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Electric Vehicles and Electrification: Another perspective.

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One pedal driving and regen brakes explained: reality, myths, hype, fads and Tesla vs the rest.

To make sense of all the often seemingly conflicting information on “regen“, one-pedal-driving, and how to best drive an EV, it really helps to know there are two different systems for how the “STOP pedal”, aka the “brake pedal”, to works in an EV:

  1. 1. Like an ICE vehicle, as with Tesla and perhaps some other EVs.
  2. 2. Using brake-by-wire as with most EVs.

Confusion over the two systems is part of it, but there are so many myths and so much misinformation about regen-braking and one-pedal-driving “regen braking”, and is why a low regen setting can be less efficient in a Tesla, but won’t matter and can help in practically all other EVs, and why “one-pedal-driving” is not necessarily the most efficient way of driving.

Despite the fact there is so many myths leading to so much misinformation making it sound complex, driving an EV for optimum efficiency is usually extremely simple.

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BYD Atto 3, AKA Yuan Plus: 3rd bestselling EV globally.

As of March 2023, this EV from the BYD brand that few have heard of, has risen to 3rd bestselling EV globally behind the Tesla Model Y and Model 3, and could this year overtake the Model 3.

Despite this level of sales success, as the Atto 3, as it is known outside China, arrives in new markets, reviewers often struggle to communicate the significance. As the international bestselling model of the BYD brand responsible for 6 of the 10 top bestselling EVs globally.

Read More »

The two speed EV transition: Manufactures vs consumers. (part 1)

It is easy to underestimate how long it will take consumers to transition to EVs, and equally easy to underestimate how urgently manufactures need to transition to avoid collapse.

Two transition speeds? Yes, brands will switch to EVs in their showroom by 2025 or risk failure, but in what seems like a complete disconnect, there will still be internal combustion vehicles on the road past 2050.

Around 10.5 million Electric Vehicles were delivered in 2022, which resulted in less than 0.7% of Internal Combustion Engine vehicles (ICEVs) being replaced by EVs during 2022, even those EVs represented 13% of new vehicles sales.

The data shows that new car showrooms transition to EVs 20x faster than the roads, and vehicle manufacture transition 20x faster then the public, and while ICEVs will likely still around beyond 2050, vehicle makers that can’t switch fast enough could collapse by 2030, bringing radical economic change.

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EVs 2023: Is Tesla losing its cool as BYD ascends?

The world of EVs is changing, as is the leadership. Tesla lost 50% of its valuation in 2022. Some are predicting it will lose half of the remaining value in 2023, and although others predict the stock price will rebound, both outcomes are possible, and which becomes reality could depend very much on whether Tesla can remain ‘cool’, or through Musk and twitter becomes linked to far right.

Although entire EV future is not dependant solely on Tesla, a decline could have wide implications, for the market, competitors and the global transition to EVs. Not only are the ‘legacy’ automotive companies GM, Ford, VW and Toyota competition for the hearts and dollars from consumers, but also BYD, who is already taking the EV lead from Tesla.

Keys factor in EV trends during 2023 could turn out to be who is ‘cool’, shifting perceptions of a climate threat and the need for rapid response, and the impact of conflicts such as Ukraine. Rapid radical change for the industry, but it will take longer to impact consumers.

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Who makes a profit from EVs in 2023? Everyone but Tesla and BYD making a loss?

Why is it so hard to make money from making EVs at a competitive price?

This is an exploration of the profitability challenges, and the answers to “Do only Tesla & BYD profit from EVs?” and “Why make vehicles at a loss?“.

Auto makers must either 1) find a way to make EVs at profit, 2) close down, or 3) hope there will still be a large enough market for ICEVs for them to survive. Highly funded research indicates that in future just 5 brands will dominate 80% of the market, and the reality is only one of the top ten automotive from 2021 is a likely contender.

Read More »

Table of Contents

This topic contains subtopics on living with EVs, reference pages, and analysis of the impact of EVs and electrification on the world.

As this is not a news site, the focus is on analysing the implications of news for these topics, rather reporting all EV or electrification news, for which I recommend Cleantechnica, InsideEVs and CNEVPOST.

The focus of these pages is on how EVs and electrification will change our lives, and change the planet. As a species, we are currently transforming from combustion as our primary energy source, to an electronic age, where electricity is our energy source. Just how much of our lives are changed by this can be easy to overlook from the inside experiencing the steps as the occur.

Electric Vehicles and Electrification: Another perspective.

This topic contains subtopics on living with EVs, reference pages, and analysis of the impact of EVs and electrification on the world.

As this is not a news site, the focus is on analysing the implications of news for these topics, rather reporting all EV or electrification news, for which I recommend Cleantechnica, InsideEVs and CNEVPOST.

