1 hour ago, xman said:

 

And there is so much room to continue the improvement of electric batteries as well as solar panels.  As I said 10, 20, 30 % improvements in capacity whilst cost is dropping by 20 and 30% means the deathnail of vehicles burning hydrocarbons which are struggling to improve whist their cost remain high and their future in the mass market will only be for another decade or so when linked to a hybrid EV with the capability to drive as pure electric for at least a few miles and by then it will be difficult to find petrol as the stations close down for lack of custom.  Breath the clean air.

 

 

26 minutes ago, @Lee said:

I don't think anyone's talking about changing the laws of physics - just tech improvements to achieve greater efficiency.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar-cell_efficiency

 

So much more pushing the laws of physics for battery tech too..... 

 https://www.ey.com/en_in/automotive-transportation/why-are-all-eyes-on-lmfp-an-lfp-battery-with-a-manganese-booster

 

Current LFP, such as the latest CATL battery and where it is expected they will be in the next generation in a year or two.  Much more powerful but actually cheaper.

 

 

 

47 minutes ago, @Lee said:

I don't think anyone's talking about changing the laws of physics - just tech improvements to achieve greater efficiency.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar-cell_efficiency

The key word is Research-Cell, the time from first research cell to production volumes is unpredictable (and some research cell designs will likely never make it to production because of cost and/or manufacturing issues) - there is even one research cell with an efficiency close to 90% that uses nano-cell technology.

 

 

Edited 10 February, 20242 yr by PetrolDave

@Graham Butcher Is that it then, it is not possible in the UK to get 1 kWh of power from the Solar and the roof of that car?

I am pretty sure your guessing will be wrong. 

 

 

Edited 10 February, 20242 yr by Rooted

@RootedWell all I can tell you is that I currently have 13 solar panels on the roof of my house, they are 1400mm by 800mm, and they are designed to provide 3kwh on a good day, and they face due South and never get any shade on them from other houses. I was told, when they were installed, that they would produce that kind of power on a good day in the height of summer when the sun is almost overhead at about midday. In the early mornings and evenings the sun is weaker and so the output would be lower.

 

So based on that information, I would seriously question their claim about its effectiveness in the UK. However, the further south you go the better the results would be, so around the equator I suggest that you would have a greater possibility of actually getting the claimed figure.

 

I have lots of solar-powered lights in the garden and also many different calculators and as you will probably know, I'm into electronics and love getting broken pieces of various equipment and repairing them as a hobby to keep me occupied in my retirement and my test meters can measure as low as 1 microvolt and I have done some tests with admittedly, small panels, with a 3,000 lumen LED torch and the highest output from the panels is with the torch directly above the panel and at close quarters, the further away the torch is, even when directly above the panel, the output drops rapidly as the torch gets higher above the panel. So based on that, I seriously doubt that in the UK you would nowhere close to the figures Fiskers say it is possible to achieve. 

 

6 hours ago, Stonekeeper said:

Toronto to Calgary in an Ocean

 

 

 

 

 

Interesting videos, the first one was good, the 2nd one I thought was all over the place, how many times did he mention -26C, all the same, thanks for sharing.

12 hours ago, Stonekeeper said:

Based on Fisker simulations. Ideal conditions assume solar irradiation of 5.4 kWh/m2/day and steady commuter driving. Actual results vary with conditions such as external environment and vehicle use.   

For comparison:

"London receives 0.52 and 4.74 kWh/m2 per day in December and July, respectively. "

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_the_United_Kingdom

 

So way less than half of claimed "up to 1500 miles". "Up to 700 miles" if you never park under a shade would be my guess. 🤣

 

18 minutes ago, Graham Butcher said:

I currently have 13 solar panels on the roof of my house, they are 1400mm by 800mm, and they are designed to provide 3kwh on a good day

Out of interest..... 3 kWh on a good day last few months or good day in summer? What's the rated system peak power?

 

That looks like a nice sizeable install, when did you get it? What sort annual generation are you getting?

1 hour ago, wyx087 said:

For comparison:

"London receives 0.52 and 4.74 kWh/m2 per day in December and July, respectively. "

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_the_United_Kingdom

 

So way less than half of claimed "up to 1500 miles". "Up to 700 miles" if you never park under a shade would be my guess. 🤣

 

Out of interest..... 3 kWh on a good day last few months or good day in summer? What's the rated system peak power?

 

That looks like a nice sizeable install, when did you get it? What sort annual generation are you getting?

I don't have any means to check what is its actually generating, only know what they told me. It was installed for free, and we can use as much of the power it generates for free, and any excess is sold to the grid by the installers as their payback for the free power to us. I guess that their way of looking at it was that there was a very good chance that during the day on weekdays, there would be nobody at home, so most of the power could be sold. Little did they know that I was working from home a large part of the time, and so was one of my sons. Now I've retired so spending a lot of time on the computer and doing my electronics so still using a lot of the power from the panels, my son now works in a warehouse 12 miles away so they are gaining a bit more now. It was installed IIRC in 2015/2016

I just watched this chap moaning about his Tesla and also discussing its good points. He mentioned the lack of maintenance which saves him money, but then he claims that because the car is heavy that tyre costs far out weigh the saving in maintenance as they only last about 10,000 miles a set.  Towards the of the video he moans about the road noise and says he can hear every bump in the road and says that it might be that they cheeped out on the grade of metal etc to keep the weight down a bit, so there is very little to dampen the noise?

 

 

I think maybe he has a point there, as this video shows at approx 2:45 just how the panels flex when touched and can easily be dented.

 

 

 

Edited 11 February, 20242 yr by Graham Butcher

Please if you are addressing Tesla tyre wear as far as the UK then get the info on that with Tesla in the UK for UK roads, 60 mph NSL,s and 70 mph Dual Carriageway & Motorways. 

The noise and quality of the ride might well be an issue, but best get that opinion or experience from those driving UK roads.

As to the vids they might be relevant where those drivers are and for drives here.    It will be drivers here that can comment.

 

The rears of AWD VW Group EV,s also an issue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 11 February, 20242 yr by Rooted

8 hours ago, Graham Butcher said:

I don't have any means to check what is its actually generating

You may do; my BFF has a solar installation at 55.92N (Long omitted for confidentiality), and even in January on a sunny day the electricity meter can be seen to be running backwards.

@Rootedactually I wasn't addressing anything specifically as relating to the UK roads. But why would roads over there cause more wear than here?

 

I thought the NSL on their roads was a blanket 55mph if so, assuming it is adhered to, wouldn't that increase the life of tyres? 

 

I just thought the videos were interesting in their own right, especially the general built quality comments. 

 

Those that I have at seen up close, and there are many at my local airfield as they seem to be liked by pilots, I always seem to be impressed by the shut lines etc. However there there is a vast difference between between looking at them and living with them apparently, I have come across many other videos also expressing issues in that regard. 

Edited 11 February, 20242 yr by Graham Butcher

Not not a national 55 mph speed limit. There are 55 mph limits.

Max speeds interstate highways 70 mph. min 45 mph. 4 lane highways 65 mph. 

 

I do not know how they drive without roundabouts, or how they might flooring them.

Then we have this weather thing.  Maybe Arizona and the sunniest place on earth, or just warmer roads and different road surfaces. 

 

As to General Build Quality i have no idea about Merican built ones or German or Chinese and which years things start improving. 

 

Actually i know little about anything or anything Tesla.  All i do try to find out is really about UK ones and how they perform or the Dealers and traders deal with them and also their maintenance. 

 

Personally i will not be going to the USA and if i did it would not be a Tesla i would be wanting to drive, or any EV. 

4 hours ago, Rooted said:

Please if you are addressing Tesla tyre wear as far as the UK then get the info on that with Tesla in the UK for UK roads, 60 mph NSL,s and 70 mph Dual Carriageway & Motorways. 

The noise and quality of the ride might well be an issue, but best get that opinion or experience from those driving UK roads.

As to the vids they might be relevant where those drivers are and for drives here.    It will be drivers here that can comment.

 

The rears of AWD VW Group EV,s also an issue.

 

 

Interesting story.

22 minutes ago, Rooted said:

Not not a national 55 mph speed limit. There are 55 mph limits.

Max speeds interstate highways 70 mph. min 45 mph. 4 lane highways 65 mph. 

 

I do not know how they drive without roundabouts, or how they might flooring them.

Then we have this weather thing.  Maybe Arizona and the sunniest place on earth, or just warmer roads and different road surfaces. 

 

As to General Build Quality i have no idea about Merican built ones or German or Chinese and which years things start improving. 

 

Actually i know little about anything or anything Tesla.  All i do try to find out is really about UK ones and how they perform or the Dealers and traders deal with them and also their maintenance. 

 

Personally i will not be going to the USA and if i did it would not be a Tesla i would be wanting to drive, or any EV. 

 

 

When we drove from Chicago to Las Vegas in 2007 it was mainly 75mph on the interstates

@RootedLikewise, if I were to go to the USA, a Tesla would be the last car I'd want to drive, we can do that here very easily, I'd be wanting to drive something that was common there but rare over here, that's a given for sure 😁.

 

I'd have expected a Tesla built in any of the locations to be built to the same standards, driving anyone should be the same as any of them apart from the position of the steering wheel of course.

4 minutes ago, Stonekeeper said:

 

 

When we drove from Chicago to Las Vegas in 2007 it was mainly 75mph on the interstates

So it was almost the same as using the motorways over here with their 70mph limit, so no real reason for excessive tyre wear such that they barely last 10,000 miles.

Just now, Graham Butcher said:

So it was almost the same as using the motorways over here with their 70mph limit, so no real reason for excessive tyre wear such that they barely last 10,000 miles.

 

 

The interstates were mainly concrete, i think that would be more wearing to tyres than our tarmac.

