If there’s anything guaranteed to make me glad to be old, it’s bullshit like this:
The mandate will demand that an increasing percentage of new models sold by manufacturers each year are zero-emission cars, with a credit system in place and financial penalties for those that fail to meet the targets.
But which car makers are best placed to thrive under such laws? We take a look at 43 brands’ current zero-emission-vehicle offering – and what they have planned for the next decade leading up to the ban on sales of new petrol and diesel cars in 2030.
The only good thing about this is that by the time we’ve become all-electric-and-nothing-but-electric, I’ll be pushing up the daisies and the rest of the world will have to live with the consequences of foolishness like this.
It’s enough to make me want to buy the biggest, honkiest in-your-face diesel truck which would belch out more black smoke than Al Gore’s cremated body.
Fuck it, I’m off to the range.
Electric motors DO have some serious advantages over internal combustion, the problem is the batteries. They don’t last long enough, they last an even shorter time when it’s cold, and they take too long to recharge. Solve those problems and they’ll be viable. Provided, of course, we have a source of cheap, reliable electricity (coughnukescough).
Mark D
There’s another couple of problems;
The materials to make the batteries are highly toxic to mine, toxic to process, and extremely toxic to dispose of or recycle.
And
The materials are in short supply. I recall reading that there are not enough proven sources to replace all the cars in Britain.
Also, the energy grid is strained as matters stand. Adding the energy needed to power the civilian automotive fleet is well beyond its capacity. And we know from bitter experience that the Greens will not stand out of the way and allow enough generation capacity to be built without opposition.
You know, if I was a new world order guy and I wanted to deny car ownership to the average person, this is the way I would do it.
This.
Hoarding ICE vehicles won’t do you any good unless you can make up for the fuel infrastructure that they’re going to remove to force EV usage.
ICE vehicles can run on methanol and / or Alcohol. so yes it is possible to make your own fuel.
Government mandates and central planned economies always work out so well, it’s a wonder that we aren’t already living in a Orwellian utopia.
Exhibit number one is the first manufacturer the article lists. Alfa – Romero is going to be All electric by 2027 and yet it has nothing but badge engineered cars from partners in the pipeline. But then A-R has never been able to make a great ICE auto, so when they make a not great Electric car, nobody will buy those either.
The biggest problem will appear long before the last ICE ceases production. The Electric grid will fail under the increased demand, and mandated decreased generating capacity, leaving politicians and all those early adaptors stranded waiting for solar panels in England to produce power on the one sunny day a year. While we drive by in our banned 40 year old used cars that are now worth multiples of what we paid for them.
So let them mandate all they want, i’m stocking up on ICE cars waiting for the future black market.
“mandates” are the only way to crush the middle class and keep their hold on power.
Just thinking out loud here, maybe someone with more knowledge of electrical engineering can join in.
As I noted above, the issue with batteries is that they don’t last long, and that they take too long to recharge. Well, a battery is essentially a chemical reaction, where we make the electrons move thru a circuit before they move from one element to another. Once all possible electrons have moved from point A to point B (I forget which is the anode and which the cathode) the battery is dead and must be recharged by moving those electrons BACK to their starting point, at which point the process begins again. Correct so far?
Well, when your battery is running low, suppose instead of plugging it in, you had a facility where the depleted reactants were removed from your vehicle and replaced with fresh reactants, essentially changing the battery. That probably wouldn’t take much longer than filling your gas tank now, you’d be back on your way in a few minutes instead of hours, the facility which does the change can now recharge the removed reactants for future use.
I realize that this doesn’t make onto account the infrastructure changes needed to support the EVs, nor does it account for the increased electrical usage for recharging. Still, if it’s possible, it would alleviate one of the biggest drawbacks to electric cars which is the time it takes to recharge.
If the idea is completely stupid let me know, as I said I don’t have more than a basic understanding of electrical engineering.
Mark D
In theory, a workable solution, but in practice the problem with that idea are many.
The construction of current electric vehicles is not just one giant battery where you can replace the reactants. They use thousands of small individual cells all tied together.
The individual cells are encased within the structure of the “Skateboard” chassis. and the shape and size of the battery compartments are unique to each model.
There is no common battery size of voltage or wattage. Each manufacturer has different combination of motors, volts, amps and capacity to achieve their selected performance levels.
The “Reactants” are a heavy paste that doesn’t “flow” well even if heated. You couldn’t pump it like refilling your car.
But the biggest problem is that batteries or even hydrogen fuel cells are only a means of transporting energy. The energy still has to generated from a source somehow. That’s why people refer the Electric powered cars as Coal fired. Coal is the source fuel for the electric power consumed by electric vehilcles.
Oil is a direct source of energy.
I’m no expert in electricity, I’m a chemical/polymers engineer. I would think most of the more advanced batteries no longer use liquid components, thus dumping and refilling wouldn’t be very easy. If we did go back to liquid, then you are handling some significantly more hazardous chemicals. I would rather pump gas all day than refill a dozen lead/acid batteries.
That said, you’re almost there. Quick change batteries are a potential solution. Assuming the industry settles on maybe 3 or 4 basic standard battery pack designs, then an entrepreneur can purchase ~100 battery packs with maybe a dozen chargers. You pull up with your depleted battery, it gets quickly removed and a fresh battery installed, then you drive off. Maybe 15 minutes tops. You’d probably need to be part of battery co-op (pre-paid deposits, insurance, that sort of thing) to participate, but there you go. The station then places your old battery pack on the charger and hopefully it’ll be ready the next day when you stop by again.
