Tesla Launches Faster Third Generation Supercharger

[specinho + 467]

On 3/8/2019 at 9:56 AM, Tom Kirkman said:

... But what is most troubling - for investors in the $50 billion market cap company - is that this recent slate of layoffs is the third such round of layoffs over the last 12 months. This follows a 9% workforce reduction in June and a 7% cut in January. One wonders if these are all just hallmarks of a "growth story" that deserves a ridiculously premium valuation.

 

For a capital that big, it is the easiest to overlook the details on pricing. The most crucial allocations might have been towards capital investment (e.g. buildings, machines) and production costs (e.g. electricity, raw material, labor and etc). Speedy expansion might have contributed to the speedy exhaustion of resources. There ought to be a plan with a general formula in mind: projected income - expenses = profit / loss. Or no??

On 10/31/2019 at 5:04 AM, BenFranklin'sSpectacles said:

The real bottleneck is battery chemistry, which creates two serious limitations.  The first is charging amperage.  Battery cells are charged to a maximum voltage and discharged to a minimum voltage.  When fully discharged, they can accept charge rather quickly because there a high enough voltage differential to drive electrons.  As the cells approach maximum voltage, there's less delta-V to drive electrons, and amperage decreases.  The result is that the last 20% charge can take as long as the first 80% charge, more or less.  There's a good article on it here:
https://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/charging_lithium_ion_batteries

The second charge time limitation is cell overheating.  

Besides differential in voltage potential, the chemical composition of an lithium ion battery might post quite a bit of resistance to the recharging process. For example, in a mixture of group 1 chemical (Lithium, Li), group 2 (Magnesium, Mg), group 3 ( Aluminium, Al), Li discharges the easiest owing to its small nucleus reactivity. However, during recharging, Al might be receiving electron first due to its lower ranking in the electrochemistry series. Could this be the reason heat is build up due to the resistance?? and hence, the prolonged charging time?? May be the efficiency too??

 

On 12/18/2019 at 2:18 PM, PE Scott said:

For the foreseeable future, I'll be driving an ICE truck as I work out in the sticks a lot where even the longest range EV's don't have the supporting infrastructure to be practical. Add a trailer and a lot of idle time to the equation and things are only complicated further. 

According to wikipedia on history of Electric cars,

1912, many homes were wired for electricity, enabling a surge in the popularity of the cars. In the United States by the turn of the century, 40 percent of automobiles were powered by steam, 38 percent by electricity, and 22 percent by gasoline.

In order to overcome the limited operating range of electric vehicles, and the lack of recharging infrastructure, an exchangeable battery service was first proposed as early as 1896. history of electric vehicle (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_electric_vehicle )

Wondering if this means to have spare battery in the car for longer distance driving??

Wondering if the charging facility can be as simple as one plug + positive & negative wires??

Regarding retribution of EV into the grid, there was a question raised in the course of " electric cars policy": I'm a little confused if the retribution shall be done from solar system or from personal electric car?? Shall it is the car, I'm confused by the aim of discharging and recharging the car that generally in used?? When will it be readied to run??

Edited December 20, 2019 by specinho

[Enthalpic + 1,496]

5 hours ago, Douglas Buckland said:

Not quite accurate. If your ICE vehicle is in good working order, why would your vehicle overheat even if you are driving uphill with your A/C on? The term ‘too fast’ is rather subjective. ICE vehicles were designed and constructed NOT to boil over in these conditions.

Where do you get the idea that an ICE vehicle is hard to start in cold weather? Granted, in VERY cold weather, where the oil would start to solidify or gel, you need a block heater.

I grew up in Colorado, got my license there and drove there for 10 years straight without requiring a block heater or having my radiator boil over.

I acknowledge the points you are alluding to...just keep it real.

I'm Canadian remember, It gets down to -40C on occasion, -30C is not rare, -20C is rather routine.

Yes, a well maintained car will still start but it's hard on the car doing very cold starts on a regular basis.

[ronwagn + 6,290]

On 12/4/2019 at 12:00 PM, BenFranklin'sSpectacles said:

 

 

@Douglas Buckland, I see your point, but you're mostly wrong on this one. 

An EV can be charged from any home outlet, and this is sufficient for most people's needs. In the US:

1)  A standard 115V outlet:  These exist in every home and every garage built since probably 1970.  They provide at least (115V)*(20A)(.8) = 1.8kW of continuous power, 99% of users will have at least 8 hours of daily charging time between coming home from and leaving for work, and EVs obtain at least 3 miles/kWh.  That means users will charge at least (1.8kW)*(8 hours)*(3 miles/kWh) = 43.2 miles/day.  That covers the vast majority of commuters in the US. 

