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Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

jack_christie said:
Was believing the RR Sport theory, but is the number plate off center?
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Only the Discovery 5 has the ugly offset plate, the rest are all central.
 

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92w5doU68D8
Just sharing this because it amazed me how shitty public charging can be in the US (if you don't have a Tesla).
Is this accurate for the whole US?

I may be spoiled, but I have never had a broken/slow charger ever, but apparently your results may vary.
Also other Euro's : am I spoiled, and is it as bad as the Sun says where you are?

(also us Euros can just use Superchargers because almost all of them have CCS plugs now)
 
I was just watching that earlier. I partly blame this on the terrible choice to side with Elon and treat the Tesla connector as the standard in the US. I personally think it's inferior due to the lack of locking feature (US Tesla owners complaining about someone unplugging their car is pretty common) and Type 2/CCS would've been the sensible choice.

Instead of relying on manufacturers to change their worldwide standard to one that is unique to the US, choosing Type 2/CCS would only affect Tesla and to a minimum capacity. They already make their cars with Type 2/CCS ports and they already make superchargers with Type 2/CCS cables, so there's very little difference! Presumably it's a money thing blackmail from Elon. Timescale wise if Tesla had to get a wriggle on to comply with the regs and offer Type 2/CCS charging for their own new cars, that would get things done a whole lot faster.

Allowing companies to use a 'headline' power that's only based on 800V is shit and they know it's a scummy tactic, if there's a physical limitation for one battery standard (the 200A cable) then the signage should cover that. What's odd is they must've started deliberately making those chargers with inferior cables as I was using 150kW chargers here before the 800V standard was even released.

In the time that I had the Tesla I had no issues with Superchargers, had no issues that I can recall with 7kW chargers in car parks and such, but had nothing but trouble with the 50kW/150kW chargers from BP Pulse and others. They're more commonly used, of course, and aren't maintained. It'll be a while before companies see chargers as something different to a petrol pump, they clearly need more maintenance either remotely or on-site.
 
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Why EVs Are Piling Up At Dealerships In The U.S.​

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16 Oct 2023 #CNBC
In August 2023, it took about twice as long to sell an EV in the U.S. as it did the previous January. Prices of EVs are down 22% year-over-year and that's mainly driven by Tesla. About two thirds of EVs sold are Elon Musk's brand. Companies like Ford have ramped up hybrid production as demand has leveled off. While slightly more than half of consumers say EVs are the future and will eventually replace Internal Combustion Engines, less than a third of dealers say so. This all comes at a time when investments in EVs are more than ever. So what's really going on?
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View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZlsZwcIgpc
 
CraigB said:
This is what scares me about an electric vehicle for long distance use, lack of good charging points.
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Still fascinating how differently the infrastructure rollout seems to have gone, US vs. EU. Arguably, public and fast charging infrastructure is more important in the US, what with longer distances and all that - so doubly weird.

In the times of single 50 kW DC chargers on some lonely parking lot, sure, I'd have said the same... but nowadays, most operators actually do run their chargers like actual infrastructure (as opposed to some random insignificant toy): with a solid focus on reliability and availability. Also there's chargers everywhere. Mostly in groups (so the odd failure doesn't matter as much). And the state is additionally sinking a bunch of subsidy money into filling the so called "white spots" on the map - which is ridiculous, because if it'd be sensible to have a charger there, there'd be one! Or, in our case ("we" as in my employer, a municipal utility), the subsidy is based on super old data, which means that 3 of the high power charging sites that we put up this year will have a subsidized station in direct proximity - yeah, thank's for ruining our business / investment.
 
What surprised me the most was that in the US of 'I'll sue you', they can get away with "350 kw chargers" on bigass signs that actually give a lot less!
I work for Shell in the public fast charger sector, and we will be adding the words "up to" to every charger even in Europe, because we get a lot of people with Nissan Leafs (who can charge at max 40 kw) whining about not getting 300+ kw speeds...

Also, I've managed to max out every charger I've ever used since getting the Kia. Yeah I know it does have 800V which helps, but I've never seen chargers that are labelled 150 kw give out like 30 or 40, it's always been 100+ or in cases where it's busy and you're sharing a stall, you get 75 each.

Highest I've ever seen was at Ionity, where I got 237 kw (car can technically take 240 kw) so this is very surprising to see that THAT many public chargers in the US give very different speeds than they advertised. Only one I can think of is Tesla, because that specific kind of charger does not play well with 800v cars, thus limiting me to 60kw. It did ramp up and stay at 60 the whole time though.

Also, this whole trip would be very different if you can just plug in to a Tesla charger with any car like in most of Europe....
 
