles before going flat, as opposed to the manufacturers claims of several hundred... it will make fun reading if it ever gets to court
what a load of horse manure.....
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_2bcrH7uHq1E/TDXv0S46NmI/AAAAAAAAAII/NLep3dabTuw/s1600/Original+TRON+Cycle.jpg
300 Kg estimate..... that puts it at having 100Kg of batteries (if its lucky). So I'd say that 60 mile range is tangible/honest
I've been involved with an electric car that has 300Kg of batteries alone and thats got about a 200mile range if they are REALLY light on it/tailgate everything lol But it has the ability to do 150mph if it needed to :)
We need more nuclear powerstations/more PV cells on peoples roofffssss (think entire streets with them as the whole roof rather than the odd panel here and there), more offshore wind turbines to make high electric use feesable (or even to make extracting hydrogen a less pointless task).
wind turbines have got to be about the least green way yet found....
we will soon have tons of nuclear electricity... but, i don't see too many electric lorries, tractors, aircraft or ships just yet...
Lots of Mil ships are 'electric'..... well ok they are just floating nuclear power stations lol
There has also been discussion regarding an electric tractor, but its frankly not gonna be a go-er because of the weights involved.
For commuting round a town/city/less than 100miles a day then electric transport for people is a fairly feesable model as you can reduce the emissions in towns/cities and cut short term running costs (ignore the massive purchase price and new batteries every 3 years lol)
but fossil electricity is a no no......so for a good few years it won't happen
most 'big' tractors weigh about 8 tons, and have around 200hp... but in terms of torque, a decent electric motor would be brilliant for it, as there have been some enormous quarry dragline excavators that are electro/hydraulic.. when they are injecting slurry, they run with umbilical pipes & manage... it would be possible to run with flexi cables powering them, but gearing up costs would be massive.... so animal methane & bio-matter diesel is the way ahead
Bio-Matter Derv is a bad idea for food prices as if a farmer gets paid better for growing fuel they will and stop making food crops, thus pushing the costs up astronomically.
when you look at set-aside and the sudden takeup of grass field margins around corn fields....there is a lot of spare farm land...
amazingly, only 4% of the land on the planet is taken up directly by humans.....and if it wasn't for mamby pamby tree huggers, there would be enclosed 3000 cow mega farms where they could extract methane for vehicle use...
Angus Closier
11-09-11, 12:37 AM
As long as the electricity come from non renewable fuels then its pointless, we have a long way to go untill electricity hits the farms! Place i was working burnt nearly 1000l of derv a day in the summer!
Getting electricity from non renewable resources isnt pointless.... Its easier to control emissions from a few large locations than it is to try and make millions of IC powered cars better. It just wont make the 'sale' to the hippies and pubelick that way thats all.
heap of ****, id rather get this VXR bike, alot cooler!!...........
http://www.vauxhall-accessories.com/images/super/WHITEBIKE.jpg
Getting electricity from non renewable resources isnt pointless.... Its easier to control emissions from a few large locations than it is to try and make millions of IC powered cars better. It just wont make the 'sale' to the hippies and pubelick that way thats all.
last year, i had some woman on my doorstep trying to sell me wind farmed scottish electricity, and when i pointed out that due to the national grid, why should i pay extra for electricity from the ratcliffe coal fired power station at nottingham, and then she explained at great length that i was wrong, and that the wind farmed electricity is sent direct to my house.....so i asked her if it was free range too... she said she could check for me....
On the subject of electric cars, im awaiting what the Renault range will be like as the others seem to be wanting to produce quirky things that look like theyve fallen off the set of 'Tron' or i-Robot' whereas the Renault range are a family car based on the Laguna, a Kangoo van and obviously the little town/city weird things to match everyone else, but, i think of the ones to get it to work it will be the french as theyre damn clever with things like this, although, are Honda doing a full electric as iirc they were the first to get the hybrid concept right when they brought out the IMA years back!
TeddyThom
11-09-11, 11:56 AM
On the subject of electric cars, im awaiting what the Renault range will be like as the others seem to be wanting to produce quirky things that look like theyve fallen off the set of 'Tron' or i-Robot' whereas the Renault range are a family car based on the Laguna, a Kangoo van and obviously the little town/city weird things to match everyone else, but, i think of the ones to get it to work it will be the french as theyre damn clever with things like this, although, are Honda doing a full electric as iirc they were the first to get the hybrid concept right when they brought out the IMA years back!
Aren't peugeot known for the lack of decent wiring?? Last I checked they were french as well... Hmmm....
