Electric cars...

[Forest Cat]

This is only my personal opinion but I always saw electric cars as just an interim technology and not practical enough in a lot of situations to really be viable.

I would like to see a 100 ton electric Australian road train. If they can make that, then the technology is getting somewhere.

 

[Judge]

Another ominous thing I just thought of is how catastrophic wildfires are in Australia. Another reason to be a bit reticent about Lithium battery powered vehicles.

Our greatest peril here in the High Desert- fire.

 

[Outdated]

Interesting. To my knowledge not one state prohibits them, nor the federal government. But then it reminds me of all those right-hand Post Office mail delivery trucks.

And yet it was illegal to import an Australian Monaro, according to a lot of car enthusiast videos I watch. A lot of people wanted them. The last few models before they ended were sold in the US rebadged as a Pontiac I think.

I would like to see a 100 ton electric Australian road train. If they can make that, then the technology is getting somewhere.

That's a hot topic here, all that machinery sitting idle while waiting for batteries to recharge - time is money. And then what sort of range will you get pulling over 100 ton? It simply can't work.

 

[Forest Cat]

Another ominous thing I just thought of is how catastrophic wildfires are in Australia. Another reason to be a bit reticent about Lithium battery powered vehicles.

A 100 ton road train would probably need a 100 ton battery. So 200 tons total. And if it catches fire, it will probably burn for 50 years and destroy all of Australia.

 

[Judge]

A 100 ton road train would probably need a 100 ton battery. So 200 tons total. And if it catches fire, it will probably burn for 50 years and destroy all of Australia.

Most firefighters here just shrug their shoulders when it comes to technique and resources involving lithium battery vehicle fires.

It's one thing develop them, quite another to be able to pay for and distribute them.

 

[Forest Cat]

That's a hot topic here, all that machinery sitting idle while waiting for batteries to recharge - time is money. And then what sort of range will you get pulling over 100 ton? It simply can't work.

You charge the road train battery, then you turn the road train on and drive onto the road. And then you immediately have to pull over to charge it again.

 

[Outdated]

Most firefighters here just shrug their shoulders when it comes to technique and resources involving lithium battery vehicle fires.

Here they just concentrate on containment. With batteries that big it's not possible to put the fire out, all they can do is stop it from spreading.

 

[Judge]

Here they just concentrate on containment. With batteries that big it's not possible to put the fire out, all they can do is stop it from spreading.

Potentially quite a struggle here, given so much sagebrush and cheatgrass all over the place.

That can spread frighteningly fast...

 

[Outdated]

Potentially quite a struggle here, given so much sagebrush and cheatgrass all over the place. That can spread frighteningly fast...

Much the same here, many of our plants actively encourage fire as they rely on it as part of their breeding cycle so it doesn't take much for a fire to get out of control here.

 

[Shevek]

Gasoline can start wildfires too. The thing that people forget about batteries is that they are like rockets - they don't need air from outside to burn. That means that they need large amounts of two chemicals, not just one, making them heavier, and that fires can't be suffocated.
As for truck range, the batteries need to be as much bigger than car batteries as truck fuel tanks are bigger than car fuel tanks. This is not a problem on a truck chassis. Instead of idling the rig to charge, they can be swapped as fast as tanks are usually filled, and drivers emptied. Of course, this only makes sense if fuel is not burned to generate the electricity.

 

[Outdated]

60s Plymouths. But why did they have to be so damned ugly?

Chrysler Australia was a different beast to it's parent company, the same company that made those horrible things with fins on them also gave us these, smaller than the Dodge version and with much better handling in corners.

 

[Judge]

Gasoline can start wildfires too.

So can glowing orange catalytic converters in low-slung sports cars.

A major reason never for me to leave the pavement with my 79 MGB.

 

[Outdated]

So can glowing orange catalytic converters in low-slung sports cars.

Even normal car exhausts will do that in long grass. Recently we had a massive grass fire started by a military helicopter pilot, one of the passengers asked if the pilot could set down so he could go for a wee. The exhaust from the helicopter started the fire.

 

[stevens]

The bicycle motor guy did go into production but the Dhruv Vidyut motor hasn't made it to the USA yet probably because we don't have quite as many old roadster bicycles here like India does.

