Imagine this!

[OriginalBigAl]

Deavm , recently had a post , Awesome car or words to that effect. I think the same but would like it to be better.
If this car could lose 200/ 300 kilos ( new battery technology etc ) imagine how good it would be then. As it stands on twisty sections of road although not a massive problem the weight is quite noticeable . Those sideways forces with the mass of the car put extra strain on the suspension / tyres/ wheel bearings and in my case seatpad, and even though they will be engineered to cope there is a bit of a loss of the fun factor . Losing this weight would put it on par ? with a Golf gti especially has that has grown over the years . My old 307 sw had removable rear seats which made it around 60 kilos lighter and that made a difference to the "performance" , I can't see any obvious way to lighten the MG4 so we'll have to rely on SAIC to go down that route . I think that will be the natural progression of battery evolution although as in all things the more expensive marques will get it first. Still just imagine.

 

[decrep]

Deavm , recently had a post , Awesome car or words to that effect. I think the same but would like it to be better.
If this car could lose 200/ 300 kilos ( new battery technology etc ) imagine how good it would be then. As it stands on twisty sections of road although not a massive problem the weight is quite noticeable . Those sideways forces with the mass of the car put extra strain on the suspension / tyres/ wheel bearings and in my case seatpad, and even though they will be engineered to cope there is a bit of a loss of the fun factor . Losing this weight would put it on par ? with a Golf gti especially has that has grown over the years . My old 307 sw had removable rear seats which made it around 60 kilos lighter and that made a difference to the "performance" , I can't see any obvious way to lighten the MG4 so we'll have to rely on SAIC to go down that route . I think that will be the natural progression of battery evolution although as in all things the more expensive marques will get it first. Still just imagine.

How much would you loose with a full carbon body instead of steel? Not worth dreaming about I guess

 

[DeBrand]

Batteries with a lighter weight solid-state chemistry and higher energy storage capacity are likely to arrive in the future.
In this case, many tens of kilograms could easily be lost.

 

[WonkoTheSaneUK]

How much would you loose with a full carbon body instead of steel? Not worth dreaming about I guess

The BMW i3 had a carbon body.

 

[Bricktop X PWR]

Agreed m8.
I've always said this cars pretty damn good up to about 6 or 7 tenths.

Start pushing on after that and it soon gets messy.

As you've said, the weight really makes itself felt in the twistys.

Lucky then, that as road drivers we can fully exploit the performance on the road with no need to go beserk! (Speaks for himself)

You can still have plenty of fun at legal speeds because the car is so capable.(All models)

I've moaned in the past at not having a better, more body hugging seat, but on the flip side it's very easy getting in and out of the car with a normal seat.

You couldn't say that with some of the Recaro items I've had in cars of my past!

Biggest miss for me is the lack of a quality exhaust note, but the futuristic sound of the motors spinning up does have its own appeal IMO.

If you think how far battery tech has come in the last ten years, you know it won't be very long before we start getting lighter, solid state batterys for the masses.

 

[jammamon]

I wish it had more traction when accelerating hard. 1/2 times the wheels just squeak and struggle to maintain contact.

Can't even imagine how it must be in the X-Power.

 

[Bricktop X PWR]

I wish it had more traction when accelerating hard. 1/2 times the wheels just squeak and struggle to maintain contact.

Can't even imagine how it must be in the X-Power.

One of the reasons I swapped out the stock rubber.

 

[Ian Key]

I very rarely spin up my wheels but then I don't slam my foot to the floor when moving off. I tend to just get the car moving before flooring it. It's kinder on the transmission.

 

[Bricktop X PWR]

I very rarely spin up my wheels but then I don't slam my foot to the floor when moving off. I tend to just get the car moving before flooring it. It's kinder on the transmission.

Not wishing to get into a row m8 (heaven forbid ?)
But not sure I agree wholly with you here.

Regardless of how hard or quickly you press down the accelerator I can't see any harm being done.

I always thought that being kinder on the transmission was more relevant to ICE and the "Dropping of Clutches"?

Dumping all the power into the drivetrain in one swift violent action.

I had a 500bhp manual Monaro back in the day and only dropped the clutch once!
It felt terrible and shocking to the car and transmission!

Funnily enough, as per your suggestion up above, I used to get her rolling then give her The Berries!!! Much kinder, but still a bloody handful trying to keep her in a straight line!

Back to up above.....being electric motors with fixed gearing do you think the same stress applies?

I'd always assumed (happy to be proved wrong. Obvs) that the power, although being immense and powerful, was still stepped and regulated in a way that avoided undue stress being placed on components?

 

[Archev]

Not wishing to get into a row m8 (heaven forbid ?)
But not sure I agree wholly with you here.

Regardless of how hard or quickly you press down the accelerator I can't see any harm being done.

I always thought that being kinder on the transmission was more relevant to ICE and the "Dropping of Clutches"?

Dumping all the power into the drivetrain in one swift violent action.

I had a 500bhp manual Monaro back in the day and only dropped the clutch once!
It felt terrible and shocking to the car and transmission!

