Featured Warning from Toyota President - Akio Toyoda

In regards to Lithium batteries. Any of you watched this show on Netflix?

NOVA: Search for the Super Battery | Netflix

We may have a new "pure" Lithium battery on the way which stores 3 times as much energy as current Lithium-ion and it doesn't burn . (They literally cut it with scissors and it still worked). It's a pretty interesting watch.

 

yep, same here, mask up to go outside....

 

The move is because of market forces. Many started moving to Li-ion for their hybrids over concerns not having the NiMH supply to meet their needs. Toyota and Panasonic had basically cornered the market. Honda likely did it because they really messed up with NiMH.

For Plug-ins, Li-ion was pretty much the only choice with the large format NiMH patents in effect.

Coal is a very dirty source of power. In addition to the heavy metals and combustion by products, they release radioactive materials into the environment every day they operate. Living within fifty miles of a coal plant exposes a person to ten times the radiation of living within 50 miles of a nuclear plant does. The risks and dangers are worse with older coal plants, just like with nuclear ones.

How many nuclear disasters at power plants have resulted in permanent evacuation through out the world? Maybe a dozen. Every coal plant has a mountain of fly ash next to it that is laced with the nasty stuff that didn't go up the smoke stack. In the past year, the containment dam for one failed in the US. It wasn't the first time, nor will it be the last. It will take decades and billions of dollars just to clean up the ash that remains contained. That is if the energy companies' lobbying isn't successful. if they are, it becomes fill in school carpeting and used to fill holes around our neighborhoods.

The Mirai is not a hybrid. A hybrid car has two different sources that produce kinetic energy. Usually an ICE and an electric motor. The Mirai has just an electric motor.

Toyota has branded their FCEVs with HSD for marketing. No other entity refers to a FCEV as a hybrid.

 

CARB also changed the fast refuel rules once Tesla had their battery swapping station going to exclude swapping for the additional ZEV credits.

 

you make the call.

 

Don't assume that every power company offers time of day pricing. Duke (big in the southeast) did and no longer offers it to new customers. I'm grandfathered. Saved $59 on my last bill. I also have a computer that' manages all the big electricity using appliances like dryer, water heater, a/c units. Cuts off electricity to prevent daytime use exceeding a certain settable threshold.

Duke is also in big trouble over coal ash. Huge piles near every plant and leaching into ground water. They are planning to run hundreds of trucks a day to transport it to places they claim are abandoned mines but what do you think the chances are that they are doing enough effective containment to keep the water in the area safe for hundreds of years. My county is getting those truckloads. Think of the pollution caused by all those diesels.

 

Did they tear out the railroad tracks that brought the coal?

Bob Wilson

 

Depends on the plant and dump site location on whether rail or barge is suitable for transport.

 

The mines the coal ash is being transported to are rock and sand quarries and not the mines the coal came from. Duke and the mining folk have enormous influence in this state. My HOA has spent somewhere around half a million dollars fighting against a mine to be located across the street from a 3,000 lot residential community which contributes an enormous amount of taxes to the county. Outside the state interests.

 

no tou in 'enlightened' massachusetts. i wonder what happens to the nighttime power?
maybe they use it to keep all the office buildings lit up.

 

Could be selling it to New York City.

 

Lithium chemistry batteries are smaller, lighter, retain charge longer when not in use, than nimh for a given power and energy use profile. They also contain less toxic chemicals. When they first appeared they were more expensive than nimh, but it was known that technology could make them less expensive. Today in every class of batteries they are less expensive to produce than nimh chemistry batteries.

Toyota/Panasonic had a big investment in nimh, and panasonic was behind competitors in lithium battery technology. That changed with panasonic buying sanyo, but the big fixed investment by toyota meant a slow transition.

Toyota was pushing that idea, as they were slow moving. Would you buy a cell phone or a laptop with a nimh battery today? Of course not. It would cost more and be bigger and heavier, or have less use time than one with a lithium battery. Technology marches onward.

Automotive because of temperature needs and duty cycle and waranty issues is going to lag consumer electronics by at least a couple of years, but lithium has been superior for many years already. The battery needs of say the lithium battery in the camry hybrid le, are different than the prime, which are different than a long range bev. The 3 have very different chemistries, and cost/kwh is much lower in the long range bev than a hybrid battery. Advantages in that hybrid battery are much less than a long range bev for lithium chemistries over nimh, and since this was toyota's main battery use, slow transition did not hurt them much.

 

Off-topic, but I've been noticing a phenomena: corded electrical power tools seem to be dying out. I think this is sad; they are relatively cheap and powerful, compared to their battery-powered counterparts I think? Much less cumbersome too.

Even lawn mowers: the options I see in local flyers are gas or battery powered. A simple, bullet-proof electric mower, you can't find.

I appreciate losing the cord is an advantage, but so much extra weight/bulk, expense, hassle, with the battery models.

 

Only so much shelf space at a store, and lawnmowers take up a good portion.
There are several corded electric mowers on Amazon. My biggest complaint is that most have a mow height of 3 inches and likely less.

 

I haven’t used a corded tool since I ran over my lawn mower cord in the 90’s. The convenience of cordless trumps everything. (If I can use that expression)

 

I used to run over the cord regularly on ours; my son's wouldn't let me live it down. I currently have a Sears (corded) mower, it's lasted longer than Sears, lol. Miss that store, they were good, kinda went sideways in the last few years though.

One trick I heard about keeping power cords secure from theft: wrap some electrical cord around them, here and there, so they look they're on death's door, lol.

 

I can no longer play cards,especially games where I have to choose trump.

I like cordless tools as well. But they are generally less powerful than corded. What I really dislike are all the proprietary batteries. I can't swap a black & Decker drill battery for my Craftsman when it runs low. And every time you get a new tool, it's a different battery with a different charger. I have like 7 chargers on my workbench, no more room for my tools.