Tesla / Energy Discussion

The Best online firearms community in Louisiana.

Member Benefits:

  • Fewer Ads!
  • Discuss all aspects of firearm ownership
  • Discuss anti-gun legislation
  • Buy, sell, and trade in the classified section
  • Chat with Local gun shops, ranges, trainers & other businesses
  • Discover free outdoor shooting areas
  • View up to date on firearm-related events
  • Share photos & video with other members
  • ...and so much more!
  • jdindadell

    Not Banned!!!
    Rating - 100%
    267   0   1
    Feb 14, 2010
    4,200
    63
    Slidell
    But for kicks and giggles

    400HPh = 298KWh (this is just a conversion)
    If you travel 500miles at 60mph that’s 8.33hours. So...
    298KWh x 8.33 = 2,483.33KWh

    Now I’m a bean counter not an electrical engineer, but as mentioned I dabble in understanding electrical usage and requirements. And I’m assuming an average of 400HP demand on the motor.

    I cannot imagine what kind of vehicle that takes 400 hp to maintain 60mph. A motorhome with the brakes on dragging a boat without a trailer....??? maybe.

    Even a brick like full size truck does not take a 1/4 of that to maintain hwy speed. If they did all of the full size trucks would need supercharged/turbo engines just to make it down the interstate. And gas mileage would be in the single digits.

    Most newer vehicles can keep up 60 in the correct gear at around 1700 - 2000 rpm. I can pretty much guarantee that nothing out there is making 400 hp at 2000 rpm during a steady cruise, that much power is just not needed to do it. Sure, a truck towing a decent load up a hill might use close to max power (depending on weight and grade) but I am not aware of any higher continuous grade 500 mile long mountain roads. Maybe driving up mt Everest?

    Plus the towing numbers on the std light passenger trucks are still not max numbers. It would be silly to expect an engine rated for 400hp to perform at 400hp 100% of the time it is running. Nascar does it, and they can do 500 miles (most of the time) before those engines need a rebuild. The power is needed to get the weight moving and once a steady speed is reached that power drops off down to what is needed to overcome air resistance and rolling resistance.

    I would divide your final number by 4. That would be more realistic. And I do not think that any of these electric vehicles have a 500 mile range yet, not in the real world. If they were doing 10mph they could possibly do 500 miles.

    And electric motors are way more efficient that a fuel fired combustion engine. Probably getting close to 90% efficiency. Gas is about 33-35% efficient. The rest of the fuel's power goes into heat, out the tailpipe and into the air via the radiator. So your 400 hp engine is dumping 800hp worth of heat, at least when it is at full tilt. So if both vehicles were the same weight/size/shape and produced the same power for the smae duration, the electric car would have less potential in its energy storage device (battery) than the gas vehicle would have in its fuel tank.

    I do agree that grounding out an electric car battery with your wanker is going to be a much more spectacular end than chugging a gallon of gas. But the battery is no more dangerous than the fuel tank. We are all just used to driving around with a large quantity of accelerant in our cars, and the vehicle mfgs have spent a lot of time (at least since the pinto) making said cars safe.
     

    jdindadell

    Not Banned!!!
    Rating - 100%
    267   0   1
    Feb 14, 2010
    4,200
    63
    Slidell
    Since you are a bean counter and not an Electrical Engineer, are you capable of telling us how a Tesla would dissipate stored energy?

    DC needs a load to flow, or just hook the pos and neg up to each other and it will do it by itself... Till something lets go.

    DC is more dangerous due to it generally "holding onto" a short rather than popping it off like AC does. I an no electrical engineer (or any sort of engineer, but my mom taught me how to read and I don't fall into holes) but I do know that high voltage dc is very deadly and it will not throw you off once you get in the path, the way that higher voltage ac does, most of the time.

    A tesla (or any other battery) will only dissipate power 2 ways, through a load of some sort (light, motor, personal pleasure device), or via self discharge, which is basically an electrical "leak". The 18650 cells that tesla use are pretty good at not self discharging very quickly, and are also pretty good a discharging at a high C rate when loaded.

    I can 100% guarantee that none of the electric cars ever produced have any method of discharging the battery on demand to the ground. So when they wreck they are either going to be fine, or maybe catch on fire if the battery is punctured.
     

    Staff online

    Forum statistics

    Threads
    195,230
    Messages
    1,546,149
    Members
    29,172
    Latest member
    ksgunner82
    Top Bottom