IC Departeé...

[Allanto]

News on many websites is seing an increase in motor powered rc cars and i drop in ic engine powered rc cars, is this sujesting that soon manufactures will be making Electric cars as they are improving nearly 3x as quick as ic engine cars? In the neer future i see no reason why electric cars can put up a good enough performance to make ic engines to depart from the RC car family...

Whats your verdict?

 

[Shodog]

I think the new LiPo technology is paving the way.  you can run hotter motors which means more speed while not sacrificing your run time.

I will say this however, the sound of a Nitro touring car banging into second gear is intoxicating.

Jim

[Allanto]

yes the sound of the nitro is alwasy going to be appealing, however when the li poly batteries cheepen down alot (e.g a 3000mah same price as a good make 4200mah nimh) then these batteries will definitly make the even most confident  nitro racer think about the possibility..

[Jcbiker]

people will go electric coz theyre cheaper, the technology is evolving quicker, and they are more 'eco friendly', with emisions and the noise.

Cant wait to sort myself with a lipo brushless system

[terry.sc]

For all the advantages of electric for bashing (less maintenance, a lot

quieter) the biggest sellers are still big gas monster trucks and 1/8th

rallycross buggies. People prefer to buy them because they can run all

day, just top up the fuel when the tank is empty. No having to carry

around loads of charged battery packs.

The biggest reason people prefer gas is the noise and smell. The two

reasons that limit where you can run them are the same reasons people

want them. There aren't any off the shelf electric trucks that can

compare with the likes of the Savage, Revo and suchlike, if you build

one yourself qith similar performance it would be cheaper to buy the

gas version.

IC cars and trucks are easily more popular amongst the majority of RC

owners, it will be a long time before brushless motors and LiPo

batteries are within the reach of the majority of electric runners.

As for whether nitro racers will change to electric, highly unlikely.

The reason a nitro racer prefers nitro is the fact their race finals

are 30 to 60 minutes long and whatever final you qualify in you can

race your way up to the main final if you are good enough. With

electric you have a 5 or 8 minute final and even if you win your final

you can't move up like nitro as you can't ready an electric car for the

next race in seconds like you can with a nitro.

There are several different classes for racing, both electric and

nitro, because not everyone wants to race the same cars as everyone

else.

BTW regarding electric being more 'eco friendly', the reason the

battery manufacturers are moving to NiMh isn't becuse they they have

more capacity, that's just a useful side effect. The reason for the

switch over is because nicads are classified as toxic waste and should

never be thrown in the trash but should be recycled by specialist

companies to remove the toxic cadmium from the cells. We needed to move

over to NiMhs as it is highly likely that the production of nicads will

be banned on envirnmental grounds in the near future.

[Allanto]

Thanks for the indepth reply there terry.sc , however about what i was saying that the electric models are progessing quicker, 4 years ago they couldnt even make electric helicopters now the manufactures are producing them in larger quantaties, as more and more people are switching over . I soon see this will be the case for the rc trucks and cars because of the advancement in technology. I predict that in 3-4 years time you could be getting some very hot batterys and motors. I also dissagree with the fact of what terry.sc said about nitro trucks been able to go all day, with the quick decreasion in li poly battery prices people could just by 6-7 batterys and go for quite a while, Also Fuel cars are more expensive to run and thats unlikely to change

[Mad Ax]

I think there's a valid point in the sudden improvement in electric technology - especially re: helicopters and planes.

Back in the mid 90s me and some mates were into RC aircraft, my first was a Nikko 2ch that gave 5 minutes of constant motor speed before shutting off and gliding in to land - hence, you never dared fly it more than gliding distance from your airstrip.  I moved into nitro aircraft - 4 channels, full aerobatic control, the difference in performance, fly time and general fun is incomparible.

Recently, a colleage has got back into RC aircraft, and virtually all his new 4ch kits and customs are electric.  We couldn't have dreamed of a good affordable 4ch electric plane 10 years ago.

I for one prefer electric over nitro for simple convenience.  I have one nitro car, and every time I run it I have to clean the rear axle and wing of all the oil that the nitro exhaust chucks out.  I have to buy new engine mounts regularly, because the nitro motor shatters them with vibration.  This in turn strips gears on a weekly basis.  I haven't used it for over 5 years because every run turned into a spending spree.

