9 hours ago, Rob_Ainscough said:

I think you mean UK parking spots ... OMG are they tiny.

 

 

Guernsey isn't UK Mr Rob. The Channel Islands are British crown dependencies. British Isles but not UK. Self governing. The channel islands comprise the bailiwick of Guernsey and bailiwick of Jersey. 

But yes, just like the UK the parking spaces are very small. Its something we have to get used to in this part of the world. When I drove a Mazda CX5 in the UK I would quite often have to drive past spaces that were too small.

In Guernsey though its the roads that are narrow, very narrow. Pavements are only a couple of feet wide and on one side. We often have to drive up the pavements to let other vehicles pass. In St Per Port, the town, there are wider roads, and the coast road isn't too bad, but yes, the majority of roads are narrow. When tourists arrive we  find them in the middle of the road, as they aren't used to missing granite walls and oncoming vehicles by a narrow margin. 

The above is why the Fiat 500 is very popular here. Plenty of larger cars of course, but it brings with it difficulties. 

I mentioned a while ago how I got hit by a door mirror, that was a narrow road and I happened to step off the curb slightly to let people pass.

Edited March 24, 20224 yr by martin-w

9 hours ago, dave2013 said:

It's small size and light weight is a big reason why it can have such a long range.

On another note, I've been reading about the solid state battery technology for electric vehicles and it looks very promising, albeit expensive.  They are safer, have higher energy density, and can charge faster - just what we need.

 

True, the Aptera relies on super light weight composites and extreme aerodynamic efficiency, hence its creative shape. 

Re the Samsung battery prototype production line: that solid state battery has a 500 mile range, can last for 500,000 miles. Recharge time with solid state is usually down to 10 minutes. It's 50% smaller than conventional batteries.

Plenty of other solid state batteries almost here too. Solid Power, Toyota, Quantumscape, LG, Panasonic, are all making great strides.  Solid Power also have a prototype production line up and running, in Colorado. Chinese companies do too. Quantumscape say mass production will begin in 2024. 

Toyota have announced that their EV with solid state batteries will go into full production in 2025. 

Very importantly... no fire hazard with solid state. 

Edited March 24, 20224 yr by martin-w

26 minutes ago, jcomm said:

Talking about Electric "Cars"...

Suzuki joins SkyDrive's push to build an eVTOL flying car by 2025 (newatlas.com)

 

Lots of eVTOL's around, and the better the batteries get, the lighter, the more powerful, the more we will see. Eviation Alice is due to have its first flight test any time now. That's a conventional take-off from a runway though, not VTOL. DHL have ordered lost of them. 

Personally I think its an exciting time in aviation, lots of innovation. 

Edited March 24, 20224 yr by martin-w

30 minutes ago, martin-w said:

 

Lots of eVTOL's around, and the better the batteries get, the lighter, the more powerful, the more we will see. Eviation Alice is due to have its first flight test any time now. That's a conventional take-off from a runway though, not VTOL. DHL have ordered lost of them. 

Personally I think its an exciting time in aviation, lots of innovation. 

Yep, although I confess that, as an old time flyer and glider pilot, I would probably never get caught "flying" one of those vehicles 😕

Edited March 24, 20224 yr by jcomm

Just now, jcomm said:

Yep, although I confess that, as an old timmer flyer and glider pilot, I would probably never get caught "flying" one of those vehicles 😕

 

😁 Just think how redundancy an eVTOL has though. The Liliuim for example can lose multiple motors and still keep flying. 

Driving the Aptera the tech and tour round their facility.

Very interesting, the motor is within the wheel to avoid losses.  Solar cells are interesting too, flexible and you can snap them and they still generate the same power.  Aggrieve handling demonstrated as per the question Noel asked.  Composite material seven times stronger than steel. Highest roof crash strength of any car on the road. 

Rear storage is way bigger than you would think. 

 

 

Edited March 24, 20224 yr by martin-w

Don't feel bad Rob.  A lot of people think New Mexico is a country instead of a state and ask if they need a passport and a visa to come here.  AAA Magazine use to publish how many inquiries of that nature were made every quarter.

Noel

Im from the UK Bob and i was surprised!

New england is in new jersey no (i get cornfused)

17 hours ago, Rob_Ainscough said:

Oops, sorry buddy!  🙂

Cheers, Rob.

 

You are obviously forgiven my beloved buddy, my brother. The day we cut our hands and allowed our blood to mingle and became blood brothers will be remembered for eternity. Two great minds now melded into one, with a psychic connection that could save humanity.

I am not weird. Not at all. Cats said so. 

Edited March 25, 20224 yr by martin-w

17 hours ago, birdguy said:

A lot of people think New Mexico is a country instead of a state

 

Definitely a country. its called New MEXICO. 😲😁 

 

Edited March 25, 20224 yr by martin-w

6 hours ago, Rob_Ainscough said:

Oh no, and I just renewed my passport to visit New England 😁

 

6 hours ago, icewater5 said:

New england is in new jersey no (i get cornfused)

 

Have you noticed how you Americans  steal British names for places?

England, you stole it.

New Hampshire... excuse me, Hampshire is in south east England. You cant have it, give it back! 😡

Jersey, that's an island in the Channel islands, part of the group of islands I'm from. You stole it. 😲🤨

And the islands off the coast of Southern California are called the Channel Islands.  We're keeping them.

Noel

nevermind. not about the topic i suppose.

Edited March 25, 20224 yr by sightseer

Sorry everyone, prob my fault for yacking on about new jersey

This is a great thread,,,, as you were

Edited March 25, 20224 yr by icewater5