Featured The Problem(s) with Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs)

this is the biggest problem with electric vehicles, the extension cord limits range.

 

Bob Wilson

 

If a trolley cable above, or a slot car shoe below actually gave vehicles more power then it needs to just drive, it could store the excess in its battery, then travel 100's of miles away from those main power infrastructure lines, & could still have enough juice to get where it needs to go - w/out ever having to actually stop to charge.

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Someday this:
Qualcomm's inductive charging road could pave the way to new EVs - Roadshow

 

There is an old Mason Williams line to the effect "how hopeless it all becomes to seek all the answers in one" and it applies to a great many things in life. I have multiple hammers and multiple saws and multiple drills, and even multiple vacuum cleaners. The idea that I can use one perfect vehicle for daily driving, picking up plywood sheets and cement and landscape materials and plants, and to haul bicycles, carry 5 or 6 passengers, and tow a boat is ludicrous.

To that effect, for the past 30 years I have always owned a pickup truck and a passenger vehicle. At present we have a 3/4 ton pickup and a large SUV and a 2007 Prius. Within the next 6 months we will be replacing the Prius with a EV and it is most likely going to be the new Kona from Hyundai with its 258 mile tested range.

A problem that is increasingly common with small cars is the omission of a spare tire and that means in the event of a tire failure the only option is to get a flat bed type tow truck to take the vehicle to the nearest tire store and hope that they are open for business and hope that they have the right tire in stock. That relegates such vehicles to around town use only where I can take a taxi home.

A hybrid made sense in 2007 when we bought the Prius and it still does for a SUV in terms of extending the range with a tankful of gas but not for a daily driver sedan where there are more and better alternatives.

 

I really don't know how big it can go. The bar is 14 inches. It's got some power to it, and has never broken down. Best thing is it starts easy, every time. No yanking ropes. I don't cut down many trees, I use it more for trimming/pruning, breaking down big branches that were sawed off with a pole trimmer etc.

WEN 4014 14" Electric Chainsaw (discontinued)

 

Thanks for the info. My current chainsaw is Husqvana 353 with 20 inch bar. I had Mac chainsaw with 14 inch bar before, but that was too small for the task at that time. I don't do much felling large trees any more, but still have to deal with chord wood and limbing. Taking a generator into woods is not practical, but I may have to look into corded saw for work around house.

 

I recently bought a Milwaukee Sawzall that is battery operated. Already having the batteries for my 1/2 inch impact made the Sawzall a lot cheaper to buy. I have a corded one also I bought back in the late 80's. I have battery operated chainsaws of different sizes and a pole saw. The thing I like about the Sawzall is they make pruning blades that are cheap and will reach in places a chain saw will not fit easily.
I have Colorado Blue Spruce trees that have many dead branches that are close together and I found my chainsaws didn't fit well.
The battery operated Milwaukee Sawzall is a handy tool.

 

Problem with battery operated tools, just like battery operated car, is runtime. A fully charged battery in most of outdoor power equipment last only 10-20 min of continuous use. Although for battery operated power tools, unlike BEV, when one battery runs out, you can just swap with another pack easily.

 

Never been a problem for me.
I do see why it could be a problem for some though.
The newer brands run a lot more than 10-20 minutes.

 

Yeah, after reading some comments on this thread, I searched for reviews on battery operated chainsaws, and pleasantly surprised to find out how much stride they have made in recent years. I think I purchased my Husky gas chainsaw almost 10 years ago. Back then, Husqvarna didn't even have battery operated model yet. They now have 3. That said, they are still underpowered (16 inch bar max) and not suitable for hours of continuous cord wood chopping I often do. However, I am going to look into getting one of 36v battery chainsaw for pruning and limbing. For that purpose, 20 inch gas chainsaw is overkill and just too large and heavy to carry around. I was doing most of those works with a hand saw, but battery chainsaw would be a very handy tool, indeed.

 

According to the article;

the author fails to understand that smaller batteries mean lower charge rates .... big batteries can take a big charge. 30 amps of 240v is as much as they can do. But some plugins can charge up to 72amps & even 80amps! Even cars that charge at 48amps (like the Model 3, the fastest selling plugin) will charge 35% faster on their 48amp on board charger. Then - there's the inherent "lossy" factor with inductive charging - around 10% when a driving speed is factored into the mix, and you're having to drive over the inductive units. Maybe in stationary position - parked, you can have the inductive chargers raised up closer to the car, to drop loss down to maybe 7% or 8% ...


but not while driving. it can't be raised up obviously, because you need to change lanes ... you need to drive over it ... you get blowouts, etc. If the current is flush w/ the street, the loss becomes larger & larger. We have adjustable air suspension in some plugins too. Kiss off even MORE lost power as your car may be up an extra 2" to 3". Then there's COST. Each plugin adapted to use inductive, has to be specially equipped with the inductive equipment, which further costs a boat load.
Maybe some day - future decades ... but not tomorrow by any means.
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Yup, C rate is very important. (especially if you don't have an active cooling system)

 

There is work being done with direct contact mobile charging systems, like trains, but in the road instead of overhead.

 

My wife just told me her next car was going to have higher seat mounting, she liked the Bolt seat heights for entry and she was OK with a SUV form factor. So if I can use her car for the 5%, I can use an EV for the 95%. Passed two truckloads of Model 3s within a half hour on a trip from NC to Orlando (and was passed by a Tesla, a Ferrari, and a Rolls Royce) with Elon trying to get em there before the end of the quarter.

 

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