The all things EV chat thread

[Deleted member 1740]

So couple Xmas ago, when My parents had no heating .. with a fault code on the boiler and no tech could get out for 2 weeks you kindly offered a tip to try to help, appreciate you are a plumber .. however did I say na we paid £5000 for this boiler I'm gonna not even try it ....

Just trying to repay the favour.

IIRC the help i was prepared to give you was nowhere near as complicated as lifting a bonnet and disconnecting a12v battery etc.

2 different things.

I'll leave this thread well alone now as i cant compete with your level of expertise and knowledge.

 

[PJ87]

IIRC the help i was prepared to give you was nowhere near as complicated as lifting a bonnet and disconnecting a12v battery etc.

2 different things.

I'll leave this thread well alone now as i cant compete with your level of expertise and knowledge.

Lifting a bonnet and disconnecting the battery is as easy as checking your oil levels. I'm not saying take the battery out of the car

Just disconnect and reconnect



Big red easy disconnect switch and back on again.

Don't need to get your tools out and undo the car

 

[bobmac]

Jeez Bob get a grip. He is putting the facts out there for people to make up their own minds. You are the one with the problem.

If checking his facts are true and finding out they are not means I'm the one with the problem, fair enough.

 

[Blue in Munich]

£899 for 7KW Podpoint fitted

https://pod-point.com/products/driver/solo

Or £1549 for a 22kW model.

Those are the prices for a universal charger, which comes without a cable, so you may need to buy one of them. And the site has to meet certain criteria, otherwise there may be more costs involved. And you'll probably need to pay for a 3 phase supply (assuming you don't already have one) if you want the 22kW.

 

[bobmac]

Or £1549 for a 22kW model.

Those are the prices for a universal charger, which comes without a cable, so you may need to buy one of them. And the site has to meet certain criteria, otherwise there may be more costs involved. And you'll probably need to pay for a 3 phase supply (assuming you don't already have one) if you want the 22kW.

Why would you want 22kw 3 phase charging?

 

[Jason.H]

Looking at the new Nissan Townstar vans. The electric version is 11/12 grand more than the petrol. Do we really believe that it’s costs that much more to build or are they cashing in on the promise of cheaper running? Therefore the buyer doesn’t benefit Nissan does.

 

[PJ87]

Why would you want 22kw 3 phase charging?

Very few cars ATM can handle it. Their on board chargers are 7kw ac , even the vauxhall if you go 11kw would only accept half of that

Future maybe

But hey still under the 2k quoted so proves the point 2k is misleading

 

[bobmac]

But hey still under the 2k quoted so proves the point 2k is misleading

Not at all.
All EVs cost over £50k, chargers cost £2k and most only have a range of 115 miles if you drive them like a lunatic.
Lets stick with petrol and diesel cause they're not bad for the environment.
Not forgetting the electricity that charges the cars all comes from clean coal.

 

[Jason.H]

Not at all.
All EVs cost over £50k, chargers cost £2k and most only have a range of 115 miles if you drive them like a lunatic.
Lets stick with petrol and diesel cause they're not bad for the environment.
Not forgetting the electricity that charges the cars all comes from clean coal.

On the news today the uk is buying in coal to keep the lights on. Right now electricity is not clean or cheap.

 

[PJ87]

On the news today the uk is buying in coal to keep the lights on. Right now electricity is not clean or cheap.

However it's getting cleaner by the day and burning fossil fuel for electric is cleaner than burning it yourself in a car

Coal will be the emergency back up not the first choice

 

[bobmac]

https://grid.iamkate.com/

 

[PJ87]

https://grid.iamkate.com/

Waiting for someone to say look solar is 0 lol

 

[Tashyboy]

However it's getting cleaner by the day and burning fossil fuel for electric is cleaner than burning it yourself in a car

Coal will be the emergency back up not the first choice

As long as there’s not a petition for Tash to get his knee pads and shovel out am ok with that. ???

 

[cliveb]

The issue has already had a fix. My car has a 12v button. Basically this is used to start the car off the main battery when the 12v is bost!!

I've never understood why an EV needs an old fashioned 12V battery.
This comment seems to imply that they could be operated purely from the main battery.
So can anyone explain why EVs have a 12V battery?

 

[Deleted member 1740]

I've never understood why an EV needs an old fashioned 12V battery.
This comment seems to imply that they could be operated purely from the main battery.
So can anyone explain why EVs have a 12V battery?

It's to do with the lower voltage needed for different things like central locking, electric windows etc

 

[cliveb]

It's to do with the lower voltage needed for different things like central locking, electric windows etc

So why can't they just use a DC stepdown converter to derive a 12V supply from the main battery? There must surely be such a converter somewhere in the car in order to recharge the 12V battery, so the presence of the battery itself seems somehow redundant.

Or is the 12V battery only ever recharged in tandem with the main battery? If so, how is that done from a high voltage DC fast charger? It'll still need a stepdown converter, unless fast chargers also supply a low voltage as well.

 

[Deleted member 1740]

So why can't they just use a DC stepdown converter to derive a 12V supply from the main battery? There must surely be such a converter somewhere in the car in order to recharge the 12V battery, so the presence of the battery itself seems somehow redundant.

Or is the 12V battery only ever recharged in tandem with the main battery? If so, how is that done from a high voltage DC fast charger? It'll still need a stepdown converter, unless fast chargers also supply a low voltage as well.

Sorry Clive but i dont know. My knowledge of Electrics goes as far as wiring boilers and checking voltage....

PJ87 is the expert on EVs and how they work

 

[PJ87]

So why can't they just use a DC stepdown converter to derive a 12V supply from the main battery? There must surely be such a converter somewhere in the car in order to recharge the 12V battery, so the presence of the battery itself seems somehow redundant.

Or is the 12V battery only ever recharged in tandem with the main battery? If so, how is that done from a high voltage DC fast charger? It'll still need a stepdown converter, unless fast chargers also supply a low voltage as well.

https://topcharger.co.uk/why-do-ele... combustion engine,require a very low voltage.

 

[cliveb]

https://topcharger.co.uk/why-do-electric-cars-have-a-12v-battery/#:~:text=Because like internal combustion engine,require a very low voltage.

OK, thanks for the link.
Here are a couple of interesting paragraphs from the article:

It is cheaper to use a 12v battery than it is to engineer a battery management system that creates a DC-DC conversion from 400v (the voltage that most electric cars run on) to 12v.

OK, fair enough. But...

A 12v battery can be charged by the electric motor in drive, although in most electric cars, it is topped up by the main battery directly via a converter that steps down the voltage from 400v/800v to around 14v.

So there IS a battery management system that uses DC stepdown, which seems to nullify their previous argument about why it's cheaper to have a 12V battery.

Obviously there must be further subtleties that only EV engineers understand, but as a layman I remain perplexed as to why the 12V battery cannot be eliminated.

 

[clubchamp98]

OK, thanks for the link.
Here are a couple of interesting paragraphs from the article:

OK, fair enough. But...

So there IS a battery management system that uses DC stepdown, which seems to nullify their previous argument about why it's cheaper to have a 12V battery.

Obviously there must be further subtleties that only EV engineers understand, but as a layman I remain perplexed as to why the 12V battery cannot be eliminated.

It might be like a back up battery for important things like computer settings.
This would be lost if the driver completely flattened the main drive battery.
But can’t see why it can’t have a system like a stop,start battery.
Could be it reduces capacity and so mileage.