Business Ideas 101

[adrianh]

I personally think that electric cars are a big joke (especially in this country). Imagine all our cars running on electricity supplied by ESKOM......

Lugging 500kg of Lithium around is also completely ridiculous - The stuff is downright dangerous and firefighters don't know what to do when those battery catch fire and burn for hours on end.

Electric cars are no different to CFL and led lighting - its just an excuse to create another new replacement market of obsolescent products that really don't have much value when one looks at them on a cradle to grave basis. All that they do is shift the energy used to the manufacturer and thus the consumer is duped into believing that this "new" technology is the answer to the world's problems.

The bottom line is that the problem with transportation lies in our notion that each and every person on this planet need 1 ton of "new" technology to lug them around.....unless we move to remote offices and mass transportation we are just going around in circles feeding the obsolescent wasteful economy of "new tech is better"

[ians]

I personally think that electric cars are a big joke (especially in this country). Imagine all our cars running on electricity supplied by ESKOM......

Lugging 500kg of Lithium around is also completely ridiculous - The stuff is downright dangerous and firefighters don't know what to do when those battery catch fire and burn for hours on end.

Electric cars are no different to CFL and led lighting - its just an excuse to create another new replacement market of obsolescent products that really don't have much value when one looks at them on a cradle to grave basis. All that they do is shift the energy used to the manufacturer and thus the consumer is duped into believing that this "new" technology is the answer to the world's problems.

The bottom line is that the problem with transportation lies in our notion that each and every person on this planet need 1 ton of "new" technology to lug them around.....unless we move to remote offices and mass transportation we are just going around in circles feeding the obsolescent wasteful economy of "new tech is better"

I dont agree... electric cars are already here... the catch is the cost ... just like LED TVs ...they were so expensive only the rich and famous could afford them... i own 2 LED TV's and 4 monitors ...soon to be upgraded to one in each room of the house...because they have become so affordable... (free if the truck stops long enough for it be looted)

I take it you dont follow DIY electric cars etc on youtube... the reality is that those old medical batteries which were being dumped after period of time ...where a huge disposal issue... since the DIY revolution... those packs are now on a waiting list... people paying upfront for them to secure the next batch... I am even considering getting a spot weld to link batteries and building battery banks in my workshop... you can buy plastic modules to link which dont require a spot welder... anyway my point... it is already happening.

A couple years ago the 1650 battery were the one to get ...now you can get batteries which look like a flat foil pack... which is being used to install in the chassis of the car... take your old man blinkers off and see what the future holds... i can see parking bays having a section of the floor being the non contact charge station ...so you drive in ...tickets and boom will be a thing of the past ... you will park in a bay which will top up your power and debted from your account... as they mention ...these cars will be online 24/7 ..there will no keys...the car will detect your presence and allow you to drive it ...in fact i dont even think people will own a cars.

Us old folk need to get out more and take not of what is happening around us... another example is cctv ...home automation etc ... every man and his dog has cctv and home automation... why because it has become affordable.

Eskom will never recover from the debt ...it will get milked for as long as the people throw many at it ...eventually it will be replaced by a private institution... just like telkom... it was a sinking ship ... telkom land lines and adsl are already being phased out completely ... the new super powers have installed new fibre networks in the majority of SA... paying their dues for now...watch carefully what happens in the future.

[adrianh]

I dont agree... electric cars are already here... the catch is the cost ... just like LED TVs ...they were so expensive only the rich and famous could afford them... i own 2 LED TV's and 4 monitors ...soon to be upgraded to one in each room of the house...because they have become so affordable... (free if the truck stops long enough for it be looted)

I take it you dont follow DIY electric cars etc on youtube... the reality is that those old medical batteries which were being dumped after period of time ...where a huge disposal issue... since the DIY revolution... those packs are now on a waiting list... people paying upfront for them to secure the next batch... I am even considering getting a spot weld to link batteries and building battery banks in my workshop... you can buy plastic modules to link which dont require a spot welder... anyway my point... it is already happening.

A couple years ago the 1650 battery were the one to get ...now you can get batteries which look like a flat foil pack... which is being used to install in the chassis of the car... take your old man blinkers off and see what the future holds... i can see parking bays having a section of the floor being the non contact charge station ...so you drive in ...tickets and boom will be a thing of the past ... you will park in a bay which will top up your power and debted from your account... as they mention ...these cars will be online 24/7 ..there will no keys...the car will detect your presence and allow you to drive it ...in fact i dont even think people will own a cars.

Us old folk need to get out more and take not of what is happening around us... another example is cctv ...home automation etc ... every man and his dog has cctv and home automation... why because it has become affordable.

Eskom will never recover from the debt ...it will get milked for as long as the people throw many at it ...eventually it will be replaced by a private institution... just like telkom... it was a sinking ship ... telkom land lines and adsl are already being phased out completely ... the new super powers have installed new fibre networks in the majority of SA... paying their dues for now...watch carefully what happens in the future.

[Blurock]

What's the use of having an electric car if there is no pestcom (electricity) to recharge it? Should we now start looking further into the future? Pedal power?

[adrianh]

What's the use of having an electric car if there is no pestcom (electricity) to recharge it? Should we now start looking further into the future? Pedal power?

I think that electric cars are a total farce. It is simply a total waste to cart a ton of Lithium around to shift a 100kg of human from one place to another. Proper public transport and a serious re-think of society is what is needed. Kibbutzs are the correct answer to the bulk of the wastage but society has been engineered to hide in their own totally independent little enclaves. Consumerism driven by obsolescent design will not allow people to share resources.

[ians]

I thought i would phone Durban electricity department and find out more about the requirements for solar power... tarrifs etc.

Let me just say this... it would be easier to install the panels ...then wait till they come around to enquire about the panels installed.