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Tesla

andyBeaker

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well he was quite clever, wasn't he.

Good documentary about him running on Discovery. You can see stuff he dreamt up getting on for a hundred years ago being everyday a hundred years from now. Wireless delivery of home electricity for one. A true visionary.

And what a git Thomas Edderson was. Electrocuted and killed a live elephant (and dogs) in public to try and discredit AC electricity (Tesla's idea, edderson was a DC man) as well as ripping off Tesla in his formative years.

And Marconi nicked Tesla's thinking on radio waves and got the patent and credit. Patent was removed and given back to Tesla after Tesla died.

Good Bless America.
 

Murt

Letch
I have been interested in Tesla for a few years.
He was a genius, but wanted to give people the information and technology rather than earn loads himself.

He developed and improved the electric lamp (bulb, filament) and that idea was nicked as well.

Some really good books about that are less 'American' than the documentary you mention. Its still good though.

I always thought he was bumped off, the documentary now shows he probably got killed for his "death ray".

Murt.
 

slim63

Never surrender
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The ripping off of good ideas is still going on

I saw a documentary a while ago about a british eccentric who developed new innovations for electric motors & didn't make a penny because some of the bigger players took advantage of him

The stuff he invented is way beyond my understanding but I think its what every company building electric motors for vehicles is using for efficiency ............. just wish I could remember the bloody blokes name :confused:
 

andyBeaker

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I liked the bit by the Tesla car manufacturer in the programme about wireless,charging - essentially laying charging points under the road surface for wireless charging - potential for unlimited range in theory.

Did you know that the stock market value of Tesla is the biggest of any car manufacturer in the world?? Shows which way technology is moving....
 

firephil

Registered User
Hi,
I’m not a luddite and I’m aware electric vehicles are the bright(hum) future,but why are owners of these vehicles mainly pious high grounds men ?Who whip themselves to a paranoid froth about where to find a charge point,progress...........?
Fp
 
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andyBeaker

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Hi,
I’m not a luddite and I’m aware electric vehicles are the bright(hum) future,but why are owners of these vehicles mainly pious high grounds men ?Who whip themselves to a paranoid froth about where to find a charge point,progress...........?
Fp

Are you sure you aren't a Luddite?

:couch:

In all seriousness, I would more than happily buy an electric car if it had decent range and the price wasn't stratospheric . And that will happen as the technology evolves. why wouldn't you??
 

Jaws

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Tesla ( cars ) even have a 40 ton truck developed now.. And like Andy, i would have an electric car like a shot.. They WILL come down in price.. Batteries are now already below $100 per kWh.. With car applications giving a 200mike range and a 20 minute charge time ..
My Hybred Toyota is fantastic...
 

andyBeaker

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Tesla ( cars ) even have a 40 ton truck developed now.. And like Andy, i would have an electric car like a shot.. They WILL come down in price.. Batteries are now already below $100 per kWh.. With car applications giving a 200mike range and a 20 minute charge time ..
My Hybred Toyota is fantastic...
Did you mean 'inbred'?
 

noobie

Clueless in most things
In the rush to be all electric they have left out one issue they know they will have, Cobalt. The amount left on land isn't that great and is unlikely to be enough to provide a world change to electric vehicles and mostly the batteries that provides the power.

What the mining companies have found however is there is shed load in the oceans and many mining companies are now looking towards drilling the oceans for that Cobalt for the batteries. It would seem odd that to protect the earth and its environment, that they would have to tear up the oceans to do it

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/07/deep-sea-mining-five-facts/

https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/innovation/these-fearsome-robots-will-bring-mining-deep-ocean-n724901
 

Lee337

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I too would have an electric car, but not at the current price. I'd even consider an electric bike, but not until the battery issue is sorted.
As a Govt. department, we have a national motorcycle club & one of our members recently reviewed an electric bike. From memory, the bike he tested has batteries that last around 5 years with a £4800 replacement charge. While the electricity to recharge costs 'pennies' at night rate, replacing the batteries works out more than I would pay for petrol over a similar time for my car.

