My Electric Car thread!
Discussion
FreeLitres said:
The car is worth a barmy £33k but the Government will chip in £5k so that you only pay £28k.
I looked into one of these trials at around the same time you started yours, I fancied the idea of running something with no fuel cost that was different to what everyone else has, I also wanted to prove they were useless unless you lived in a big city. Sadly they told me I had to insure it and after quite a bit of effort I couldn't get anyone to quote me less than £1200 for a year (32 years old, 5 years NCB, 3 points, 2 non fault claims in a year, decent postcode and own home with drive and garage). The £1200 put me off as I pay just over 1/4 of that now and could have insured a 911 for less than £800 at the time.
How did you get on with insuring it?
Cemesis said:
90% of my journeys are 8 miles or less and I might do between 2 and 6 in a day so an Electric car is an actual option for me. If it was ecconomic to have one, I would and tuck it up in the garage to charge it overnight.
People go on about how they arn't green but I don't care. I would buy it when its cheaper to run than a petrol car which I would guess will be about 6 years. At that point one of these or a Leaf will require a new battery pack and be utterly worthless, possibly even a net liability to get rid of the nasty old batteries.
fixed it for you. People go on about how they arn't green but I don't care. I would buy it when its cheaper to run than a petrol car which I would guess will be about 6 years. At that point one of these or a Leaf will require a new battery pack and be utterly worthless, possibly even a net liability to get rid of the nasty old batteries.
Electric vehicles will not replace the ICE car in our lifetime.
But interested to hear how you get on OP...
£33k...f
k me!!Not really the right place to say this but I saw a black Nissan Leaf parked outside a nice restaurant at night and it was a cool car. Never thought Id say that.
So im very confused about myself right now in regards to electric cars. I would love to have a go in one and will try to in 2012.
So here goes my silly questions
1) Is there any noticable delay with the accelerator?
2) Does it feel strange when you reach a speed you want to cruise at (say 50) does it feel like its over or under geared if that makes sense?
3) Can you keep track of how often you go to the garage in it for us?
So im very confused about myself right now in regards to electric cars. I would love to have a go in one and will try to in 2012.
So here goes my silly questions
1) Is there any noticable delay with the accelerator?
2) Does it feel strange when you reach a speed you want to cruise at (say 50) does it feel like its over or under geared if that makes sense?
3) Can you keep track of how often you go to the garage in it for us?
Baryonyx said:
Do these things not have noise generators on them? How do pedestrians hear them coming?
By looking both ways before wandering into the fking road. Revolutionary thought I know, the general pavement dwelling mongs plugged into mobile phones or mp3s while wandering along stuffing their face might have to move their neck and employ their eyeballs. How will they manage...Some questions for the OP
1) Do you miss the delights of handing over a large amount of money to a spotty teenager at thepetrol tax station.
2) How much of you time does recharging actually take? As in do you have to stand for 8 hours with your finger on the recharge button or can you just spend 10 seconds plugging it in and then bog off and do something else.
I think that CO2 is plant food and i'm sure most on here agree so lets step away from the CO2 argument as its frankly irrelevant to how an electric car is to live with.
1) Do you miss the delights of handing over a large amount of money to a spotty teenager at the
2) How much of you time does recharging actually take? As in do you have to stand for 8 hours with your finger on the recharge button or can you just spend 10 seconds plugging it in and then bog off and do something else.
moreflaps said:
The joke is these electric cars are not green at all. They produce more CO2 per mile than an efficient modern petrol engine. What all the advocates forget is that the production, transmission and storage of electrical energy as well as battery weight greatly reduce the efficiency from the original 33% of a coal fired plant. And before someone says wind power, there is not enough wind power to genertae the needed energy for homes let alone transport etc. etc.
Cheers
So I take it from your concern that electric cars produce more CO2 then a petrol car you 100% believe in man made global warming.Cheers
I think that CO2 is plant food and i'm sure most on here agree so lets step away from the CO2 argument as its frankly irrelevant to how an electric car is to live with.
Edited by thinfourth2 on Thursday 8th December 06:42
martin84 said:
By looking both ways before wandering into the fking road. Revolutionary thought I know, the general pavement dwelling mongs plugged into mobile phones or mp3s while wandering along stuffing their face might have to move their neck and employ their eyeballs. How will they manage...
