Oil
I'm looking forward to this brave new world where British cars only leak oil from the drive train.
Former UK science minister Lord Paul Drayson has piloted his Drayson Racing Lola B12 69/EV Le Mans Prototype to a new world's electric-vehicle speed record of 204.185mph (328.6kph). Drayson Racing Lola B12 69/EV Le Mans Prototype The Drayson Racing Lola B12 69/EV Le Mans Prototype is powered by lithium ion phosphate …
petrol tank in a shunt, diesel tank in a shunt, ethanol tank in a shunt, LPG tank in a shunt, hydrogen tank in a shunt...
Most methods for storing large amounts of energy in a small space carry an inherent risk of combustion. The important thing is how that risk is mitigated. There are methods for protecting batteries just as there are methods for protecting fuel tanks.
I'm more afraid of a Dreamliner-style self-sustaining fire. Deforming a liquid fuel tank in a shunt is usually not a problem. Deforming a lithium battery pack is more worrying. A liquid fuel tank can be penetrated by debris without incinerating the driver. With lithium batteries — well I'd want a Bond-style ejector seat.
True, puncture risk is much higher - but there are methods of preventing punctures, kevlar blankets for one, carbon fibre casings, and battery design means they can be put in places unlikely to get punctured. The fact remains that it's only an issue because it's an alternative to what we're used to dealing with. If we had batteries for the last 100 years, developing and improving their safety continuously, the idea of putting combustible liquid in a tank next to the driver, which can potentially leak, crack, rust, or in the event of an accident, spill its contents onto the roadway, we'd probably see it as being a deadly option.
Not to mention the idea of getting the highly combustible fluid from the tank, under the car in a fuel line, into a hot engine bay, past a spark ignition system, next to a hot exhaust manifold and into a hot Cylinder head...
Seem encouraging that people like Drayson are given a chance to run things in the UK. Compare him with his US counterpart, Lamar S. Smith, who is a lawyer, and <shudder> Christian Scientist (you need to look this up to fully understand how terrifying it is). While Drayson was pushing engineering limits, Lamar was probably hard at work drafting his next anti-abortion bill.
Upvote for saying what I was going to say. This is designed for proper motorsport use, not namby-pamby super-drag racing.*
*Drag racing is only any good for the sound of top-fuellers making my organs resonate. Electric drag racing will have all the excitement of watching paint dry.
I'd be interested to know what the range is.
Doing the maths (I think) with a 640KW motor and a 30KWh battery pack it's got 2 min 50 seconds
of full power. So not great... :D
Still, people forget that a Ferrari burning along at 6mpg (racing) gets through a 10-20g tank pretty fast.
The Elvington NIMBYs are typical "I moved to the area knowing about the airfield, and now I want it closed! wankers. The (common) law needs changing so that a person moving to a known source of potential nuisance (and due diligence would be expected) cannot successfully bring an action to get that source closed down, or otherwise interfere with its operation. Any action could only be successfully brought if there were plans to change the operation such that the nuisance might get significantly worse, or crate a new risk, in which case only the proposed operations would be under scrutiny, not the old ones.
Almost the same price as a Ducati 1098 R, a slightly more conventional beast.
For bonus points, a Lightning just blew away every other bike in this year's Pikes Peak hillclimb. http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/01/lightning-electric-motorcycle-bests-gas-powered-bikes-at-pikes-pe/