VW e-Transporter & e-California

Can't wait to design the best of all worlds on this platform!
 
Looks like one of my old Scalextric cars. Doe you have to keep straightening out the part of wire braids underneath?
 
California7 said:
This looks to be a size down from the transporter our calis are based on, look how close the front seats are together. I’m sure there will be an electric Cali, but I’m not convinced this is it sadly.
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It's very difficult to tell but it looks as big as a T6 to me. In the photo of the front cab, the folded down middle seat looks a similar width as the gap between the seats in a Cali.

I'd be surprised if we don't see a camper concept by the Autumn of next year.
 
What will power the leisure side? A petrol generator perhaps? Will campsites start upgrading their EHU points to EV chargers? Just for e-Californias? How long before we see e-big-whites? Or Teslas towing caravans?
 
Current EV cars have battery capacity around 20-30kWh (maybe an eTransporter would have more).

The leisure batteries in an Ocean/SE have 2x90AH at 12V. Assuming that only half of that energy is actually available (it’s not good to flatten leisure batteries), then we have about 1kWh of power available. This would be fine for lighting and prob fridge.

The two problems are charging time- it would take a very long time on a standard campsite hookup (or domestic socket) - and heating. I would miss my diesel heater.

It will be interesting to see what emerges, but I for one expect to run my Ocean for as long as I can.


https://caliventures364847572.wordpress.com/
 
Erbster said:
Current EV cars have battery capacity around 20-30kWh (maybe an eTransporter would have more).

The leisure batteries in an Ocean/SE have 2x90AH at 12V. Assuming that only half of that energy is actually available (it’s not good to flatten leisure batteries), then we have about 1kWh of power available. This would be fine for lighting and prob fridge.
/
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Yeah, but our leisure batteries are topped up by the alternator (powered by the engine) while driving.
 
Hybrid only. Except for very few special cases - Iceland or Norway, there is no way the western world has the infrastructure to fulfil the Politicians edicts this side of 2050.
 
Joker 1299 said:
Currently (pun intended) I don’t think it would work at all. Not without substantial infrastructure changes (at camp sites for example) And what about off grid or wild camping?
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The leisure side could be completely charged by solar. I reckon there is space on the roof for at least 500 watts. We, as a family of four, managed 5 summer months (June to November) without hookup with 200 watts of solar. The battery was also charged by driving, but when on campsites for 4+ nights the leisure battery was always at 100% by nightfall (except when parked under a tree) until we hit the winter months and triple whammy of short days, lower sun and increased cloud cover.

The motor battery could be quite large in a van. It could even have two batteries - halving the charging time in locations where each can be charged independently.

So, with a real-life range of 300 miles, drive 120 miles from your charging point to your wild campsite, rely on solar for leisure for as long as you like before driving 120 miles back to the charging point. And you have 60 spare miles for pottering from your wild campsite.


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Amarillo said:
The leisure side could be completely charged by solar. I reckon there is space on the roof for at least 500 watts. We, as a family of four, managed 5 summer months (June to November) without hookup with 200 watts of solar. The battery was also charged by driving, but when on campsites for 4+ nights the leisure battery was always at 100% by nightfall (except when parked under a tree) until we hit the winter months and triple whammy of short days, lower sun and increased cloud cover.

The motor battery could be quite large in a van. It could even have two batteries - halving the charging time in locations where each can be charged independently.

So, with a real-life range of 300 miles, drive 120 miles from your charging point to your wild campsite, rely on solar for leisure for as long as you like before driving 120 miles back to the charging point. And you have 60 spare miles for pottering from your wild campsite.


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Click to expand...
There is a solar roof on the Buzz already, said to give an additional 9.3 miles range per (sunny) day. And I’m not sure where you get 300 real life miles range from... VW talk about the Buzz being an ideal delivery van because of that kind of users short operating radius.
 
Maybe RVs will come with ‘leisure generators’ lol

Charging the batteries using a diesel parking heater wouldn’t be a bad idea.

