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Cont: Electric Vehicles II

Rolfe said:
Nobody is stopping to charge for an hour even now. Or nobody with a car aimed at long distance journeys is. They're stopping for 20-30 minutes about every three hours, at motorway speeds. As they should be, whatever they're driving.

Mercedes is talking about a car with a 1,000 km range. Who needs that? Better to market it as a car that can tow a caravan or a horsebox for a more reasonable distance.
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Interestingly the Atto I am looking at has a 1200kg towing capacity (thats why its on the list- towing is essential for me lol as I run a small trailer hire company), and yes it loses range obviously, but still capable of towing 300km plus while doing so...(400km without)
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With its tow capacity, well even my mums small poptop caravan (10ft Robin) would be quite towable behind it- and she lived in that for almost a year while doing the 'big lap' lol (and with a 300km range, could have done the 'big lap' with it even...)

The Big Lap is what many 'grey nomads' do (people who have retired and tour around Oz sightseeing...)
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Not hers, but identical...
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you even have a spare 200kg of weight capacity left over lol
 
acbytesla said:
It's very much about the number and bragging rights. Lucid brags that it makes the longest range EV with a range of 824 kilometers. Mercedes wants that title. The number represents convenience and piece of mind, not need. And no, Mercedes isn't a car for towing. Never seen one towing a trailer in my entire life.
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LOL- they were VERY common tow cars in Australia in the 80's and 90's- as they were diesel (better for towing) and commonly seen towing horsefloats and big boats (these days the japanese utes have taken over that market)
 
Rolfe said:
No, I was thinking that.

But when you think that most of these cars will be living in houses with their own overnight charging facilities, and seldom being driven more than maybe 100 miles in a day, it all seems a bit pointless.
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True, we we also have mainstream ICE cars that can go 150 mph and accelerate to 60 mph in 5 seconds - also pointless IMO but both consumers and manufacturers like bragging rights.
 
Dabop said:
LOL- they were VERY common tow cars in Australia in the 80's and 90's- as they were diesel (better for towing) and commonly seen towing horsefloats and big boats (these days the japanese utes have taken over that market)
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In the US, it's always trucks and SUVs. Rarely do you see sedans or coupes towing anything. Especially not luxury cars. It's not that they can't tow a small load.
 
acbytesla said:
In the US, it's always trucks and SUVs. Rarely do you see sedans or coupes towing anything. Especially not luxury cars. It's not that they can't tow a small load.
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The US is weird- my sister used to borrow my big car trailer to put on her Astra (small hatchback) to take garden waste to the tip...
Sure it couldn't tow a car on it, but with its 1200kg towing capacity, even the big car trailer (weighs 600kg empty) means she could chuck up to 600kg of junk on it lol

I'm a member of a boating forums- and the number of yanks that scream at me putting the 14ft tinnie on the Corolla is staggering 'YOU CAN'T TOW A BOAT ON A HATCHBACK!!!'- well yes, yes you can- quite legal and totally safe... I've had quite a few that say I NEED at least a F250 to pull my 14ft boat- PMSL- its not barely a quarter of the capacity of the Corolla (boats 450kg, Corolla is legal up to 750kg with an unbraked trailer like the boat, 1000kg with a braked trailer like the car trailer...)

Corolla with its 1000kg tow capacity (car trailer behind it) legal for 400kg of load...
(the Atto 3 has a 1200kg limit so could have 600kg of load- you could put the boat on its trailer ON the car trailer and still be legal here lol)
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The Hilux can tow it with a car or ute on it (2000kg tow capacity with a HD towbar so can have a load of up to 1400kg)
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However I still cant tow the trailer fully loaded - need a 2600kg tow capacity for that, which means using the tilt tray (4000kg tow capacity on its 'light duty' towbar- up to 9000kg on the heavy duty one- but that ball doesn't fit the car trailer), or mums VW Amarok (3200kg tow capacity)- technically the Landcruiser 'can' tow it fully loaded (its got a 3000kg tow limit- but on a short wheel base Landy- not a good idea...

