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The mkiv Supra Owners Club

Are more Amperes the new new more PSI?


Chris Wilson

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Adding a few more PSI to your turbo engine is pretty trivial, technically and cost wise. The new electric cars do the same with adding more Ampere capability to the battery packs, but at a very considerable cost. Plus their weight is still eye watering, and their range still pretty risible. But you can't sneeze at te results, which are frankly quite shocking (sorry..... ;) ).

 

http://www.pistonheads.com/news/ph-americancars/tesla-ludicrous-mode-introduced/32560

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I have loosely been following development and what this company does and I have to say that they are leading the way in electric cars. They are not a bad looking car and for those who dont know would not know the difference.

 

They have also got some very relatively quick charging points around the UK.

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Electric vehicles are the future. It's only a matter of time :)

 

Electric vehicles will never be the future until producing the electricity and batteries is cleaner, i'd like to say Hydrogen cell cars are the future, but again, pretty dirty behind the façade.

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Electric vehicles will never be the future until producing the electricity and batteries is cleaner, i'd like to say Hydrogen cell cars are the future, but again, pretty dirty behind the façade.

 

Chicken and egg... but it's happening as we speak. I spoke to a chap running a taxi firm with 21 Leafs the other day. He was saving huge money and his drivers were £100 per week better off. It's the charging infrastructure we're missing, but that's becoming really simple now too. We've got a free fast-charger going in at work very soon.

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Also driven the Model S recently. Great car but its range is its biggest problem. You just wont get the miles out of it as advertised unless the speeds are kept to a minimum. I don't feel the technology is there, yet. Very fast car though! :)

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Technically interesting, but utterly impractical for most users. Plus they just move the pollution somewhere else, people think the electrons coming out of power sockets are made in fairyland, when in reality their manufacture is costly and dirty. People tut and mutter if there's a queue of 6 people at the petrol staion till, God knows how they would react to an age awaiting the Charge `O' Meter creeping up, assuming there's one free to connect to at their destination or en route.

 

Now, when we have fought IS, battled Ebola, repelled the invaders in the Channel Tunnel, waged civil war, and the population of the civilised world is decimated to a sustainable level, all this junk will be irrelevant, and the survivors can rape the remains of the planet without a care

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Your on form today Chris :D

 

Have to agree with the impractically of it. If I want to drive to Lands end in a diesel I can prob get there and back in one tank of fuel. In an electric car it would take days waiting for batteries to charge and driving about trying to find a charge station, only to find some inconsiderate person is there before me and I have to wait 3 hrs for their car to charge up!

 

When its practical I would have an electric car (or other fuel) but until then ill keep pumping diesel poo into the air :D

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I ban young relative's mobile phones here, and their parent's too, given half a chance. And as for them wanting to plug their damned Green Machine into my already too costly electricity supply, they can sod off :) That's like begging smokes off someone, just not very good form!

 

I wonder if someone will write a booklet on the etiquette of charging your car?

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I ban young relative's mobile phones here, and their parent's too, given half a chance. And as for them wanting to plug their damned Green Machine into my already too costly electricity supply, they can sod off :) That's like begging smokes off someone, just not very good form!

 

I wonder if someone will write a booklet on the etiquette of charging your car?

 

They already have...

 

Anyway, would you feel the same if they were offering to run your house's 'lecy while they were visiting?

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Do you a link to the booklet, it sounds interesting?

 

Backfeeding the house, whilst cutting an external power supply from backfeeding the mains would mean considerable changes to the supply; read cost a lot of money once `elf `n' safety got involved. At my age a free lunch (or free electricity...) gets looked at with a very jaundiced eye ;)

 

Anyway, how long are these people thinking of stopping? I hope they're gone by opening time....

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Good God, you were serious! Trust the Yanks. I wonder when the first charge of a shooting over charging occurs ;) ?

 

I think I'll carry on relying on a full tank of fuel and a spare 25 litre drum of petrol when going off the beaten track, or needing to get somewhere far off and back in minimal time!

 

Interesting indeed, thanks for that.

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Your on form today Chris :D

 

Have to agree with the impractically of it. If I want to drive to Lands end in a diesel I can prob get there and back in one tank of fuel. In an electric car it would take days waiting for batteries to charge and driving about trying to find a charge station, only to find some inconsiderate person is there before me and I have to wait 3 hrs for their car to charge up!

 

When its practical I would have an electric car (or other fuel) but until then ill keep pumping diesel poo into the air :D

 

Check out super capacitors linky: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercapacitor

 

If this could be incorporated with current or next generation lithium ion technology it would make electric cars more practical. You could recoup energy through regenerative breaking and they could act like a turbo for electric cars as their internal resistance is negligible so thousands of amps (albeit for a few seconds) could be drawn from them.

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Trying thinking about electric car use in a different. Way. You wouldn't go to 'fill it up'. You'll keep it topped up whenever you can. Just like your young relatives' mobile phones. :)

 

Ah but thats a bad thing to do, especially with Li Ion cells. There are plans afoot using sodium Ion cells, but are in the very early stages.

 

http://www.faradion.co.uk/about/news/2015/05/489/

 

The big problem you have is energy density, how many cells you can get in a given space, smaller cells = less capacity but many more in the box. But the REALLY clever shit is in the control and programming. Elon Musk and his crew have been to several Formula E events trying to tap up Williams employees lol

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Ah but thats a bad thing to do, especially with Li Ion cells. There are plans afoot using sodium Ion cells, but are in the very early stages.

 

http://www.faradion.co.uk/about/news/2015/05/489/

 

The big problem you have is energy density, how many cells you can get in a given space, smaller cells = less capacity but many more in the box. But the REALLY clever shit is in the control and programming. Elon Musk and his crew have been to several Formula E events trying to tap up Williams employees lol

 

I know Williams have been doing some very clever things, especially with Jaguar and hybrid buses!

 

Tesla is the most realistic solution right now though. I know a few owners and they love them!

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I had the pleasure of driving a P85 early this year, not the D model, and it was just staggering. The response of that motor and the sheer torque of it was incredible. If Tesla can now incorporate a 500 mile range and something resembling a sensible charge time of ~20 min for 50% life, then I think they're very seriously on to a winner.

 

On a tangent, I got one of the more junior members of my team to ring Demon Tweeks and enquire on a NOS kit and exhaust for a Tesla. He was gone for an hour ...

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I know Williams have been doing some very clever things, especially with Jaguar and hybrid buses!

 

Jaguar (and JLR) are pretty heavily invested in Williams, Ive worked on a couple of Land Rover projects. But Porsche and Audi Le Mans cars also lean heavily in Williams :)

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