Higher standards?

2of3

2of3

Established Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2020
Messages
173
Reaction score
184
Points
72
Location
Kr.sand, Norway
Driving
MG5
I just got my MG back from the dealership. It had been in to get the update to fix the faulty BMS software and I noticed a difference right away. I'm now getting quite close to the promised 263 km advertised! The garage recommended that I charge the car at home every night (all night) to equalize the cells, so I'll do that for maybe a week I think.

Here is the thought that occurred to me:
I've been reading a lot of comments (mostly on the MG EV FB groups) complaining about range. "I'm not getting the range promised by the manufacturer. It's a scandal!" "We need to get our money back, they've tricked us!"
NOW
Show me a petrol or diesel car that actually delivers the stated MPG both in the summer and winter and I'll show you someone who believes in fairy tales....just sayin. Why is it that one would expect higher standards from an EV than an ICE car?
 
I think it's because it's much easier and faster to top up a tank of fuel on the go, so people don't complain as much.
If we could fully recharge our cars in 10 minutes and there were as many chargers as petrol pumps it would be a non issue and a minor inconvenience.
 
I agree. I also think that having a relatively short range to start with makes losing anything from it far more noticeable.
 
super easy.gif
 
I also think that whilst it is definitely useful to see the actual predicted range this can also cause problems.
 
It's probably out of character for me (never seen a problem that couldn't be improved by flagrant overuse of a spreadsheet 🤣) but when it comes to my cars, I usually only keep an eye on things like range/economy as an indicator of potential problems (the BMS update being a case in point)

It's handy to know roughly how far a full charge will get you, but I've never bought a car on the grounds of claimed range. I'm not even overly concerned that I'm getting around 2.5 miles per kWh, I had an old Audi I could get down to single figures for mpg 🤣

Don't sweat the details, just enjoy the car.
 
With the quick progress in EV battery development it will only be a few years for EVs to have a better range than its equivalent ice car .i predict buying a ice car will be a special order only well before the deadline 2030 .
 
The break through I feel in range, will be the Hydrogen Fuel Cell Car.

Still an electric car, it just uses Hydrogen Gas and a clever little plant under the bonnet (the Fuel Cell) to convert the gas into electrical energy to drive the electric motors of the vehicle.

I think once the New Ellesmere Port Hydrogen Processing Plants comes online AND we see the rollout of the promised network of hydrogen fuel pumps around the countries fuel stations by the oil companies, we will see more fuel cell development from the motor manufacturers and the price of such a vehicle will hopefully fall.

Thus improving the range of the electric car driven from a fuel cell rather than a normal series of batteries.

www.chesterstandard.co.uk

£20m project to create UK's first waste plastic to hydrogen plant moves step closer

THE creation of the UK's first waste plastic to hydrogen facility near Ellesmere Port has moved another "important" step closer.
www.chesterstandard.co.uk www.chesterstandard.co.uk

PLUS THIS ONE:

World-first low carbon hydrogen projects in the North West win £13m Government backing

World-first low carbon hydrogen projects in the North West win £13m Government backing
www.essaroil.co.uk www.essaroil.co.uk



Andy (Blackpool)
 
Last edited:
Fuel cells are interesting but many ev commentators are suggesting they will only be viable for larger vehicles e.g. HGVs, buses, even ships. Interesting times for transport.
 
Being also a Mercedes electric vehicle owner as well as the MG ZS EV which we love, we are watching eagerly on the development of this vehicle from Mercedes:

 
Cocijo said:
If you asked ICE car owners the range of their cars not many would know!
Click to expand...
I roughly knew with my last 2 ice cars.
With one I knew I couldn't do the round trip to my daughters without topping up the tank.
The last one could do the round trip.
With my new ZS I will have to top up on the way there, when there and on the way back.

Not yet done the trip due to lockdown.
 
Hydrogen could be the future. But it's a chicken and egg situation. Nobody will buy them because there is no infrastructure and nobody will make the infrastructure because nobody has the cars.

Also most hydrogen produced at the moment isn't clean and it's not cheap.

But it could be the perfect future fuel - as quick and easy to top up as petrol with the silence and shove of EV's and no local pollution.
 