2)  A 220V outlet:  Home Depot sells 200A circuit breakers for these, but many homes can't handle that.  Let's assume the vast majority of homes can handle a 50A, 220V circuit breaker in the existing main panel.  (215V)*(50A)*(.8) = 8.6kW.  (8.6kW)*(8 hours)*(3 miles/kWh) = 206 miles/day.  You could run a delivery business, and this would still meet your needs.

Thus, the vast majority of US commuters need not install any charging equipment, and people running delivery businesses out of their homes will need to invest $250 in a 220V outlet - an investment that will pay for itself in months.  That's not a financial obstacle. 

A natural gas vehicle and refilling pump could be set up at any place with a natural gas pipe. It would supply clean fuel for about the same price as electricity. It would fill much faster depending on the mechanism used. Converting any portion of the existing fleet of trucks and automobiles is very doable. The overall cost of the transportation would be far less than that of buying and using electric vehicles, especially for the large vehicles that Americans prefer. 

[Refman + 207]

On 12/19/2019 at 3:21 AM, Douglas Buckland said:

I don’t believe that most perspective truck buyers are into trucks for a commuting vehicle...

In the big Texas cities, many people commute in their pickups and then use them on weekends for camping, fishing, road trips, hauling stuff etc.

[Jan van Eck + 7,558]

On 12/20/2019 at 3:19 PM, Enthalpic said:

I'm Canadian remember, It gets down to -40C on occasion, -30C is not rare, -20C is rather routine.

Yes, a well maintained car will still start but it's hard on the car doing very cold starts on a regular basis.

What I had happen in a cold start in very cold weather was the shredding of that Vitalin synthetic front bearing oil seal, which allowed the oil to run out of the engine via the front crankshaft pulley.  Unfortunately the sensor for automatic shut-off in the case of oil pressure failure on that car (Subaru H-6 Generation 2 engine] was set at about 5 psi, which you still get even when all the engine oil is exhausted.  So, the front timing chains (the guides in there) plus all the main crank bearings were subjected to metal contact (no oil in there) and the engine was bye-bye.  Cost me the scrounging of a new block and another $1700 to install it.   Ouch. 

I had previously asked for a block heater so I could install one, and was told none existed for that model engine.  I think that is BS, but hey, if the block halves  [it is a split casing into two halves, as the pistons are opposed] are cast without plugs, then this could be the case for this particular engine.  Poor design, in my view.   Has anyone put a block heater into an H-6?  Love to know how to do that. 

[Enthalpic + 1,496]

47 minutes ago, Jan van Eck said:

  Has anyone put a block heater into an H-6?  Love to know how to do that. 

You could probably glue on a heating element / heating tape

https://www.rona.ca/en/tape---automatic-heating-tape-0356033--1?viewStore=66550&cm_mmc=shopping_google-_-8143180798-_-88023292767-_-pla-389911944414&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIzrTf0-HK5gIVh9lkCh1JKQgXEAQYASABEgLhAfD_BwE

Edited December 23, 2019 by Enthalpic

[Douglas Buckland + 6,308]

6 hours ago, Jan van Eck said:

What I had happen in a cold start in very cold weather was the shredding of that Vitalin synthetic front bearing oil seal, which allowed the oil to run out of the engine via the front crankshaft pulley.  Unfortunately the sensor for automatic shut-off in the case of oil pressure failure on that car (Subaru H-6 Generation 2 engine] was set at about 5 psi, which you still get even when all the engine oil is exhausted.  So, the front timing chains (the guides in there) plus all the main crank bearings were subjected to metal contact (no oil in there) and the engine was bye-bye.  Cost me the scrounging of a new block and another $1700 to install it.   Ouch. 

I had previously asked for a block heater so I could install one, and was told none existed for that model engine.  I think that is BS, but hey, if the block halves  [it is a split casing into two halves, as the pistons are opposed] are cast without plugs, then this could be the case for this particular engine.  Poor design, in my view.   Has anyone put a block heater into an H-6?  Love to know how to do that. 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LelMYMMgwCg

Perhaps something like this will get you by in the short term Jan. Just an idea.

[NickW + 2,714]

On 12/20/2019 at 3:01 AM, Douglas Buckland said:

Okay guys, was just on another site that brought up something which I had not thought about.

The post was discussing a recent three hour traffic jam, in the mountains in Canada, during a blizzard (traffic accident, avalanche...can’t remember the cause) and how long these EV’s could still function while in stop and go traffic in these conditions while running the heater full tilt.

I grew up in Colorado and this occurs more often than you think. On the I-70 corridor to all the ski areas this is a common occurrence on the way back to Denver after a days skiing.

Does anyone have any info on an EV in a situation like this?

This is where PHEV has one of its niches.