Took the words outta my mouth...king road. Revolutionary thought I know, the general pavement dwelling mongs plugged into mobile phones or mp3s while wandering along stuffing their face might have to move their neck and employ their eyeballs. How will they manage......If these leccy cars become common place, expect a few 'claims' to surface......
Decent thread though - well done the OP.
An interesting prroject, thanks for sharing with us. How do you manage to plan journeys that might require a "top up" charge. Is there an acessible database of charging points? I too would be interested in how long it takes to charge, and how you pay for the public points.
I have heard about trials on "induction plate charging", similar concept to the eleectric toothbrush, which removes the need for cables. Are these in use now?
I have heard about trials on "induction plate charging", similar concept to the eleectric toothbrush, which removes the need for cables. Are these in use now?
martin84 said:
By looking both ways before wandering into the fking road. Revolutionary thought I know, the general pavement dwelling mongs plugged into mobile phones or mp3s while wandering along stuffing their face might have to move their neck and employ their eyeballs. How will they manage...
Sadly the answer is actually worse then you could ever imagine.king road. Revolutionary thought I know, the general pavement dwelling mongs plugged into mobile phones or mp3s while wandering along stuffing their face might have to move their neck and employ their eyeballs. How will they manage...a solution so terrifying and hideous that you mind can't consider the true horror of it
Fake engine noises which will lead to custom engine noises
Which will lead to the creature whose name i cannot say
Be afraid
BE VERY AFRAID FOR HE IS COMING
thinfourth2 said:
Sadly the answer is actually worse then you could ever imagine.
a solution so terrifying and hideous that you mind can't consider the true horror of it
Fake engine noises which will lead to custom engine noises
Which will lead to the creature whose name i cannot say
Be afraid
BE VERY AFRAID FOR HE IS COMING
The Fisker already uses a Tron-like sound instead of an engine noise, and it sounds pretty cool.a solution so terrifying and hideous that you mind can't consider the true horror of it
Fake engine noises which will lead to custom engine noises
Which will lead to the creature whose name i cannot say
Be afraid
BE VERY AFRAID FOR HE IS COMING
Edited by R500POP on Thursday 8th December 07:55
Slyjoe said:
moreflaps said:
The joke is these electric cars are not green at all. They produce more CO2 per mile than an efficient modern petrol engine. What all the advocates forget is that the production, transmission and storage of electrical energy as well as battery weight greatly reduce the efficiency from the original 33% of a coal fired plant. And before someone says wind power, there is not enough wind power to genertae the needed energy for homes let alone transport etc. etc.
Unfortunately everything you've said is true, however it won't stop the fkwits in charge on a march to oblivion.We've already got several Clarksonparrots that have perched up on this thread, it's already doomed, which is a shame as it would have been quite interesting.
carreauchompeur said:
Globs said:
Exactly, Chernobyl and Fukushima are memorable examples of good clean dependable energy we can all use...
Fukushima- No deaths whatsoever. Coal mining in China- Thousands of deaths a year.As for Fukushima - you do know that the Japanese have lost 3% of their usable land don't you?
Just about the only source of clean power is hydroelectric, some solar and that's it.
Frankly the best way of generating power would probably be tree farming, then drying and burning the timber. You'd lose less land that way than is lost to nuclear contamination.
PIGINAWIG said:
martin84 said:
By looking both ways before wandering into the fking road. Revolutionary thought I know, the general pavement dwelling mongs plugged into mobile phones or mp3s while wandering along stuffing their face might have to move their neck and employ their eyeballs. How will they manage...
Took the words outta my mouth...king road. Revolutionary thought I know, the general pavement dwelling mongs plugged into mobile phones or mp3s while wandering along stuffing their face might have to move their neck and employ their eyeballs. How will they manage......If these leccy cars become common place, expect a few 'claims' to surface......
Decent thread though - well done the OP.
No relationship found so beepers not required
This seems to have generated more interested that I imagined! Keep the questions coming though…
Q1) Does the vehicle require maintenance beyond the IC engine, Battery life is my concern here.
