Large Tesla Battery

[Chris_Bryant]

Tesla is building the largest battery bank in the world in Australia.
The capacity... 129 Mega freekin watt hours.
http://newatlas.com/tesla-powerpack-australia-biggest-battery/50382

[John___Angela]

I'm sitting in a Tim Hortons restaurant after an hour and a half in the car having a relaxing lunch unwinding from the crazy summer traffic. Looking at the business model of this restaurant and the other businesses in this plaza and can't help but be impressed by the "loss leader" approach. They have a double pedestal level two "chargepoint" network charge station. It is free. Since I pulled in and hooked up another car has already left the other stall and it has been refilled. They are all either getting lunch or some groceries at the supermarket. There are lots of restaurants and supermarkets without charge stations in this area but we all chose this one. Why' because they can charge concurrently with lunch or shopping. Each of us will get 4 or 5 KWH of free power while we are here and we will all feel like we got a deal even though we are only getting 40 or 50 cents worth of power and we are all dropping probably 20 to 100 bucks in this shopping plaza. And they didn't even have to pay the costs of printing coupons. This is going to catch on. 🙂

[John___Angela]

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
The problem with a manual anything is the "disconnector" has to be conscious and physically able to operate it.

I suppose but I don't think they are meant to be used by the driver but rather by the first responders.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

The problem with a manual anything is the "disconnector" has to be conscious and physically able to operate it.

[John___Angela]

time2roll wrote:

Mortimer Brewster wrote:
Just out of curiosity, is there an increased danger for first responders when dealing with an electric vehicle that's been in an accident?

Not sure it is increased just different.

Gasoline fire has issues and so would a battery fire.

Need to follow guidelines cutting you out so fuel line or high voltage wire is not cut. I would think EVs would have an impact cut off switch similar to the fuel pump impact cut off. Maybe if it proves to be an issue.

Fire during an accident can happen either way. Battery vehicles very rarely self combust and certainly that does happen with gasoline.

I am far more worried about the hydrogen vehicles running up to 10,000 psi. But then natural gas vehicles seem to do OK.

So yah. Every EV has a manual high voltage battery disconnect readily accessible. I know where they are in both vehicles. Important for owners and first responders to know.

[time2roll]

Mortimer Brewster wrote:
Just out of curiosity, is there an increased danger for first responders when dealing with an electric vehicle that's been in an accident?

Not sure it is increased just different.

Gasoline fire has issues and so would a battery fire.

Need to follow guidelines cutting you out so fuel line or high voltage wire is not cut. I would think EVs would have an impact cut off switch similar to the fuel pump impact cut off. Maybe if it proves to be an issue.

Fire during an accident can happen either way. Battery vehicles very rarely self combust and certainly that does happen with gasoline.

I am far more worried about the hydrogen vehicles running up to 10,000 psi. But then natural gas vehicles seem to do OK.

[John___Angela]

brulaz wrote:

John & Angela wrote:

...
The heat thing was a consideration when we bought our leaf. We decided where we live it wouldn't be a problem. They changed the battery chemistry in later part of 2013 (ours is a 16) to a more heat resistant technology but I think the passive cooling of a leaf still makes them susceptible to early degradation in hot climates. It will be interesting to see what the 2018 leafs use. Passive or active cooling. I guess we will all find out on September 6 th.

My brother in Seattle purchased an off-lease 2014? Leaf. He says it was a good price, satisfies all his in-town needs, and is dirt cheap to run and maintain. An old pickup handles the occasional longer trips and tow/haul needs.

Our needs are different, so for now we're sticking with our 2011 Cruze Eco which gives me 40mpg in the summer. Maybe in a few years ...

Yah, there are some great off lease leaf deals out there. They are all 24 KWH models but for many that is plenty of range for the daily commute. We seem to get about 190 to 210 KM of range from ours but seldom need more than 80 to 100 KM. We have done a couple of longer trips of a few hundred kilometers but the routes we take have a reasonable network of fast chargers so it hasn't been a problem. When we retire in 4 years we will trade in two cars for one and get a long range electric vehicle. The fast charge network is growing reasonably well in our neck of the woods although we don't use it very often. Handy though for a longer trip.