I still want nothing to do with a Tesla so I went hunting a donor car for an EV. Found a rusted-out pile of what was a sky-blue Nash convertible for very little money sinking into someone's back yard. It's ruined but I should have a fixer upper first, and once it's solid, a base for an EV conversion. It has a 3spd transmission and a 44" rear axle track which is the same width as a lot of golf carts. This is smaller than a VW Beetle.

I think it looks like Richard Scarry drew it for a picture book. Supposedly Pininfarina did the design. Also supposedly Nash-Kelvinator also made refrigerators, which it heavily resembles.

View attachment 130768

Axles are a nice size, springs and shocks couldnt be simpler, and it's fitted with manual steering. Or I can fix it up and drive it on the original gasoline engine while I see about converting the old Corolla. Already that is a bigger car and may have more room for batteries.

Sadly, or perhaps jubilantly depending how you look at it, I am old enough to remember seeing those things new, parked on the street.

In 1980 I worked with a guy who might have been ahead of his time. His at-home project was converting a Fiat 124 into an electric car. This involved a DC airliner turbojet engine starter motor, which was a common thing in the surplus market at the time. Of course it involved lead-acid storage batteries. He tested his pulse-width modulated power supply by taking his dryer apart to remove the heating element, which I recall at the time did not make him popular at home. Eventually the car was finished, and he drove it around from time to time for many years.

The NASH design is unique to say the least. I'm more partial to Ray Loewy's Studebaker designs myself. Other Studebakers look like George Jetson should be driving them. The one problem with those cars is they're heavier than a battleship so without regenerative braking your battery will be gone in a few stops and starts.

 

[stevens]

60s Plymouths. But why did they have to be so damned ugly? And yes, they stayed around for a very long time. My uncle had a love affair with Chrysler-Plymouth. I still recall his 1964 Chrysler New Yorker. One huge rocket. Scared the hell out of my mother to drive it. Dual quads. Backing it out of my uncle's garage must have taken close to 2 gallons of gas.

Oh, I think the 1959 Plymouth Belvedere was the most ghastly of them all. My dad got a used one. It was a festival of wrong choices, all the way down to the pushbutton transmission. While some older cars have improved in my mind, every time I see one of those it's as ugly as it ever was.

 

[Judge]

Oh, I think the 1959 Plymouth Belvedere was the most ghastly of them all. My dad got a used one. It was a festival of wrong choices, all the way down to the pushbutton transmission. While some older cars have improved in my mind, every time I see one of those it's as ugly as it ever was.

Reminds me of another uncle who had an Edsel. Those transmission buttons in the steering column to go with the fins. Right out of Buck Rogers. LOL.

 

[Outdated]

Reminds me of another uncle who had an Edsel. Those transmission buttons in the steering column to go with the fins. Right out of Buck Rogers. LOL.

First time I saw one of those on TV I thought it was a joke and I laughed. It took a few people to convince me they were real.

 

[Mary Terry]

That could possibly be a fair enough theory but it goes out the window as we switch to generating electricity from renewable sources.

This is only my personal opinion but I always saw electric cars as just an interim technology and not practical enough in a lot of situations to really be viable. It works OK where you've got densely populated places like Europe and the US, lots of city centres not too far apart. For countries like Australia, Canada, Argentina, Chile and Brazil it's never going to be the best answer.

Actually, the US is not densely populated except in areas primarily along the east and west coasts. Most of the country is rural (what New Yorkers call "fly-over country" to show their disdain for it). I don't foresee EVs being popular in most of the US except for those population-dense metropolitan areas.

 

[Judge]

Actually, the US is not densely populated except in areas primarily along the east and west coasts. Most of the country is rural (what New Yorkers call "fly-over country" to show their disdain for it). I don't foresee EVs being popular in most of the US except for those population-dense metropolitan areas.

Stands to reason.

That rural areas in this country are much less likely to have stations to recharge an electric car.

 

[Outdated]

Actually, the US is not densely populated except in areas primarily along the east and west coasts.

So it's similar to Australia in some ways. Mainland Australia and mainland US are almost exactly the same size in area.

US pop: 330 million
Aust pop: 27 million. (Texas has a bigger population than Australia)
Here's a map showing our population density: