IDD15

Posted by Tom Sharp 2 on 28/04/2018 08:46:55: I used to do 90 miles per day before breakfast in my vans, then another 30 or so later in the day. But the 90 mile part was only three days per week, so the average would be less. Fair point! As always the phrase "There are lies, damned lies and then statistics" springs to mind! idd

Meanwhile in other news: https://www.zap-map.com/zap-analysis-rapid-charging/#more-38324 And on the commercial vehicle front: https://www.zap-map.com/nissan-launches-e-nv200-40kwh/#more-38344 Interesting they say the average daily mileage for a van of this size is 55 miles. Pip pip idd

Gawd help you on here then if you drive a 4x4 EV! I've been labeled a subsidy a subsidy sucking parking pariah because I have the temerity to charge at a Supermarket and it might be near the doors! Marvelloooose....... idd

Re Tebay Could not agree with you all more, the selection of pies in the Deli was fabulous. It is also one of the few places I have found damson jam! Re Lake district passes Great idea! Last time I drove them it was in a Mini Metro and it was hard work. Re My EV journey It was never a properly planned journey more a series of events over time really. A friend got a Prius a few years ago and it was really interesting learning about it. However as clever as the Prius is the fact that you had two propulsion systems and two energy systems in one car has always sat uncomfortably with me. Funnily enough we were out with him yesterday in his new Mitsubishi PHEV. Very, very impressive I have to say. Then I heard about some start up called Tesla creating an electric sports car. Shortly after that I nearly stepped in front of one in Monte Carlo whilst working over there on a project for an oil company! I loved the quiet under stated performance as it zipped away, but not the price. For me though it kind of sowed the seed that an electric car was in my future, provided I could avoid being run over! Step forward 4 years or so and I worked briefly with a lady who was utterly besotted with her Nissan Leaf! Shortly after that my employer at the time got some employee deal whereby you got £400 cash back through Nissan if you leased a Leaf. So we went for a test drive, were hooked and the rest is history. Underlying all this is a professional interest in things electrical and the surrounding environmental issues. As Erf rightly points out there has to be a genuine gain else it is not worth it. I think there is a gain to be had with EV's and PHEV's idd

Don Sure no problem. So this is for my 30kw Hr Leaf and my preferred motorway cruising speed is 65 mph and me driving! Winter at average 3.7m per kw hr - 80% planned recharge range 98 miles. Summer at average 4.1m per kw - 80% planned recharge range 88 miles. Caveats, yes there is always a BUT with an EV If we go North from here it is uphill (Shap) and we will use more juice. Real world example, on last years Scottish road trip first planned stop at 95 miles was Tebay services and we arrived there with 11% in the battery. The Ecotricity charger was working fine so no problem. But there can be problems, for example last night coming home at Tibshelf services on the M1 BOTH chargers had been blocked by an inconsiderate ICE driver. Not a problem for me this time with 85% in the battery.... For day to day commuting round here in South Manchester (average speed 17.6 mph ) I'll run the battery down much lower because I know where all the chargers are. HTH idd

ERF The TR7, now that brings back memories of wanting one of those as a spotty teenager. But that may have been something to do with Purdey (Joanna Lumley) driving one in the new Avengers! Now I am older and wiser I much prefer the TR6. British Leyland was always rubbish with car electrics. A friends dad had the new Rover SD1 (in yellow) which we thought was really cool until he was repeatedly locked in or out of it due the new fangled central locking system! I inherited my mum's Morris 1300 as my first car. Well remember having to use the plastic bag from my sandwiches wrapped around the distributor/coil when driving in the rain on the M62 back to uni.... Your experience of heavy rain over Shap was the same as ours on our way back from Scotland in the Leaf last summer (summer what summer?). I arrived at our planned charging/lunch stop at Penrith with a lot less reserve in the battery than I had anticipated. But the Leaf drove/swam through the rain without a glitch and there was no need to tuck into our sandwiches early. It is certainly true that when driving an EV you become a lot more aware of the effects of wind, rain and topography on energy consumption. The rule of thumb when doing long EV drives is to work to 80% of capacity in distance between charges. From practical experience it is good advice. idd

Thought I'd post a link to the latest Fully Charged News show as it covers a number of topics we've discussed on here recently Jaguar iPace, buses, maintenance costs, hydrogen powered vehicles and lots of other good stuff. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tprw8OAzWQE&t=26s This in turn led to another news item. https://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=https%3A%2F%2Fqz.com%2F1169690%2Fshenzhen-in-china-has-16359-electric-buses-more-than-americas-biggest-citiess-conventional-bus-fleet%2F&redir_token=GDqaXBfDcvYphybWwfTbzcV9JmZ8MTUyNDQ2NTczOEAxNTI0Mzc5MzM4&event=comments I think we are a bit behind the curve here in the UK! Hope the links work. Pip pip idd

Erf You paint a very dismal picture of what we electrical and mechanical engineers can achieve. I infer from your post that like me you have been involved in many difficult projects, typically for one off specialised installations. To make comparisons to what is required for a mass market consumer item, which is what a car is, is not valid. Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) have built 200 prototypes for the iPace. Prototype to operational test rig in one has been the norm for me. Re: Torrential Rain & Cold After 6800 miles I am happy to report my Leaf has not skipped an electron despite the worst of the British weather including the Beast from the East. I cannot speak for other brands and countries. Re: Electrical interference, Don't think I've had any of that and I've driven close to some pretty big windmills in Scotland. However the Bluetooth link between my Nokia phone and the car can be a bit flakey at times. Whilst I fully appreciate your caution re PR and "Elon Musk" spin your mind seems to have become very closed, which I find surprising from a fellow engineer. idd PS Re Earlier Milk float discussion I am pleased to report a local milkman is now using a Nissan electric van for his round. Result, what goes around comes around!

Posted by Erfolg on 20/04/2018 20:24:16: IDDD15, the sad part about engineering is that nothing comes free. Other than with the perpetual motion advocates. I understood that the torque was high when not moving, dropping in an inverse relationship as the rotational speed increased. But, hey, being an ex clunky, we know nothing, other than our sparky brethren, would often provide a big motor with a lot of control gear. Even then much of the gain was elusive. Don't patronise me Erflog because I dared to inject some informed facts into this "discussion". Again with regenerative breaking, all you need is a motor, nothing in-between to control the current towards the battery. Or does the bit in the middle come free. As I said in my post (if you had bothered to read it properly) the motor controller takes care of this. It probably requires the controller to be fitted with three additional MOSFET components and there will be additional software required to integrate the regen braking , conventional friction breaking system and battery charger . Nissan have done an excellent job of this on the Leaf and the braking method/force is seamless in operation. It is easy to paint a picture where all is gains, in reality there is kit and losses and much of the gains postulated are not worth a bag of cold chips. Regenerative braking is hugely important for electric vehicles in order to maximise their range. You are forever banging on about EV range so to liken this to a bag of cold chips is quite frankly insulting. If electric vehicles come to dominate, due to their inherent superiority, that will be great. if it is purely down to politics and grants, that is not so good news. At present I think I can hear a can being kicked down the road to become some one elses problem. To much is being sold on lower cost. Where this is being done by avoiding the taxes that other road users are required to pay, it is another thing. Get rid of IC vehicles and I would put money on taxes rising on electric vehicles, in one way, or another, to match or surpass the existing taxes. I do not think any existing EV driver who has contributed to this thread would dispute that the taxes will change in the future. idd

Re servicing: Our Nissan Micra is £129 for a limited service and £169 for its full service. The Leaf is £85 for all services at the same Nissan dealership. Re Regen Braking This is not a separate system, the motor provides the regenerative breaking by becoming a generator. Instead of the motor taking power from the battery the rotating magnet generates power which is then fed back via the motor controller to the battery. A benefit of this is you don't have to clean your alloys very often and brake pads last a very long time. As evidenced by the taxi company previously reported. Re Transmission Most EV's appear to use a single gear from the motor to step down motor speed to wheels. No other gears are generally required. An electric motor produces 100% torque at standstill (0 revs) hence why current EV's generally have good 0-60 times. Hence standing start comparisons with flash ICE cars tend to be a favourite party piece on motoring telly programs. Motor/transmission parts count for the Leaf is probably very similar to the Tesla. There are various Leaf cutaway diagrams and YouTube Leaf strip downs on the web where you can verify this. There again it is on the web... Very interesting the IPace video where they interview the JLR engineers and show off the motor. A 95% efficency for the motor across a 5:1 speed range is very impressive, and its so small. JLR have put a LOT of money into this. Pip pip idd

I would second the Elf and it turns on a sixpence without ailerons. Highly recomeded. Warning, DLG flying can become quite addictive! idd

Erflog, Brian et al please keep it up! The fewer leccy drivers there are the better and the longer my road tax will stay at zero and the other perks will stay in place. I've absolutely no idea how I've managed for the past 15 months using my Leaf without it bursting into flames, or having its charging facilities vandalised, or running out of rare earths. Or even for that matter the sky falling in. I suggest you temper your pontificating with a thought for the thousands who suffer and die due to poor air quality. I can assure you that emphysema is far from "liberating" for those who suffer. But hey why should that have to get in the way of your need to drive to the first city and back with out a stop? Electric cars work, fast charging works, and they drive better and smoother than any ICE period. idd

We really enjoyed our visit yesterday and it was really nice to meet up with folks. So a big thank you to those who made the day possible. idd Note to self, YOU will get the Me109 flying this year!

Useful video on comparative EV costs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEHeayGG_AA I lease my Leaf as IMHO maybe not such a good idea to buy a rapidly evolving technology with possible high depreciation costs. There again there is news of secondhand ev prices increasing which is good news. idd

More numbers for those interested. Servicing costs for a Leaf were I think £86 plus VAT, BUT we lease the Leaf and a 3 year servicing plan got worked into the overall "deal". This is the first time I have leased a car so whether or not I've done the right thing remains to be seen. Over the past 14 months the Leaf has averaged 4.3 miles/Kwh. Currently with winter driving conditions we are doing about 3.7 miles/Kwh. So in winter I get about 110 miles on a full battery, in Summer maybe 130 ish. My average speed is 16.7mph. Oh the joys of driving in South Manchester.... I mostly charge at Sainsburys when I do the shopping. they have two rapids and at the moment it is free! other supermarkets notably LIDL are also doing this. This won't last but hey while the sun shines make miles.... I can charge at home as a charging unit was in the deal. Percy thanks for the tip off about the deal with OVO and Nissan I shall follow that up! There is a lot of understandable concern about the ability of the "grid" to cope. One report says it is all going to end in melt down, another it will all be fine and there is nothing to worry about. The only point of agreement is that the grid is changing and it is going to be very different to what we have today. Batteries are going to play a big part, the performance of the humungous Tesla battery in Australia is a game changer. Will hydrogen play a part as an energy storage, I think it could. Will hydrogen play a part in transport, I think it could but not for domestic vehicles. As it stands at the moment EV's do not fit every lifestyle like an ICE can, unless you can afford a Tesla 100S. But the numbers are heading in the right direction, even in as little as 14 months. HTH idd

E- Pedal On the Leaf the friction brakes and regenerative braking are linked together. The Leaf applies the regen braking first and then the friction brakes. In effect the friction brakes are used very little in comparison to an ice car and one of the minor benefits of Leaf ownership is you don't have to clean your alloys very often. E- Pedal takes this a stage further on the 2018 Leaf. When you switch on the e-pedal basically the car will automatically apply the friction brakes when you take your foot off the accelerator. The car is also "aware" as to whether it is going up or down hill and of course its speed and calculates how much friction and regen braking to apply. So much so that it can hold itself stationary on a 30 degree slope. E - pedal as best as I can make out is really for driving in stop start traffic, what I seem to do most of these days... I have been driving a Leaf now for 14 months and it is the best car I have ever had in 40 years of driving. I will never go back to an ICE. Electric vehicles are very much in their infancy and are by no means perfect but the future is very promising. I'm certainly looking forward to getting my hands on a 2018 Leaf! idd

Thanks for posting these photos they bring back many happy memories of our holidays in Austria, the Archensee being a particular favourite location. Munich is an excellent starting point to get into Austria by train, and it is well worth spending a few days there with lots to see. The science museum in Munich is excellent with two or three halls of full size aviation and model exhibits. Cheers Ian

Having followed the builds done for the Scooter and the reports of what a great day on the Orme it was I've decided to get my modelling mojo back and have another crack at PSS. I really liked the idea of the Skyhawk in the "what if "schemes, the FAA paint job in particular. But what to build? Then I realised why not take the "what if" a step further and have an airframe that never existed. Now its obvious from the build threads that there is a considerable investment in time, money and midnight oil on behalf of the builders. So having completed one project people might not be too keen on anything so major for a while. So the idea is why not have an informal build off around the Rivington Hawk based around colour schemes that may have been? I'm going to do it any way and I wondered if any one else wanted to join in. Either way I am determined to see you on the Orme in 2017! Cheers Ian

My stock Radian pulls 21A static and the same if I get the climb right on a 30 second competition burn so you should be OK with the 30A esc. This is using 1000ma Hr 35 zippy compacts rated at 35C. Cheers Ian

Warmest congratulations to you both, excellent news! Ian

You know what, let's just do it!!!! Well done the BMFA for taking this bold and exciting step. You want an extra 10 or 20 quids for the fees - You got it. You want coffee mornings, cake bakes etc. to raise funds - You got it. You want a volunteer to do some manual/maintenance work - You got it. You want a bequest from when I've gone to help keep this [lace going - You got it TOGETHER we can really do this! Cheers Ian

Gonzo, I think you got it in one with that post! Phil Nice one! Cheers Ian

Thanks for the pointers for the gimbals/sticks, should have thought about HK! Gonzo thanks for the heads up about the Digimac on fleabay. Bit surprised as to what it went for, nostalgia is not as cheap as it used to be! I've found an old 35Meg set from a (sadly) long gone JP Twister Hawk combo in the back of the cupboard so I think I might have a play around with that to start with. Also found some DT DSM2 gear on the Micron Radio Control site, including a hack TX module. All interesting stuff..... Happy days! Ian PS Phil I love the combined propo/sc all in one Tx concept. Its genius in the nicest oddest way, if you know what I mean! Taranis and open sauce eat your heart out.

Hi Is it possible these days to still source stick/gimbal units? Years ago RCM&E was full of ads for them from the likes of Micron, SLM, Teleradio etc. I fancy a go at building my own custom tx though the thought of finding a McGregor Digimac tx for a serious nostalgia trip is equally appealing! MTIA Ian

From left of field may I suggest a Chromebook? Think tablet but with a keyboard and non of the disadvantages of a laptop! This suggestion comes to you via a Samsung Chromebook and its ace! IMHO of course. Cheers Ian