Is petrol dead now?

[StephenC]

Probably not. But this new thing could begin the process of killing it off, if it is as good as claimed.

And anyway, I have no idea what an ultracapacitor is (were they used in Back To The Future?) but it sounds incredible.

https://www.topgear.com/car-news/electr ... capacitors

This Sixties-inspired electric motorcycle is hiding some properly groundbreaking tech, or so says its maker. Set to be revealed at January’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, NAWA Technologies’ ‘Racer’ uses a hybrid battery, which mixes conventional lithium-ion cells with ultracapacitors.
Yep, ultracapacitors. NAWA says its carbon-based ultracapacitors mean faster charging, better energy regeneration (up to 80 per cent), more performance and range, a longer-lasting battery and less weight. “The efficiency improvements made by a hybrid ultracapacitor battery system,” it says, “can reduce the size of the lithium-ion battery by up to half, or extend the range by up to double.”
The Racer’s fuel tank – or where you’d normally put the fuel, were this thing powered by internal combustion – contains the ‘NAWACap’ ultracapacitors, while the 9kWh lithium-ion battery (half the size of a normal electric bike) is where you’d expect to find the engine. The whole thing weighs 150kg, which is 100kg less than a Harley Livewire (that’s a proper production bike, though, not a flimsy concept).

[rossm]

Just needs a flux capacitor

[MrGrumpy]

There is talk of graphene based batteries (don't ask me about the science!) which are supposed to give a greatly increased vehicle range compared to today's batteries and a huge reduction in charging times.
When they can guarantee a 300 mile range for a vehicle at M-way speeds with the heating, lights, wipers etc on - at a price I can afford - I'll be interested. Until then, I'm not, at all.

[MrGrumpy]

Another slightly more technical article about this.

https://newatlas.com/motorcycles/nawa-r ... otorcycle/

[Stibbs]

There is talk of graphene based batteries (don't ask me about the science!) which are supposed to give a greatly increased vehicle range compared to today's batteries and a huge reduction in charging times.
When they can guarantee a 300 mile range for a vehicle at M-way speeds with the heating, lights, wipers etc on - at a price I can afford - I'll be interested. Until then, I'm not, at all.

Agree. They’re trying to promote sales of e vehicles before the technology for the real world exists.
My brother in law bought a £70k Jaguar for his business, on the first run out he had to travel to Cornwall from Kent. Took him 15hours whilst also incurring charges for overstaying in certain services while recharging.
Plus, apparently, you get the first hour of charge free but incur extra costs if takes longer.

Batteries also need replacing every few years at huge cost.

They’re way too far off getting right for me to even consider it.

[MrGrumpy]

If you have a vehicle you use exclusively for commuting, then electric propulsion can work. I did consider an elecscoot when I was commuting but the purchase costs were very high (though of course, cheap to run). The snag is that yes, an electric car/scoot can do 99% of the journeys you make, but the other 1% are more or less impossible. I have a car as I have to regularly do trips down to Essex, a 250 mile journey (more if diversions are needed). Having to stop and recharge en-route would extend journey times considerably.

[Stibbs]

I’m not anti “E”.
Indeed I own an electric cycle.
Bought purely for local trips it’s superb. It has active peddle technology which assists you depending on the effort you’re putting in and the drive mode you’ve selected.
It works perfectly for me and I highly recommend it.
And yes, I also agree that a small “city” type car or scooter would be fine for the very short commutes where applicable.

However I’m extremely sceptical about the current vehicles being touted as longer distance transport.

[XP500FUN]

Am I missing something somewhere ?

Aren`t we at the point in the UK at least where we are barely able to produce enough electricity as they rushed the last coal fired ones out early etc.

There aslo are barely enough clean things planned to keep the lights on, or so it reads.

if everyone quickly starts switching to electric vehicles somehow, where on earth !!! are we going to get the power from ?

[capitano]

Am I missing something somewhere ?

Aren`t we at the point in the UK at least where we are barely able to produce enough electricity as they rushed the last coal fired ones out early etc.

There aslo are barely enough clean things planned to keep the lights on, or so it reads.

if everyone quickly starts switching to electric vehicles somehow, where on earth !!! are we going to get the power from ?

Truth is that's a bit of an urban myth. We are much better placed than you think.

The progress of renewables in electricity generation has been very successful. Floating wind farms are going to feature heavily, as are tide turbines. Some estimates reckon that if the progress of these technologies meet targets, we won't even need the new Hinkley Point nuclear generator, let alone rely on anything coal or oil powered by 2025.

The second graph only shows until 2017 but you get the drift looking at the progression.

[roadster]

In the here and now it is hybrid technology that actually works. My hybrid (petrol) car uses 25% less fuel than the diesel it replaced and 50% less than a pure petrol would. These are real world winter driving figures not an obsessive driver eking out every last drop at low speeds. It is especially clean in the urban environment where pollution could be argued to be a problem. Toyota can produce this technology at a competitive price because they manufacture on a vast scale and use the same or similar components across a wide range of cars. In theory the motor-generators and all the other elements of the design could be scaled down to work on scooters without any adverse packaging consequences but its doubtful that any company would regard the relatively short term design life would be worth the investment. So I think we will need to wait a few more years before all-electric becomes a practical and affordable option for two wheelers or for cars.