EV cars, would you, wouldn't you?

EV cars, would you, wouldn't you?

Poll: EV cars, would you, wouldn't you?

Total Members Polled: 427

Yes, I would have an electric car: 72%
No, I have no interest, ICE all the way: 11%
No, technology and resources not available: 17%
Author
Discussion

TLandCruiser

2,788 posts

197 months

Saturday 3rd October 2015
quotequote all
No, despite how quick, cheap to run they will never ever have the soul that a v8, v10,v12 has to me., the noise, the vibration and smell etc

jkh112

21,886 posts

157 months

Saturday 3rd October 2015
quotequote all
m444ttb said:
I'd happily have something like a BMW i3 to sit alongside my Porsche 996.
I have an outlander PHEV to sit alongside my Porsche 996 and the combination works well for me.

Rawwr

22,722 posts

233 months

Saturday 3rd October 2015
quotequote all
Absolutely, I would. It'll be interesting to see what happens to petrol and diesel prices once EV/Hybrids start taking a firmer hold on the market.

Electric for commuting and petrol for weekends. I can't really see much of a downside.

I dare say there are those on here who firmly believe you need a 600bhp V12 to go to Tesco in but that's not a reality I'm familiar with.

gregs656

10,816 posts

180 months

Saturday 3rd October 2015
quotequote all
Absolutely, if it fitted with my needs. I drove an i3 recently and it was enormous fun.

RichB

51,430 posts

283 months

Saturday 3rd October 2015
quotequote all
kambites said:
Willy Nilly said:
What heats the car interior on an electric car?
I believe the Tesla has two cabin heat sources; usually heat is provided by the battery cooling circuits in the same way that an ICE powered car's heater works. If that's not enough, there's a supplementary electric heater.
When you say battery cooling circuits do you mean there's a cooling system for the batteries? I hadn't realised that, what is it, a radiator with coolant?

Krikkit

26,500 posts

180 months

Saturday 3rd October 2015
quotequote all
RichB said:
kambites said:
Willy Nilly said:
What heats the car interior on an electric car?
I believe the Tesla has two cabin heat sources; usually heat is provided by the battery cooling circuits in the same way that an ICE powered car's heater works. If that's not enough, there's a supplementary electric heater.
When you say battery cooling circuits do you mean there's a cooling system for the batteries? I hadn't realised that, what is it, a radiator with coolant?
The powertrain isn't 100% efficient in ev's yet, not by a long way, so yes it has a cooling circuit etc.

I'd have an ev for a daily, if only they weren't quite so expensive!

pherlopolus

2,087 posts

157 months

Saturday 3rd October 2015
quotequote all
Mrs p has a leaf, as soon as I can afford something with a 300 mile range I am in too...

TWPC

838 posts

160 months

Saturday 3rd October 2015
quotequote all
No, because of the lack of charging infrastructure. We live in London and park on the street.

I just test drove an i3 and really liked the car but not the logistics!

RichB

51,430 posts

283 months

Saturday 3rd October 2015
quotequote all
Krikkit said:
The powertrain isn't 100% efficient in ev's yet, not by a long way, so yes it has a cooling circuit etc.
Right, didn't realise they had radiators!

0000

13,812 posts

190 months

Saturday 3rd October 2015
quotequote all
I would, but I'd like to keep a proper car too.

98elise

26,366 posts

160 months

Sunday 4th October 2015
quotequote all
TLandCruiser said:
No, despite how quick, cheap to run they will never ever have the soul that a v8, v10,v12 has to me., the noise, the vibration and smell etc
What about as a replacement for a 4 pot daily driver? I don't want one to replace my Elise, but I am very likely to buy a Tesla Model 3 for our next family car.

peterattheboro

1,361 posts

182 months

Sunday 4th October 2015
quotequote all
Borrowed a Leaf from Nissan the other weekend. Great car to drive and very relaxing but with there not being many charging points I could never live with one yet. Was always worried about having the radio or air con on.

With the current 80-90 mile range, it just doesn't suit me and seems a step backwards. EV tech is almost there and I welcome it but as many have said, the current batteries aren't good enough.

ORD

18,086 posts

126 months

Sunday 4th October 2015
quotequote all
If I had the room for one, I would have an EV as a city runabout or a car for nipping to the train station. Anyone who has room for an EV and instead used a petrol or, worse, a diesel car for a 2 mile trip to the station is a bit crazy!

PeterGadsby

1,303 posts

162 months

Sunday 4th October 2015
quotequote all
I would have an EV if the range was reasonable (circa 400miles) has fairly fast charging (at most 1 hour for 80% charge).

I think Tesla are going he right way, however they need to focus on range rather than performance & bring the price down.

