The future of car driving is electric, say experts

[rooster59]

The future of car driving is electric, say experts

 

 

Transport systems are a major source of pollution. Figures published by the World Bank suggest emissions from the transport sector make up nearly a quarter of global emissions.

 

The first United Nations Global Sustainable Transport Conference attracted professionals to discuss how to reduce the ecological footprint caused by all methods of transport.

 

“We here for people, including our children and grandchildren,” said Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General. “Achieving sustainable transport is necessary to realize our vision of a world that is safer and healthier for all people.”

 

Experts say it is important to persuade car drivers to switch to rechargeable electric vehicles.

 

Norway has the highest plug-in electric car ownership per capita in the world.

 

“If you buy an electric car in Oslo, our capital, you can drive in the collective fields on the side of the road, so you don’t have to end up in queues,” John Mikal Kvistad from the Royal Norwegian Embassy told Euronews. “Taxes are extremely low for electric cars. So, it’s also economically very smart to get one.”

 

In cities, cycling is a key part of the solution to climate.

 

And public transport offers less airborne pollution compared to cars.

 

Electric trains are said to be the greenest way to commute.

 

“Electric trains are clean. It depends if the electricity is clean at the origin,” Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, International Union of Railways, explained to Euronews. “Marrakesh has the biggest solar field in the world, and this would be dedicated to train electricity. But there are other examples in the world, and I’m sure that Turkmenistan with the radiation you have here in your country can also develop solar energy that can be used for train driving.”

 

Switching to sustainable transport requires massive investment

 

An expert report recommended an annual investment into green transport of 2 trillion US dollars, something very few countries are ready for.

 

“As developing counties concerned, they need to invest 3 percent of their GDP every year for infrastructure,” Wu Hongbo, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, told Euronews. “But public financing – domestic, international, combined – would not be enough. So, we need to mobilize the private sectors.”

 

That level of investment could lower operating costs, and save up 70 trillion dollars by 2050, not to mention emitting fewer hydrocarbons into the air.

 

 

-- © Copyright Euronews 2016-12-03

[thaibeachlovers]

97% of scientists support climate change caused by humans and it's too expensive to do anything about it.

Something is wrong with this picture.

[daveAustin]

Would be easier if all the oil bigwigs disappeared.

[edwinchester]

Electric vehicles yes.......rechargeable? Only when battery technology greatly improves.  I'd prefer hydrogen fuel cells or as a stop gap hydrogen powered internal combustion engines.  Hydrogen can be produced by renewable energy and used as a truly green fuel.

[Grouse]

Rechargeable batteries or hydrogen fuel cells will both require huge increase in electrical power. Nuclear is the only sensible way to achieve this. (Hydrogen from electrolysis you see)

[Grubster]

10 hours ago, edwinchester said:

Electric vehicles yes.......rechargeable? Only when battery technology  greatly improves.   I'd prefer hydrogen fuel cells or as a stop gap hydrogen powered internal combustion engines.  Hydrogen can be produced by renewable energy and used as a truly green fuel.

Too expensive so far but yes maybe some day.

[JetsetBkk]

8 hours ago, rooster59 said:

“If you buy an electric car in Oslo, our capital, you can drive in the collective fields on the side of the road,

 

Huh? 

 

[Anthony5]

Tesla electric cars have been a success in countries like Norway only because of the huge tax breaks, lifetime free charging at the quick charge stations, and other incentives.

 

Take away all those freebies, Tesla recently removed the free charging already, and look how the popularity declines.

 

Solar energy was also very popular, until they removed the tax breaks.

[Pdaz]

Are these the same experts who advised us to all buy diesels a few years back ?

[ExpatOilWorker]

1 hour ago, edwinchester said:

Electric vehicles yes.......rechargeable? Only when battery technology greatly improves.

I'd prefer hydrogen fuel cells or as a stop gap hydrogen powered internal combustion engines.

Hydrogen can be produced by renewable energy and used as a truly green fuel.

 

Hydrogen sound so sweet and clean, yes. But have you ever checked the energy density (MJ/L) og hydrogen?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_density

You need extreme high pressure to get any kind of meaningful fuel capasity and then because H2 is an extreme small molecule, it leaks really easy. You will be banned from parking in any basement or indoor parking garage,

[Pdaz]

1 minute ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

 

Hydrogen sound so sweet and clean, yes. But have you ever checked the energy density (MJ/L) og hydrogen?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_density

You need extreme high pressure to get any kind of meaningful fuel capasity and then because H2 is an extreme small molecule, it leaks really easy. You will be banned from parking in any basement or indoor parking garage,

 

Yeah... Thai plumbers can't make up a water tight fitting...

What chance with H2 ?

[ExpatOilWorker]

36 minutes ago, Anthony5 said:

Tesla electric cars have been a success in countries like Norway only because of the huge tax breaks, lifetime free charging at the quick charge stations, and other incentives.

 

Take away all those freebies, Tesla recently removed the free charging already, and look how the popularity declines.

 

Solar energy was also very popular, until they removed the tax breaks.

 

I am a die hard oilfield guy, but electric vehicles are the future for 3 reasons:

 

1. The get excellent mileage 4-6 km/kwh (12-18 km/l)

2. Simpler to produce

3. Low maintenance. No radiator fluid, transmission oil, engine oil. Some EV never need to change brake pads.

 

That said, it will take 20 years before the auto industry embrace this change.

Edited December 3, 2016 by ExpatOilWorker

[ExpatOilWorker]

12 minutes ago, Pdaz said:

 

Yeah... Thai plumbers can't make up a water tight fitting...

What chance with H2 ?

 

Should ensure some explosive movies on Youtube in the future.

[Silurian]

If the Toyota Prius Prime was available in Thailand, this would be my next car. It is a plug-in hybrid. Most of my driving is around Bangkok and it would be perfect.

 

Prius Prime uses a series parallel hybrid system, which means it can drive the wheels using both electric motors and/or its gas engine. If the battery is fully charged, Prius Prime runs on the electric motors only. When the battery runs out, it operates like Prius, using both the gas engine and electric motors to drive the car as they are needed and available.

 

http://www.toyota.com/priusprime/

 

[madusa]

That's why the Aliens refuse to contact us when they see our cars they know we are busy developing the best weapons to kill each other. "Backward and Barbaric" is the remark they put on their comment on their tours to planet earth.

[Rob13]

If everybody's plugging there cars in every night, it just transfers the energy usage to the coal burning or nuke plants. Still a long ways to go.

[Mousehound]

http://www.bmwblog.com/2016/03/28/bmws-hydrogen-car-getting-closer-becoming-reality/

[Humberstone]

On 12/3/2016 at 10:30 AM, thaibeachlovers said:

97% of scientists support climate change caused by humans and it's too expensive to do anything about it.

Something is wrong with this picture.

 

Nothing wrong with the picture. This is more to do with airborne pollution and the fact that hydrocarbons are a finite resource. 

[Grouse]

1 hour ago, Humberstone said:

 

Nothing wrong with the picture. This is more to do with airborne pollution and the fact that hydrocarbons are a finite resource. 

 

No it's to do with poorly informed greens forcing closure of nuclear plants which are the only realistic way forward if you do the maths!

[Jdiddy]

Not interested unless they sound as good as my R6 @17,000rpm or a 426ci

[ExpatOilWorker]

On 3/12/2559 at 8:52 PM, Silurian said:

If the Toyota Prius Prime was available in Thailand, this would be my next car. It is a plug-in hybrid. Most of my driving is around Bangkok and it would be perfect.

 

Prius Prime uses a series parallel hybrid system, which means it can drive the wheels using both electric motors and/or its gas engine. If the battery is fully charged, Prius Prime runs on the electric motors only. When the battery runs out, it operates like Prius, using both the gas engine and electric motors to drive the car as they are needed and available.

 

http://www.toyota.com/priusprime/

 

 

I agree plug-in hybrids are the best choice and they will soon dominate the car market. They have the best of both worlds, the range of the petrol engine and efficiency of electric.

You can already get the Mercedes S500e in Thailand and next year BMW will introduce a 7-series plug-in hybrid.

[ExpatOilWorker]

22 hours ago, Rob13 said:

If everybody's plugging there cars in every night, it just transfers the energy usage to the coal burning or nuke plants. Still a long ways to go.

 

You are making the classic mistake to assume nothing will change, but imagine a world where both the car and the grid is "intelligent".

Cars are parked 95% of the time, so you just program it to charge during low price off peak hours. 

A grid with significantly wind and solar power will have some very cheap rates during sunny or windy days. You could even set your car so it sells power back to the grid if the price hits certain levels during peak hours. 

Sounds far fetched?

