Random EV thoughts.....

unkel

What inverter did you get, slave1? If it's a modified sine wave inverter (not a pure sine wave inverter) it could possibly damage some electronics like a fridge or a TV. The likes you can buy in most shops like Halfords would typically be modified sine wave inverters.

graememk

unkel wrote: »

What inverter did you get, slave1? If it's a modified sine wave inverter (not a pure sine wave inverter) it could possibly damage some electronics like a fridge or a TV. The likes you can buy in most shops like Halfords would typically be modified sine wave inverters.

wouldnt a modified sine wave give a smoother current when rectified or is it a case that its just a noisey signal.

What should be avoided with a modified sine wave, and what is it ideal for.

Or is a case of just go for the pure sine wave one and your covered for all bases?

unkel

I think it's mainly the likes of fridges and microwaves that can get damaged from modified sine wave inverters, but I'm no expert. And as such I'd go with safe option: pure sine wave

They're not that expensive either. I recently bought a Chinese 48V pure sine wave 2000W max inverter from eBay for GBP73. I successfully charged my car with it, using a battery I made from 18650 cells that I retrieved from dead laptop batteries

ewj1978

How do you connect the car to your supply though?

Black_Knight

ewj1978 wrote: »

How do you connect the car to your supply though?

Extension leads I guess.

slave1

unkel wrote: »

What inverter did you get, slave1? If it's a modified sine wave inverter (not a pure sine wave inverter) it could possibly damage some electronics like a fridge or a TV. The likes you can buy in most shops like Halfords would typically be modified sine wave inverters.

This one, I've never used it to power anything in the house yet, just via cigarette socket to charge my golf battery between rounds..
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00ALRS1AS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

KCross

We had a dicussion on the forum recently about companies not using the right units (kW/kWh etc).... I happened to browse around a Nissan dealership the other day....

They had an L40 in the showroom and the placard next to it had "Engine: 40KW" :pac:

Not only is it not an engine, but "KW" is all wrong as well. Its no wonder the general public dont get it when the dealership has that!

Just for those that dont know... it should be "Motor: 110kW" and "Battery: 40kWh".

innrain

You have to admit that for non technical minded, the use of such units can lead to confusion. Everyone knows that the most used unit when speaking about motors is horse power. Unfortunately, these horses where not standardized which led to strange variations. EU came and said everyone has to use kW as a main unit for power.
It is a bit frustrating for some that the charging speed is expressed in kW and not in other units. To add insult to injury cars batteries are shown in kWh even though all other batteries we use in our life are presented with mAh (actually more Ah but for marketing purposes 2000mAh sounds better that 2Ah).

Another good example of controversial unit is 1Calorie=1000 calories. If this new unit was not created to generate confusion ...

Lumen

innrain wrote: »

You have to admit that for non technical minded, the use of such units can lead to confusion. Everyone knows that the most used unit when speaking about motors is horse power.

Quiz time!

Who invented the unit of horsepower?

unkel

innrain wrote: »

To add insult to injury cars batteries are shown in kWh even though all other batteries we use in our life are presented with mAh

Ah is meaningless as a unit of how much energy a battery holds. Unless you happen to know the voltage of the battery (most people don't)

kWh on the other hand, is a unit of how much energy a battery holds. This should be used as the standard

KCross

innrain wrote: »

You have to admit that for non technical minded, the use of such units can lead to confusion.

I know its confusing. I agree with you and for people who just see it as a car and couldnt even wire a plug they wont care, but it was just to highlight that even the dealers selling EV's cant get it right so the general public have no hope really.

Gumbo

innrain wrote: »

You have to admit that for non technical minded, the use of such units can lead to confusion. Everyone knows that the most used unit when speaking about motors is horse power. Unfortunately, these horses where not standardized which led to strange variations. EU came and said everyone has to use kW as a main unit for power.
It is a bit frustrating for some that the charging speed is expressed in kW and not in other units. To add insult to injury cars batteries are shown in kWh even though all other batteries we use in our life are presented with mAh (actually more Ah but for marketing purposes 2000mAh sounds better that 2Ah).

Another good example of controversial unit is 1Calorie=1000 calories. If this new unit was not created to generate confusion ...

Confusing of course because it’s a change. But you’ll get used to it.
People don’t mistake their cars as 1.4 litres when they drive a 2 litre and they don’t confuse their tank capacity saying it holds 230bhp worth of diesel.

Change takes time.

Black_Knight

KCross wrote: »

Just for those that dont know... it should be "Motor: 110kW" and "Battery: 40kWh".

What about chargers. The 50kW e-cars chargers. Is that right? And when using it, you'd get a charging rate of perhaps 43kW.
But your total consumed power over half an hour of charging might be 20kWh

How right/wrong have I got it?

KCross

kceire wrote: »

Confusing of course because it’s a change. But you’ll get used to it.
People don’t mistake their cars as 1.4 litres when they drive a 2 litre and they don’t confuse their tank capacity saying it holds 230bhp worth of diesel.

Change takes time.

I guess the main issue is that kW/kWh/KW/kw all look the same but mean very very different things.

litre and bhp are instinctively easier to understand and everyone knows what a litre is because they see it everyday outside of the car world. Alot of people have no clue about electrical stuff.