EDIT: Just found this to back up my point CLICKME (http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=46909)
re the prius...... its nearly as good as a new 1.5td car....but never mind.. it was designed for the yanks and their stupid california emissions laws......and yanks can't bring themselves to drive diesel cars....
just think of this moment in electric car design as the start of a gold rush... whoever hits the gold will be coining it in for decades..
the main problem is that a normal fueled car is so convenient and doesn't need any special hookups to refuel it, which is the reason they came out of the edwardian period as the winners...none of these electric cars can do the whole package yet. but just look at mobile phones.. in 1990 you carried round a 5kg battery and it lasted 1hr, now the battery is more like 50g and lasts for days.. give the technology another 10 years, and we'll all be buying them.. personally, i think the fuel cell hasn't had its day yet...but could you run a car on a tank of water & a catalyst in anywhere other than sunny conditions?
now the battery is more like 50g and lasts for days..
If you're lucky lol
Aren't peugeot known for the lack of decent wiring?? Last I checked they were french as well... Hmmm....
EDIT: Just found this to back up my point CLICKME (http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=46909)
Clearly you didnt see the thread i started about the zafira that decided to burn itself out in the carpark behind my work then, that not french, if fact its a vaux, one example does not a bad manufacturer make, any car is prone to faults and gremlins, purely because they are made by humans, who are not infallible:p
my first motorola phone would go flat on standby in an hour... my nokia E71 will happily go for a couple of days of normal use
I remember my fist motorola - you could replace the battery with 6x AA batteries for a few more hours life lol
Clearly you didnt see the thread i started about the zafira that decided to burn itself out in the carpark behind my work then, that not french, if fact its a vaux, one example does not a bad manufacturer make, any car is prone to faults and gremlins, purely because they are made by humans, who are not infallible:p
Yeah but to be fair, French cars do have a rep for crap electrics. Look at peugeots!
[edit] Assembled by who? lol
http://images.drive.com.au/drive_images/Editorial/2008/08/26/26ford_m_m.jpg
And who makes/programs the robots jack:p
More robots! :eek:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BJcAQGTwpIw/TdlgC1k5THI/AAAAAAAAATQ/ST3FBQHsP4s/s1600/terminator.jpg
Lmfao, the T-101 does not build cars you big plum lol
that car looks cool....LET it and you have a weapon lol
i highly expect all those robots that build cars are built in japan lol. i know where all the air bearings are built for a lot of the spraying machines though
Lmfao, the T-101 does not build cars you big plum lol
Thin end of the wedge! Just you wait. A carburettor can't kill you, but now most cars have ECU's - little computer sat there biding its time til judgement day. Its all a conspiracy I tells ye! Don't trust technology!
Now wheres my sticks, I need to make fire.
And who makes/programs the robots jack:p
germans or japanese usually
Thin end of the wedge! Just you wait. A carburettor can't kill you, but now most cars have ECU's - little computer sat there biding its time til judgement day. Its all a conspiracy I tells ye! Don't trust technology!
Now wheres my sticks, I need to make fire.
That means ive messed up big time by fitting an xe, into my originally carb'd nova lol
Besides, my name is John so i must be destined to survive as the saviour of the resistance, youre fooked however:p
so you are the saviour of mankind???
lollollollollollollollollollol
I know a John Connor (seriously!)
Couple of years ago a HGV tailer fell on his car outside his work lol lol
whilst we are on about the world of fantasy & terminators.... did anyone bother to watch the sarah connor chronicles??
http://campbelld.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/summer-glau-7.png
Jackroadkill
11-09-11, 09:59 PM
Electric cars are an evolutionary dead end. Hydrogen combustion or ethylene is the way forward. Anything that has to lug batteries around is by definition un-green. The batteries alone from the Prius have a carbon footprint that dwarfs the offset of using the electric motors.
TeddyThom
12-09-11, 10:44 AM
Clearly you didnt see the thread i started about the zafira that decided to burn itself out in the carpark behind my work then, that not french, if fact its a vaux, one example does not a bad manufacturer make, any car is prone to faults and gremlins, purely because they are made by humans, who are not infallible:p
I'm aware that humans aren't infallible lol
But that wasn't the only example found... I found a few on google.
Plus I've heard stories of peugeots having really dodgy electrics...
Having never owned one as such... I guess I can't speculate but I still wouldn't own one (unless it was a 205 GTi :D)
I've had personal experience of a fair few french cars, and one was shocking... A 98 clio 1.2..... It really had some serious issues. It belonged to a cousin of mine, and had always been professionally serviced(the car, not her) the only other clio we had was a 93 diesel van & it ran for ever with huge abuse, and the electrics were always fine... Maybe the regular steam cleaning under the bonnet had some good effect...
As for pugs, we've never had any bother with the electrics.
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