What will it take to make you seriously consider an EV?

Did they run after 3 years? lol. Man, I even forgot that they weren't a Mercury. I forgot that Merkur was the brand name that Ford gave it and XR4Ti was the name. For some reason, I thought it was a Mercury. Of course "Merkur" apparently means Mercury. Ford redundancy.

I think my love for that car was quickly replaced by the Mitsubishi Starion.

Anyhoo... back to saving the world - I just watched a video where a guy turned an Acura NSX into an EV... sort of... it barely moved. I hate that man. I really really hate that man.

 

lol at this lame meetup.
Can't do anything but wraps and wheels..

 

God, you are an idiot.

Just google Nuclear vs Fossil Fuels or Coal, which is how most batteries currently get charged.

 

I was going to mention the 3000GT, but decided not to. The Starion/Conquest were much different than the XR4TI ... they actually looked good. lol. I still think they look pretty decent, but the design has aged, of course.

 

This 17-Year-Old Designed a Motor That Could Potentially Transform the Electric Car Industry

Robert Sansone’s research could pave the way for the sustainable manufacturing of electric vehicles that do not require rare-earth magnets

August 11, 2022

Robert Sansone with his novel synchronous reluctance motor. Society for Science

Robert Sansone is a natural born engineer. From animatronic hands to high-speed running boots and a go-kart that can reach speeds of more than 70 miles per hour, the Fort Pierce, Florida-based inventor estimates he’s completed at least 60 engineering projects in his spare time. And he’s only 17 years old.

A couple years ago, Sansone came across a video about the advantages and disadvantages of electric cars. The video explained that most electric car motors require magnets made from rare-earth elements, which can be costly, both financially and environmentally, to extract. The rare-earth materials needed can cost hundreds of dollars per kilogram. In comparison, copper is worth $7.83 per kilogram.


“I have a natural interest in electric motors,” says Sansone, who had used them in different robotics projects. “With that sustainability issue, I wanted to tackle it, and try and design a different motor.”

The highschooler had heard of a type of electric motor—the synchronous reluctance motor—that doesn’t use these rare-earth materials. This kind of motor is currently used for pumps and fans, but it isn’t powerful enough by itself to be used in an electric vehicle. So, Sansone started brainstorming ways he could improve its performance.

Over the course of a year, Sansone created a prototype of a novel synchronous reluctance motor that had greater rotational force—or torque—and efficiency than existing ones. The prototype was made from 3-D printed plastic, copper wires and a steel rotor and tested using a variety of meters to measure power and a laser tachometer to determine the motor’s rotational speed. His work earned him first prize, and $75,000 in winnings, at this year’s Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), the largest international high school STEM competition.

The less sustainable permanent magnet motors use materials such as neodymium, samarium and dysprosium, which are in high demand because they’re used in many different products, including headphones and earbuds, explains Heath Hofmann, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Michigan. Hofmann has worked extensively on electric vehicles, including consulting with Tesla to develop the control algorithms for its propulsion drive.


“The number of applications that use magnets just seems to be getting larger and larger,” he says. “A lot of the materials are mined in China, and so the price can often depend upon our trade status with China.” Hofmann adds that Tesla recently started using permanent magnets in its motors.

Electric motors use rotating electromagnetic fields to spin a rotor. Coils of wire in the stationary outer portion of the motor, called the stator, produce these electromagnetic fields. In permanent magnet motors, magnets attached to the edge of a spinning rotor produce a magnetic field that is attracted to the opposite poles on the spinning field. This attraction spins the rotor.

Synchronous reluctance motors don’t use magnets. Instead, a steel rotor with air gaps cut into it aligns itself with the rotating magnetic field. Reluctance, or the magnetism of a material, is key to this process. As the rotor spins along with the rotating magnetic field, torque is produced. More torque is produced when the saliency ratio, or difference in magnetism between materials (in this case, the steel and the non-magnetic air gaps), is greater.

Instead of using air gaps, Sansone thought he could incorporate another magnetic field into a motor. This would increase this saliency ratio and, in turn, produce more torque. His design has other components, but he can’t disclose any more details because he hopes to patent the technology in the future.


Sansone’s novel motor outperformed a similarly-designed traditional synchronous reluctance motor in tests of torque and efficiency. Robert Sansone
“Once I had this initial idea, then I had to do some prototyping to try and see if that design would actually work,” Sansone says. “I don’t have tons of resources for making very advanced motors, and so I had to make a smaller version—a scale model—using a 3-D printer.”


It took several prototypes before he could test his design.

“I didn't have a mentor to help me, really, so each time a motor failed, I had to do tons of research and try and troubleshoot what went wrong,” he says. “But eventually on the 15th motor, I was able to get a working prototype.”

Sansone tested his motor for torque and efficiency, and then reconfigured it to run as a more traditional synchronous reluctance motor for comparison. He found that his novel design exhibited 39 percent greater torque and 31 percent greater efficiency at 300 revolutions per minute (RPM). At 750 RPM, it performed at 37 percent greater efficiency. He couldn’t test his prototype at higher revolutions per minute because the plastic pieces would overheat—a lesson he learned the hard way when one of the prototypes melted on his desk, he tells Top of the Class, a podcast produced by Crimson Education.

