From that Deffletts link.

That short driving range won’t really matter, since the e.home has 334 square feet of thin-film solar panels on its exterior. The solar panels can generate up to 3,000 watts of electricity to power the 228-Ah sodium-nickel-chloride battery.

So it has about 4hp from the solar, how does that significantly add to the range?

yeah electric cars are crap at towing: http://www.teslaupdates.co/2016/05/model-x-p90d-towing-alpha-4c-beats.html

I can’t wait to be fully electric, and self driving

I am sure the millions of charge points needed for the great British road network is just around the corner.Then they will need to figure out how to claw back all the free parking,congestion charges and lecky that is currently available. 😉

So it has about 4hp from the solar, how does that significantly add to the range?

You can tell that from those arbitrary numbers ? 3000watt at what voltage ….. 228ah at what voltage. Untill you know that those numbers are meaningless .

More so that it’s very unlikely at all the solar panels in the van can be in use at the same time by design of a box 2 of the sides must be shaded at anyone time.

You can tell that from those arbitrary numbers ?

Yes.

1 hp = 746 watts.

So the equivalent of about 4hp absolute maximum from the panels and as point out, will be partly shaded at all times. So a lot less in reality.

Small folding caravans, with a layer of batteries underneath the floor to offset the extra load.

For camper vans, they are near their weight limit because they are built to the weight limit offered by chassis already designed for a different purpose.

Of all the engineering challenges facing green tech these are probably the easiest to solve.

People worry about charge infrastructure but there is already a network of cable trunking pretty much everywhere. The cable trunking for street lighting or phone lines has space for a cable for charging points. Charge points will join existing street furniture. Locally there are charge point being installed in most villages for people without off-road parking to use. The question is whether to install lots of slow charge points that people can park on as usual or a few fast chargers where you turn up like a filling station. Tesla have gone for the super-charger option but I’m not convinced it’s the best option long term due to the pressure it would put on the grid at times of peak car use – the holiday season and weekends.

cable trunking ? is this inner city living again – none of that round here . phone lines laid in the ditch before being lifted to a pole to tee off to houses and the electric comes via overhead lines.

and thats not uncommon once you get out of major urban centres.

remember that fad for terribly inefficient charging pads for your phone a few years back – is that still a thing? could we scale that up to a parking space sized pad and wirelessly charge the car ?

A Tesla could easily tow a caravan, especially a Tesla X, which weighs three tons! Tesla are working towards 800km/full charge through improved battery chemistry and firmware updates, so while a Zöe or a Note may struggle with range and anything much bigger than a small trailer, large e-cars like a Tesla shouldn’t have any issues, especially if they’re the twin-motor 4×4 version; the single motor P85 saloon delivers 360-470hp, I think the dual-motor delivers the same HP, it’s the combined torque that gives greater acceleration and pulling power.
https://www.tesla.com/en_GB/blog/tesla-all-wheel-drive-dual-motor-power-and-torque-specifications?redirect=no

which is all good but whats a tesla X GVW if its 3 tons before you load it. 5 adults and then a pint of milk ?

cable trunking ? is this inner city living again – none of that round here . phone lines laid in the ditch before being lifted to a pole to tee off to houses and the electric comes via overhead lines.

and thats not uncommon once you get out of major urban centres.

remember that fad for terribly inefficient charging pads for your phone a few years back – is that still a thing? could we scale that up to a parking space sized pad and wirelessly charge the car ?

I think youre looking for a problem that really doesnt exist, or if it does its a problem for a vanishingly small minority of people.

If you’ve got space to park a car on the street then there’s probably space to stick a charging point in, even if that means digging a dtich to put the cable in.

And the smaller the village and the more remote it is, the more likely you are to have off road parking.

If anything, the more remote you are the bigger the incentive, petrol in remote areas is frequently 10p/l more than in cities, whereas the grid can deliver electricity at pretty much a flat rate anywhere in the country.

And back on topic, if you dont have a parking space you probably don’t have a caravan.

What are vechles?

And traffic will be so bad that you have to book a trip or work from home.

Where is the Black Death when you need it?

And back on topic, if you dont have a parking space you probably don’t have a caravan.

Not even in storage?

Steam would also be better for towing than IC, all that torque.

And of course, if you burn wood, pollution ceases to be an issue.
🙂

This might be of interest, a Tesla Model S that’s already done 300,000 miles…
http://jalopnik.com/this-is-what-happens-when-you-put-300-000-miles-on-a-te-1798662230

The proles won’t be allowed to own cars, only those who can afford the designer hair shirts.

As you’re well aware flashy, there’s quite a few expensive terraced houses all across the U.K. I’m pretty sure their owners will end up with an EV. 😉

I can quite easily see charging points built into lamp posts etc, I’d be concerned some oik will come along and unplug your vehicle during the night! 😆

I’d be concerned some oik will come along and unplug your vehicle during the night!

They lock so it’s pretty difficult.

A vast amount of homes haver no possibility of charging outside their home. Round my way there is around 60 flats with on street parking for about 15 cars. This is replicated in much of scotlands cities

They lock so it’s pretty difficult.

2nd and 3rd gens do.

i cant be alone in remembering the news stories when folk were fighting over the few availible electric charge points a few years ago unplugging them and moving them to their own cars…..

although nowadays when ever i go into town the charge points are empty – apart from the car share ones – go figure – maybe the range is so good that they dont need to or that all the locals have solar at home to charge them for free.

2nd and 3rd gens do.

I reckon that covers future models then especially by 2040. 🙄

i cant be alone in remembering the news stories when folk were fighting over the few availible electric charge points a few years ago unplugging them and moving them to their own cars…..

I can’t recall but probably took no notice as it was probably a none news story as the reality would have been about 3 cases.

dunno reliability and battery life is so good according to the kool aid that these 1st gens will still be on the road then.

What are people so afraid of?

Technology marches on and none of the issues stated are hard to address with improved charging infrastructure or hot swappable batteries.

A vast amount of homes haver no possibility of charging outside their home. Round my way there is around 60 flats with on street parking for about 15 cars. This is replicated in much of scotlands cities

I’m not entirely sure what the problem is though?

There are presumably as many parking spaces are there are cars? Otherwise, where do they park? Presumably, the other 45 flats don’t have cars?

Whether those cars have IC engines and have to drive off to find a petrol station or are electric and have a charging point in each parking space, the lack of parking isn’t a new issue.

Not even in storage?

Yup, electric vehicles won’t catch on because a minority of a minority insist on buying a £40,000 mobile fiberglass shed and keeping it miles away rather than a house with a driveway. Either that or it won’t matter.

What are people so afraid of?

Change.

But the change will be night on transparent by the time they are ‘forced’ to adopt it.
Anyway, people aren’t really that afraid of change, more of uncertainty.