Fast charging is not practical :-(

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arsharpe
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Fast charging is not practical :-(

Postby arsharpe » Fri Jun 01, 2007 7:13 pm

As a newbie I had great hopes for fast charging. Now having convinced myself that it is not so practical, I have descended to the depths of depression :-)

Well not quite ;-), but it was a bit disappointing that even with everything as perfect as it can be (e.g. fast recharge stations at just the right point, immediate recharge, etc ....) it looks like my Berlingo could only average about 25 mph over a long distance.

See Excel or html spreadsheet for in depth calculations.

I guess this is what happens after the honeymoon period is over ;-) Never mind, my Berlingo and I will still stay together until death do us part.

Regards,
Rob

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ChrisB
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Postby ChrisB » Fri Jun 01, 2007 8:00 pm

Fast charging in my books never that great, over stresses the batteries and generally you'll never get the same performance you'll get from a good charge at the correct rate, well thats from my own experiance on lead acids and sealed LA's, small nicads.
These safts might be different but ??????

Also I can imagine that fast charging is never going to be as efficiant as slower charging as more heat is generated.


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arsharpe
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Postby arsharpe » Fri Jun 01, 2007 8:31 pm

Yes, I did have similar concerns, but I was hoping that I could get ride of the Prius or the gas gusling Mondeo (oops that slipped out, sorry) :oops:

As most green (and real world) issues seem to compromises, I was thinking it might be an acceptable one.

Ah well, I suppose it is worth installing fast charge cable (because the cable installation is the most expensive part) ready for better batteries,etc.

Regards,
Rob

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ChrisB
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Postby ChrisB » Fri Jun 01, 2007 8:44 pm

The bingo needs a specific charger for fast charging, you cant just plug in fatter cables :lol: would be nice to be able to do that, but sadly not possible.

The on board charger only carries out the slow charge.

EV's in my own view will only ever be for your short to medium runs and you will hire/have another vehicle for longer runs or use a public form of transport.


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aminorjourney
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Postby aminorjourney » Fri Jun 01, 2007 9:38 pm

Of course, with a vehicle like the Berlingo you almost have unlimited space for batteries.

You may want to consider some arrangement with parallel packs to increase the range or planning to charge your car between 20% and 80% SOC. Going beyond 80% DOD means charging will be slow for the bit under 20% full, but most batteries charge quickly between 20 and 80%.

I've driven over 40 miles in my City El in one day by charging it for hour stints followed by a 7 or 8 mile drive. And don't forget, you could theoretically arrange to charge the battery pack in two parallel parts. The maximum you could get from a 13A would be about 3KW (more for 16A of course). Two chargers each charging half your pack would help the charge time drop.

Hope that makes sense. I'm exhausted and my brain isn't actually on my head at the moment!
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ChrisB
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Postby ChrisB » Fri Jun 01, 2007 10:55 pm

I can see what your getting at but with the blingo it would be a nightmere to install another pack not only would you be luggin about another 350+ kg ( leaving less than 150kg for payload ) but also you've got all the water cooling circuit to worry about and watering circuit etc etc

You've then got the issue of the controller not understanding that you have two packs and all the problems that entails :roll:

I think the best thing would be to bung a oil burning genny running on vegie oil giving a bit of a charge everynow and then. Trouble is the bingo uses gob loads of power and putting it back at 10 or so amps takes quite a time.

From what I've found, the Bingo is not that friendly for playing about with, it is though a VERY friendly idiot mobile i.e you drive it , you plug it in, you recharge it, you drive it ..............etc etc which is what I love to show people i.e you dont have to be a geek to own one.
Of course I am a geek of the most geekyness :oops: :lol: but I also like the cleanlyness of the bingo, it looks and drives just like a normal vehicle.

I have seen some EV's that look more like a mad scientists mobile laboratory :lol: which is fine but does tend to give joe public the wrong idea that you need to be a mad scientist to own a EV :lol:

I know it sounds like I'm knocking the Bingo but really I'm not.

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aminorjourney
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Postby aminorjourney » Sat Jun 02, 2007 6:08 am

I love clean looking vehicles. And no, I'm not talking about ones which have had a bath!

I think there's nothing worse than getting into a hodgepodge vehicle with wires everywhere. Perhaps then we need to lobby manufacturers to produce vehicles which can fast charge! :)

N
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ChrisB
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Postby ChrisB » Sat Jun 02, 2007 2:44 pm

aminorjourney wrote: Perhaps then we need to lobby manufacturers to produce vehicles which can fast charge! :)

N



Dont we need them to actually produce EV's in the first place :lol: :lol:

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aminorjourney
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Postby aminorjourney » Sat Jun 02, 2007 2:46 pm

I'm workin' on it :D
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ChrisB
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Postby ChrisB » Sat Jun 02, 2007 2:51 pm

Why did I just know you where going to say that :lol: :lol:

ChrisB
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