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Dabop said:
The US is weird- my sister used to borrow my big car trailer to put on her Astra (small hatchback) to take garden waste to the tip...
Sure it couldn't tow a car on it, but with its 1200kg towing capacity, even the big car trailer (weighs 600kg empty) means she could chuck up to 600kg of junk on it lol

I'm a member of a boating forums- and the number of yanks that scream at me putting the 14ft tinnie on the Corolla is staggering 'YOU CAN'T TOW A BOAT ON A HATCHBACK!!!'- well yes, yes you can- quite legal and totally safe... I've had quite a few that say I NEED at least a F250 to pull my 14ft boat- PMSL- its not barely a quarter of the capacity of the Corolla (boats 450kg, Corolla is legal up to 750kg with an unbraked trailer like the boat, 1000kg with a braked trailer like the car trailer...)

Corolla with its 1000kg tow capacity (car trailer behind it) legal for 400kg of load...
(the Atto 3 has a 1200kg limit so could have 600kg of load- you could put the boat on its trailer ON the car trailer and still be legal here lol)
...
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I'm not saying you can't. I'm saying that we rarely ever see anyone towing with luxury sedans. Anyone in the US that is likely to buy a Mercedes Benz is likely to buy or own some other vehicle better suited for the task.
 
acbytesla said:
I'm not saying you can't. I'm saying that we rarely ever see anyone towing with luxury sedans. Anyone in the US that is likely to buy a Mercedes Benz is likely to buy or own some other vehicle better suited for the task.
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That is on the US- Mercs are a good tow vehicle (especially the diesels), it is just the US has some weird idea that you 'need a 'dually' to get your groceries' and you can't tow with a sedan (god forbid towing on a small hatchback lol)- when TROTW has no problems doing it...

The Holden Statesman made here in Australia until recently (you would know it as the Chevrolet Caprice like the US cops cars) were all made here in Australia and exported to the US, as were the Chevrolet SS and Pontiac G8 (Holden Commodore)
The Commodore has a 1800kg towing capacity and the Statesman (the version used by the US cops) has a 2100kg towing capacity (which is actually 100kg MORE than my Hilux utes!!!)
So if I wanted to tow a larger 4wd like a Landcruiser or Patrol, I would prefer using this
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over my Hilux as that extra 100kg means it can tow a larger load!!!
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Dabop said:
That is on the US- Mercs are a good tow vehicle (especially the diesels), it is just the US has some weird idea that you 'need a 'dually' to get your groceries' and you can't tow with a sedan (god forbid towing on a small hatchback lol)- when TROTW has no problems doing it...

The Holden Statesman made here in Australia until recently (you would know it as the Chevrolet Caprice like the US cops cars) were all made here in Australia and exported to the US, as were the Chevrolet SS and Pontiac G8 (Holden Commodore)
The Commodore has a 1800kg towing capacity and the Statesman (the version used by the US cops) has a 2100kg towing capacity (which is actually 100kg MORE than my Hilux utes!!!)
So if I wanted to tow a larger 4wd like a Landcruiser or Patrol, I would prefer using this
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Ok, we're weird.
 
Returning to the subject of e-bikes, I tried a hill which I think is 10%, and made it up. I'm not sure how much longer I could have kept it up, but I did a circuit including two such climbs, only resting at the top of the first one (because I thought the second one was a lot closer than it actually was).

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Now I want to know what "Vault" is. It was a very striking walled, tree-covered mound. Concealing something, obviously.

The second one wasn't so hard and I didn't feel I wasn't going to make it at any point. I see it doesn't have the black downward-pointing arrow. Maybe that only kicks in at 10%?

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Oh, thank you. Post-mediaeval covers a lot of ground, I wonder how old it actually is? I didn't see any way in when I was passing - the wall was solid, quite high and well-maintained.

