Electric Vehicles: fyl's blogs: September 2022

Can Batteries be Recycled

fyl — Thu, 08 Sep 2022 11:52:16 -0600

You all to often hear that batteries cannot be recycled. This is clearly false. The number of batteries from electric cars are not particularly high today but the numbers will increase rapidly this decade. As "battery materials" have to be extracted it is realistic to see new companies that produce the needed materials by recycling batteries.

While this video is from early 2020, it does a good job of showing how the recycling can be done.

Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) Batteries are Taking Over

fyl — Wed, 07 Sep 2022 06:30:25 -0600

A year ago Elon Musk predicted that LFP batteries were the future. Recent sales are showing that is the case. Virtually all BYD cars use LFP batteries and about half of new Teslas use them. This doesn't mean LFP is the long-term battery technology (nor is any Lithium battery for that matter) but it certainly seems to be the best right now.

The Electric Viking offers good coverage of the numbers.

Two kinds of energy density

fyl — Tue, 06 Sep 2022 12:03:21 -0600

Energy by volume and energy by weight are the two measurements.

Increased energy by volume means you can get more battery capacity in the available space.

Increased energy by weight means you can build a car that weigh less. If the car weighs less it will less energy per km/mile.

Both of the metrics continue to improve.

Can EVs be remotely "turned off"?

fyl — Tue, 06 Sep 2022 11:35:12 -0600

I regularly see people saying the government can turn off your EV:

Because you have a bad social credit score
You have used up your travel distance for the day, week or month
You voted for the wrong person
...

While this could be done, it has nothing to do with the vehicle being an EV. "Modern" cars are full of electronics and the same control system could be added to any car. If this is your concern, go find a good 1960s Chevy or, better yet, a 1970s Mercedes 220D diesel where there is no electrical functions necessary at all once you start the car. Even the fuel valve is mechanical.

Toyota BZ3

fyl — Tue, 06 Sep 2022 11:07:35 -0600

The most important is that is is made in China by BYD. Interesting choice for them but they keep claiming people don't want electric cars so I guess this was the easiest way to test the market.

The problem comes when BYD expands all over the world (which it is currently doing). Then why would you want to buy a BYD that says Toyota on it?