Obviously there are some severe limitations. You have to have a standardized battery. It has to be a quick change design (also standardized). You’re probably limited to using just a few stations as the investor in the original large battery pack purchase doesn’t want to see you swap his almost new battery pack to an outside station and get some 10 year old crap battery back in return.
For early adopters, this would be a better option than paying $15,000 plus to upgrade their home electrical system to support a high voltage/high amp quick charger.
For the rest of us, it’s still inferior to gasoline.
Electric is the future and its coming faster than most people realize. By fast I mean like in 2 pictures I saw of a NY city street taken 10 years apart. In picture 1 it was all horses with 1 car. In the 2nd pic taken 10 years latter it was all cars and 1 horse.
The technology is solid, at least with Tesla. 300+ mile range across all models, fast charging, great battery management, a computer on wheels. Tesla is 10 years ahead of the game and still innovating tech and especially manufacturing. Every engineering graduate wants to work at SpaceX or Tesla. Tesla is making close to 30% margins building EV’s, the rest are making single digit margins on ICE cars, and losing money on every EV they make.
I’ve got a Cyber Truck on order, although there are a million orders in front of me so I expect delivery in 2024, we’ll see.. 500+ mile range, 0 to 60 in 3 sec, all stainless steel. The last vehicle I’ll ever buy.
Electric cars came out in about 1894. Batteries were the main problem then – near on 150 years later, nothing much has changed. EVs are good only for short distance driving with long recharge times … and enough electricity to charge *everybody’s* vehicle at the same time (for example, at 9AM). Not going to happen anytime soon. CA already has brown-outs. No where near enough grid power for 30 million people driving around.
I don’t see 300-350 miles as short distance driving range, nor do I see 20 min charge times to 80% as long charge times. That’s a pee and snack/soda. This is what Tesla’s do. Check out the youtube videos of people going cross country in Tesla’s and the others, there’s a big difference. Sandy Monro has some good ones and he’s a car engineer.
For most people, they drive to and from work, stop and get some groceries, go home and plug in. Full charge by morning or stop at 80% for less stress on non LFP (lithium iron phosphate) batteries. You can also tell your car to start and stop charging at specific times so you charge off peak for the least expensive electricity. The grid can handle that off peak but no doubt more power plants need to be build, hopefully nukes.
California is simply fuked, suicidal nut cases with child like reasoning that apparently want everyone living in caves eating bugs. They have been running out of water for 30 years and have done nothing to fix it, incompetent children…
A battery where the reactants can be replaced is called a fuel cell. The space program has been using fuel cells powered by liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen since the Apollo program. Both liquid O2 and H2 are difficult to store and not practical for cars and light trucks. Fuel cells for stationary power generation that use atmospheric oxygen and light hydrocarbons for fuel exist. I am not aware of any government push to develop this for cars and light trucks. Vehicle fuel cells using atmospheric oxygen and stored hydrogen have been worked on. All the methods for storing concentrated hydrogen in a vehicle have issues, and transporting by high pressure pipeline like natural gas also has problems. All internal or external combustion engines are limited by the Carnot heat efficiency (thermodynamics laws for heat engines) to less than 55% conversion of heat energy to motion. There are very large diesels (108,000 HP, 14 cylinder) that power ships that are almost 50% efficient at producing power from combustion. Small diesels are less than 36% and large complex Rankine (steam engines) best is 39%, nuclear steam engines are 33%. Fuel cells and batteries are not limited by thermodynamics laws for heat engines. I am an Electrical Engineer and a Chemical Engineer and most of my experience is as a ChE.
Hi Kim, This is my first post to your new blog.
And remember kiddies, it’s “Zero Emissions” during operation; emissions produced during manufacture don’t count.
And the’ll park those dead batteries next to the blades removed from wind turbines.
Actually the old battery packs are a planed key component of future new battery packs. The recycled batteries are much cheaper than mining new lithium, Nickle and cobalt. At least that’s Tesla’s plan. All their failed cells during mfg. go to Redwood Industries for recycling, run by a former Tesla employee. These are not your old lead acid batteries anymore..
Battery cars suffer from the slow charging problem. I can refuel my car in a few minutes…a battery car is a matter of hours.
Although I rather like the idea of a coach…pulled by a dozen or so Leftists. Who WILL pull at 80 mph…or feel the lash. Buggy whips for the win!
Personally, I can’t wait for the fascist idiots in Sacramento to decide that only electric powered aircraft will be allowed to land at a California airport.
On a more serious note, Kim, do you really expect to be dead by 2030? That is only 9 years from now and, IIRC, you are only about 67 years old. Passing on at 76 seems a mite young.
I would settle for California Government at all levels to be powered by only solar or wind, and to have to provide certification that “this act of government was performed using only renewable energy resources and technology. That MIGHT cause the government to not collapse, but to grind to a halt, causing millions of private citizens to take government back into their own hands, as is always allowed under Agency Law.
Just got back from the range with my 21 year old Dodge Dakota. Wanna bet it last past 2030?