In comparison, Tesla’s Model S motor can reach up to 18,000 RPM, explained the company’s principal motor designer Konstantinos Laskaris in a 2016 interview with Christian Ruoff of the electric vehicles magazine Charged.


Sansone validated his results in a second experiment, in which he “isolated the theoretical principle under which the novel design creates magnetic saliency,” per his project presentation. Essentially, this experiment eliminated all other variables, and confirmed that the improvements in torque and efficiency were correlated with the greater saliency ratio of his design.

“He's definitely looking at things the right way,” Hofmann says of Sansone. “There's the potential that it could be the next big thing.” Though, he adds that many professors work on research their whole lives, and it’s “fairly rare that they end up taking over the world.”

Hofmann says the materials for synchronous reluctance motors are cheap, but the machines are complex and notoriously difficult to manufacture. High manufacturing costs are, therefore, a barrier to their widespread use—and a major limiting factor to Sansone’s invention.

Sansone agrees, but says “with new technologies like additive manufacturing [such as 3-D printing], it would be easier to construct it in the future.”


Sansone is now working on calculations and 3-D modeling for version 16 of his motor, which he plans to build out of sturdier materials so he can test it at higher revolutions per minute. If his motor continues to perform with high speed and efficiency, he says he’ll move forward with the patenting process.


Sansone’s entire experimental setup. Robert Sansone
As a rising senior at Fort Pierce Central High School, Sansone has dreams of attending the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His winnings from ISEF will go toward college tuition.

Sansone says he hadn’t originally planned to enter into the competition. But when he learned that one of his classes allowed him to complete a year-long research project and paper on a topic of his choice, he decided to take the opportunity to continue working on his motor.

“I was thinking if I'm able to put this much energy into it, I might as well make it a science fair project and compete with it,” he explains. After doing well at the district and state competitions, he advanced to ISEF.

Sansone is waiting until his next phase of testing before he approaches any car companies, but he hopes that one day his motor will be the design of choice for electric vehicles.


“Rare-earth materials in existing electric motors are a major factor undermining the sustainability of electric vehicles,” he says. “Seeing the day when EVs are fully sustainable due to the help of my novel motor design would be a dream come true.”

 

All the girls he asked to prom have synchronous reluctance.

 

Only the dumb ones. The smart ones will be all over that guy--smart, winning awards, getting stuff patented, and on his way to MIT? Please. Some young lady will try to lock that down pronto.

 

Bruh won $75k and not even using a Fluke meter. Can't take serious.

 

I can't imagine how houston roads are going to look once we have a crap ton more heavy EVs out there...help us all.

 

Dodge will discontinue its Challenger and Charger muscle cars next year

• Dodge will discontinue its gas-powered Challenger and Charger muscle cars at the end of next year, as the brand transitions to electric vehicles.
• Since being resurrected in the mid- to late 2000s, the Charger and Challenger have been stalwarts for Dodge and popular vehicles for a new generation of gearheads.
• But the cars have also been part of a fuel economy and emissions problem for Stellantis, formerly Fiat Chrysler.

Excerpt :

Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis has alluded to the possibility that the Charger and Challenger names could be used for future electrified vehicles, including a forthcoming electric muscle car in 2024. He’s previously said he believes electrification — whether hybrid vehicles with less powerful engines or all-electric models — will save what he has called the new “Golden Age of muscle cars.”

For several years, Kuniskis has warned that the end was coming for the gas-powered muscle cars due to emissions regulations. Dodge parent company Stellantis, formerly Fiat Chrysler, ranks the worst among major manufacturers for U.S. corporate average fuel economy and carbon emissions.


As many brands switched to smaller and more fuel-efficient engines, Dodge rolled out Hellcat models and other high-performance vehicles. Such models helped generate attention for the brand but didn’t help the automaker’s carbon footprint, forcing it to buy carbon credits from automakers such as Tesla.

 

I think that's a bad decision. Dodge absolutely needs a 'halo' product that brings excitement to the brand. Making an EV Challenger or Hellcat is fine, but since so many EV are ridiculously fast in a straight line that an EV Challenger or Hellcat won't stand out at all.

 

Soon: Quietest car meetup ever?

 

Interestingly Norway is both the (by far) leader in electric cars per capita and according to the WHO, the country with the lowest amount of traffic deaths in the world.

We must investigate

 

There are few rigorous studies of charging stations, but one conducted this year by Cool the Earth, an environmental nonprofit in California, and David Rempel, a retired professor of bioengineering at the University of California, Berkeley, found that 23 percent of 657 public charging stations in the Bay Area were broken. The most common problems were that testers could not get chargers to accept payment or initiate a charge. In other cases, screens went blank, were not responsive or displayed error messages.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/16/...onment/electric-vehicles-broken-chargers.html

 

Well, because of the snow and ice, they can only drive 3 months a year.