[brulaz]

John & Angela wrote:

...
The heat thing was a consideration when we bought our leaf. We decided where we live it wouldn't be a problem. They changed the battery chemistry in later part of 2013 (ours is a 16) to a more heat resistant technology but I think the passive cooling of a leaf still makes them susceptible to early degradation in hot climates. It will be interesting to see what the 2018 leafs use. Passive or active cooling. I guess we will all find out on September 6 th.

My brother in Seattle purchased an off-lease 2014? Leaf. He says it was a good price, satisfies all his in-town needs, and is dirt cheap to run and maintain. An old pickup handles the occasional longer trips and tow/haul needs.

Our needs are different, so for now we're sticking with our 2011 Cruze Eco which gives me 40mpg in the summer. Maybe in a few years ...

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Yeah compare a simple minded battery to say Lockheed's Plant 51 facilities. Pacifica Services one of my Major customers. Suppliers to Plant 51. If you are trying to compare R&D and working for Lockheed Advanced projects with a car battery - I give up. One of Pacifica's proofings took A YEAR to complete. I knew more about a half dozen brands of batteries than their own OEMs did.

[John___Angela]

Mortimer Brewster wrote:
Just out of curiosity, is there an increased danger for first responders when dealing with an electric vehicle that's been in an accident?

There is. First responders need to know where the emergency disconnect is for the high voltage battery. I make a point of knowing where mine are in each of my vehicles. There is information published for first responders. If they do catch fire they are hard to put out but EV's have been notably safe as far as fires go. Nissan leafs have been in house fires and although the car is a burned out shell the battery is recoverable and sellable .

[Mortimer_Brewst]

Just out of curiosity, is there an increased danger for first responders when dealing with an electric vehicle that's been in an accident?

[Fubeca]

SaltiDawg wrote:
That's why our Astronauts only ride space craft that have been successfully used at least for ten years. Oh, wait. lol

That's why a single aircraft costs the same as a prototype car.... Oh, wait.

[John___Angela]

brulaz wrote:
Have been reading GreenCarReports for a while now.

From their pages, it seems most original Chevy Volt batteries are still going strong after 6 years with little capacity loss. The last page of this article discusses this: Bolt-Volt battery replacement and degradation

The Nissan Leaf has not been so successful, especially in hot climates. Here's story about having to replace the battery pack after 5 years and 65K miles in Seattle: Nissan in Seattle

I suspect the difference between Leaf and Volt battery longevity is in part how the batteries are cooled (liquid vs air) and the fact that the Volt is a Hybrid, and so the battery may not be as fully discharged as often as a pure electric.

And here's some speculation on Tesla's battery longevity, which might not be that bad either:
Tesla battery longevity

Seems battery technology has been steadily improving over the last decade. And in other areas too: the new Toyota Prius has a new heat pump cabin heating system that they claim is 63% more efficent than resistance cabin heating. Toyota Prime Heat pump

Good post. We also follow the green car reports site. The heat thing was a consideration when we bought our leaf. We decided where we live it wouldn't be a problem. They changed the battery chemistry in later part of 2013 (ours is a 16) to a more heat resistant technology but I think the passive cooling of a leaf still makes them susceptible to early degradation in hot climates. It will be interesting to see what the 2018 leafs use. Passive or active cooling. I guess we will all find out on September 6 th.

[brulaz]

Have been reading GreenCarReports for a while now.

From their pages, it seems most original Chevy Volt batteries are still going strong after 6 years with little capacity loss. The last page of this article discusses this: Bolt-Volt battery replacement and degradation

The Nissan Leaf has not been so successful, especially in hot climates. Here's story about having to replace the battery pack after 5 years and 65K miles in Seattle: Nissan in Seattle

I suspect the difference between Leaf and Volt battery longevity is in part how the batteries are cooled (liquid vs air) and the fact that the Volt is a Hybrid, and so the battery may not be as fully discharged as often as a pure electric.

And here's some speculation on Tesla's battery longevity, which might not be that bad either:
Tesla battery longevity

Seems battery technology has been steadily improving over the last decade. And in other areas too: the new Toyota Prius has a new heat pump cabin heating system that they claim is 63% more efficent than resistance cabin heating. Toyota Prime Heat pump

[SaltiDawg]

That's why our Astronauts only ride space craft that have been successfully used at least for ten years. Oh, wait. lol