The focus of these pages is on how EVs and electrification will change our lives, and change the planet. As a species, we are currently transforming from combustion as our primary energy source, to an electronic age, where electricity is our energy source. Just how much of our lives are changed by this can be easy to overlook from the inside experiencing the steps as the occur.

Moving on from combustion for energy is a significant milestone.

From the first ability to harness fire as a tool during the early paleolithic age, energy became one of the tools that most transformed humanity. Fire, or combustion, remained sole the energy source as we moved from wood to fossil fuels until the 20th century, when made the step to adding electrical power generated by combustion into our energy mix.

One way of looking at periods of human history through considering the tools:

  • Palaeolithic with the first stone tools.
  • Neolithic win newer stone tools.
  • The bronze age with metal tools.
  • The iron age with more newer metal tools.

There is less consensus on what follows the above ages, partially because insufficient time has passed for perspective to be established. Some suggest the ‘steel age’ and the ‘steam age’, which if accepted, would be logically succeeded by the internal combustion age.

A different perspective to consider the role of energy in each of these periods:

  • During the paleolithic and neolithic ages, energy came from burning renewable wood, and there was insufficient energy intensity for metallurgy.
  • The bronze age was enabled by improved harnessing of energy, with neolithic pottery kilns improved in their utilisation of combustion energy to be able to reach temperatures beyond 900oC.
  • The iron age was enabled by further improved utilisation of combustion energy to able to reach sufficient temperatures to smelt iron.

The industrial age was powered by utilisation of combustion energy to power machines, and then accelerated by the introduction of the internal combustion engine.

The first wave of electrification introduced the more efficient electrical energy, although initially with combustion as the energy source. During this first wave, the two problems with electrical energy were:

  1. As the electrical energy was sourced from combustion, there will little advantage over combustion energy.
  2. Electrical energy without conductors connected to the grid had very limited energy available.

We have now entered the age of moving beyond those two limitations.

What Changes?

The losers.

The unusual thing is that two of the worlds largest industries, fossil fuels and vehicle manufacturing, both lose in this transition. Normally, a change where the losers are extremely valuable industries and the winners have far less wealth would be perpetually stalled. It is obvious how the fossil fuel industry loses, but not all realise the impact on the vehicle manufacturing industry. Electric vehicles simply need less parts are less complex, and produce less revenue per vehicle, so the industry loses revenue. Although currently electric vehicles have a typically higher price than internal combustion vehicles, the increased cost is in the battery that vehicle makers buy from others, and as EVs go mainstream prices will fall below internal combustion vehicle prices.

The Winners.

The huge change is perhaps demonstrated by the ability of people to go ‘off grid’. Going ‘off grid’ is not even possible with fossil fuels.

People can become more independent and self reliant, and with the potential competition of people sourcing their own energy, energy providers, and even governments, have less hold over peoples lives.

Contents:

I also provide reference information that I needed as background for analysis, and some timeline pages that look at how the future might pan out.

Some sample pages by sub-topic:

* = Recently Updated as of March 2022.

External Reference data on EVs:

Updates.

  • 2022 Aug 1: Modified this page to better act as a topic introduction.

One Response

  1. There is one HUGE problem with EV & ICE vehicles, RESOURCES!
    NO ONE can “produce” a raw material like OIL, it’s EXTRACTED from the earth.

    The resources needed to produce those TECHNOLOGIES are limited & to access those resources ( drill, mine, frack, chop etc) you need OIL & OIL is the keystone of this civilization.
    Not enough oil = no civilization & no 8 BILLION humans.

    I would love to drive an EV but their too expensive & if I did buy one I would be increasing the demand for MORE OIL, COAL, NATURAL GAS, STEEL, COPPER, LITHIUM, LEAD ETC !!

    We cannot, must not, increase the demand for more C022 producing technologies!
    Instead, we must vastly CUT our use of those fossil resources but that will also mean starvation of most humans & no matter what else we do, we are still set for a collapse & a dieoff.

    We are in a trap of our own making, EV’s cannot solve the problem of resource decline & shortages as they are also DEPENDENT UPON DECLINING RESOURCES!
    EV’S & ICE are a dead end as is all of the technology we use that depends upon fossil resources.

    It’s IRRELAVENT how “efficient” they are, how “clean” they are & they still aren’t “green” since they depend upon dirty fossil resources.
    We are headed for collapse, it won’t be gentle, it will be our worse nightmare.
    8 BILLION humans cannot survive without sufficient fossil resources & we can’t go back to how we did it before oil, there are too many of us & our resources are very depleted, most humans will die off.
    A few scientist think we could go extinct.

    I think humans are tough & very adaptable, I think some of us will survive the end of the fossil resource age but it won’t be a “Jetson’s” existance either, it will be more like a hard, pre industrial existance, hard dirty work, & a short life.

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