I remember as a teenager, riding my pony near the village where I lived then, coming across something similar in a wood quite near home. I found it by accident, riding past the point where a track ended, but it seemed quite vandalised. I've often wondered what happened to it. There were inscriptions detailing who was buried there, I think a husband and wife, but it was before the days when I had a camera-phone with me all the time and I didn't think of going back to photograph it. I wonder if I can find it on your site? It is marked (as "Mausoleum") on the current OS map, but that doesn't prove it's still there. That one was more elaborate and I think more recent than the Macbiehill one.

ETA: the OS grid reference isn't getting me anything. Don't know what else to try. See if you can find anything.

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KevinB said:
Going from the first map, I did a search for "Macbiehill Vault" taking the name from the first map you posted. With a bit more poking around it seems to have been built in 1746, if I am reading this site correctly https://powis.scot/sites/macbiehill-vault-3741/.

It seems like it was the vault of the Beresford family, according to https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/200348703-beresford-burial-vault-macbiehill-newlands

It seems like I was just lucky guessing the name.
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Thanks! It's likely someone at the church will know all about it, I'll ask. (We all know what happened in Scotland in 1746. I wonder if this is related.) The name on the other one might have been Hamilton.
 
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It's almost over now, but there is a HUGE EV show again here in Sydney over the weekend ie Everything Electric, where most of the major manufacturers (and some of the minor ones even doing EV conversions and the like here) put their cars/utes/SUV's/trucks up on display...

EV and Beyond (a NZ youtuber I have in my subscription list) visited Australia to just visit it and has posted a fairly short (25 min long) video of his quick walk through of the show...
Everything Electric Sydney show

Their own website
https://au.everythingelectric.show/

From what I have heard through several EV followers who have been there in person- although its been run over three days, you'd really struggle to actually see everything in that time!!!!
It shows the huge range of EVs now available in 'most' countries...
:p
(for the Poms, there is a sister event in London coming up in the middle of April...)

Wish I could have gone, but its literally a full days drive there and another back, plus atm we got a cyclone has just come ashore to the east of me and I'd have to drive right through the middle of it all and most of the roads are cut with flooding...
 
I was at the event at Harrogate in May last year. That's where I had a try-out of an e-bike, which led to me purchasing the Ribble.
 
novaphile said:
I once filled up the drive battery doing that, and the car suddenly went "wheeeee!" requiring me to use the physical brakes.
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My BMW i3 managed braking so you never had to do anything different regardless of whether it was using regenerative braking or the real brakes. Using one-pedal driving or pressing the brake pedal always had the same result in the same driving situations. Really the only way you could tell the difference between regenerative and standard braking was by the sound.

One of the few criticisms I have of my newer Hyundai Ioniq 5 is that when regenerative braking is not available, you have to drive the car differently, applying the brakes manually at times that you would not have to otherwise. It isn't something that happens very often - here in Florida where roads are generally flat it almost never happens - which can make it more of a surprise and a possible safety issue. Of course, of the car doesn't slow down as expected, your normal response is to apply the brakes so it isn't very likely to cause an accident. But it is something I wish Hyundai would fix.
 
My car doesn't have OPD anyway, and it warns me when there isn't enough capacity in the battery to utilise regenerative braking. However, it was my understanding that light to medium pressure on the brake pedal would engage regenerative braking first, and only apply the actual brakes if that wasn't enough.
 
Rolfe said:
My car doesn't have OPD anyway, and it warns me when there isn't enough capacity in the battery to utilise regenerative braking. However, it was my understanding that light to medium pressure on the brake pedal would engage regenerative braking first, and only apply the actual brakes if that wasn't enough.
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Yes, that's true of my car.

The thing with using 'flappy-paddles' to set the level of regenerative braking, it means you can set a value for a long descent, and then not worry about riding the brake pedal all the way down.

This mimics the the behaviour of vehicles with manual gear selection, you select the correct 'gear' for the descent, and then concentrate on everything else.

As jadebox mentioned above, it's not a big deal when you fill up the battery, you just put your foot on the brake pedal.

If I'm using cruise control, the car does all that by itself anyway.
 
I have a button on the steering wheel to change the regeneration level, so all that is quite possible. With an actual EV though (as opposed to a hybrid) , you'd have to be coming down from the moon to fill the battery.
 
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