Once the battery technology improves (& hopefully we won't have to rape the seabed for material), I'll give electrically powered vehicles more consideration. Until then I think Hybrids are a more practical option. While you might still have to replace the battery packs after a while, they're not essential to run the vehicle, as can be seen with the hybrid London busses where it's estimated 60% of them have had their battery packs removed.

My Step-dad has a Hyundai hybrid which I've driven a couple of times & I can't really fault it. The running costs around the city aren't that great, it averages around 48mpg (the same as Mrs L's Qashqai diesel) but on a long run, it's 85mpg+.
 

slim63

Never surrender
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Electric vehicles, not for me while I still have a pulse thank you very much :rolleyes:

Petrolhead & proud of it :p
 

Squag1

Can't remember....
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Where are we going to get all the electricity and what are we going to do with all the old batteries.

As I recall electricity production was only 55% efficient.

Has anybody admitted to long term cost of nuclear and lifecycle cost of wind energy.
 
Where are we going to get all the electricity and what are we going to do with all the old batteries.

As I recall electricity production was only 55% efficient.

Has anybody admitted to long term cost of nuclear and lifecycle cost of wind energy.


I'm the same as you, although we live off the grid, we still need batteries that have a shelf life of (approx) 10 years, then they get dumped and we start again.
Also all this electrickery has to come from somewhere and I believe our power stations even now are struggling so what happens when the demand is too much.
AND
If you have an electric car, how many charging stations do you need, certainly aint going to see banks of them like you see petrol pumps at petrol stations
AND
If it takes 20-3 minutes to charge fully, how big is the queue behind you gonna get !

I still think Hybrid is the way to go, produce your own electricity on the go while using fossil fuels instead of relying on trying to find charging stations in the middle of nowhere !
 

andyBeaker

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I'm the same as you, although we live off the grid, we still need batteries that have a shelf life of (approx) 10 years, then they get dumped and we start again.
Also all this electrickery has to come from somewhere and I believe our power stations even now are struggling so what happens when the demand is too much.
AND
If you have an electric car, how many charging stations do you need, certainly aint going to see banks of them like you see petrol pumps at petrol stations
AND
If it takes 20-3 minutes to charge fully, how big is the queue behind you gonna get !

I still think Hybrid is the way to go, produce your own electricity on the go while using fossil fuels instead of relying on trying to find charging stations in the middle of nowhere !
I can see Rampion Wind Farm in The English Channel from the end of my road - it is a staggering development and will provide enough power to supply the equivalent of half the homes in Sussex when it goes live. Maybe that is at least part of the answer?

I am lucky enough to be taking a boat trip out to the farm in April, should be awesome!!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rampion_Wind_Farm
 

Jaws

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Where are we going to get all the electricity and what are we going to do with all the old batteries.

As I recall electricity production was only 55% efficient.

Has anybody admitted to long term cost of nuclear and lifecycle cost of wind energy.
Your a few years out of date...figures in excess of 80%
The new 20700 cells Musk's lot have produced is just amazing
 

slim63

Never surrender
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I'm still trying to figure out how electric vehicles have a benefit to the environment as I claimed by manufacturers & governments ?

The figures simply don't add up !
 

Ajeman

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I still think hydrogen is going to be the way forward. Can be used the same as petrol/LPG and all the convenience that brings and the only thing out the tailpipe is water.
The issue at the moment is producing it in large quantities uses a large amount of electricity. This problem should be solved with nuclear power, and new technology in this area is reducing the radioactive waste to very little.

Batteries at them moment are very dirty and nowhere near good enough to be an actual solution.
 

Squag1

Can't remember....
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Your a few years out of date...figures in excess of 80%
The new 20700 cells Musk's lot have produced is just amazing

I expected it tyo be better than 55% but
I find 80% hard to believe.

But I still raise the question of lifecycle cost.
How much concrete goes into foundations for sea based windmills??? and energy to produce?
What's the carbon footprint of a windmill??
 

Lee337

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I had a job interview a couple of weeks ago & as part of it, had to give a presentation on alternative fueled vehicles. this thread would have been more useful then as I could have included what the average Bird (& ex Bird) rider thought (y).
 
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