The problem for hydrogen for smaller vehicles- you still need an electric engine and battery. Then you got hydrogen storage tank and then the fuel cell to convert the hydrogen into electricity. You might as well have put extra batteries in the first place and be done with the complexity.
Larger vehicles- like bin trucks, long distance coaches, lorrys - they would be ideal for hydrogen as batteries for them would be too big or heavy or have too short range.
 
There are a lot of Shell garages already starting to put the infrastructure in place by installing Hydrogen pumps.

It is coming no doubt, but we never know what is going on in the background of motor vehicle or any product development.

I can remember a few years ago when I was working as Head of Broadcast Engineering for a major Japanese media manufacturer, I had to often visit Japan for my technical training and often saw what was in development in their laboratories.

Sony and some other makers a couple of years back now, announced the triple layer Optical Disc for BluRay 4K UHD products, which they said was a major breakthrough from the double layer BluRay disc used for HD Video.

Yet Hitachi Maxell who I worked for, 15 years ago had two working prototypes of 100 layer optical discs in the labs, completely different formats using electromagnetic phase technology and the other Holographic laser movement technology to create massive data storage.

So we don't really know which way the future will go, but for now and for the near future, the battery car is here to stay and who knows, it only takes a major battery manufacturer to develop some new technology also which could give the Hydrogen Fuel Cell a run for its money.

One thing I don't miss when driving my electric vehicles, is cueing up to fill with smelly dirty diesel at the fuel pump, which although they claim the hydrogen tank can be filled in around 3 minutes, its still having to fill at the pump where for my short journeys using my MG ZS EV, I mainly charge up at home which is great.
 
AndyNWuk said:
There are a lot of Shell garages already starting to put the infrastructure in place by installing Hydrogen pumps.

It is coming no doubt, but we never know what is going on in the background of motor vehicle or any product development.

I can remember a few years ago when I was working as Head of Broadcast Engineering for a major Japanese media manufacturer, I had to often visit Japan for my technical training and often saw what was in development in their laboratories.

Sony and some other makers a couple of years back now, announced the triple layer Optical Disc for BluRay 4K UHD products, which they said was a major breakthrough from the double layer BluRay disc used for HD Video.

Yet Hitachi Maxell who I worked for, 15 years ago had two working prototypes of 100 layer optical discs in the labs, completely different formats using electromagnetic phase technology and the other Holographic laser movement technology to create massive data storage.

So we don't really know which way the future will go, but for now and for the near future, the battery car is here to stay and who knows, it only takes a major battery manufacturer to develop some new technology also which could give the Hydrogen Fuel Cell a run for its money.

One thing I don't miss when driving my electric vehicles, is cueing up to fill with smelly dirty diesel at the fuel pump, which although they claim the hydrogen tank can be filled in around 3 minutes, its still having to fill at the pump where for my short journeys using my MG ZS EV, I mainly charge up at home which is great.
Click to expand...

Hydrogen will never take off in cars and light vans. The nature of Hydrogen and keeping it safe makes the vehicles prohibitively expensive to buy and service compared to EV. Infrastructure is an order of magnitude more expensive to install compared to EV charging infrastructure and it's inherantly dangerous. Its also a very inefficient power source compared to direct electricity usage.

Its a red herring promoted by big oil as it gives them a potentially huge ongoing revenue stream as conventional fossil dies away.
 
Hydrogen in family cars does not make sense for one reason only. Why take energy, convert it into hydrogen, to use it as an electricity source ? This causes a 40% loss of energy in the process. The straight forward way is to use the energy straight, as is. As I am from Iceland with abundant geo-thermal and waterfall electricity this is a no-brainer for us. Nevertheless using say coal to convert that into hydrogen to turn that into electricity also makes no sense (given the 40% loss of energy in the process). The possibilities for hydrogen lie in shipping and maybe airline travel, even long-haul lorries.
 
Today’s technicians struggle to fix ICE motor problems, what chance with a fuel cell and their ancillary equipment?
 
Support us by becoming a Premium Member

Latest MG EVs video

MG3 Hybrid+ & Cyberster Configurator News + hot topics from the MG EVs forums
Published
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom