Humor Random Comments Thread

[n72.75]

Really, with the CoVid, economy and everything, these are difficult times :

Oh it get's way better than that, haha : http://einartorfieinarsson.com/pdf/irrationality_thesis.pdf

 

[jedidia]

Fun fact: 7/8 is ridiculously prevalent in ethnic music of some eastern european cultures. I have no idea how it happened, but they dance to that stuff, and it totally works. After a while, you stop noticing and it just becomes normal...

 

[Artlav]

Saturday I test drove the new all-electric Fiat 500, with the larger 44-ish kWh battery pack.

How practical are the electric cars to use over there?
Where can they be charged?
Is it at all possible to go any non-trivial distance in one, like to next country over?

 

[N_Molson]

Fun fact: 7/8 is ridiculously prevalent in ethnic music of some eastern european cultures. I have no idea how it happened, but they dance to that stuff, and it totally works. After a while, you stop noticing and it just becomes normal...

That's all the good fun with music theory. Most known example is blues and jazz. Music theory uses the "triplet feel" trick to code it, but that's a trick. It can't be coded in a linear, mathematic way. You are groovy or you're not, pretty much like you describe above. It's a feeling, certainly can be learned but not with pen-and-paper theory only (that's what makes jazz difficult, you must have the feeling AND know music theory well). Even worse, being "fast" (or more usually) "late" on the time is something that is sort of dictated by the situation : the personality of the player, the song, even the audience...

 

[N_Molson]

Is it at all possible to go any non-trivial distance in one

You are russian so in short : NO ? Same applies to our canadian friends. I'm convinced electric cars are not tailored for such huge countries with low density of population. Things are different in Europe, Japan, or other densely populated places.

Also, all kinds of batteries hate the cold (more or less given the tech but still). Another thing most people also tend to forget : hot air for passengers comfort is not something given, thermic engines are called "thermic" for a reason. In an electric car you'd have to drain more battery power to heat air. And let's be honest : in russian or canadian winter it's not an option. You'll die of hypothermia if you stay in you car too long, you're sitting in the cold not moving and only protected from the wind. Not a good idea. Also, de-icing on windows : more battery power. Thermic engines also can generate battery power through an alternator.

So EVs are not made for "cold" countries.

The "Renault Zoe", quite a benchmark model here, has an official range of 395 km. Even in France, that's limited. In Russia, yes, that's ridiculous, and again, you won't get anywhere near that by -30°C.

 

[jedidia]

Is it at all possible to go any non-trivial distance in one, like to next country over?

SInce I do not believe Russias and Switzerlands definition of "non-trivial distances" are located anywhere in the same solar system, I don't think I'm qualified to answer that... ?

 

[Urwumpe]

How practical are the electric cars to use over there?
Where can they be charged?
Is it at all possible to go any non-trivial distance in one, like to next country over?

Well, since I still see quite many Teslas from Denmark in the middle of Germany (coarsely Frankfurt), I would say yes. But now, lets assume its about as easy to do as driving the same distance with a 1980s car - BEVs have about the same range as comparable class cars from the early 1980s. So, if you believe that people had been able to cross the Alps with a VW Beetle and drive to Italy, yes, of course, its possible. It likely even feels like the great adventure it was back then.

But generally, and considering the absurdly high costs for electricity in Germany, unless you produce your own electricity, I would say that BEVs are rather the cars for the trivial distances. So, likely what you also drive in Russia 90% of the year, unless Stalin introduced metric days with 100 hours in your place. If your car spends most of the day parked somewhere, you might want a BEV, those are GREAT in parking (since you can slowly recharge them for that use even with a small PV setup of about 4 m² - try that trick with a gasoline engine). If most of your travelling time during the week is standing in a traffic jam, you might want a BEV as well, since they are operating much more efficient there (full traction at low speeds without high energy consumption, only minimal consumption while idling)

My brother now drives an ID.3 (as VW employee) and seems to be quite fine with it, despite having many close calls, like finding out with 8% charge left while returning from Hamburg, that the charging station on the map does not exist yet, but is still under construction. Thats the practical everyday problems here.

