The End of the Petrol Head?

[Col Lamb]

I don't doubt that all this talk of wires and wireless will seem prehistoric in 10 years or so. Bloomberg are predicting that IC and EV will be 50/50 by 2025 so something has to happen or the bubble will well and truly burst.

My question is about the chemistry. How infinite is lithium (I read somewhere that just 2 people owned about 80% of the resources!) and as Spook says what do you safely do with it?

Lithium is widespread in the Americas, China and Australia (north of Perth in particular).

Lithium's properties is that it is reactive and highly flammable.

As all resources are finite other technology is being developed.

There are Capacitive charging systems based on ceramic technology that are being developed which also have the potential.

One other thing that may be of concern if for anyone with a pacemaker or digital shringe driver tgat they have attached and the possible impact of a highly magnetic inductive charging system.

I am still of the belief that Hydrogen fuel cells are a better bet in the short to medium term as the infrastructure would be far less onerous that charging bays everywhere, it would continue to be a visit to a fuel station to fill up the tank.

[SAC1]

"I am still of the belief that Hydrogen fuel cells are a better bet in the short to medium term as the infrastructure would be far less onerous that charging bays everywhere, it would continue to be a visit to a fuel station to fill up the tank."

i'd certainly go for a hydrogen solution. Honda for one are working on this solution.

[SAC1]

Here's a brief overview http://www.honda.co.uk/cars/new/coming- ... rview.html

[goron59]

Some moons ago, I expressed interest in a toyota mirai. But they weren't interested in me because I wasn't a True Fanboi and wasn't fitting their usage profile (ie, all journeys short, within the m25 and based within 2 miles of a hydrogen filling station).

https://www.toyota.co.uk/new-cars/new-m ... nding.json

[oldpilot]

Hydrogen? In 2004, (that's a long time ago for the current discussion, I was based in Singapore where Mercedes had positioned a handful of Hydrogen powered A-class cars for a trial.

One of them was based at my hotel and the concierge offered me a test drive.

Virtually silent, smooth and with no vibration, I was very impressed and thought to myself that we'd be seeing them on the streets of the rest of the world in a few years.

Can't be any money in it - or must be another reason!

[goron59]

From talking to dealers and H car developers, the issue is in distribution. You might think petrol stations could be easily converted, but it's not that easy and would be expensive. Then there's the distribution. Nobody wants to invest in pipelines to all the stations, so you still have road transportation with liquified gas. Electricity distribution is already there (ish) and would be considerably easier and cheaper to expand upon.

Ultimately, it's where the money went. Investors simply don't have confidence in it.

[Kasfranks99]

I can see petrol stations will become retail parks / shops etc where you will park and charge and have a coffee and do a bit of shopping etc or something similar.

That does sound great apart from the real world is go go go these days and not enough time to sit down and relax and wait for a car to charge. Well not the younger generation who will certainly be driving Electric cars.

[happy days]

One other option of course, is a rechargable battery pack which you simply replace.

[Dandock]

[happy days]

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