A1) This will be a longer term thing and of no real concern to me in the trial. The battery is modular though, so they could replace a number of modules as the battery starts to underperform. The only think I need to do it pop the tiny bonnet and top up the washer jets!
Q2) Just how much of a premium does the ownership involve. The longer term values secondhand are open to question IMO. And they are not cheap iitially despite the direct subsidy.
A2) I think 95% of sales will be on lease deals. I doubt people will actually pay that much cash for them. It will be interesting to see how the 2nd hand values hold out.
Q3) How did you get on with insuring it?
A3) Initially – difficult. My 3.0 Jag was costing about £550 to insure and my initial quotes for the iOn from Leccy car specialists were between £850 and £1500. There is a lack of data on these cars so insurers have to guess the risk factor. In the end I spoke to my current insurers for the Jag who have insured me for 4 years without a claim and they came in at about £450 for the iOn. Result! (Still more expensive than the Tiv insurance though)
Q4) Do these things not have noise generators on them? How do pedestrians hear them coming?
A4) This one doesn’t, but I think the Leaf might do. Through town I tend to wind the window down a little and play some music at a volume that can be heard from outside. “Move bh” by Ludacris tends to get the desired result. 
Q5) Is there any noticable delay with the accelerator?
A5) Not really! The torque curve from the motor is flat, so all the power is available through the “rev range”. The accelerator has a system similar to a kick-down where the final part of the movement near the floor gets stiffer but means the car delivers full output.
Q6) Does it feel strange when you reach a speed you want to cruise at (say 50) does it feel like its over or under geared if that makes sense?
A6) The main strange thing is that you have to keep looking at the speedo. In a petrol car, you can hear the engine revs, so if the pitch increases, you know you are going a little faster than before. On this, there is no such indication. At higher speeds, it can still accelerate hard up to 80mph if you want to, but there is a power usage dial on the dash which will show you are draining the battery faster than normal if you drive in that way, so you tend to back off and drive more economically, unless you know you are nearly at your next charge point.
Q7) Can you keep track of how often you go to the garage in it for us?
A7) Sure, will do. It has been seen by an engineer once, but this was because of a fault in the aftermarket data-logger unit. As part of this trial they are recording use to see how the driving habits effect the battery life, etc. I don’t think the other cars on the trial will be driven as hard/much as this one! I was the 2nd person to trial this particular car and the first guy/company only used it for 1000 miles in the first 6 months. I have done more than that in the first month!
Q8) Do you miss the delights of handing over a large amount of money to a spotty teenager at the petrol tax station.
A8) Not. At. All. I had to take Wifeys car to the petrol station the other day and I forgot what an absolute pain it is. Usual things – having to queue for ages as people are going in for a weekly shop of groceries. Mong-boy using the pump I am queuing for gets back into his mondeo and messes about opening sandwiches and texting his Mong friends, etc. AGHHHHHH
Q9) How much of you time does recharging actually take? As in do you have to stand for 8 hours with your finger on the recharge button or can you just spend 10 seconds plugging it in and then bog off and do something else.
A9) A full charge from empty on a normal charger will take about 7 hours. Yes, that sounds like a lot. However, you never let the car get to empty so you only end up doing top-up charges. For me, I get to work at 8:50am and plug in. I then either unplug it at lunchtime or just leave it charging all day. At 5pm I get in the car to drive home and it is fully charged. Drive home (about 20 miles). Next day, drive to work and usually have about a third of a charge left, so plug it in again. About 3 hours charges will get me to full charge from a third full. There are also “quick charge” points dotted around which will charge 80% in 30 mintues.
Q10) I have noticed a few recharging points around recently - whats the deal with these do you need to swipe a card to get the power?
A10) Correct – you need a swipe card in order to access the charge points. This is through a scheme called “Charge Your Car”
http://www.chargeyourcar.org.uk/indexx3.php
You pay £10 a month (paid up front, so I paid £60 in October) and they will send you a swipe card to access all the public charging points and you can charge as much as you like. When you charge, you also get free parking. This is a bonus during busy times like Christmas shopping as you are guaranteed a parking space right at the front of the car park! CYC also keep a log of all your charges (time, actual cost, etc) and have a map of all the charging points.
Q11) Also have you had a home electricity bill yet to see how much the charging is costing you?
A11) Good point – mist electric car users change their tariffs to get cheap leccy at night time which is when they charge the car. I did get a charging point installed at my house as part of the trial but I am fiunding that the public points are so handy that I tend to use them. I have only charged at home a handful of times.
Q12) You bought the wrong car my friend, the Leaf is about the same money & 100% better.
A12) I have heard this a few times. I parked up next to one recently and I must admit it looked like it has a few more gadgets than mine. On the trial, the Leafs wern’t available until April so the iOn was the only option. I don’t really mind to be honest.
Q13) How do you manage to plan journeys that might require a "top up" charge. Is there an acessible database of charging points?
A13) To be honest, until I get to understand the car better, I am not willing to test this out. If I know I have got some longer journeys to do, I will take Wifeys car. She loves driving the iOn so it’s not a big issue for us.
Q14) I have heard about trials on "induction plate charging", similar concept to the eleectric toothbrush, which removes the need for cables. Are these in use now?
A14) I haven’t seen them yet so I think they are still early stage. My iOn gets parked on the drive as Tiv is in the garage so it might not work for me anyway.
Q15) Fake engine noises which will lead to custom engine noises
A15) It’s only a matter of time. I must admit – I did put some “TVR at idle” sounds onto a CD to test out having an engine noise to play through the CD player, but I felt like an idiot so I never used it where someone might hear it.
Q16) He didn't buy it. Its on a 6 month free trial.
A16) True. If I had £30k cash to blow on a car, I don’t think it would be this one.
Q17) Costs of taking part
A17) The lease on the iOn isn’t cheap as it is an expensive car. It comes in at £300 a month. After the trial, I think it will go up to £400+. For this, you get free maintenance, breakdown cover, zero tax, free parking and as much fuel as you want for £10 a month. It works out cheaper than the Jag. (£250/month petrol, £245 tax, needed 2 tyres @£100, servicing, DEPRECIATION!!! etc) The main benefit for me is that it buys me some time to save up for my next car without the threat of a large repair bill.
Keep the question coming!
Q1) Does the vehicle require maintenance beyond the IC engine, Battery life is my concern here.
A1) This will be a longer term thing and of no real concern to me in the trial. The battery is modular though, so they could replace a number of modules as the battery starts to underperform. The only think I need to do it pop the tiny bonnet and top up the washer jets!
Q2) Just how much of a premium does the ownership involve. The longer term values secondhand are open to question IMO. And they are not cheap iitially despite the direct subsidy.
A2) I think 95% of sales will be on lease deals. I doubt people will actually pay that much cash for them. It will be interesting to see how the 2nd hand values hold out.
Q3) How did you get on with insuring it?
A3) Initially – difficult. My 3.0 Jag was costing about £550 to insure and my initial quotes for the iOn from Leccy car specialists were between £850 and £1500. There is a lack of data on these cars so insurers have to guess the risk factor. In the end I spoke to my current insurers for the Jag who have insured me for 4 years without a claim and they came in at about £450 for the iOn. Result! (Still more expensive than the Tiv insurance though)
Q4) Do these things not have noise generators on them? How do pedestrians hear them coming?
A4) This one doesn’t, but I think the Leaf might do. Through town I tend to wind the window down a little and play some music at a volume that can be heard from outside. “Move b
h” by Ludacris tends to get the desired result. Q5) Is there any noticable delay with the accelerator?
A5) Not really! The torque curve from the motor is flat, so all the power is available through the “rev range”. The accelerator has a system similar to a kick-down where the final part of the movement near the floor gets stiffer but means the car delivers full output.
Q6) Does it feel strange when you reach a speed you want to cruise at (say 50) does it feel like its over or under geared if that makes sense?
A6) The main strange thing is that you have to keep looking at the speedo. In a petrol car, you can hear the engine revs, so if the pitch increases, you know you are going a little faster than before. On this, there is no such indication. At higher speeds, it can still accelerate hard up to 80mph if you want to, but there is a power usage dial on the dash which will show you are draining the battery faster than normal if you drive in that way, so you tend to back off and drive more economically, unless you know you are nearly at your next charge point.
Q7) Can you keep track of how often you go to the garage in it for us?