No reason for excessive wear in the UK either is there when driven normally,

or more than similar powered cars AWD or RWD or FWD with he same power but a bit lighter.

 

But then there are lots of Performance Tyres with not lots of Tread Depth from new.

(Octavia / Superb section and those there might say they get 30,000 miles plus and others not 12,000 miles out of tyres. Looks often like possible down to driver, or alignment, maybe how they set or check tyre pressures.  Usually how driven though...)

Use a M3 say like you use a RWD Tesla and is there much difference in tyre wear, or a keeping to the same manufacturers, a Porsche Taycan compared to a Porsche Panamera.

 

I imagine @Lady Elanore gets value from her tyre life but does not hang about. 

She can maybe comment on her rear wheel drivers and tyres.

Edited 11 February, 20242 yr by Rooted

33 minutes ago, Rooted said:

No reason for excessive wear in the UK either is there when driven normally,

or more than similar powered cars AWD or RWD or FWD with he same power but a bit lighter.

 

But then there are lots of Performance Tyres with not lots of Tread Depth from new.

(Octavia / Superb section and those there might say they get 30,000 miles plus and others not 12,000 miles out of tyres. Looks often like possible down to driver, or alignment, maybe how they set or check tyre pressures.  Usually how driven though...)

Use a M3 say like you use a RWD Tesla and is there much difference in tyre wear, or a keeping to the same manufacturers, a Porsche Taycan compared to a Porsche Panamera.

 

I imagine @Lady Elanore gets value from her tyre life but does not hang about. 

She can maybe comment on her rear wheel drivers and tyres.

 

Got 16k miles out of front tyres on the Zoe but I change with 3mm left as police and tyre companies advice for good wet weather braking.

 

So Zoe burns through tyres quicker than Arkana which has similar power but is lighter. My zoe only uses the 16 inch rims rather than the 17 inch option so tyres were £65 rather than more like £80 for the 17s each.  Fitting etc less than £20 per tyre plus complementary hoover and wash, very happy.

OE tyres were Mich Primacy EV tyres so had less tread, new tyres Toyo comfort, A grade wet grip, seem good in all respects including energy consumption and I expect will last 20k miles even with the tyre shredding torque of the EV.

 

Cheap running costs for energy, services and tyres. 

 

I wore my way quickly through tyres on a Citroen Saxo 1.4 16V 75 bhp auto & a Kia Picanto 1.1 68bhp Auto.  Only the drivers side tyres though.

Low annual mileage cars and the tyres / wheels were changed when taken to Autotest events so that was not where they got the wear. 

6 hours ago, Rooted said:

No reason for excessive wear in the UK either is there when driven normally,

or more than similar powered cars AWD or RWD or FWD with he same power but a bit lighter.

 

But then there are lots of Performance Tyres with not lots of Tread Depth from new.

(Octavia / Superb section and those there might say they get 30,000 miles plus and others not 12,000 miles out of tyres. Looks often like possible down to driver, or alignment, maybe how they set or check tyre pressures.  Usually how driven though...)

Use a M3 say like you use a RWD Tesla and is there much difference in tyre wear, or a keeping to the same manufacturers, a Porsche Taycan compared to a Porsche Panamera.

 

I imagine @Lady Elanore gets value from her tyre life but does not hang about. 

She can maybe comment on her rear wheel drivers and tyres.

 

 

My M4 did like to wear down its rear tyres a little, but I did a fair bit of motorway driving in it, so it helped to reduce the wear rate out overall. Plus the car had nearly 50/50 weight balance and that probably helped wear the tyres out at roughly the same rate, well obviously the rears went first). My M3 which was 4x4 was wearing its tyres out pretty slowly to be honest.  That was a heavy car with a decent dollop of power/torque, so I assume it fed power around the 4 tyres relatively evenly in normal circumstances and it also had the 50/50 weight distribution thing to help.

 

Come to think of it, I used to get through front tyres on cars like my old Strada 130TC Abarth well within 12,000 miles. Which, when you consider the car only had 130bhp and weighed about the same as a packet of Rich Tea biscuits, is interesting. When I look back, FWD cars seem to chew through tyres (at least the fronts) at the fastest rate, RWD was better overall and the 4x4s were probably the best. A lot of those cars had moderately performance related tyres too (P6 Pirelli's on the Strada) and at least 6 of my 4x4s were of a permanent type (Scooby's, proper Quattro etc), rather than a Haldex/FWD type, so that may well have helped??

I should say, I worry that my 3008 PHEV won't ever wear it tyres out. They are bloody awful. The economy saving with these 'Eco' tyres is minimum, but the reduction in grip and enjoyment from them is immense 😞

@Lady ElanoreIs the 3008 on Michelin Primacy 4,s? 

Primacys, yes, that the evil little rubberbands. They sell these things as saving a fair bit of mpg saving over a standard tyre, but neglect to tell you that the tyre itself contributes relatively little to the cars overall mpg figure, hence a moderate saving in tyre derived mpg figures, is bugger all in overall mpg terms.