Guru
Joined: 18/09/2017
Location: AustraliaPosts: 308
| Posted: 12:30am 29 Jul 2018 |
You would still have have the IC engine and a generator and a LOT of control Circuitry and wiring etc. The engine and generator would have to be able to supply the power consumed by the motors at least up to a certain speed and torque for hill climbing etc. if the thing was to be able to carry on with the power from the engine when it had flat batteries.
The problem of Long distance/ Holiday travel could be over come with a trailer that housed the generator plant/ fuel tank and gave some extra space for luggage.
Then again, what's the cost of such a setup going to be along with rego etc to sit there most of the year and drink the devils fuel anyway?
Ic's aren't going to dissappear until the EV's are well enough established and advanced so recharging is as quick and easy as it is to refuel now.
May be but the auto makers would spend at least a Million Bucks crunching numbers on market research to see how many people would be interested in buying such a vehicle and what they would be prepared to pay. May be a good idea but that would be irrelevant compared to how many people would want something like that and be prepared to pay for it.
With IC's, Hybrids and straight ev's, It may be a bit too niche market.... or might be a real winner. Could be great for first time EV buyers who are afraid of running out of power and marketed as something like "It will always get you home" .
Then again if the Road side assistance mobs start putting in road side chargers OR, the manufacturer offers such a service, probably going to satisfy that need.
This highlights a great advantage of the IC vehicle. Great range and very speedy ability to refuel at unlimited places. I wonder how long it will take for power to be available on the Nullabor and what it would cost seeing it would have to be FF generated.
The other thing Ev's are going to have to come to terms with is towing.
That's really going to kill the range just as it does with IC's Difference is, you can stop and refuel an IC every 300KM and it's not a big deal. Couple of stops in an ev adding 2 hours to a long trip or more will be.
Think of all the weight gained in the batteries!
Pure EVS on average weight significantly MORE than IC counterparts. That tends to cancel out the weight reduction from the IC driveline. There are also extra considerations like heat sinks, controllers and relays, thick, heavy wiring and motors for AC, heaters etc.
Ev's are NOT lightweight and all I have read up about tend to have more weight in the driveline than IC's.
You would still need Drive shafts and CV's as again every EV I have seen has them.
Bolting the motor directly to the struts would mean they were hammered with every bump in the road and be a lot of extra unsprung weight which is what every manufacturer tries hard to get away from for a bunch of reasons.
You also need room for a mechanical brake even if the thing does have regenerative like the Ipace. Most of it's braking is just lifting off the throttle but you still need the ability to mechanically lock that wheel if required.