Quote from: DaveMorton on May 17, 2016, 15:21:31 PM
I'm kind of with Carl here, I'm afraid. You folks don't have to deal with vehicle range all that much, really, given that your country is only 85% as large as my state. () And Nevada doesn't even crack the top 5 largest states in the US. In fact, over 20% of our states have more acreage on an individual basis than does the UK (provided we don't count your territories and provinces, that is. - yes, your country is tiny. ) If we count only England, 62% of our states (31 in total) out rank you in size... Each.
{ok, I've stopped being an jerk and an ass}

that said, however, I have a couple of ideas that could extend the range of most EVs, and it's in 3 parts:

1.) cover all upwardly facing surfaces on the vehicle with flexible amorphous solar cells that connect to a charger, to help keep the battery going (I know, won't work at night, or in parking structures, or on really cloudy days).
2.) Attach a trailer that contains an "extension battery" that can either be used as a portable charging station, or as a direct connection to the battery, to extend the vehicle's range.
3.) cover said battery trailer with even more solar cells.

Ok, sure, these ideas will make the EV less sexy in appearance, but It's more important to "get there" than it is to look good when you die in the Mojave because your EV couldn't get across it in a single charge.

Thanks for the geography lesson there Dave   

Some neat ideas too 

I can't see solar cells really doing much to extend the range of an EV, ok it's a case of "every little helps" I admit but the power needed for the motor is far > than solar cells can trickle out.

How many miles do you chaps do anyway, on average ? if there is such a thing.

I do about 2000 miles a year, so that's roughly 20 charges  for me.

I average around 25 miles per day on school days, and around 15 on the rest, so ~125 per week. Multiply that by 52 weeks in a year, and it's roughly 6500 miles. but that's not adding in things like trips to northern California to visit friends, or the occasional doctor visits. Each trip to NorCal is roughly 600 miles (I try to do 2 per year, when possible), and the doc is just short of 80 miles, round trip, so all told, probably 9 - 10k miles per year. The average for Americans is 13k per year, so I'm a bit below average.

  Really not sure now a days, I used to be at my cousins house every day but since he's passed away the car can sit in the driveway for 3 or 4 days during the week.  In my younger days there might be things like drive to the Boston airport, meet someone here or there, I just took a trip to Charlton to pick up the lawnmower about 40 mi each way so I'd be a little uneasy about that.  The Chevy Spark is not for me where the hybrid would do the trick.
  I began thinking about the AC motor used in the cars, I first thought of 120 V but on thinking about this the motor could be wound for any voltage. Actually there is a lot I or we still do not know about.
Carl2

So that must be what they call range anxiety then. probably not as bad over here with less distance to travel and chargers within range.

I'm interested in the Nissan Leaf and found this video of a chap dismantling the Motor Unit from a Leaf that was written-off in an accident.
It's quite interesting.

I like the inductor bodge. 

That vid just gave me the idea of building an electric go cart out of a broken EV. Hmmm...

  If that was done at a dealers shop it would probably cost a few thousand.
Carl2

It's a hydrogen car but not as we know it. Interesting new look at the automobile as we move forward into the 21st century.

  Nice to see someone is working with the hydrogen cell that looked promising.  11 HP sounds good,  must have gone through a lot of calculations to get that number.  Capacitors used to store energy rather than charging and discharging batteries is another good idea. 
  I'd rather see a more standard body type and I'm not sure about there business plans since you never own the car, sounds good but how many people would go for that.
Carl2

Here's something that I found immensely interesting:

My man crush for Elon Musk continues to grow.

Between Tesla and SpaceX he is a great man.

 Very good find Dave, I just looked at the tesla motor website  which naturally makes there car look great.  The price for a 2015 Tesla Model S Sedan is 97,000 from another site.  At that price not much sense in saying more.
Carl2

I thought the whole point of the Tesla 3 was to be affordable. They're not in production yet but they're supposed to be about US$30k

The 97,000 was for a 2015 possibly only a few built, maybe it's in full production now that should pull the price down.  The specs from the Tesla are pretty impressive for an e car.  Around 3 for 0 to 60, the horse power of a good size gas engine, 4 wheel drive, good range for an electric.  The Tesla site did not give the price for any of the 2016 models
Carl2

It's not a car but it is electric and I think I would like one