About how well those cars really handle a continental winter, I don't think its easy to say worse or better. Norway or USA aren't exactly warm places, but the cars seem to handle the climate well enough. What you can be sure of: BEVs loose more range during the winter, but are more robust there. Most frost damages to ICE cars won't happen to BEVs (except frozen coolant by using the wrong mixture). Also, the main issue for the range is letting the battery cool down when the car is parked and the need to heat the battery then before you have full performance available. Once this phase is over while driving, the heat from discharging or charging the battery is enough for keeping the battery within thermal limits and as far as anecdotic evidence goes, you CAN survive long enough in a BEV during a snowstorm. If you could afford heating your parked car by GSE (or have a well insulated garage), there should be only minimal range penalties.

 

[Artlav]

So EVs are not made for "cold" countries.

Hm, from the local reviews i read this tend to flip around as you go into proper cold territory. Because on a crisp -55*C morning starting a gasoline car can be quite an ordeal, while a tesla just switches on and goes.

Anyway, even in temperate areas the main problem i see is the lack of charging stations. There are a few dozen live ones per city and none between cities, and next city over can be as far as a few countries over in central europe.

So i'm mainly interested what the infrastructure is like over there? The maps show a lot of charging stations once you cross over into the EU, are they actually real?

 

[Arvil]

Here, diesels really don’t like deep cold unless you mix a bunch of kerosene into the fuel and have good preheat (glow plugs, block heater).

 

[Urwumpe]

So i'm mainly interested what the infrastructure is like over there? The maps show a lot of charging stations once you cross over into the EU, are they actually real?

Depends on which map. If you rely on certain smartphone apps, the charging stations and their capabilities&pricing are correct and up to date. If you rely on the navigation system in a Volkswagen.... pray. ?

Yes, the number of charging points increased a lot in the past three years here.

 

[N_Molson]

So i'm mainly interested what the infrastructure is like over there? The maps show a lot of charging stations once you cross over into the EU, are they actually real?

Well, as I was moving I spent a lot of time on the highway last month, and there's no obvious clues of charging stations in service stations. The signs on the roads tell you how many kilometers to a service station with a fuel pump, a store, an hotel or a recreation area for kids but charging stations are a rare sight. Now again things are moving and efforts are made (Vinci is the company managing the highways in France), here's a demo video :

Nouvelles bornes de recharge électriques | VINCI Autoroutes

Bonne nouvelle si vous circulez en véhicule électrique ! 12 nouvelles bornes de recharge sont en service sur les autoroutes A10, A71, A85 et A81.

www.vinci-autoroutes.com

And there's their official up-to-date map of service areas, the fact is you have nothing like "charging stations icon" on the filters on the right.

Info trafic autoroute en direct

Bouchon, travaux, accident : suivez l’info trafic en direct, les prévisions trafic et les travaux en cours sur toutes les autoroutes de France

www.vinci-autoroutes.com

 

[N_Molson]

And here's a map for whole Europe, including Western Russia. You have a couple in Moscow, Petersburg, and a few in between (Novgorod), which makes sense.

So when zooming in, I think you can really drive the Pertersburg-Novgorod-Tver-Moscow highway with an EV. Better than nothing.

Carte des bornes de recharge pour voitures électriques

La solution pour trouver les bornes de recharges en France et en Europe. Plus de 160 000 prises référencées grâce à la communauté de plus 140 000 membres.

www.automobile-propre.com

 

[Notebook]

Focke Wulf 190 A8 flown by Klaus Plasa chasing a Supermarine Spitfire Mk.18 flown by Rob Davies. All filmed at the Hangar 10 Fly In 2019.

 

[Evil_Onyx]

In continuation of me getting a HGV Licence 4 days ago, I had a Job offer the next day and yesterday had a baptism of fire. I'm entirely new to the role and all I get is 30min induction and handed the keys to a fully loaded 18ton lorry and some paperwork, then told "off you go". 8 hours later and two horrible drops and I did not hit anything. yay. Today 11 hours and 4 drops and todays truck is old and no more damaged than when I picked it up. Lets see how tomorrow goes.

 

[tl8]

In continuation of me getting a HGV Licence 4 days ago, I had a Job offer the next day and yesterday had a baptism of fire. I'm entirely new to the role and all I get is 30min induction and handed the keys to a fully loaded 18ton lorry and some paperwork, then told "off you go". 8 hours later and two horrible drops and I did not hit anything. yay. Today 11 hours and 4 drops and todays truck is old and no more damaged than when I picked it up. Lets see how tomorrow goes.

Considering the Top Gear trio ended in fire and a "stolen" car, sounds like it went well.

 

[Fabri91]

How practical are the electric cars to use over there?
Where can they be charged?
Is it at all possible to go any non-trivial distance in one, like to next country over?

Sorry for not getting back to you earlier!

So, here's my take: they're now practical as long as longer trips (overall distance >200km) are occasional, with the situation expected to improve.

Both the 500 and the Corsa-e have a nominal range, according to the WLTP test cycle, of approx. 330-340 km. This is the minimum nominal range I'd consider for a primary car. The ID.3 variant with the smaller batteries is also in this range, while the larger 58kWh would bump it to 410 or so.

This can vary quite substantially depending on the type of driving one does:

• City driving, with lots of stop and go and thus lots of recuperation and less opportunity to "lose" energy to aerodynamic drag: up to 400-430km are possible.
• Highway driving, at 120kph or so: 220-250km.

Thankfully the charging plug type has been standardized and is able to accommodate both AC chargers and high-power DC ones.

Charging infrastructure is starting to become decent, with a good number of low-power AC stations popping up (think 20-40kW AC chargers at supermarkets and such), and a number of highway high-power DC chargers (for example check out the Europe-wide Ionity network being built by a consortium of car manufacturers) which go up to 350kW, with the cars I tested being able to "ingest" DC at a very respectable 100kW. Still, somewhat careful route planning is required for longer trips for now, since the charger density is a far cry from places like Norway, of course.

Both these charging solutions are more expensive than home charging but still less expensive than an equivalent tank of gasoline and useful for trips.

At least for now electric cars aren't too good a solution if someone were to almost exclusively drive on long-ish trips on highways, but I believe that if daily driven distances are < 200km or so it's really starting to become practical, especially if a domestic charging outlet is available for slow charging overnight.

I personally drive approximately 150km a week usually, which isn't a lot, so if I were to have an electric car the plan would be:

• Charge on a weekend day, preferably during the day from solar, at 2kW or so every couple of weeks
• Plan o topping up every 150 or so km on longer (very occasional) trips - topping up from 20% to 80% state-of-charge is typically the way to go to optimize total travel times.

That being said, my current car is still in very good condition so I'm not looking to replace it now.

Tell me if I've missed anything or you'd like me to elaborate more on one of these points.

 

[Artlav]

domestic charging

What would that mean for people who live in flats/apartments?
You can't exactly drop an extension cord seven floors down and around a building to whatever unoccupied nook of the street you managed to park in this time.

I agree that EVs are practical for city driving and commuting, but cities are also places where most people won't have a personal-house-on-a-plot-of-land-with-a-garage type of a place to live.

So when zooming in, I think you can really drive the Pertersburg-Novgorod-Tver-Moscow highway with an EV. Better than nothing.

Which is exactly the route i was thinking of when asking if the charging stations actually exist, since a lot of the ones listed on the maps here don't actually exist at all, or are some private locked up installations.

 

[Arvil]

Yeah, and if you do drop a cord down, someone else is sure to plug it in their car.

 

[MaxBuzz]

I saw this structure (but for a long time could not understand what it was) from the fifth floor there is a wire going to an old rusty Soviet electrical panel
when one day I did not see an electric car connected to it with a wire

 

[N_Molson]

Yeah, and if you do drop a cord down, someone else is sure to plug it in their car.

That's the problem. I think that Urwumpe was thinking to some kind of charge point that could be used by the neighborhood, with thing such as intelligent plugs. The issue is that the first bored teenager or drunkard will trash the thing in no time, even if its well-designed. In France there were a couple of "free-service electric cars to rent" experiments, but overall it was a failure, maintenance and logistics costs were not worth it. Those kind of things can work on the paper, if everyone is a perfect citizen. Reality is different.