Loved this one 🤣
Trying to get there before the off license closed 😂
Consumed 🥲their purchases before they left I think 💭😬
Had to zoom in a bit on pic, it looks as though the car is balancing on a wall, but front wheels look to still be on the ground. Don't know the site, but is there a kerb on the upper side with a big drop off on lower side?
It’s a lowish wall with a drop to the path below. I honestly do not know how they managed it - remember seeing the pictures last year.
Funny, that spot is usually never iced. I'm there a lot.
I've seen it iced a fair bit. It's usually the tracksuited "I'm only running into Dealz" brigade. Even though there are numerous other spots nearby.
”The question will come down to whether people will be willing to commit to a lease with a term as long as 10 years. Some shoppers may just want to buy it outright or finance it, so we'll have to wait and see if Sony Honda Mobility has a plan for people interested in purchasing.
The Sony-Honda reps went on to share that if an Afeela owner is subscribing to the car and wants to pay less money on a monthly basis, they can simply refuse to accept certain software updates. If they stick to the original monthly fee, they'll get all the subsequent updates for the full term.”
Quick Google search reveals that this has more capacity than the Dublin Swift and about 40km more range than required to go from Dublin to Holyhead
I'm looking forward to one day taking an electric ferry to the UK and then driving electric all the way to Europe (assuming I can't get a green hydrogen powered ferry to France)
EDIT: Bit of fun, I did some rough calculations on how much energy is in 400 tonnes of batteries and came up with between 36MWh and 66MWh assuming LFP batteries
Assuming a 2 hour break between crossings you'd need a 15-35MW charging system, going through approximately 6-12 MCS connectors
I wonder what the economics of a 150MWh battery at either end would be to save on the grid connection costs. I imagine the difference between day and night electricity prices are quite significant when taking about megawatts
Would it be suitable for the Irish Sea? Between Argentina and Uruguay it will only have to traverse the River Plate estuary. You might have to settle for ammonia :)
Well as it is the Swift can only go in good weather. It seems to shut down in winter, presumably for maintenance but I also suspect the weather is too unreliable
The Swift is already electric……. As are most modern ships….. the issue is they just carry around their power station on board with them (as well as fuel to run the power station)…. So going all electric is great in theory but during the day when these lads will charge up it would be mostly fossil fuel powering them up…..(if it’s a really windy day these boats can’t sail) and that’s before we even mention the grid implications of 35MW of additional demand for a 1-2 hour period each charging session….
Yeah there's definitely some shore based infrastructure needs to be thought out
It's not all that bad though, for example the Swift seems to do 4 crossings per day, 2 each way
Assuming it's got a 50MWh battery onboard, you're looking at roughly 200MWh
So I wonder does it make sense to charge the ferry overnight, then have a 50MWh battery at either end for the top up before the next journey
You could then fit into a much smaller grid connection, say 5MW and save considerable money over the difference in wholesale electricity prices
You also have the advantage that you can do the old grid balancing side hustle with that battery, or use it to supply power to the rest of the port
At the moment it looks like wholesale electricity prices are around €160/MWh at night and €250 during the day. So a difference of around €4,500 per crossing in electricity costs seems like a good return (€8,000 Vs €12,500)
I read somewhere the Swift uses around 13,000 litres of diesel fuel per crossing. Assuming an overall cost of around €1/l that's €13,000 per crossing. I know marine diesel is cheaper and I assume Irish Ferries get some sort of bulk purchase discount, not to mention a VAT refund
So there's a definite argument for charging the ferry during the night. Also give the port has potential for generating energy onsite (wave & wind power) the savings could be even better
I imagine if I told some ferry operators they could save 50% in fuel costs they'd be having a crisis in their underwear with the excitement
Just wait until you told them the expected CAPEX outlay 😀
Modular batteries on the back of trailers that can be towed on & off the boats.
When empty batteries are taken off the ship, they go offsite to be charged up (wherever the grid is best suited to charge them… overnight even)..
So as soon as the ship pulls in you simply do a battery swap, you have enough batteries to cover all your days operations and they get charged up again overnight on renewables…
Very true, but at some point Irish Ferries will need to trade their ships in for something newer. And it's likely that emmisions rules will restrict or heavily tax the use of marine diesel
So the choice then is get an LNG ferry (no LNG terminal in Dublin), get a hydrogen ferry (doesn't exist yet) or get an electric ferry
Overall Irish Ferries would probably prefer hydrogen since it would suit their longer range ferries, but given the cost savings of electric propulsion it might win out for the smaller ferries
I kinda feel like this introduces as many problems as it solves
You'd probably be looking at around 10-15 shipping container sized battery trailers for the ship. You'd need time to disconnect them, swap them out and secure and connect the new ones, plus a whole set of safety checks
Sounds like there's an hour or so of work involved at least and you still have to unload and load the ferry
In that time you may have been able to recharge from a shore based battery, since you're already buying additional batteries than you need
Battery swappings as an idea is about as silly as hydrogen.
