Refinery infrastructure. Fluidized cat crackers, distillation column heaters, pumps, computers, transfer infrastructure, lights, computer rooms...

 

Just imagine someday in the future when all of those electric cars plug into the electrial grid around 6 PM on a hot day in July on the east coat of the US when the grid is already maxed out. It will get really interesting, really fast. The tree huggers don't want to generate electricity with coal or nuclear and we only have so much natural gas. Hydro is out because we are not supposed to build any dams accoding to them.

 

Short sighted thinking. Do you really think everyone will buy an electric car on the same day to replace their gas guzzler??

What do you think the negative Nancy's like you said when gasoline cars were first coming out, and the roads and gasoline infrastructure weren't there to support the millions and millions of cars that would eventually be in use?

Doh!

Just stop people -- you're just making yourself look bad and you're damaging the reputation of Jaguar owner's worldwide.

 

I'd just like to know if it started with 2010 or 2013 XFRs. Any OEM option can be defeated with enough knowledge and effort.

 

My 2011 XFR does not have ECO mode the 2013 XF supercharged V6 i drove had it and the 2014 supercharged XJL loaner i just turned in had it as well.

 

Actually I think there is some truth in what you are saying, but I don't, in the end, see electric cars being the end game. Maybe fuel cell, or Thorium, who knows.
I got a laugh out of your comment about the tree huggers.. they do go overboard. .. Ignore the name callers.
My Ftype R is way more fun than the electrics, so I'll enjoy for now.
Lawrence.

 

Well since I just bought my car I've been test driving several cars. I know that the 2014 & 2015 XF 2.0 (4 cylinder) doesn't have the ECO mode option and the V6 and above do.

 

It has nothing to do with what you are whining about. It has to do with the fact that the electrical grid will not support large quantities of electrical cars that people want recharged as quickly as possible, especially when you have a group of people who attempt to block just about every practical way we currently have of expanding production capability for electrical power in an economical manner.

 

Guess what? They'll figure it out, just like they have figured everything else out to make cars possible, to make commercial flight possible, to get to the moon.

Silly goose. We'd still be living in caves if we all thought like you.

 

Love people like you. Resort to name calling when you don't hear it your way. Just remember what they told me once in the Army, "Hope is not a course of action". Glad you have such faith in "they".

 

I did this mod on my '14 and I haven't noticed any change in gas mileage. But I always cut it off when driving anyway. I could see where it should help you out but it was annoying if I was in heavy traffic.

 

Personally, I'm not really hip to this function myself, but I foresee the time when the ability to turn it off at all is taken away. But, frankly we're probably stuck with it. So learning to master it is probably the best course.
I have a friend that bought a '13 AWD XF and he's learning to live with it. He really didn't like the way it always shut off when he pulled up to drop his daughter off at school. So, I showed him two things he can do. [other than turn it off]
If he pulls up to the school and it kicks in and stops, he can either ever so slightly raise his foot, not enough to release the brake, and it will restart, or slightly turn the wheel, and it will restart. I always use the wheel method if I am waiting for a left turn. When I see an opening coming, I nudge the wheel to cause a restart. That way the thing always is restarted on my timetable, and I don't fret any possible delay when I start my turn.

It doesn't do away with it, but it does help manage it.

Cheers,

 

Plus what do we do with all that gasoline?

 

Not this one. The system is fully integrated with the starter itself.

No worries as it works flawlessly.

This is just a step along the road to fully hybrid drivetrains which will work even better, provide more power and better fuel economy as well as electric only drive for stop and go traffic and city centres. Pretty soon an idling car at a stop light will be unusual.

 

You suggested more electrical power was consumed than the energy produced from refining the gasoline. You have any evidence for that claim?

The electricity consumed by electric cars is actually coal burned and the heat turned into steam...no additional energy is found. At least with gasoline you get at the stored energy directly.

I think your maths is misdirected.

 

Don't have access to the electrical bill that the refinery paid each month, no. But it was not an insignificant amount of power that was consumed by a 5 square mile maze of stills, pumps, cat crackers, steam distillation towers, etc. Just that the main feed from the grid was 44KV through solid silver/copper bus bars to our substation running at 24x7 80% capacity says that it was not cheap.

Point being is that electrical power is not a zero sum game. Whether you try and plug into the charger in your garage or fill the tank, energy is not created from whole cloth; you have to consume energy to convert it to some other form, and since the transition is not 100% efficient, you will never get out what you put in.

And regardless of the advances in technology, the infrastructure for widespread electrical distribution to now support millions of vehicles all pulling on the grid at the same time (not to mention the toxic by-products of producing the storage cells, increasing the generating capacity, etc) is not there yet. And won't be for a while. We neither have the intestinal fortitude to do what needs be done in the face of resistance from both the luddite 'the ice is melting' or 'we should be able to do this...we went to the moon' crowd nor the capacity to do so in the face of all the other demands on what resources we have.

 

Well said......

Now, just wait and see what the enviros that are pushing electric cars will have to say when those that are out there have to replace and/or recycle all those batteries. Talk about environmental impact....... Be hard to point to someone else as the bad guy then.

 

In reference to the ECO (startstop) people should have a choice, if you like it good, if you don't like it, push a button and it is disabled permanently and will not work again until you turn it back on. I hope the auto manufactures have a good supply starters. My XF stopped and started over 11 times in a 7 mile city drive. I do not like the ECO feature at all. Thanks for all the information.

 

It does not work flawlessly! If you want to lie to yourself, fine but don't lie to everyone else!

 

This thread is still going? Amazing.

Stop/start will soon be on all passenger cars over here as it is in Europe. There is no reason not to use it.

The next generation of hybrid drives will also be fitted to all IC powered passenger cars built for Europe and all with have stop/start and you won't even notice.

Mine never fails to operate as specified and never causes any difficulties whatsoever. Complaints of failure I have seen arise from a failure to understand how it works and how it is supposed to work. It is a flawless system and very clever.