NooDle said:
What surprised me the most was that in the US of 'I'll sue you', they can get away with "350 kw chargers" on bigass signs that actually give a lot less!
I work for Shell in the public fast charger sector, and we will be adding the words "up to" to every charger even in Europe, because we get a lot of people with Nissan Leafs (who can charge at max 40 kw) whining about not getting 300+ kw speeds...
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Seems like misleading people is a requirement in the US, no matter what industry. Yes, the device can probably charge 800V cars at that rate, but those are just a minority. From what Robert was saying it's clear from reading the rating on the cable that it won't be able to provide that power at 400V.
 
Matt2000 said:
From what Robert was saying it's clear from reading the rating on the cable that it won't be able to provide that power at 400V.
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If people actually know P=U*I - which I wouldn't necessarily say is a requirement for owning or charging an EV. However, knowing that your leaf can't actually take 300 kW I'd say is more realistic :D
Even 5 years ago, when I was working on a tender call, I made sure to make one of the requirements for the 150 kW chargers we were looking for, that those had to be able to supply 400 A (at the plug). that was right around the time when 800 V chargers became more and more common and a bunch of manufacturers were cheaping out by using 200 A cables (some still do, it seems?).
 
eizbaer said:
If people actually know P=U*I - which I wouldn't necessarily say is a requirement for owning or charging an EV.
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This is true, I still think that EVs attract a high enough percentage of nerds though so I'm not sure why manufacturers thought they'd get away with it. It's much easier to call them out on the BS than something like an internet connection, where the cable is buried and it could be copper/fibre/string or whatever. :p

Simple numbers for 400V/800V would do the job, and a sticker inside the charging port to indicate what number is relevant.
 
The trouble is that EVs are getting more and more mainstream and more 'normal' people (ie not car nerds / EV nerds like me who go into every little detail) are buying/leasing EVs without actually knowing how they work/what to look for when charging.

Also a lot of people are getting EVs as company cars because they have to, not because they want to.... so there still is a major gap in knowledge for those people
 
Perc said:
I just went into one of the town facebook groups and read a long read full of “truths” about electric cars, lithium mining, fires and the like and now I want to boil my head.
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What will they think when they find out Finland will be supplying stainless steel to tezla
 
Perc said:
I just went into one of the town facebook groups and read a long read full of “truths” about electric cars, lithium mining, fires and the like and now I want to boil my head.
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Yeah this is becoming a real problem, many people who don't know take this sort of FUD as truth and spreading it. Not because they're anti EV but because they are lead to believe driving an EV as a daily driver is nothing short of torture. I've heard many many things always coming back, which are plainly untrue : slave children working to mine Lithium, every EV has a max range of 100 kms and they need to charge for atleast 14 hours on a normal house plug, ALL of them catch fire at some point, and there will never be enough electricity to charge them all.....
 
NooDle said:
Yeah this is becoming a real problem, many people who don't know take this sort of FUD as truth and spreading it. Not because they're anti EV but because they are lead to believe driving an EV as a daily driver is nothing short of torture. I've heard many many things always coming back, which are plainly untrue : slave children working to mine Lithium, every EV has a max range of 100 kms and they need to charge for atleast 14 hours on a normal house plug, ALL of them catch fire at some point, and there will never be enough electricity to charge them all.....
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Don't forget that if you cross the road with EVs around you will definitely be run over, every time.
 
That's it, EVs are evil, and should die in a fire!/sarcasm
 
Matt2000 said:
Don't forget that if you cross the road with EVs around you will definitely be run over, every time.
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Yes! Forgot that one. Also in reverse btw. Ooh and another good one, EVs are so heavy they’ll have to build new carparks. And their tyres and brakes generate so much dust particles that anyone on the outside of the car is pretty much instantly killed
 
NooDle said:
Yeah this is becoming a real problem, many people who don't know take this sort of FUD as truth and spreading it. Not because they're anti EV but because they are lead to believe driving an EV as a daily driver is nothing short of torture. I've heard many many things always coming back, which are plainly untrue : slave children working to mine Lithium, every EV has a max range of 100 kms and they need to charge for atleast 14 hours on a normal house plug, ALL of them catch fire at some point, and there will never be enough electricity to charge them all.....
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And people who drive rusty, clapped out and lifted 1980's bro-trucks with knobbly tires and the diesel pump turned up are suddenly very worried about how much emissions we get from EV manufacturing.
 
And hybrids pollute more, and FCEV means we don't get to grow crops anymore, and fuel injection is fragile thanks to those computer things, and those foreign cars? Those are just tin toys...

There truly is nothing new under the sun 😛
 
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