Denmark already produce more than 100% of its electricity from wind 5% of the time, but since the grid don't have storage, they literally have to give the electricity away fro free. 

Edited December 5, 2016 by ExpatOilWorker

[Mosha]

Electric vehicles yes.......rechargeable? Only when battery technology greatly improves.  I'd prefer hydrogen fuel cells or as a stop gap hydrogen powered internal combustion engines.  Hydrogen can be produced by renewable energy and used as a truly green fuel.

Years ago, the UK's CH 4 had a programme on called Energy from nothing. One of the technologies was cracking hydrogen from water to power an engine. The exhaust was water.

Sent from my SMART_4G_Speedy_5inch using Tapatalk

[Mosha]

Wasn't it San Francisco or Los Angeles that had electric cars that did 0 - 60 in about 4 seconds? Would do 150 miles on a charge, which was enough for their intended use, city commuting. They were lend lease only, but the oil companies appealed Bush senior, and the project was scrapped

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[Silurian]

1 hour ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

 

I agree plug-in hybrids are the best choice and they will soon dominate the car market. They have the best of both worlds, the range of the petrol engine and efficiency of electric.

You can already get the Mercedes S500e in Thailand and next year BMW will introduce a 7-series plug-in hybrid.

 

It is nice to see these types of cars are coming to Thailand. I wish I could afford the Mercedes S500e but starting at 6.4M Baht is a little too steep for me plus I am not particularly fond of Mercedes cars. I assume the BMW would be up there in price too. I doubt fuel economy is a major consideration for people who buy these higher end cars. This type of auto technology is better suited at the affordable eco-car level.

[impulse]

56 minutes ago, Mosha said:

Years ago, the UK's CH 4 had a programme on called Energy from nothing. One of the technologies was cracking hydrogen from water to power an engine. The exhaust was water.

 

To "crack" hydrogen from water, you have to input energy to separate the hydrogen from the oxygen.  You get some of that energy back when your engine converts that hydrogen to water again.  There's some flexibility to the source of energy you use to separate the hydrogen, but it's not energy from nothing.  It's one source of energy converted to another.

 

[Silurian]

32 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

To "crack" hydrogen from water, you have to input energy to separate the hydrogen from the oxygen.  You get some of that energy back when your engine converts that hydrogen to water again.  There's some flexibility to the source of energy you use to separate the hydrogen, but it's not energy from nothing.  It's one source of energy converted to another.

 

 

I would think the "green" thing to do would be using a renewable power source (solar, wind, geothermic, etc...) to perform this hydrogen separation.

 

Another source for hydrogen is natural gas. From wikipedia, "Hydrogen can be generated from natural gas with approximately 80% efficiency".

Edited December 5, 2016 by Silurian

[luk AJ]

 
It is nice to see these types of cars are coming to Thailand. I wish I could afford the Mercedes S500e but starting at 6.4M Baht is a little too steep for me plus I am not particularly fond of Mercedes cars. I assume the BMW would be up there in price too. I doubt fuel economy is a major consideration for people who buy these higher end cars. This type of auto technology is better suited at the affordable eco-car level.

BMW and others moved from hybrid cars to plug in cars the question is why? These plug in cars can't be charged by their own combustion engine so you need access to a electricity source. Where will we find this in Bangkok?


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[Silurian]

2 minutes ago, luk AJ said:

BMW and others moved from hybrid cars to plug in cars the question is why? These plug in cars can't be charged by their own combustion engine so you need access to a electricity source. Where will we find this in Bangkok?


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

 

I think in most cases the cars would be plugged in at home overnight. That is what I would do. It also might lead to certain businesses having plug-in parking spaces dedicated to such vehicles. 

[oldcarguy]

How many electric cords will I have to step over when all these electric cars need to recharge on the street in front of there homes ?

 

All these guys love to say 60 miles per gallon , but do not factor in th cost of the electric, batteries have only so many charge cycles  before they need to be replaced at huge cost, What happens when 20 electric cars need to recharge for 1-2-hours and there are 5 plugs ? ( sometimes 4-8 hours)  right now the answer is Hybrid electric , and maybe make the electric a larger part of the "hybrid" mix, But consider  using a Hybrid in  Thailand , limited battery power and high temps so you need AirCo , do you use up you battery power to keep cool in traffic , or your Petrol ?

 

As is said , not ready for prime time yet ,  but it is getting better and a better battery power to weigh ratio plus quicker recharging is the key.....