They'll need to learn though!

KCross

Black_Knight wrote: »

What about chargers. The 50kW e-cars chargers. Is that right? And when using it, you'd get a charging rate of perhaps 43kW.
But your total consumed power over half an hour of charging might be 20kWh

How right/wrong have I got it?

Spot on!

Mickeroo

KCross wrote: »

I guess the main issue is that kW/kWh/KW/kw all look the same but mean very very different things.

litre and bhp are instinctively easier to understand and everyone knows what a litre is because they see it everyday outside of the car world. Alot of people have no clue about electrical stuff.

They'll need to learn though!

What's the distinction there? I understand the difference between a kw and a kwh perfectly fine but don't know the significance of the capital letters?

KCross

Mickeroo wrote: »

What's the distinction there? I understand the difference between a kw and a kwh perfectly fine but don't know the significance of the capital letters?

k = kilo. i.e. kilogram, kilowatt
K = Kelvin, which is a measurement of temperature.

For scientists/engineers, the case of the letter is important but when we know the topic we are talking about we can just auto-correct in our minds.

I guess the main issue for people is interchanging kW and kWh... regardless of upper/lowercase as one refers to the motor and the other refers to the battery so mixing them up will cause confusion even for people that understand it.

innrain

kceire wrote: »

Change takes time.

and will.



Just look at the metric system in Ireland. 15 year later and people still reporting fuel consumption in mpg even though they buy gas in liters and the car measures the distance driven in km; and it is wrong anyway from the definition.



The sales and marketing departments (if they know) will not try to educate people because they can spin it how they want.



1. KONA 64kWh
2. KONA 150kW
3. KONA 150KW



which one would Jimmy buy?

Mickeroo

KCross wrote: »

k = kilo. i.e. kilogram, kilowatt
K = Kelvin, which is a measurement of temperature.

For scientists/engineers, the case of the letter is important but when we know the topic we are talking about we can just auto-correct in our minds.

I guess the main issue for people is interchanging kW and kWh... regardless of upper/lowercase as one refers to the motor and the other refers to the battery so mixing them up will cause confusion even for people that understand it.

Good to know, that explains why I hadn't come across those abbreviations in EV discussion at least

unkel

Mickeroo wrote: »

What's the distinction there? I understand the difference between a kw and a kwh perfectly fine but don't know the significance of the capital letters?

Here you go, it's called Système international (SI), the widely accepted form of our metric system

Linky


It has all the units you will ever use. Bookmark it

Black_Knight

Never expected this so soon. Taxi m3

redcup342

Black_Knight wrote: »

Never expected this so soon. Taxi m3

For a minute I thought it was a REAL M3

pdpmur

redcup342 wrote: »

For a minute I thought it was a REAL M3

Haha, could you imagine the real M3 taxi driver blathering to everyone about how troublefree the car has been.....

On the other hand, it would be interesting hear the truth about the cost of running a taxi Tesla M3 for a number of years versus a Leaf, with the bashing that taxi cars get.

I thought I read somewhere that the Tesla warranty doesn't extend to commercial use....

Black_Knight

I guess any older leaf taxi drivers might be looking at longer range options now the free charging has disappeared. BIK benefits while they were available too I guess.

JPA

pdpmur wrote: »

Haha, could you imagine the real M3 taxi driver blathering to everyone about how troublefree the car has been.....

On the other hand, it would be interesting hear the truth about the cost of running a taxi Tesla M3 for a number of years versus a Leaf, with the bashing that taxi cars get.

I thought I read somewhere that the Tesla warranty doesn't extend to commercial use....

Wouldn't it be more interesting to compare with an ICE? Tesla Vs Leaf would have similar running costs.

unkel

pdpmur wrote: »

I thought I read somewhere that the Tesla warranty doesn't extend to commercial use....

I'd say you read that wrong, plenty of Tesla taxis on the continent. About 100 of them in Amsterdam alone (a city roughly the same size as Dublin)

You might be mixed up with Hyundai though, I'm pretty sure they don't allow their EVs to be taxis from a warranty point of view

pdpmur

JPA wrote: »

Wouldn't it be more interesting to compare with an ICE? Tesla Vs Leaf would have similar running costs.

I was thinking more in terms of reliability/repairs and general wear and tear.

charlieIRL

I was talking to a lady recently who had a brand new leaf as a taxi, she regretted buying it big time, it’s not working out for her and her husband at all. Not getting the range they expected, lack of FCP for quick top ups, if they get a decent run to the airport etc and they only have half a battery they can’t do it.

They are in Mullingar btw.

JPA

charlieIRL wrote: »

I was talking to a lady recently who had a brand new leaf as a taxi, she regretted buying it big time, it’s not working out for her and her husband at all. Not getting the range they expected, lack of FCP for quick top ups, if they get a decent run to the airport etc and they only have half a battery they can’t do it.

They are in Mullingar btw.

They bought the wrong car basically.

Stealthirl

JPA wrote: »

They bought the wrong car basically.

If it was mostly doing local runs around Mullingar it would be grand. Doing a 170km airport run not so much, but how often would that happen ? it's a €150-200 fare and maybe 30-45min top up after.