I'LL BE BATT: Arnie Schwarzenegger snubs gas guzzlers for electric

Only 2 coffees?!

Re: Is your maths right?

Top speed of a G350D (D for Diesel) is 192 km/h, which beats 183 in my book. Acceleration slower as expected but range somewhat better.

http://www.mercedes-benz.com.au/content/australia/mpc/mpc_australia__website/en/home_mpc/passengercars/home/new_cars/models/g-class/_w463_crosscountry/facts_/technicaldata/models.html

Re: Difficult to blame him

"and these were easily swappable then electric car users could have fast option of battery exchange at a filling station"

Easily swappable = easily stealable.

Re: Taxed Enough Already

@The Axe,

And I bet you think that a tax credit which all businesses get counts as a subsidy when applied by the Oil & Gas industry.

That is the only way the green lefties can make their point appear to be relevant when in fact it isn't.

Re: Taxed Enough Already

The point I tried to make was that the spittle-speckled right wing screamers arguing against subsidies for renewables *think* that their oil is not, and never has been, subsidised by the government when it has in fact been subsidised for decades.

The figure you quote excludes the cost of clearing up ones own shit, surely a social responsibility but one that is legally and immorally ignored and left to others. It's the cost to them that bumps up the apparent subsidy.

The USA figure was provided to show the original commentor that his country of origin was among those subsidising fossil fuels to a great degree, contrary to his belief.

I disagree with your argument that all industries benefit from fossil fuel subsidies - as an asthmatic, the NHS (and therefore, the UK taxpayer) bears the cost of the additional treatment I require to overcome the pollution I'm breathing in, and as a Cyclist, the manufacturer of my bike might sell a few more if petrol and diesel was sold at its true price even if they cost a little more to make - but this is a philosophical / economic argument beyond my ability to prove - probably one for Tim Worstall and Excel.

And finally, I'm not a swivel eyed, green leftie, I'm fairly apolitical, I drive a dirty diesel car, and I don't drive it in a fuel efficient manner because it's much more fun to drive it quickly. I turn the heating up at home and stuff the cost because I wear as few clothes as possible, even in winter (I have autism, with sensory issues), and would, if I could afford one, drive a Huracan, and my wife would like an Aston Martin - yeah, I am a hypocrite, just like every other zealot (and most non-zealots).

All I want is a clean, low pollution world, which we won't get anytime soon because of vested interests in dirty technology.

Re: 'charged to 80 per cent in just 25 minutes'

the safety measures needed for pump won't be needed.

No, but you are playing with very high currents at voltages that are not exactly without danger either - setting up a safe distribution network will cost money too, which brings me to another point: overall infrastructure and power generation.

Given the incredibly stupid way we generate power I am yet to be convinced we're on the right track to start talking about electro cars everywhere. The issue of mining materials and creating a lot of waste and needing a lot of power doesn't combine well with the way we generate power which either creates short term pollutants or long term, and the only approach that I can see that hits both those issues heads on as well as the safety aspect (thorium nuclear reactors) is actively avoided because it doesn't make stupidly large buckets of money afterwards for the happy few in fuel handling and waste storage, nor does it make anything useful to weaponise.

Thorium is pretty much a waste product from rare earth mining, and in addition it needs some of that stuff that would be best stored under London's Houses of Parliament (it's got the right sort of clay - that's irony for you) and turns that nuclear waste in a far less dangerous substance too. In addition, you can model such a reactor to self-regulate and thus not be in need of complex, multi-layered failsafes when something goes wrong which also makes it much smaller (no need for massive domes to catch any radioactive steam when it pops a leak, and no complex failsafes as heat expansion regulates the amount of reaction and it thus self-stabilises).

In other words, it's such a good fit to actual real-life requirements that nobody profits enough to buy their customary fleet of yachts on the back of it, which is why I can only see this happen in places like China (which may actually explain why they now process rare earth ore locally and only export the result). I know the Chinese are now actively looking at such development, and if they manage to get it going I suspect there will be a major shift in power use. The US has (AFAIK) not even started because of the aforementioned "I cannot buy any yachts off the back of it" problem which has created huge barriers to even get the research restarted..

It's good that we look at electric cars, but if you don't follow the supply chain refit all the way back to where it starts (power generation) we're not really solving the problem.

Re: 'charged to 80 per cent in just 25 minutes'

After all, some of the *big* advantages of electricity are that it doesn't spill on the pavement, nor catches fire: the safety measures needed for pump won't be needed.

Up to a point. Real fast charging requires of the order of 100kW or more, and would require in the region of 400-500V, 250A. Doing that across multiple vehicles concurrently won't be without some very interesting challenges. You might think you can make it safe, but I'd back the ingenious fools of the general public to find any problem, no matter how remote it might seem.

"safety measures needed for pump won't be needed."

Just drop the charger in the water after an heavy rain....

Re: 'charged to 80 per cent in just 25 minutes'

After all, some of the *big* advantages of electricity are that it doesn't spill on the pavement, nor catches fire: the safety measures needed for pump won't be needed.

The same safety measures may not be needed but other, just as stringent, measures will.

For fast charging you are playing with high voltage and current and you have to consider what will happen if someone pokes a metal object into the plug or some clown puts a nail through the cable 'just for laughs'.