A7) Sure, will do. It has been seen by an engineer once, but this was because of a fault in the aftermarket data-logger unit. As part of this trial they are recording use to see how the driving habits effect the battery life, etc. I don’t think the other cars on the trial will be driven as hard/much as this one!
I was the 2nd person to trial this particular car and the first guy/company only used it for 1000 miles in the first 6 months. I have done more than that in the first month! Q8) Do you miss the delights of handing over a large amount of money to a spotty teenager at the petrol tax station.
A8) Not. At. All. I had to take Wifeys car to the petrol station the other day and I forgot what an absolute pain it is. Usual things – having to queue for ages as people are going in for a weekly shop of groceries. Mong-boy using the pump I am queuing for gets back into his mondeo and messes about opening sandwiches and texting his Mong friends, etc. AGHHHHHH
Q9) How much of you time does recharging actually take? As in do you have to stand for 8 hours with your finger on the recharge button or can you just spend 10 seconds plugging it in and then bog off and do something else.
A9) A full charge from empty on a normal charger will take about 7 hours. Yes, that sounds like a lot. However, you never let the car get to empty so you only end up doing top-up charges. For me, I get to work at 8:50am and plug in. I then either unplug it at lunchtime or just leave it charging all day. At 5pm I get in the car to drive home and it is fully charged. Drive home (about 20 miles). Next day, drive to work and usually have about a third of a charge left, so plug it in again. About 3 hours charges will get me to full charge from a third full. There are also “quick charge” points dotted around which will charge 80% in 30 mintues.
Q10) I have noticed a few recharging points around recently - whats the deal with these do you need to swipe a card to get the power?
A10) Correct – you need a swipe card in order to access the charge points. This is through a scheme called “Charge Your Car”
http://www.chargeyourcar.org.uk/indexx3.php
You pay £10 a month (paid up front, so I paid £60 in October) and they will send you a swipe card to access all the public charging points and you can charge as much as you like. When you charge, you also get free parking. This is a bonus during busy times like Christmas shopping as you are guaranteed a parking space right at the front of the car park! CYC also keep a log of all your charges (time, actual cost, etc) and have a map of all the charging points.
Q11) Also have you had a home electricity bill yet to see how much the charging is costing you?
A11) Good point – mist electric car users change their tariffs to get cheap leccy at night time which is when they charge the car. I did get a charging point installed at my house as part of the trial but I am fiunding that the public points are so handy that I tend to use them. I have only charged at home a handful of times.
Q12) You bought the wrong car my friend, the Leaf is about the same money & 100% better.
A12) I have heard this a few times. I parked up next to one recently and I must admit it looked like it has a few more gadgets than mine. On the trial, the Leafs wern’t available until April so the iOn was the only option. I don’t really mind to be honest.
Q13) How do you manage to plan journeys that might require a "top up" charge. Is there an acessible database of charging points?
A13) To be honest, until I get to understand the car better, I am not willing to test this out. If I know I have got some longer journeys to do, I will take Wifeys car. She loves driving the iOn so it’s not a big issue for us.
Q14) I have heard about trials on "induction plate charging", similar concept to the eleectric toothbrush, which removes the need for cables. Are these in use now?
A14) I haven’t seen them yet so I think they are still early stage. My iOn gets parked on the drive as Tiv is in the garage so it might not work for me anyway.
Q15) Fake engine noises which will lead to custom engine noises
A15) It’s only a matter of time. I must admit – I did put some “TVR at idle” sounds onto a CD to test out having an engine noise to play through the CD player, but I felt like an idiot so I never used it where someone might hear it.
Q16) He didn't buy it. Its on a 6 month free trial.
A16) True. If I had £30k cash to blow on a car, I don’t think it would be this one.
Q17) Costs of taking part
A17) The lease on the iOn isn’t cheap as it is an expensive car. It comes in at £300 a month. After the trial, I think it will go up to £400+. For this, you get free maintenance, breakdown cover, zero tax, free parking and as much fuel as you want for £10 a month. It works out cheaper than the Jag. (£250/month petrol, £245 tax, needed 2 tyres @£100, servicing, DEPRECIATION!!! etc) The main benefit for me is that it buys me some time to save up for my next car without the threat of a large repair bill.
Keep the question coming!
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