Energy Matters Forums

[offgridQLD]

I would say at a guess the battery would be $15,000 - $20,000 from Memory that are Toshiba battery's not Chinese so they would be expensive.

I wouldnt bother replacing them with the same, you can get similar spec 3.7v 50AH batterys from china that could be retrofitted in ten years time.

Kurt

[jimbo]

I was thinking more along the lines of 'new old stock' that they may need to get rid of at a heavily discounted price.

[offgridQLD]

Perhaps , they would be way overkill for running a off grid house. The loads a typical offgrid house would subject a battery to a so small I don't think a battery with such a high C rating and particularly high charge C rating is necessary. You can charge the 16kwh battery at 50kw charge rate.

Not saying they would work or be good just you might be paying for more than you need (overkill)

Another issue is they are low capacity high voltage ony 50AH cells but 330v so for a usefull 48v you would need to parallel 6 or 7 cells together (not ideal) . Unless you ran a 120v inverter. I really feel that using single 400 - 700Ah lifpo4 cells is a better match for off grid.


One thing I can say once you experience the smooth instantaneous torque of a AC motor from zero RPM . Getting back into the gas burner feels like there are so many dead zone's in the power delivery, noise and the biggest thing you notice is having to use the brakes all the time as you don't have Regen. I wouldn't be surprised if the front pads on the I-mieve last the life of the car.

Kurt

[Solar Sam]

Ergon Energy did an 18 month trial in Townsville recently - outer and inner suburbs and announced the results recently - see here :

http://www.ergon.com.au/about-us/news-room/media-releases/regions/northern/trial-finds-mass-uptake-of-electric-vehicles-could-impact-ergons-network

Seems the car was ideal for inner city driving and living but not outer suburbs with no services.

[offgridQLD]

Its simple to work out if it will work for you or not with the Imiev. If you drive more than 100 - 120km each day without any way to charge then it wont work for you. If you drive that distance or under then it will work fine.

Take Brisbane for example from the center of the CBD to the most outer suburbs in any direction is about 30km

below is a 30km radius around Brisbane. I would say that more or less covers every suburb there is including the outer suburbs. any more north and your on the sunshine coast any more south and your closer to the cold coast.

I can drive from the CBD to north lakes up the top and back for 1/2 a charge.If your driving more than that a day then your a taxi or delivery driver (I call inner city the 10km radius)

though if you live out in a country town and have to drive 100km to the local shops The I-mive wouldn't work.



Kurt

[Smurf1976]

below is a 30km radius around Brisbane. I would say that more or less covers every suburb there is including the outer suburbs. any more north and your on the sunshine coast any more south and your closer to the cold coast.

Agreed that it works for day to day use.

The problem is when you wake up on Saturday morning and decide that the best thing to do today is to take the kids to some place on the Gold Coast. Not a problem with petrol/diesel since you just spend a few minutes filling the tank if necessary. But trying to charge an electric vehicle in this situation will likely be a problem.

I drive about 20 km most days here in Hobart so that would not be a problem. But it sure will be if I decide to do a 400 km return trip to Launceston (for whatever reason). I'm not aware of anywhere that a vehicle could be charged on that trip, short of asking a small business owner or household nicely.

Even worse if I wanted to drive to Queenstown (roughly 270km one way). The only place I know of where there's a publicly accessible power point on that trip is at the public BBQ area (electric BBQ's of course) between Tarraleah and Tungatinah power stations. Charging there does at least mean you know exactly where the electricity came from.....

I like the idea of EV's, but I can totally understand why there is consumer reluctance. I can only justify owning one car, and need one that can travel longer distances. It could work for 2+ car households though.

[offgridQLD]

Yes one car and family and multiple hundred km drives in one day of corse it wouldn't work for that situation. A tesla ev would though.

A car like the I-miev was never designed for travel over 100 - 150km on one charge.Just like a some cars are not designed to tow heavy trailers, go off road or carry more than two people.

It works for most people's day to day use and that's where 90% of most people's driving takes place. Like the mums doing the school run in the two ton 4wd that they say they need for the once every 6months off road trip
It's a tool to save you burning through tons of gas high mantanance engines and localised pollution.

Kurt

[bpratt]

It works for most people's day to day use and that's where 90% of most people's driving takes place. Like the mums doing the school run in the two ton 4wd that they say they need for the once every 6months off road trip

Do you mean the huge landcruisers that the only time they are ever off road is when they accidentally run off the edge of their front driveway on to the lawn ?

Most dangerous vehicle around school grounds.

Actually, your I-miev is a far better second car than those with a big 4wd that they think they might one day go 'off-road' with.

[Smurf1976]

It works for most people's day to day use and that's where 90% of most people's driving takes place.

Agreed there. But certainly in areas outside the capital cities, I'd say that most people have a need to do a longer trip from time to time which makes it viable as a second car, but not as the only car in a household.

Residents of big cities may not have this issue. I'm not really sure on that point, having never lived in a big city, but I'd assume that most would want the ability to drive out of the city from time to time?

[offgridQLD]

Sure if you want to travel long distances then take your gas burner. We are not selling both our gas cars. We will keep one . Just have to remember to use it from time to time so the fuel doesn't go off or starting battery dead .

I was speaking for the majority of people .most of the population live in or ne'er a city and drive short distances regularly. There will always be a few percent that travel very long distances and live in remote locations.

Kurt