No real alternatives to fossil fuels ..

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Interesting or not

but Tesla have filed a patent on a-laser wind screen cleaning system for cars

the end of the existing wind screen wiper system is coming
 
IT Minion said:
You did one end of the country to the other without stopping for a **** or to eat or to sleep? That's not healthy.

It's possible it wouldn't work for your old work pattern. EVs are still relatively new and charging is still harder than it should be, the newest EVs with 500 miles of range arent yet available.

Just for fun, how much would it have slowed you down if you did have to stop for 30 minutes every 200 miles or so? When I was doing lots of miles I'd stop once if I was driving for more than 2 hours, so for me it wouldn't have slowed me at all. But my trips never went longer than 5 hours with of driving at worst and mostly it was 3 or less
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I've just installed a cable (during porch works) for a future EV charger, which prompted me to look at pros and cons of an EV next March, and the one thing that concerns me is charging on the move over longer journeys. I get that people take breaks and I'm not the type to be rushing everywhere like a lunatic, so stopping for a 20 minute charge doesn't phase me. But that's now, what will it be like when there are 40, 50, 60% more EVs on the road? You won't be rocking up and plugging in while you have a cup of tea. Even with many, many more charging stations you'll be waiting in line. That is, waiting for the 20 minute charge in front of you - and that's if you are next in line. Chances are you'll be third in line - so that's 40 minutes plus your own 20 minutes.

This isn't just throwing up negatives for the sake of it, I just can't see how it is going to work. Motorway services will need hundreds of stations just to satisfy a 40 minute turnaround.
 
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jeds said:
This isn't just throwing up negatives for the sake of it, I just can't see how it is going to work. Motorway services will need hundreds of stations just to satisfy a 40 minute turnaround.
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We normally have several vehicles waiting in line at our local Tesco for fuel, which has 6 pumps and a turn around of just a few minutes per vehicle.

A few EV's around, strictly for short range trips and recharging at home might work, but a mass move to EV's for everyone is an impossible dream.
 
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I accept that many people will be able to charge at home - not all, but many - which will reduce demand on general filling stations. But also range will be less than petrol/diesel, so for the longer journey stations - the motorway stations - twice as many cars will be stopping.
 
jeds said:
I've just installed a cable (during porch works) for a future EV charger, which prompted me to look at pros and cons of an EV next March, and the one thing that concerns me is charging on the move over longer journeys. I get that people take breaks and I'm not the type to be rushing everywhere like a lunatic, so stopping for a 20 minute charge doesn't phase me. But that's now, what will it be like when there are 40, 50, 60% more EVs on the road? You won't be rocking up and plugging in while you have a cup of tea. Even with many, many more charging stations you'll be waiting in line. That is, waiting for the 20 minute charge in front of you - and that's if you are next in line. Chances are you'll be third in line - so that's 40 minutes plus your own 20 minutes.

This isn't just throwing up negatives for the sake of it, I just can't see how it is going to work. Motorway services will need hundreds of stations just to satisfy a 40 minute turnaround.
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Yes, and I think they will end up with hundreds of chargers.

More intelligent systems, that are already on the road now, now take the congestion of chargers into account and adjust routes to take that into account.

But this is still current technology. If Solid state and 10 minute full charges ever actually become a thing then the time pressure becomes less and less. It's fundamentaly solvable
 
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What to do with many of those disused coal power stations? Turn them into energy stores:
 
IT Minion said:
Yes, and I think they will end up with hundreds of chargers.

More intelligent systems, that are already on the road now, now take the congestion of chargers into account and adjust routes to take that into account.

But this is still current technology. If Solid state and 10 minute full charges ever actually become a thing then the time pressure becomes less and less. It's fundamentaly solvable
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Agree with that. A game changer for PV panels as well.
 
Though the energy storage solution looks interesting, what'll scupper this plan is the (unavoidable) inefficiency of the Rankine cycle. It's only 45% efficient at best, so every 1 kWh of energy dumped in the bricks will give 450Wh at the generator terminal. (Plus some eye-watering house loads.)

Each component in the Rankine cycle is individually quite efficient, but the difficulty is closing up the cycle to make it work - the condenser is required to return "liquid steam" back to the boiler, and there's where a significant amount of useful heat is rejected.

If you can invent a pump that pumps steam.... you'll be a millionarie by next year (Rodney)

Nozzle
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Nozzle said:
Though the energy storage solution looks interesting, what'll scupper this plan is the (unavoidable) inefficiency of the Rankine cycle. It's only 45% efficient at best, so every 1 kWh of energy dumped in the bricks will give 450Wh at the generator terminal. (Plus some eye-watering house loads.)

Each component in the Rankine cycle is individually quite efficient, but the difficulty is closing up the cycle to make it work - the condenser is required to return "liquid steam" back to the boiler, and there's where a significant amount of useful heat is rejected.

If you can invent a pump that pumps steam.... you'll be a millionarie by next year (Rodney)

Nozzle
View attachment 249038
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Efficiency is important, but it isn't a the only thing. As long as they can buy low enough and sell high enough the efficiency isn't a definite blocker.

And following on from Bernard, there is potential to use that excess heat for other applications.
 
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