Electric vehicles

[sploo]

spll & selectortone, would you please decide which of you own my road and come and repair the potholes!

I'm more interested in how paulrbarnard managed to get the ID 10 T word past the overzealous censoring filter (mine obviously got changed to "silly person").

But, if I suddenly stop posting, it will be due to me disappearing into one of the many cavernous potholes on the roads.

 

[paulrbarnard]

Thanks for this information, Andy. I now want to know why the local expert, Mr Hopkinson, has failed to inform the public. Presumably, almost three months after the event he must know what really happened. I cannot find any trace of an official Fire Service investigation report.

It seems unlikely that the car park system does not retain all of the registrations of every vehicle entering and leaving the car parks at Luton Airport. Presumably, a simple request to DVLA on the day after the fire would have revealed the car model. If the car was pre-booked into the car park, it may even be a required part of the car park requested details at the time of booking.

The Range Rover was widely reported as the source of the fire at the time. It was not reported as being hybrid.

 

[paulrbarnard]

I'm more interested in how paulrbarnard managed to get the ID 10 T word past the overzealous censoring filter (mine obviously got changed to "silly person").

But, if I suddenly stop posting, it will be due to me disappearing into one of the many cavernous potholes on the roads.

Perhaps the SW agreed

 

[user 43593]

The Range Rover was widely reported as the source of the fire at the time. It was not reported as being hybrid.

Why not?

The chief of the fire service is employed to run the county's fire services but he also owes a duty of care to the inhabitants of the county. I don't want him choosing his own facts. They may be unpalatable facts but why keep them secret? We all saw the flames (appeared to be lithium based) shooting out from under the front left side of the hybrid Range Rover. We all know the components of the fire triangle. We all know that lithium burns hot enough to chew through concrete and it produces oxygen during combustion. I have run extensive searches and cannot find any official documentation detailing an investigation into the fire.

The fire chief claims that lessons will have to be learned... really? Like perhaps someone should have installed a sprinkler system in public areas of the airport. Perhaps Bedfordshire Fire Service should develop a policy for extinguishing lithium fires. What about the top representative of the fire service for Bedfordshire telling the truth? I would demand this highly paid public servant is dismissed for his failure to investigate and report on the causes of the fire. The further Mr Hopkinson gets without doing so is evidence that he is not serving in the public interest. His meaningless platitudes should not be paid for out of the public purse. Where is the substantive investigation? His belief ridden opinions, which he supplied to the press immediately after the fire, was not and could never be taken as a properly constituted investigation.

 

[Terry - Somerset]

I am simply left with more questions than answers - although answers may not be easy given the extent of damage:

• was the fire started by a failed lithium battery or did the battery ignite due to a fire started elsewhere in the vehicle
• had the vehicle been properly serviced
• did the fire spread due to the battery fire or would it have spread anyway
• did adjacent vehicles have lithium batteries which also ignited

What is unacceptable is the lack of information - its seems unnecessarily and deliberately evasive:

• why should it take so long for confirmation of the vehicle that started the blaze
• when will a report with recommendations (if any) be produced
• what are the implications (if any) for safety in car parks, tunnels, ferries etc where EVs may be high density

 

[Spectric]

Lithium is just an unstable element that if it gets above a certain temperature will just burn with an intense white heat, I had a GPS battery that went up whilst I was having lunch on the fells some years back, it was a spare in a waterproof bag that got to warm and whoosh, I was really lucky I was not carrying that bag at the time. I have had other Lithium batteries that have swollen and cracked the cases so not a pleasant material. The other issue with Lithium is that it is a chemical fire that will burn in the absence of oxygen, to extinguish you must get the temperature right down and total submersion is one method or there are now specialised extinguishers.

 

[Vulcan]

Gosh, it’s lucky they don’t put them in things like mobile phones and airliners …

 

[John Brown]

Gosh, it’s lucky they don’t put them in things like mobile phones and airliners …

My GPS runs on petrol, never had a problem...

 

[selectortone]

I live in constant fear that the tablet I'm writing this on is about to burst into flames.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Mine definitely won't.

 

[Blackswanwood]

This looks like a step in the right direction on public chargers …

BT Group to turn old street cabinets into electric vehicle charging points BT Group to turn old street cabinets into electric vehicle charging points

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Six hours per charge.

 

[RogerS]

Six hours per charge.

Where do you get that information from, Phil ? Are you referring to how long to charge a car battery or how long the batteries for the BT equipment in the cabinet last when there is a power cut ?

The idea is laudable, but the devil is in the detail. Power capacity of the cables to the cabinets ? Location vis suitable room to park a car while on charge. A quick stroll round here showed no suitable places to park without restricting traffic flow.

 

[paulrbarnard]

A quick stroll round here showed no suitable places to park without restricting traffic flow.

Since when was that ever a consideration for car owners? Leaving their personal property strewn all over the roads is standard for a large number of car drivers.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Where do you get that information from, Phil ? Are you referring to how long to charge a car battery or how long the batteries for the BT equipment in the cabinet last when there is a power cut ?

The idea is laudable, but the devil is in the detail. Power capacity of the cables to the cabinets ? Location vis suitable room to park a car while on charge. A quick stroll round here showed no suitable places to park without restricting traffic flow.

To charge a battery. This morning's news.

 

[RogerS]

To charge a battery. This morning's news.

That figures....thin power cable = lower current = long time to charge. Leave your car there all night. Really useful.

 

[Blackswanwood]

Where do you get that information from, Phil ? Are you referring to how long to charge a car battery or how long the batteries for the BT equipment in the cabinet last when there is a power cut ?

The idea is laudable, but the devil is in the detail. Power capacity of the cables to the cabinets ? Location vis suitable room to park a car while on charge. A quick stroll round here showed no suitable places to park without restricting traffic flow.

As you say Roger the devil is in the detail.

It takes 7- 8 hours to go from zero to full charge using a 7kv charge point for most EV’s.

The article doesn’t say what rating will be used here.

Even if it is 7kv by time average daily mileage is factored in practically it’s far less of an issue than it may first seem.

Just to reiterate I’ve no axe to grind about whether people feel EV’s are suitable for them.

 

[RogerS]

.....

Even if it is 7kv by time average daily mileage is factored in practically it’s far less of an issue than it may first seem.

......

The average daily mileage is 20 miles apparently . So if your EV does, say, 200 miles per charge then contention for a single charging point is 10. Simplistic calculation, I accept. But when you look at a typical road like this one in London,



it does look as if mass adoption of EVs has a struggle on its hands.

Like you, I am apolitical re EVs.

 

[Lons]

As I've said previously, My son has no off street parking and more often than not can't park anywhere even close to his front door, often has to be in one of the other streets, he needs his car for work and could just about get away with an EV with public chargeng though his office has now parking at all let alone charging points. His wife is a specialist nurse, often on call and certainly can't use an EV with no guaranteed charging point just as she might need her car to be charged ready for use at odd hours, there are many like her.

Just to clarify my situation as well, I'm not anti EV though I certainly won't be spending the huge sum required to replace my current car when I could buy the equivalent ICE / mild hybrid version for £15k less.

 

[worn thumbs]

Did anybody else read Matt Rudd's column in the Sunday Times yesterday about his EV experiences?