DC874A7A-D959-484F-98E5-589FB4930AF6.jpeg
 
The nearest equivalent to our scenario vis a vis weight & range is the new electric cab in London, cab drivers that own them are terrified to put the heater on as the range plummets, when it does their back onto the onboard petrol generator or hours on a charger if available!
Fuel cell is the way forward unless upcoming solid state batteries solve the power/range/charge time conundrum.
Cali on.
 
Hybrid. Diesel fitted with Bosch emissions control, said to reduce emissions by 75%. 50 or so miles electric capacity with management electronics to only use 40 %, the next 20% reserved for Leisure purposes. I think Lithium Batteries can be discharged to 40% without any problems. Parking Heater still run of diesel. Water Coolant Heater, still Diesel, to warm up Engine Coolant when running On Electric.
Diesel engines produce most emissions when accelerating, when cold and in stop/start motoring all of which would be taken over by the electric drive.
Solar panel could be useful but probably not needed.
No need to carry Leisure Batteries. Possibly slightly smaller diesel tank. Wouldn’t need to think about an all electric heating/cooling system. Maybe Diesel engine could run in a standby mode to provide power brakes/power steering and power via alternator for vehicle electrics and charging of Lithium battery when in drive mode.
Just a thought, probably more a Dream.
 
Mrs M’s Golf GTE hybrid had a range of 31 miles when it was new. That is without the heating or a/c. Now, just over three years later, the indicated range has dropped to 28 miles. In the cold weather, knock a few more miles off, so 26. Turn on the heating or a/c, range drops to 20 miles (mostly, being misers, we end up driving round freezing with misted up windows!). Add to this, the indicated range is a lie, so 20 miles becomes 12 in the real world. Luckily, we also have an internal combustion engine.

So if we are expecting a range of around 300 miles from our future e-California, this equates to our Golf multiplied by approximately 10. So 300 miles would become 280 after 3 years, in the cold weather 260. Turn on the heater and you get 200. Deduct the range exaggeration, and you will be looking at 120 miles. And no internal combustion engine backup. Ok for a milk float provided your round isn’t too big!

A friend of a a friend has a Nissan Leaf, I was told they travelled from Chester down to Bath and back but at the first planned stop all the charging points were out of action. At the next stop all the charging points were being used. I’m not sure what happened next but I think they were helped out by someone with a a Tesla who used their card to enable them to top their battery up a bit. They carried on at reduced speed to save power but eventually it petered out and they ended up having to be recovered. What a nightmare!

Electric power has a place in transport but so do conventional fuels and I hope that manufacturers can find ways to reduce the impact of these on the environment. And hope the government stop punishing those that were previously encouraged to jump on the previous big solution to climate change.
 
motacyclist said:
Mrs M’s Golf GTE hybrid had a range of 31 miles when it was new. That is without the heating or a/c. Now, just over three years later, the indicated range has dropped to 28 miles. In the cold weather, knock a few more miles off, so 26. Turn on the heating or a/c, range drops to 20 miles (mostly, being misers, we end up driving round freezing with misted up windows!). Add to this, the indicated range is a lie, so 20 miles becomes 12 in the real world. Luckily, we also have an internal combustion engine.

So if we are expecting a range of around 300 miles from our future e-California, this equates to our Golf multiplied by approximately 10. So 300 miles would become 280 after 3 years, in the cold weather 260. Turn on the heater and you get 200. Deduct the range exaggeration, and you will be looking at 120 miles. And no internal combustion engine backup. Ok for a milk float provided your round isn’t too big!

A friend of a a friend has a Nissan Leaf
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If/when we buy a second car it would suit us very well to go all electric.

Our Beach has already clocked up nearly 40,000 miles at 21 months old (DSG oil change soon) and I reckon we are currently doing 18,000 miles per year. Many of our trips are me and the dog, or shopping, less than 5 miles round trip: awkward by bike and bad for a Diesel engine. A small electric car would suit us well and perfect for living in London. The only downside is the huge purchase price - the e-up! is well over twice the price of it’s petrol counterpart.

£14,000 extra is a high price to go clean.



Follow my blog: www.au-revoir.eu
 
Article on running an electric car in today’s Mail Online

LOUISE ATKINSON says electric cars are shocking

https://mol.im/a/6485323
 
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