Funnily enough, as per your suggestion up above, I used to get her rolling then give her The Berries!!! Much kinder, but still a bloody handful trying to keep her in a straight line!

Back to up above.....being electric motors with fixed gearing do you think the same stress applies?

I'd always assumed (happy to be proved wrong. Obvs) that the power, although being immense and powerful, was still stepped and regulated in a way that avoided undue stress being placed on components?

I’ve always liked to get rolling then feed in the power from there. Much kinder to any clutches, gears, driveshafts etc and ultimately the very fit (and slip) of the tyres on the rims.

 

[mg4nick]

Well - ideally - they (the designers) will figure out how to embed electric motors in the wheels (that can cope with vibrations/shocks and the elements). They should also analyse how the wheels are spinning and the position of the steering wheel to deliver the right amount of power to each of the wheels.
Until then - you have drive shafts and differentials (plenty of cogs in there) which introduce some losses and eventually wear out/break (and can certainly be "stressed"). I agree that the "chain of cogs" is reduced in an electric car (compared to an ICE) but it is still there.

When the "ideal" carbon fibre body and lightweight battery is available I hope that my electric "car" will have propellers rather than wheels...

 

[Tuareg]

Well - ideally - they (the designers) will figure out how to embed electric motors in the wheels (that can cope with vibrations/shocks and the elements). They should also analyse how the wheels are spinning and the position of the steering wheel to deliver the right amount of power to each of the wheels.
Until then - you have drive shafts and differentials (plenty of cogs in there) which introduce some losses and eventually wear out/break (and can certainly be "stressed"). I agree that the "chain of cogs" is reduced in an electric car (compared to an ICE) but it is still there.

When the "ideal" carbon fibre body and lightweight battery is available I hope that my electric "car" will have propellers rather than wheels...

Porsche designed an electric hub motor in 1898. Today there are lots of hub motor designs in use primarily as space saving designs for motorcycles.

 

[mg4nick]

Porsche designed an electric hub motor in 1898. Today there are lots of hub motor designs in use primarily as space saving designs for motorcycles.

There are plenty of hub motors in use today (motorcycles/bicycles etc). I'm not sure why we don't have cars with those (it is possible that current designs can't cope with the stresses that a car wheel needs to cope - or the materials they would need to use make it too expensive)...
The kind of wheel I'm "dreaming" of is something that uses electric / magnetic fields to hold it in place and does away with the need for bearings/shock absorbers/suspension elements etc... Something along the lines of maglev... I'm not sure this is there yet...

 

[Bricktop X PWR]

There are plenty of hub motors in use today (motorcycles/bicycles etc). I'm not sure why we don't have cars with those (it is possible that current designs can't cope with the stresses that a car wheel needs to cope - or the materials they would need to use make it too expensive)...
The kind of wheel I'm "dreaming" of is something that uses electric / magnetic fields to hold it in place and does away with the need for bearings/shock absorbers/suspension elements etc... Something along the lines of maglev... I'm not sure this is there yet...

Can you imagine Joe Public being around the sort of voltages required to lift a train???
And imagine how big the battery would need to be!!

Some can barely cope with EV's in their current form, let alone with any other complications thrown into the mix!?

 

[mg4nick]

Can you imagine Joe Public being around the sort of voltages required to lift a train???
And imagine how big the battery would need to be!!

Some can barely cope with EV's in their current form, let alone with any other complications thrown into the mix!?

Well - given the thread title - you can't blame people for letting the imagination run wild...

 

[Archev]

Carefull hehe folks - we’re all getting super excited and going round and round in ever decreasing circles and we’ll disappear up our own exh……
Oh no - we can’t ???

 

[WonkoTheSaneUK]

The perceived problem with hub motors is "unsprung weight"

Unsprung mass - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Archev]

The perceived problem with hub motors is "unsprung weight"

Unsprung mass - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I say - boing boing - eh what ??

 

[OriginalBigAl]

I find myself agreeing with two opposite points of view, with Ian and getting the car moving before giving it a heavier right clog and with Bricktop were the car should have been engineered ,tested and designed to withstand such behaviour. I've always been mechanically sympathetic with both cars and bikes so I'll go with Ian's recommendation which I think is also supported by Newtonian mathematics. Dumping a load of torque from standstill through the gearbox and bearings and subsequently the aluminium castings cannot by nature help with the longevity of such components.
As Peter Hickman said last week "to finish first, first you have to finish"
Of course if the car was lighter, oh I've been here before!

 

[Bricktop X PWR]

While it's warranted up, I will continue to abuse it like a nosey neighbour!

On a serious note (I know) I have always been mechanically sympathetic will all my modes of personal transport and have never had a failure in my tenure.

The great thing about my X Power, amongst many, is that I can get straight to the fun without my self imposed 10 mile warm up that I used to have with my ICE vehicles.

Coolant always came up quickly but the oil could take up to 10 miles to reach operating temperatures.

Thus 'Beanage' was always put on hold.

No such nonsense to be endured with EV's................ which is a nice.
(Jazz Club) ?

EDIT: I did blow up my Cosworth.............






Twice.

Asking far too much of the stock components.
Definitely my fault.