Two new models

[Rob.Hendriks]

Two new AC's annouced

Bit of ACDC ;)
https://www.accars.eu/models/ac-cobra-series-1-electric/

and don't have a name for this
https://www.accars.eu/models/ac-cobra-140-charter-edition/

[B.P.Bird]

Well I hope it works for A.C. Interesting that the sales brochure claims that this is their first electric car - there was an electric version of the invalid carriage and, stretching a point, the few Cobra chassis built for electric power and supplied to a U.S. company in the sixties. maybe there were other electric projects before the wars ? Perhaps our Archivist knows ?
Surprising though the electric Cobra notion is I find it quite attractive - a silent run out in the countryside, the breakfast meeting - all the usual interesting car club stuff: Just so long as it is within a 75 mile radius......
Barrie

[paho]

...read similar posts in other parts of the forum, and the Swedish press, all a bit low key.

But a glimmer of light I found was a reference to this company https://falconelectric.co.uk/ev-conversions/
and another reference to a group in Canada that have done an electric power-train version back in 2017:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMryo0vWzx1Q8vrLAP7APLg

If I had the finances I'd like to do an" e-type zero" type conversion to my Brookland Ace.
Plus a good sound system for the "correct" sound; one can always adjust the volume depending on the venue!

/Paho

[Rob.Hendriks]

Barrie
Godforbid the notion ever takes root; for a silent run out in the countryside, suggest dusting off the trainers and doing the post breakfast trip from Fennel to Manse on foot, will do wonders for the environment and the waistline;)

[terry3000me]

Paho, Falcon Electric Ltd will be carrying out the electrical installation on the new Cobra electric. Full details in the August ACtion. I'm sure they would interested in converting your Brooklands Ace.
Terry

[paho]

Hi Terry,
can't wait to see the August Action. 'Fraid they'll have to send me the parts, if I could afford them.
Sweden's in lockdown, the rest of Europe can travel to us (except for the Finns I think) but we can't travel to them, very strange!
BR /Paho

[GSouthee]

Really a 4 pot and an electric "Cobra" surely by essence a Cobra is a V8 lazy rumbling beast. Yes I know the environment, but do Lithium batteries really help, all the mining and how the hell do you dispose of them when done.

Like to see an electric cobra make it to Le Mans, how many stops to charge it? Surely if you want electric buy a scalextric set

As for the 4 pot, AC's have 6 or 8 cylinders. If you want 4 pot buy a kit car.

These will dilute the Cobra name.

G

[dkp_cobra]

...Yes I know the environment, but do Lithium batteries really help, all the mining and how the hell do you dispose of them when done....

Mining is not a big problem. For the Tesla S with 85kWh battery pack the battery contains approx. 7 kg pure lithium (https://www.researchgate.net/post/What_is_the_content_of_pure_lithium_eg_kg_kWh_in_Li-ion_batteries_used_in_electric_vehicles). With approx. 2000l water consumption for mining 1 kg lithium we use 14.000l water for the Tesla 85D battery (https://www.wired.co.uk/article/lithium-batteries-environment-impact: 500.000 gallons per ton lithium = 1892705,89l per ton lithium = 1893 l per kg lithium).
Is it much? Well depends on what you do. To produce one (1 !!!) Jeans you use 8000l (https://www.fluencecorp.com/blue-jeans-water-footprint/). So instead of two jeans you can produce enough lithium for your Tesla S85D. The production of one pound beef uses 1799 gallon water (https://foodtank.com/news/2013/12/why-meat-eats-resources/). That means 1kg meet needs approx. 15000 l water. So, instead of eating four BigMac's you can mine lithium for a Tesla 85D.
Yes, it is a lot of water for a lithium battery but not compared to other "normal" things in our life.

[GSouthee]

Yep I agree with the water element but you seem to have overlooked this part of the 500,000 Gallons.

In South America, the biggest problem is water. The continent's Lithium Triangle, which covers parts of Argentina, Bolivia and Chile, holds more than half the world's supply of the metal beneath its otherworldly salt flats. It's also one of the driest places on earth. That's a real issue, because to extract lithium, miners start by drilling a hole in the salt flats and pumping salty, mineral-rich brine to the surface.

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Then they leave it to evaporate for months at a time, first creating a mixture of manganese, potassium, borax and lithium salts which is then filtered and placed into another evaporation pool, and so on. After between 12 and 18 months, the mixture has been filtered enough that lithium carbonate – white gold – can be extracted.

It's a relatively cheap and effective process, but it uses a lot of water – approximately 500,000 gallons per tonne of lithium. In Chile's Salar de Atacama, mining activities consumed 65 per cent of the region's water. That is having a big impact on local farmers – who grow quinoa and herd llamas – in an area where some communities already have to get water driven in from elsewhere.

There's also the potential – as occurred in Tibet – for toxic chemicals to leak from the evaporation pools into the water supply. These include chemicals, including hydrochloric acid, which are used in the processing of lithium into a form that can be sold, as well as those waste products that are filtered out of the brine at each stage. In Australia and North America, lithium is mined from rock using more traditional methods, but still requires the use of chemicals in order to extract it in a useful form. Research in Nevada found impacts on fish as far as 150 miles downstream from a lithium processing operation.



Mmmm like I said environmentally friendly don't think so, all that for 150 mile range.

[rstainer]

As AC's publicity material doesn't name an authorised motor vehicle manufacturer, it could be that DVSA Individual Vehicle Approval (IVA) will be required before road registration. falconelectric.co.uk refers to this in its Milestone 4. Interested parties should check before confirming an order.

RS
(ACOC V765 scheme officer)

[bobbylangley]

You could be right about IVA Robin, looking at the pics on the website they have some old style switchgear which I don't think would pass today without some way of circumventing the regulations.

[Rob.Hendriks]

What the majority of the tree-hugging populace seem to forget, is that without hydrocarbons (HC), their beloved e-cars would not exist, let alone operate e.g.

• the bitumen/asphalt roads they drive on (except our US friends driving on concrete) are made from HC
• the vast majority of the plastic components inside most cars are made from HC
• have never seen an excavator (other than the grandsons toys) that is not powered by HC
• have never seen an a hi-volume/hi-pressure, electric water pump, in remote location
• have never seen earth moving trucks, powered by batteries
• electric ships...hmmm that's a work on

the list just goes on and on

As for Li-ion battery disposal, last time I looked there were only two places in the world - France and China, of which China had closed it's doors because of pressure to reduce the polution and demand was far outstripping what they were able to safely process.
Many countries (including NZ) are just stock-piling the spent batteries, creating another potential environmental issue

So an electric Cobra - blasphemy I say !!

[AC Ventura]

What exactly is the attraction of a electric Cobra? Who would choose it over a modern electric roadster? What's the point?

[nikbj68]

...Surprising though the electric Cobra notion is I find it quite attractive - a silent run out in the countryside, the breakfast meeting - all the usual interesting car club stuff: Just so long as it is within a 75 mile radius......
Barrie

But you wouldn't be allowed to the V8 Breakfast at The Fennel...🤣😂🤣

[B.P.Bird]

Not so Nik, all welcome - everyone driving anything. Just have to enjoy using it, as not a few 289 Register members could confirm.
Barrie