Random EV thoughts.....

Yeah there was an EV back in the noughties that had a trailer with a petrol generator for long trips. No idea what it was called

The idea is technically feasible, it's called a range extended EV. The BMW i3 Rex is probably the best known example, it has a 25kW motorbike engine which could top up the battery

If you're asking could it be added to an EV as an aftermarket product, not really. The first problem is connecting it to the car's electrical system. You generator will need to output 400-800V DC depending on the car at currents of up to 500A. Electrical regs don't really like using plugs at those levels so you'd be looking at something that needs to be wired in permanently.

Your generator will need to be a fairly powerful one as well, taking the ice example you'd want around 25kW to keep the battery topped up, which kind of rules out your shop bought generator. On top of this you've the problem that most generators are AC, you'll need to convert this to DC for the car which adds expense and losses

A much simpler solution would be to have a generator with a built in EV charger. You could park the car and plug in wherever you want, several examples have already been demonstrated for temporary charging in remote locations

Of course you still have to wait for the car to charge, so beyond availability there's not much advantage. And unless you've a really powerful generator, you'll be charging slowly, so you'd be faster going to a public charger even if there's a queue

FWIW, I actually think range extenders are a really good idea for vehicles that need to operate outside the normal charging network. Off road or emergency vehicles etc. Even heavy trucking to areas with a poor charging network. They get all the benefits of an EV but have the option of switching to the fossil backup if needed

But for Joe Public heading down to Spanish point for the weekend with the family, it's much easier to just pull into the first public charger and grab a coffee and bathroom break while you charge

I made a battery with about 0.5kWh capacity and had a pure sinewave inverter connected to it, combined with the granny charger you could use it as an emergency "petrol can" if you got stuck with a dead car and you needed just a few km to get to a charger

Nowadays you can buy these as all in one systems, I think the Bluetti are popular. Would make a nice Christmas gift to the new EV owner who still suffers a bit from range anxiety 😁

Dead easy to have too around the gaff in case you have a mains power outage. I once powered my airfryer from my eBike's battery 😂

Inverter about €100 for a goodun. Battery, I combined 4 hoover board batteries (7S2P) with built in BMS, they cost about €25 each. So €200 or so in all ;-)

Agree on the Leaf. Have a Fluence (basically the same car, except it can't fast charge at all but at least it's not fug ugly) and in winter the GOM shows about 57km when fully charged. I still drive it everywhere. I like that motor. Very comfy.

Maybe not necessarily EV related. I've stayed one night in Kilkenny right in the center. In the morning the car was covered in a mist of ash. Of course as soon as I started driving rain came down and now the car has a polka dots design all over it. I just wondering is this a normal occurrence? Not worried about the car I'll wash it but we breathe this stuff. Where we live, there are about 5 constructions sites and I'm used to see grime building up but not that fast.

Sahara sand

https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/rare-blood-rain-weather-could-26480961

Would having to rely mainly on fast charging lead to faster degradation of the battery?

And if you do the sums, say one 50+kW charger at Tesco, versus 60 AC pillars next to say terrace houses with no driveway, the one larger charger may end up cheaper and users could fill up for 30 minutes during weekly shop, once a week. The 60 users would be 8/9 cars per day at Tesco, based on once a week visit. However if I lived in a house with no home charger I would prefer street chargers for practical reasons. From a providers point of view DC makes more sense than AC. From a drivers point of view charging on street overnight makes owning an EV easier and may be cheaper to fill too.

Supermarkets make more sense for local 30 minute top ups than petrol stations due to parking spaces needed.

8/9 cars wouldn't be viable,I'm assuming a big charger with multiple cables is a thing?

Once the homeowner has a claim put in against them for someone tripping outside their house, they won't be long removing any cabling.

I saw an article a while back about an AC charger pole that was literally just a pole with 2 small sockets in the sides, it would be very neat and would take up hardly any room. You could put one between 2 spaces on a small kerb sticking into the road slightly and avoid narrowing the pavement

On the complete opposite end of the scale, I remember some AC chargers got installed in London a while back that were similar size to a payphone and right in the middle of the pavement, probably 50cm to the kerb and 50cm to the wall so no wheelchairs or buggys could get past. And they were all posed around in the photo saying how great it was, whoever did that job needs to be shown the door

In Ireland and the USA with the suing culture, sure. There are 10 times as many lawyers as taxi drivers over there 😫 In most other countries you wouldn't have a hope of getting a cent. Or at at least not a cent over actual cost you made because of an accident. Not like that lady who sat down in a restaurant in Dublin recently and banged her knee off a table leg while sitting down, she got a slight bruise. And 30 grand.

UK Govt has recognised the shortage of charging infrastructure in UK with a couple of good measures:

• "convenient, affordable and reliable charging for all as government commits £1.6 billion to expand UK charging network – with around 300,000 public chargers expected to be available by 2030"
• "key barriers to EV driving removed with chargepoint operators legally required to meet rigorous standards, enabling drivers to pay easily and find nearby chargers"

Further detail on the seocnd point:

"The government is mandating that operators provide real-time data about chargepoints. It is ensuring that consumers can compare prices and seamlessly pay for their charging using contactless cards. They will also be able to use apps to find their nearest available chargepoint."

"These plans will also require a 99% reliability rate at rapid chargepoints to ensure they are world-class and give consumers confidence in finding chargepoints that work wherever they travel – helping eradicate so-called ‘range anxiety’."

Lets hope our Govt can follow the UKs lead here.....