Thread: Full Electric LDV ute

EV's are as reliable as the electricity used to recharge them. Look at Europe and North America where they've been suffering from energy crisis since they tried to go green in some areas, then got worse after the Ukraine kicked off and even more worse now they in a winter blast where they are about to have rolling blackouts. In some places theres not enough charging stations so people have to limit their driving because they can only charge at home. Hydrogen combustion engines are the way to go.

Just an update, I have now done 1500 kms in the Ute, getting more used to it, because I work around the north waikato area I have used the fast charges at countdown Huntly, never had to wait, and apart from that I charge from a 3 pin plug at the depot.
Ute drives well, handles great with all the weight down low between the chassis rails,

Where are all these charging stations and if it takes ages to charge then everyone will be sitting around with their fingers up their bums.

A range of 300-400km's then another long charge just isn't practical at all.

I think solar generated hydrogen or hydrogen based power is what we will need if we get away from diesel

I'm curious if anyone has good costings of what the average farmer would pay to install something
Land cost would be little or nothing if you have the space, solar panels are relatively cheap, the cost would be the extraction system and storing Hydrogen is rather difficult I understand

rooftop wind turbines are a waste of time. Reliably produce 5 8ths of fuck all. To produce ANY useable power your turbine needs to be way the hell up in clean airflow: in a suburb that's a minimum of 12 m, so practically un-doable, or godamn ugly at the least. And to produce sufficient power to recharge an EV you need a decent sized wind turbine. A 1kw one wont cut the mustard. They only produce a kw in a hurricane.

Back in 2006 when I studied off grid shit my tutor stepped us through the math of every home in NZ (say 1.5 million homes) having a rooftop turbine, and then proceeded to show us just how many big boy turbines you needed to replace them with. 29 was the number. 29x3mw turbines.

Originally Posted by XR500

rooftop wind turbines are a waste of time. Reliably produce 5 8ths of fuck all. To produce ANY useable power your turbine needs to be way the hell up in clean airflow: in a suburb that's a minimum of 12 m, so practically un-doable, or godamn ugly at the least. And to produce sufficient power to recharge an EV you need a decent sized wind turbine. A 1kw one wont cut the mustard. They only produce a kw in a hurricane.

Back in 2006 when I studied off grid shit my tutor stepped us through the math of every home in NZ (say 1.5 million homes) having a rooftop turbine, and then proceeded to show us just how many big boy turbines you needed to replace them with. 29 was the number. 29x3mw turbines.

Then add into the equation that the number of turbines required will actually make enough wind resistance to impact weather patterns....Think along the lines of covering the country in windbreaks made of turbines with each one providing disruption to the flow of air....

https://www.nanoflowcell.com/info-ce...ound-the-world


This stuff looks exciting

Originally Posted by tamamutu

https://www.nanoflowcell.com/info-ce...ound-the-world


This stuff looks exciting

Indeed.

I have said many many times that while I like EVs, they ware not the solution to our woes. Their great advantage is their efficiency in converting the stored energy into motion, but their biggest issue is fuel capacity. I also stated to more people than I care to remember that we have not yet found the solution to replacing ICE but EV were not it. This concept is a perfect example of what I mean. This is a potential solution that we had not thought of. It is another step towards the future solutions to our issues. And there will be many different solutions as no one solution will work for everyone.

I am trying to find an article I saw a few years back where a guy had worked out how to get Hydrogen and oxygen from water, mix it with carbon from the atmosphere and make hydrocarbon fuel that was carbon negative (More carbon was pulled from the air than was released back into it during consumption) . The really interesting part of his concept was that
-it worked in normal ICE vehicles with minor tuning so you did not have to replace every motor in the worlds fleet.
-It used existing fuel distribution logistics (Tankers and fuel stations, bowsers etc)
-It could be made anywhere that there was a supply of water, and electricity to make it. Thus removing the need for large ships carrying it around the world- eliminates chance of oil spill disasters etc and allows those ships to be converted into container shipping.

He had proof of concept but was unable to scale up to large volume production with the technology he had developed at that stage. I do not know what happened to it. Whether it succeeded (doubtful) or failed. But again it is an example of the fact that the solution has simply not yet been found. It is there, we just need to work it out....

Wouldnt touch it personally. its an EV strapped to a ICE body with a shit-ton of early adoptors tax but the comments about the range are interesting and once i think about it, not surprising at all. Going faster needs a lot more power due to drag and utes are as aerodynamic as the auckland museum.

Hmm interesting, I wounder how the rural power grid would cope with these. Water crossings or flood water here in Auckland? Towing a boat? Still lots of questions...

Originally Posted by 300CALMAN

Hmm interesting, I wounder how the rural power grid would cope with these. Water crossings or flood water here in Auckland? Towing a boat? Still lots of questions...

It has coped with rotating milk sheds.

Originally Posted by Konev

It has coped with rotating milk sheds.

Yes that's a requirement for dairy but that's only one type of property. In town the network people tell me we won't cope with many EV's as the system stands.

Originally Posted by Konev

It has coped with rotating milk sheds.

it is beyond me why it hasnt been mandatory for years,if you build a large farm building...well ANY building actually,the roof of at least one should have to be solar panels..... even if it only heated the hot water to wash out the plant and helped run the rest of the outfit...most ratary sheds have a huge roof that is wasted space. there are a few clever sheds around,including one that bottles methane?? natural gas made from the effluent and uses it for all sorts of stuff.
larger initial cost for sure,but long term these little bits add up. a how water heating bill in single figures each month is a HUGE saving for a domestic household..let alone cowshed where 800 litres goes down drain at a time.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

it is beyond me why it hasnt been mandatory for years,if you build a large farm building...well ANY building actually,the roof of at least one should have to be solar panels..... even if it only heated the hot water to wash out the plant and helped run the rest of the outfit...most ratary sheds have a huge roof that is wasted space. there are a few clever sheds around,including one that bottles methane?? natural gas made from the effluent and uses it for all sorts of stuff.
larger initial cost for sure,but long term these little bits add up. a how water heating bill in single figures each month is a HUGE saving for a domestic household..let alone cowshed where 800 litres goes down drain at a time.

Unfortunately payback is still marginal on some systems but yes, even just to give you some independence when the network goes down.

I thought this was interesting (OK I haven't read it all).

https://mro.massey.ac.nz/bitstream/h...3/02_whole.pdf

How is yours going now @Hunter595