- Pete

pherlopolus

2,087 posts

157 months

Sunday 4th October 2015
quotequote all
I think with tesla the performance is a byproduct of the range.

so called

9,074 posts

208 months

Sunday 4th October 2015
quotequote all
Mx drive to the Office is approximately 750 miles.
On the occasions that I drive rather than fly, I diont want to spend half of the time in a service station charging up, which would probably more than double the travelling time.

Otherwise, I like this technology and I'm going to encourage my Wife to look at her next car being either electric or hybrid.
She likes her big LR type cars so it wont be easy.

CQ8

783 posts

226 months

Sunday 4th October 2015
quotequote all
We bought our Tesla Model S 85 in December and have covered nearly 25,000 miles in it so far. We love it!

EV's don't work for everyone and the Tesla is the only one that made sense to us due to the range but we cannot imagine life without it. It is very comfortable, very quiet and very fast. The torque and instant acceleration is fantastic.

The bulk of our driving is boring commuting, school run, shopping etc and this car does it all. We're in rural Devon and the kids school is 48 miles away so the car is doing just under 200 miles a day. We have a charger at home and, by complete coincidence, shortly after we bought it Tesla opened a supercharger 5 mins from the school. So we have very little range anxiety and have never come close to running out.

We have done longer trips in it, including London and South Wales, all made possible by the network of Tesla superchargers and Ecotricity points on the motorway. I don't bother with any other charging points as they seem to be very unreliable.

It's not a cheap car to buy but the fuel savings we are making mean it's much more affordable than a similarly price ICE car. In the time we have had it, the only thing to have gone wrong with it is a faulty door handle. All fixed with no issue by Telsa and I was given a Model S 85+ for a few days to play with! They are leagues ahead of other manufacturers I have dealt with in terms of customer service.

I think the Model III is going to massive for them as once you have tried one of these it is very difficult to make a convincing argument for an ICE car IF it suits your lifestyle/work/home etc.

It's not our only car and I'm not ready to have it as our sole means of transport but our other cars are just there as backup (so far not needed) and for journeys where there is no charging infrastructure.


simonrockman

6,843 posts

254 months

Sunday 4th October 2015
quotequote all
Electric cars are simple.

They are all rubbish except the Tesla S which is awesome.

Some, like the e-UP are merely disappointing. They are cars which are fine for their utility, quiet comfortable do the job nicely but at twice the price of something else which would do the job.

Others like the Leaf and particularly the Twizzy are dislikeable cars. The Leaf is patronising and lies about the range big time. I've drive several, and even in ECO mode if it says you have 200 miles of range and drive ten miles it will then say you have 180 miles of range. It makes journeys where you are not comfortably in the range really tense.

The Twizy could have been fun in a go-kart type of way but it's actually more golf-buggy. The only good thing is the cool doors. It's even more hateful in the back. I've driven the C-zero, e-Up, Tesla Roadster, e-Golf, Leaf and a few Telsa S'

The future however is electric. The Tesla shows that they can be amazing. I'm looking forward to trying the Toroidion and Rimac.

Simon

bitchstewie

50,767 posts

209 months

Sunday 4th October 2015
quotequote all
Tesla are about the only company that seem to be doing anything different though.

Part of the attraction of EV's is that they're supposed to be "the future" - well sorry if it sounds shallow but if I'm paying a premium for an EV, and right now I would be, I actually kind of want it to be a little obvious that it's something different and Tesla do that far better than "Oh is that an EV? I couldn't tell it just looks like a normal Golf/Clio/Fiesta" or whatever.

When Tesla bring out something Golf sized and Golf priced I'll be very interested - also because they seem to have sussed that people may want to drive some distance.

hairyben

8,516 posts

182 months

Sunday 4th October 2015
quotequote all
Seriously considered electric van- spending time in the city and a typical day being 30 or so miles it's, on paper, ideal but with a small issue- no-one actually builds anything suitable. Nissan env is close but I need a max range of about 70-80 which I don't believe it's capable of in work conditions ie laden/heated etc when new - nissans battery warranty also defines a battery capable 9 out of 12 bars as being okay.

For me this underlies the absolute bullst that is the whole eco bandwagen. Look around yourself next time you're in the city, the place electric is supposedly made for- you'll see loads of vans, far more than cars, the most popular being the 1 ton transit type. Yet you can't buy this in electric- you want a sports car, we have a ranger sir. oh a hypercar, we can do that too. SUV's? limos, anything you want. But an essential trade vehicle that needs to and will be in the city, however powered, oh lets not bother making them. What will really save the planet and improve the air is millionaires being able to to do 0-60 in 2.5 seconds while pontificating about how green they are.