The best use of this would be simply using batteries and charging them. If the delta between day and niight electricity supports it - buying onshore batteries to load shift may make financial sense too.
Agree, although China seem to be doing it it is nothing I'd be interested in.
Only real peak interest for me in the Nio clone of the Model 3 with the 150kW battery, that would be near 1,000kms real world range and a huge battery dump for PV
The Chinese electric carmaker has confirmed its earlier timetables, according to which the first vehicles with the 150 kWh solid-state battery will be delivered this year. There will also be flexible upgrades for existing Nio customers via the company’s battery swap stations.
The 150 kWh pack uses so-called semi-solid-state battery cells, which Nio sources from the Chinese manufacturer WeLion. WeLion is currently building a factory for hybrid battery cells with solid and liquid electrolyte as well as for pure solid-state battery cells in Zibo in the eastern Chinese province of Shandong. This factory is scheduled to go into operation at the end of the year – this could fit in with the Nio timetables, but large quantities are probably not to be expected initially.
The semi-solid-state cells have a solid electrolyte, an anode material made of a silicon graphite composite and a cathode with an “ultra-high” nickel content, as the CN EV Post writes. WeLion itself had stated that the battery would have an energy density of 360 Wh/kg.
Originally, the 150 kWh pack was announced for the ET7 electric sedan, for which the statement was also made that delivery would begin in Q4 2022. In the ET7, an NEDC range of over 1,000 kilometres should be possible with the battery. In Nio’s large electric SUV, the ES8, it should still be 850 kilometres according to the NEDC, and 900 kilometres in the smaller ES6 SUV model.
Since all Nio models are compatible with the company’s own battery swap technology, customers can also swap the ordered battery model afterwards. Initially, this was not possible; only batteries of the same type could be exchanged. However, after a pilot project, Nio announced in December 2021 that customers can upgrade their battery packs monthly as needed. Currently, there are packs of 70, 75 or 100 kWh.
What the upgrade to the new 150 kWh battery will cost and how quickly these battery packs will be available in the exchange stations is not yet known.
Fully Charged did a review of a fully electric ferry a few years back, so its not a new thing.
A big robotic arm does the connection at port. Chunky cables!
Doesn't look like a very big ferry though.
True, it's definitely not a new concept
They didn't explicitly state it but I get the feeling the one earlier was bigger than any other electric ferry
It's certainly big enough, for comparison the Dublin Swift can carry a similar number of vehicles but half as many passengers
It's also interesting that it was originally supposed to be LNG powered but it made more sense to make it electric instead
https://www.independent.ie/news/environment/grants-to-buy-evs-may-be-kept-for-motorists-in-rural-areas-as-those-for-city-dwellers-end-42308551.html
It'll be interesting to see the sudden population growth in Longford or Roscommon as a result 😂
Cant wait to see how they will define rural for this sh1teshow. Instead of the shapeshifting that has always gone on at the NI border we'll now have the rural shapeshifting show as well
All the Dubs will move to Kildare, oh no, wait , too late, they are already here.......(insert culchie jokes here )
We're only taking back what was rightfully ours and inside The Pale - you can keep Kildare Town, sure it's infested with Culchies
Somebody will find a workaround type loophole until the agency closes such a loophole. I'm in County Clare but I'm 1.5kms from the Limerick city border but on this side of the border I'm 12kms drive to the nearest public charger. If I went to an a public charger closest to me that would be a Circle K 3.3kms away, private is a LIDL maybe 1.5kms. That's not really the project change though is it. They consider somebody more rural to likely have a greater impact on the environment as they would drive more and therefore emit less pollution over time by not having an ICE.
Argument can easily be made that somebody in the middle of a city might do more mileage than I would but I'd get the grant and they would not. It will be interesting to see as I'm making the change to a PHEV(grant gone) and likely so when I might make the change from PHEV to BEV it could be all gone.
You'll just have to go full BEV asap then 😉
If they were looking for an unworkable solution, they've found it!
I doubt they will ever implement this mad idea. It would be abused all over the place and create lots of administration overhead to oversee it.
They'll go for the easy option, which is simply to reduce the grant in July and then remove it in 2024.
