Whinge of the day thread...

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I am pro-nuclear if done well. Lack of it here is the sole reason that Australians have higher per capita emissions than nearly all other OECD countries except USA. We praised England recently when they announced that they had gone a year without burning any coal, while ignoring that they are ramping up to 30% of their electricity production being nuclear. We praised Germany when they said they would build no more reactors when the reason was actually that they had contracted to buy French nuclear-generated electricity (a 70% nuclear nation). Of course Germany have now turned on some mothballed reactors again because of the Ukraine war impact on gas supplies. We praised South Africa when they used Fukishima as an excuse to abandon their plans for a very safe pebble-bed nuclear reactor, ignoring that they went back to burning very dirty Botswanan coal and have to ration which parts of Johannesburg will receive any electricity at all at any time (e.g. you cannot even have Zoom sessions with South Africa because at any time most delegates at the South African end will have no power to turn on their computers).

Waste, meltdowns and nuclear weapons have been the objections to nuclear and modern designs preclude meltdowns - if we can get thorium reactors to run efficiently, meltdowns will not be possible (already the case with pebble-bed uranium reactors), the waste will be less dangerous and less appropriate for weapons production. Waste is an issue but for us would not be a problem - the volumes are small so transport to remote areas is quite economically feasible. For countries like Switzerland it can be an issue - but that is there problem not ours.

However, I think it is important that we balance things openly and honestly when making decisions. Nuclear waste comes as high-level and low-level, and if that photo of 45 years waste is even true, it would only be high-level waste - as this article below states their total nuclear waste is of the order of 100,000 tonnes. But probably more to the point, Switzerland has lots of hydro power (58%) and only 8.6 million people, so only runs 3 nuclear power stations which can provide 36% of their electricity. France has 56 reactors. What noone mentions is that "nuclear waste" usually refers to spent fuel - when one ultimately closes down a nuclear reactor permanently there is a huge amount of nuclear waste to dispose of, consisting of the irradiated plant itself (with some nasty isotopes not part of the normal fuel cycle). It would cost $1 trillion US to close all the world's nuclear reactors and the tonnage of resulting nuclear waste would be enormous. Wind turbine blades will produce a lot of waste to bury but it is benign waste. All these factors need to be considered, including their economics (reactors are very expensive to build and fairly expensive electricity once built). If we really have all-electric cars we will triple our electricity needs over only a decade or so (well- if you believe we will achieve that) and consumption will mostly be nocturnal recharging when renewables have little input, so I don't think we have a lot of choice but to go nuclear to some degree. But we do need honest discussion and to avoid misleading propaganda by green and pro-nuclear lobbies.

https://lenews.ch/2017/12/13/swiss-... this waste came from nuclear power stations.
Both sides of the debate lie
via omission, and
use rhetoric as tantamount to lying on these issues

Creating a business and social need case around highly intensive capital equipment ( oil refineries, paper machines, mining operations) is a no brainer for wind farms , batteries v nuclear and hydrocarbons

What is needed is a Royal Commission to make the public aware which side is telling the most porkies and
to put the media in its place and
to convert some of the true believers
in what is a naive and ill informed debate here in Australia

Just my humble opinion
 
Both sides of the debate lie
via omission, and
use rhetoric as tantamount to lying on these issues

Creating a business and social need case around highly intensive capital equipment ( oil refineries, paper machines, mining operations) is a no brainer for wind farms , batteries v nuclear and hydrocarbons

What is needed is a Royal Commission to make the public aware which side is telling the most porkies and
to put the media in its place and
to convert some of the true believers
in what is a naive and ill informed debate here in Australia

Just my humble opinion
I don't think it needs to be about which "believers" are the most honest, but an integratesd plan made by those who know what they are talking about - I don't see such a plan, especially with regard to changes required in the distribution network and evening load when the sun doesn't shine (wind can only do so much). Hardly needs a Royal Commission. The issue is not solely one thing versus another in my opinion - I have difficulty seeing how we cope with evening demand of charging of electric cars using renewables. Yet I am busy installing solar and my wife will probably get a little EV when the present car dies and they get cheaper (then economics alone will become the decider for city running).
 
I'm really trying to get some work done before the dentist calls me up. I got out early, looked at the weather and shuddered. I checked the weather report and there's a 90% chance of 1mm of rain. That's a significant % of our annual rainfall in one day and right in the middle of a job :(
 
an
I don't think it needs to be about which "believers" are the most honest, but an integratesd plan made by those who know what they are talking about - I don't see such a plan, especially with regard to changes required in the distribution network and evening load when the sun doesn't shine (wind can only do so much). Hardly needs a Royal Commission. The issue is not solely one thing versus another in my opinion - I have difficulty seeing how we cope with evening demand of charging of electric cars using renewables. Yet I am busy installing solar and my wife will probably get a little EV when the present car dies and they get cheaper (then economics alone will become the decider for city running).
I am not anti ev. I just dont agree with the " green " angle. I cant afford a new one but if they get cheaper along with the batteries I will definately be interested. As a potential owner though you should brace yourself for paying more rego or something on an ev further down the track as they will looking to make up the fuel excise they will be missing out on.
 
