I can see the attraction in the city centre being able to weave through gaps that bigger cars can't manage
I find that is more a matter of instant torque than the actual size of the car 😂
In Phnom Penh atm, have traveled most of the country and this is the first EV I have seen. There is an unofficial Tesla centre just opened near airport, must drop in and have a look. There are a good few electric scooters and many electric Tuk Tuks, but unfortunately they are the uninteresting looking Indian 3 wheel version, rather than the classic motor cycle pulled carriage. Afaik there is no charging infrastructure as yet anywhere in the country.
And that EV in your picture is probably only a PHEV 😂
Well, one is great, and the other is also great, so I imagine the combination of both can only be better 😁
Yes quite possibly. Does it say Rex on the back I wonder? I forgot to look..
Bz4X
Bjorn
1,000km challenge
14hrs 25mins
Costs more than a Model Y
Ouch!
Where'd you see that? I don't think he's got the video up yet?
That's down at Zoe and Leaf speeds 🤦♂️
Probably had to stop to reattach the tires and wheels a few times
One of the lads posted in the bz4x thread, saying they watched some of the live stream…. Apparently cold/fast gated ta fcuk…..
Jesus. Time is running out very fast for Toyota. They could be gone within a decade. From the biggest car maker in the world to bankrupt within a decade. Sounds like Kodak.
Well Kodak and Nokia both still exist, so I doubt Toyota will disappear.
They've got the Japanese government wrapped around their finger on hybrids and hydrogen and that'll be enough to sustain them for the foreseeable future
However they won't be the biggest car company in the world for long at this rate
They'll probably just end up buying up a smaller company for their technology and using that, if their own efforts keep falling flat
They've just replaced the CEO with the head of Lexus. His remit is to refocus on electrification. I'm guess it's going to be 2027 until we see real progress from them.
Aye. Not just the CEO but a clan of the Toyoda family and the grandson of the founder of Toyota himself. No small feat over there, very different from ousting a CEO in our western world. Could be too little, too late though. In just a few years time literally nobody in any of the important car markets will want to buy a combustion car anymore
I was in Rome last weekend for the rugby. Did a fair bit of driving around (brother in law lives there) and walked around 25 Kms in the 3 days that we were there.
In total I saw 3 model 3 's, a polestar, 2 ID4's and 1 fiat 500E.
Italians aren't exactly embracing the EV movement.
And iirc, the new guy said they were going to electrify Lexus first, and I suppose see how that goes, and then Toyota later.
So, "self-charging" marketing is going to be around for a long time yet!
Are they still not the best selling car brand in Ireland?
Still enough time to change direction I'd say.
Despite reducing sales yoy, its still comfortably the biggest car manufacturer in the world by sales in 2022, 10.8m in sales compared to next biggest VW with 8.3m in sales. So while it needs to get the finger out on EVs it will be a while yet before it disappears from the motoring landscape.
The World's Top 3 Automakers By Sales In 2022 (Toyota No.1) (carlogos.org)
Kodak was also the best selling company in the world for all stuff photo. With almost zero competition. Then a few years later they were gone. It's the complacency that kills. Not the quality within the company. The "Sure aren't we still selling loads of cars in some of our markets? We know things are changing, we will adapt at some stage"
I dunno if there is still time to change direction. Their pace of change has been so slow it might not be good enough. Laden with debts as well and a balance sheet full of assets like ICE production plants, which will need to be written off over a much shorter period of time than anticipated.
The big problem with being number 1 is the only way is down
Long read
Goldman Sachs Equity Research
30 January 2023 | 11:33PM JST
The Ecosystem of Electric Vehicles
From the FT
At the end of January, Goldman Sachs published a big sprawling 95 page (virtual) brick titled The Ecosystem of Electric Vehicles, looking at the entire value chain of companies in the space, from car manufacturers to component makers and infrastructure providers.
More boat news
It doesn't really say it in the article, but the routes are between 35 and 109km through open seas
So, same distance from Dublin to Holyhead more or less is now totally emissions free
Get on with it Irish Ferries! I want to drive to Europe or UK without burning a single drop of diesel
if you got 20 minutes it's well worth watching, any of her videos are tbh.
Just wondering where Norway will get the hydrogen for these ships? Would it from their natural gas by any chance?
I haven't watched the video yet (I'm out walking 😁) but I know hydrogen has some big issues, mainly around production
I think the Idea of hydrogen cars is well and truly dead, and hydrogen trucks or hydrogen home heating are circling the drain
But there are some areas the current battery technology just doesn't seem to be able to cover, aviation and shipping being the main ones
I think eventually battery technology will take over there as well. But since ferries can operate for 20-30 years before replacement then for now it's probably better to just green hydrogen than build more fossil ferries which could be still around in 2050
EDIT: Okay video watched, very informative and well researched and definitely a few more considerations than just the source of hydrogen
I still think it makes sense for planes and ships, for now...
It's interesting to think that 20 years ago we were talking about hydrogen cars being the future and battery powered cars would never manage more than 50km. Now the tables have turned almost completely and hydrogen is being squeezed out of many markets
Like I said, the technology for long range battery powered ships and aircraft will come some day, but even the most optimistic timelines out that around 2030. In the meantime there's a whole lot of ships and aircraft that will be built and it's possible that hydrogen will be the stopgap to make them greener
Was going to post something similar. Hydrogen is dirtier than fossil fuel. Until we start making it with huge excess renewables, that we have no other use for. And even then there are loads of issues.
Battery electric is the way to go for any transport, with the only exception I can think of being long haul shipping.
in fairness that ferry in Norway is offering these carrying capacities ....
599 passengers, 120 cars 12 trucks
which is tiny, miniscule, compared to Ulyses on the Dublin Hollyhead run:
1,938 passengers 1,342 cars 241 trucks
WB yeats is a tad smaller. Stena adventurer a tad smaller again, but still multiples of the Norwegian ferry.
You'd need dozens of those Norwegian ferries to replace the 3 largest vessels to Hollyhead.
Maybe, maybe not
They didn't say in the article that they would be using green hydrogen, so I would guess that at least some of it is coming from natural gas
There's also the mention of up to 15% of power from biofuels, so presumably at least some diesel power is onboard, maybe as backup power
However, one handy thing about hydrogen is that you should be able to swap out fossil produced hydrogen for green hydrogen without any modifications
Another bit of economic theory to consider. Norway has a lot of wind energy and also a large natural gas export industry
Does it make more sense to use your natural gas resources to make hydrogen for a domestic market, or export the hydrogen for a profit and use the money gained to invest in wind energy and green hydrogen production?
I honestly don't know which is the case, but it's an interesting question to ponder
is that not the essence of the whole thing?
In places with really plentiful wind or solar energy (so Irl/ Scotland/ Norway and the likes for wind, sunny barren countries for solar) that you create hydrogen from excess energy that you cannot use at that moment
Nobody is producing vast quanties of energy that they currently cant use but this could (should) be the case in the future
Nuclear