OTOH, people will still buy nitro because it's more "cool".  15 years ago, nitro was very expensive - it was for rich guys with planes and copters.  Then, around 1996, Kyosho unleashed a budget 2wd nitro buggy - I got a complete kit (inc. radio) for £180.  Since then, companies like Savage have been on the rise in the UK, and everyone wants one.  Who wants electric, when you can have a "real engine" ?

FWIW, electric buggies will beat nitro buggies on the right terrain / circuit layout, due to their better accelleration and traction.  With your ESC you get direct control over the torque going to the gearbox - with nitro, you rely on clutch slip to prevent your wheels from spinning.

 

[]

[Mud-Plugger]

people will go electric coz theyre cheaper, the technology is evolving quicker, and they are more 'eco friendly', with emisions and the noise.

Cant wait to sort myself with a lipo brushless system

For those looking at LiPo batteries I found this video on the web (watch it all the way through!!!)

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3690260570423705609

[Corpse Thrower]

After watching that, I'm sticking to my 20 year old hump pack!!

[theshopkeeper]

Many shops won't stock Lipo batteries - they are assessed as a major fire risk, and particularly with the new fire safety regs coming in this autumn would generally be deemed not worth the hassle.

There are several stories on this board of people overcharging and burning these packs (last one I read was about a helicoptor) so you would need to weigh up the risk of burning your house down or swapping Nimhs every now and again....

They are also totally illegal (in the UK at least) to send Lipo by courier or in the post (although there are a lot of stores who will send them, just like there are a lot who will equally post or parcel Nitro fuel - when the new regs which recently came in say it has to be transported in factory sealed quantities by a specialist carrier, and usually on a separate pallet).

[terry.sc]

I also dissagree with the fact of what terry.sc

said about nitro trucks been able to go all day, with the quick

decreasion in li poly battery prices people could just by 6-7 batterys

and go for quite a while

If you are planning on running all day you will also need to spend all the previous day charging them up.

[terry.sc]

There are many differences between the equipment needed for flying and

that needed for cars. LiPos have been around in planes for a while as

they don't suffer anywhere near the abuse they have to take in a car.

The big advantage of LiPos in planes and helicopters is the weight

saving, not the capacity, so they can build smaller lighter planes and

helicopters than they used to. The weight saving doesn't make much

difference in cars, the performance difference will not be noticeable

amongst bashers and racers will have to add weight to bring it up to

the minimum for racing.

LiPos and brushless motors are widely available for the smaller scales

but the popular 1/10th scale electrics will not see NiMhs being

replaced for a long while yet. LiPos are dangerous if not used

properly, there are only 2 LiPo battery packs available for cars and

trucks, both costing over £100 and both needing their dedicated

charger. For less than half the price you can buy NiMhs that have

almost as much capacity with none of the problems associated with

LiPos, for example if you run your LiPos until the car stops, like you

can with nicads and NiMhs, you will not be able to recharge the LiPo

and you now have an expensive paperweight. It is going to be a good few

years, if ever, before LiPos are good enough to replace NiMhs.

Brushless motors are common in planes yet brushless motors have been

around for model cars since the early 90s and are only now starting to

reach mainstream RCers. The extra power requirements (and the fact they

have to run at any speed, not just on and off)  to run them in

cars

meant they have only recently been able to get the prices down,

although they are still not cheap. Brushed motors still outperform them

on the track and with the newer developments in brushed design, such as

the V2 endbell, I can't see brushless taking over the racing scene just

yet.

As an aside at the recent 1/12th Worlds the brushed motors were tuned

by adjusting brushes, springs and timing. To do this with the brushless

motors the control chips in the ESCs had to be replaced with new

reprogrammed chips, needing a computer system to load a new program

into the chip.

For bashing zero maintenance for brushless seems the way to go,

but for the average R/Cer again you can get the same performance for

half the cost with a brushed setup. Non racers don't rebuild their

motors after every run and replace their brushes every few runs, in

fact I have seen brushed motors that have run for at least 6 months

with no maintenance - a rebuild and new brushes made a badword of a

difference to the performance but the point is it was still running

fine after all that time and the owner didn't notice the drop in

performance. Pointing out that you won't get a drop off in performance

is fairly irrelevant when the average basher is offered a choice

between £50 for a cheap brushed motor/ESC or £100+ for a brushless

combo.