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Can someone tell me the cost of charging these things up at a charging station please? Mackka
$0.30 - $0.60 per kWh to charge an electric vehicle (EV). This equates to around $11.50 - $23 to fully charge a small electric vehicle or about $22.50 - $45 to fully charge a larger long-distance electric vehicle......I just cut and pasted this from an article a few mounths old so maybe just a ball park figure. Would be nice to have a seperate battery you can charge at home while you use the other one.
 
$0.30 - $0.60 per kWh to charge an electric vehicle (EV). This equates to around $11.50 - $23 to fully charge a small electric vehicle or about $22.50 - $45 to fully charge a larger long-distance electric vehicle......I just cut and pasted this from an article a few mounths old so maybe just a ball park figure. Would be nice to have a seperate battery you can charge at home while you use the other one.
'Nice' only if you have a full-scale workshop at home to lift the car high enough to work under and a forklift to lift/carry the battery to and from! I believe current Tesla EV's (and possibly others) are built with the battery as a structural component, making it impossible to exchange. I guess this saves weight, but otherwise it seems a retrograde step.
 
'Nice' only if you have a full-scale workshop at home to lift the car high enough to work under and a forklift to lift/carry the battery to and from! I believe current Tesla EV's (and possibly others) are built with the battery as a structural component, making it impossible to exchange. I guess this saves weight, but otherwise it seems a retrograde step.
I realise its not easy to replace the battery but it could be made so. I would feel more comfortable buying an EV that I could do the battery replacement or upgrade myself and then it would see more competition amoungst battery makers for this market and then it would make the costs come down and create a better second hand market for people who cant afford a new one.
 
Here is some info I found on the car sales web site. I assume things will get cheaper but that depends on many factors, also warranties arnt too bad with new ev car batteries but still if the following infomation is true ? its not looking great .........As a rule of thumb, global battery production costs have dropped to approximately $125/kWh, meaning for example that car-makers are buying a 100kWh battery pack for $12,500 before they’ve even dropped it into the car.

Like any other replacement part, consumers will likely pay more than double that much from a dealer in order for the car-maker to recover overheads like logistics and storage while also making some retail margin.........
 
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Here is some info I found on the car sales web site. I assume things will get cheaper but that depends on many factors, also warrantys arnt too bad with new ev car batteries but still id the following infomatiin is true its not looking great .........As a rule of thumb, global battery production costs have dropped to approximately $125/kWh, meaning for example that car-makers are buying a 100kWh battery pack for $12,500 before they’ve even dropped it into the car.

Like any other replacement part, consumers will likely pay more than double that much from a dealer in order for the car-maker to recover overheads like logistics and storage while also making some retail margin.........
Yikes i like unleaded 91.----$atm $154 in East Brisbane.
 
an
I am not anti ev. I just dont agree with the " green " angle. I cant afford a new one but if they get cheaper along with the batteries I will definately be interested. As a potential owner though you should brace yourself for paying more rego or something on an ev further down the track as they will looking to make up the fuel excise they will be missing out on.
Almost certainly - but you pay that now as fuel excise. The question is not really whether, but how much.
 
Here is some info I found on the car sales web site. I assume things will get cheaper but that depends on many factors, also warranties arnt too bad with new ev car batteries but still if the following infomation is true ? its not looking great .........As a rule of thumb, global battery production costs have dropped to approximately $125/kWh, meaning for example that car-makers are buying a 100kWh battery pack for $12,500 before they’ve even dropped it into the car.

Like any other replacement part, consumers will likely pay more than double that much from a dealer in order for the car-maker to recover overheads like logistics and storage while also making some retail margin.........
I posted before re replacement batteries - nothing like that for an average EV. However if you want a fast-charge Tesla, much more than that probably - over 10 year life.
 
I posted before re replacement batteries - nothing like that for an average EV. However if you want a fast-charge Tesla, much more than that probably - over 10 year life.
Actually I just saw your 100kWh figure - yes, if you need that.

This type of thing may ultimately be the answer but it is not as great as they make out so far - needs much more standardization etc and these thinhs come at a cost.

https://www.autodaily.com.au/ev-battery-swapping-stations-to-be-rolled-out-next-year/
 
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Standardisation would be a much better thing for the consumer down the track for other reasons and the ones outlined on the link link in your post goldilocks, but for buisness reasons ita unlikely to happen. Its like the new Iphone needing you to also buy a new charger but I digress into another whinge. Yes I need more than 100kwh dam it ! 😜 Because I want to drive the silver one not the brown one......Or I could be practical and look at the blue one.
 

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I think you Can not do any sort of work on an EV,.... I read somewhere awhile ago.. ...
Most car stereo places will not touch an EV... And a few other Accessory places...

And Me thinks thats a good idea ATM......After all, You are playing with too many Volts/Amps for my liking... ⚡😶‍🌫️💀

LW....
 
Standardisation would be a much better thing for the consumer down the track for other reasons and the ones outlined on the link link in your post goldilocks, but for buisness reasons ita unlikely to happen. Its like the new Iphone needing you to also buy a new charger but I digress into another whinge. Yes I need more than 100kwh dam it ! 😜 Because I want to drive the silver one not the brown one......Or I could be practical and look at the blue one.
dont we all
 

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