Yes, replacing those can be quite a shock for people. Mind you they’re a hybrid themselves, they need the short sharp power of a conventional battery to start the engine and the ability of a leisure battery to run the electrical bits when the engine has stopped. An EV doesn’t need the starter bit so I’m sure they will be more like a leisure battery. That’s probably good news, the leisure battery on my boat has kept going for years and cost about the same as a 12v starter battery.
I have wondered why they didnt use large capacitors for the stop start systems on those ICE cars, perfectly suited to that sort of operation unlike a lead acid battery.
Actually they (stop-start batteries) are closer to leisure batteries (or vice versa) than “normal” car batteries.
Lead-acid batteries can have their performance characteristics tweaked by the form and surface area of their electrodes. Normal car batteries need to be able to supply high current for cranking but after that normally stay topped up by the alternator - so they rarely get fully discharged and indeed are not designed to cope with regular deep discharge so can be damaged if they are used that way.
Leisure batteries OTOH (eg, golf carts, mobility scooters, power wheelchairs etc) do regularly experience deep discharge so their internal construction is a bit different (don’t ask how - not sure on that point). Stop-start batteries are also types which are designed to cope with deep discharge - especially in modern cars with charge control systems which do not continuously have the 12V battery on float charge.
The reason that start-stop batteries are more expensive is that they need to fulfil both roles - high current for cranking and be able to tolerate deeper discharge than regular car starter batteries.
A stupid idea anyway, IMO. I first encountered in 1982 when I rented a VW Passat in Brussels. I think you had to hit a button to kill the engine and then pressing the clutch restarted it. So at least you could ignore it. I was appalled when it became universal and then needed to be switched off EVERY time you drove the car. Over the years only one of my cars was cursed with it, a diesel Tiguan, and at roundabouts the restarting hesitation, no matter how small it may seem, was dangerous. With people whizzing around, when you hit the trottle you need to go, not start cranking
Some hybrids seem to keep the 12v battery topped up, my wife’s MB does, and some don’t, her friend’s Mini for example. On several occasions she’s been unable to unlock her car despite a reasonable high voltage charge and needed to be “jumped”.
I’ve driven three implementations - a Mazda 6 which was a manual diesel, an auto diesel and the S3.
The Mazda was the least intrusive, it restarted the engine as you depressed the clutch to engage gear to move off so you always had power when you needed it.
The two auto implementations have been less transparent - the S3 is pretty good though and will use the cruise control’s radar (or whatrever) to detect the vehicle in front moving off and restart the engine at that point.
From the old guy in Streatham who used to build batteries for us, it wasnt so much how they constructed a leisure battery but he said more how they didnt construct the cheaper batteries using for example cardboard in some form for separators for the plates, fine as you say use them gently but deep discharge and then a high current recharge would cause the separators to break up. Then of course the sulphate issue, we would struggle to carry one of his batteries of the same size as a std shop bought battery so more lead one would presume. Its how they can shorten the life of the battery to ensure continued sales.
That’s clever.
The Tiguan was a DSG too, and while I’m a fan of the technology it probably contributed to the lag.
I’m even happy with my Lidl electricity at 32c per kWh, but free is even better.
The ironic thing is, Netto has the cheapest prices for dinosaur juice and there are often long queues at the pumps. When I get home it takes 15 seconds to connect my EV at my parking spot.
Is the plug hard to get in then?
Think that includes walking to get the lead.
Phew, what a relief.
My toddler stomping ground.
Surely totally in line with the thread title. Discussing your so called dinosaur juice against the possible benefits of battery power is not thread drift. I have just completed a 2200km round trip which included 2 fuel stops at a place of my choosing. Of course we had other stops at places of our choosing rather than where there were charging pionts.Long live diesel power.
As I’ve said so often, usually my bladder chooses the stops. Having a charger is usually a bonus.
Occasionally the hip joints as well
And for the other 48-50 weeks of the year?
My son has an EV as his works car and travels over 2000 miles per month in it. When I asked him a if he found the charging stops an inconvenience he looked at me as though I was asking an odd question. For him it’s not an issue as charging points are easy to find and quick to use. To prove the point we stopped at a BP garage on the A2 and he topped up from 55% to 80% in about the time it took him to walk over to the building and buy a coke.
I was just looking at the Crit’air thread. Apparently there are something like 25 areas of France where the local authorities have decided to introduce low emission zones to stop people being poisoned by diesel and petrol fumes. On top of that you have the environmental disaster that is oil exploration, refining, transporting and storage. Oh and not to mention the killing off of the planet in the process with greenhouse gases causing climate Armageddon.
Life is not all about getting from A to B in the quickest time and the fewest stops.
I say “long live human beings”