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29-03-2021, 04:38 PM
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British firm cracks electric car motor conundrum

"British company which has developed pioneering electric car motors that do not rely on expensive rare magnets is preparing to raise £250m as it seeks to expand.

Spun out of Newcastle University in 2017, Advanced Electric Machines (AEM) is seeking £30m over the next few months to boost UK production capacity. It will then try to secure another £220m within a year to fund further growth as the market booms ahead of a UK ban on new petrol and diesel cars in 2030."

As it says, the big "plus" is that unlike most electric motors these do not use magnets - and at a time when the rare metals needed for this are becoming increasingly expensive and sought-after this is potentially a huge step forward.

"Peter Fleet, a former vice president at Ford, has been brought in as chairman to oversee AEM’s fundraising and scaling up, with the initial round hoped to support expansion from a production capacity of 10,000 motors a year now to at least 100,000.

Mr Fleet said: “This is a unique technology that’s not just green because it doesn’t need rare magnets, it’s also lighter and more powerful than traditional motors, and wrapped up in patents that solve the challenges around it.” "

It's all potentially coming together nicely in a way that could see the UK become a major auto manufacturer again.
Lithium produced in Cornwall & Scotland.
Batteries from this lithium in a few places arranged already with hopefully more to follow.
Now cheaper & lighter electric motors.



https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business...tor-conundrum/
Yes it's from the Telegraph which is subscription-only but it does have a free trial period, otherwise the above excerpts give the general idea.
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29-03-2021, 08:55 PM
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Re: British firm cracks electric car motor conundrum

I watched a bloke in a documentary the other night and he had converted a standard engine to run on Methane. It was 90% less polluting than petrol or diesel, and the best part was, there was enough methane produced at the sewage works where he was a scientist, to light a small town or run thousands of vehicles instead of it being released into the atmosphere. It would save scrapping hundreds of thousands of engines and the exhaust is not toxic gasses but water.....
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29-03-2021, 09:20 PM
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Re: British firm cracks electric car motor conundrum

Originally Posted by OldGreyFox ->
I watched a bloke in a documentary the other night and he had converted a standard engine to run on Methane. It was 90% less polluting than petrol or diesel, and the best part was, there was enough methane produced at the sewage works where he was a scientist, to light a small town or run thousands of vehicles instead of it being released into the atmosphere. It would save scrapping hundreds of thousands of engines and the exhaust is not toxic gasses but water.....
Methane power! Sounds great.
I suppose it would have to be compressed for containment in a car, but I can't see why that couldn't be achieved.

I wonder how many people would become partial to beans as a means of producing their own fuel?
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29-03-2021, 09:47 PM
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Re: British firm cracks electric car motor conundrum

Originally Posted by JBR ->
Methane power! Sounds great.
I suppose it would have to be compressed for containment in a car, but I can't see why that couldn't be achieved.
Actually has been achieved. I can recall this from student days but more recently there was the VW's 'dung' Beetle - about ten years ago.
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29-03-2021, 10:23 PM
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Re: British firm cracks electric car motor conundrum

Originally Posted by Besoeker ->
Actually has been achieved. I can recall this from student days but more recently there was the VW's 'dung' Beetle - about ten years ago.
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30-03-2021, 12:44 AM
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Re: British firm cracks electric car motor conundrum

The first heavy vehicles to be powered by hydrogen in Australia will be rolled out in Port Kembla after the New South Wales government approved funding for a landmark project.

The largest producer of hydrogen in the country, Coregas, is behind the plan to acquire two hydrogen-powered prime movers and build a hydrogen refuelling facility at its Port Kembla plant.

The project was green-lit after it received half-a-million dollars in backing from the state government in the latest round of the Port Kembla Community Investment Fund.

The executive general manager of Coregas, Alan Watkins, said the funding could help get the pioneering project off the ground before the end of the year.

The project is likely to have broad implications for decarbonising the road freight industry in Australia.

Coregas will be making data from the project available and expects converting trucks from diesel to hydrogen will halve its vehicle emissions.

The company is currently using fossil fuels to produce hydrogen but believes the increased availability of renewables means cleaner energy options are becoming more viable.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-...light/13263384
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30-03-2021, 09:09 AM
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Re: British firm cracks electric car motor conundrum

Originally Posted by OldGreyFox ->
I watched a bloke in a documentary the other night and he had converted a standard engine to run on Methane. It was 90% less polluting than petrol or diesel, and the best part was, there was enough methane produced at the sewage works where he was a scientist, to light a small town or run thousands of vehicles instead of it being released into the atmosphere. It would save scrapping hundreds of thousands of engines and the exhaust is not toxic gasses but water.....
I remember seeing something similar some time ago and I remember the bio-bug too which IIRC was British.

The trouble is I think that it would take more methane than there is to convert all ICE's into using methane.
According to those upselling EV's, presumably.
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30-03-2021, 09:15 AM
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Re: British firm cracks electric car motor conundrum

Originally Posted by Zaphod ->
I remember seeing something similar some time ago and I remember the bio-bug too which IIRC was British.
Dung Beetle VW
Affectionately known as the “Dung Beetle”, this 1966 VW might look like a rusted, old, junk yard carcass but hidden underneath the hood is a heavily modified, turbocharged 2.3L motor that is more than capable of taking on any competition. Dung Beetle's motor is a 2332cc turbocharged, air cooled flat four.
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30-03-2021, 12:57 PM
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Re: British firm cracks electric car motor conundrum

"An electric van and bus start-up that has yet to build its first production vehicle has secured the highest valuation ever for a British company on its stock market debut.

Arrival, which was founded in 2015 and is based in London, has yet to turn a profit but was valued at $13.6 billion, or almost £10 billion, when its shares began trading in New York yesterday."

"Arrival has 1,800 staff worldwide. It has a factory in Bicester, Oxfordshire, and research and development facilities in Reading and Banbury. Its backers include Kia and Hyundai, the South Korean carmakers, and BlackRock, the American asset manager."

The report goes on to say that production of buses will start this year and vans later on next year with a big deal to sell twenty thousand vans to UPS alone.
They reckon that the company will show a profit as early as 2023.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/e...tion-stn3twft9

https://www.businessinsider.com/arri...op=1&r=US&IR=T
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30-03-2021, 03:24 PM
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Re: British firm cracks electric car motor conundrum

Hooray for UK innovation However, as soon as a patent is awarded, it opens up the field for competitors to start developing their own versions so, don't get too upset if you start to see other players in this field. One can only hope that none of the vehicle majors buys out the patents and then sits on them effectively squashing this invention.

As for methane power: when you burn methane the resulting exhaust gases are water vapour, carbon dioxide and, possibly, carbon monoxide plus plenty of other molecular variations of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.
 
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