EV cars, would you, wouldn't you?
Poll: EV cars, would you, wouldn't you?
Total Members Polled: 427
Discussion
Yes if we could make them work. I've been In a few and like the linear power delivery, comfort and quietness.
At the moment I do loads of miles (30k p.a) and therefor range would be a potential problem. I need 350-400 to be comfortable.
The wife does 50 miles a day round trip and I can see an EV working for her no problem. Except there are some days where she visits another office and needs to do 300 without a charger, if that clashed with a day I was also out, then it's a no go for us until batteries get better
I run a FI mx5 as a toy at the moment, so there's a potential to run one electric vehicle which gets left at home when we both need petrol and the weekend toy steps into action. However, with a second kid on the horizon then the toy needs to become a practical (and reliable!
) car all of a sudden and that's a compromise too far.
At the moment I do loads of miles (30k p.a) and therefor range would be a potential problem. I need 350-400 to be comfortable.
The wife does 50 miles a day round trip and I can see an EV working for her no problem. Except there are some days where she visits another office and needs to do 300 without a charger, if that clashed with a day I was also out, then it's a no go for us until batteries get better
I run a FI mx5 as a toy at the moment, so there's a potential to run one electric vehicle which gets left at home when we both need petrol and the weekend toy steps into action. However, with a second kid on the horizon then the toy needs to become a practical (and reliable!
) car all of a sudden and that's a compromise too far. Edited by eltax91 on Sunday 4th October 10:26
For an every day practical car, I'd have no objection to owning an EV, as long as it's range made it practical to do so. Silent, automatic, accessible torque - i'd posit that there's few finer ways to commute.
I wouldn't like to replace ICE entirely though. My ideal world would be to use my current car for weekend and fun driving, whilst having an electric car for the weekly commute, town trips, etc.
I wouldn't like to replace ICE entirely though. My ideal world would be to use my current car for weekend and fun driving, whilst having an electric car for the weekly commute, town trips, etc.
simonrockman said:
Electric cars are simple.
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.
I think there was a problem with that leaf! ours says 90 miles range, and would do about that if we ran it right down, tends to get charged at 30 miles left after 60 miles of driving.. over a hilly journey you can lose and gain +/-10 miles but averages out.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.
Mrs P charges it every 3 days, and it takes 20 seconds to plug it in.
I have nothing against EV's at all.
However I think people are completely delusional if they honestly think they are the sole answer and solution. And if:
-you don't live in a city
-you don't have a drive way
-you do long distance
They simply aren't a viable alternative and never likely will be.
Would I have one? Yes given the right circumstances. Will I have one? No, because they completely fail to delivery on my needs.
However I think people are completely delusional if they honestly think they are the sole answer and solution. And if:
-you don't live in a city
-you don't have a drive way
-you do long distance
They simply aren't a viable alternative and never likely will be.
Would I have one? Yes given the right circumstances. Will I have one? No, because they completely fail to delivery on my needs.
I would absolutely love to have an electric car for my daily commuting.
Once the technology and the costs have got a little better, and the vehicles being offered are of a more "familiar" standard, I'll seriously consider a used one, or potentially even a new / lease one.
The significant advancement in two wheeled electric performance at the Isle of Man would also tempt me to have one of those too for daily commuting.
Whether two or four wheels, I have a "normal" daily range requirement of no more than 100 miles, however this would be in all weathers and at times of the day.
Most promising solution that I have seen on the market is the Vauxhall Ampera concept that is perminantly electric motor driven, with the ICE as a charging generator. With the home plug in option, the only missing puzzle piece to improve this concept would be to include solar charging on the bonnet, roof and boot of the vehicle for when it's parked on driving along.
With domestic solar tech storing charge in a battery during the day, to use to charge the car at night, added to the cells on the car topping up the vehicle battery throughout daylight time, the running time of the petrol engine would be minimal for most "normal" commutes upto maybe 40 or 50 miles each way.
Once the technology and the costs have got a little better, and the vehicles being offered are of a more "familiar" standard, I'll seriously consider a used one, or potentially even a new / lease one.
The significant advancement in two wheeled electric performance at the Isle of Man would also tempt me to have one of those too for daily commuting.
Whether two or four wheels, I have a "normal" daily range requirement of no more than 100 miles, however this would be in all weathers and at times of the day.
Most promising solution that I have seen on the market is the Vauxhall Ampera concept that is perminantly electric motor driven, with the ICE as a charging generator. With the home plug in option, the only missing puzzle piece to improve this concept would be to include solar charging on the bonnet, roof and boot of the vehicle for when it's parked on driving along.
With domestic solar tech storing charge in a battery during the day, to use to charge the car at night, added to the cells on the car topping up the vehicle battery throughout daylight time, the running time of the petrol engine would be minimal for most "normal" commutes upto maybe 40 or 50 miles each way.
hairyben said:
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.
With the new Leaf the van's battery may get the same upgrade which may push it over the edge of being suitable. Also do check the charger availability on Zap Map, you may find that all your regular long routes are accommodated by enough rapid chargers now.Also don't worry about the battery - they are coping fine so far, many Leafs have done 80-100k with almost no loss in capacity.
LordGrover said:
Just checked PCP for the Zoe - can be had for beans, but then you have to factor in £70 per month battery rental. Still pretty cheap though.
My 'commute' is just 10 miles so very doable. I'd have to keep my current car for proper journeys and a bit of fun though.
Wouldn't a diesel anything likely work out just as cheap though, only with out the restrictions of EV?My 'commute' is just 10 miles so very doable. I'd have to keep my current car for proper journeys and a bit of fun though.
e.g. lets say you do 22 days a month commuting at 10 miles a day = 220 miles. The Zoe would cost you £70 for battery rental alone (lets ignore the deposit cost, the monthly PCP cost, the depreciation and the fact you still wouldn't own the car at the end of it).
Diesel is currently about £1.10/litre, a car doing 45mpg would cost you £25 a month, rather than the £70 the Zoe would cost.
Or to put this in perspective, you could run a petrol car for the same distance and the same monthly cost and is would only need to do 16mpg!!!
Financially you'd be better off buying a £2500 V8 Jag and running that over an EV!
Jimmyarm said:
We have one.
It is awesome and does exactly what we want it too and can use it for 99% of our journeys.
Once you have owned one, if it fits with your driving habits, you wonder why all those other people on the road haven't cottoned on.
I know someone with a Nissan Leaf and his comments echo yours.It is awesome and does exactly what we want it too and can use it for 99% of our journeys.
Once you have owned one, if it fits with your driving habits, you wonder why all those other people on the road haven't cottoned on.
Cheap to lease, even cheaper to run.
CQ8 said:
We bought our Tesla Model S 85 in December and have covered nearly 25,000 miles in it so far. We love it!
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.
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.
200 miles a day?!There is a sweet-spot to be had in terms of range and it is somewhere around 200 miles. That's sufficient to get rid of most people's range anxiety and not too expensive/weighty in terms of battery requirements. That is what I believe the next generation of cars will be going for.
Would I have one? Sure. I might look at one for the Mrs for her next car.
Definitely.
Currently doing Cardiff to Bristol 3-4 times a week, so around 90 miles a day. I would buy an EV, but there's not enough choice on the market to get me into one yet. I don't want a hybrid and a Tesla is just too expensive. In a few years when there's more about I'll be looking at them quite seriously.
Currently doing Cardiff to Bristol 3-4 times a week, so around 90 miles a day. I would buy an EV, but there's not enough choice on the market to get me into one yet. I don't want a hybrid and a Tesla is just too expensive. In a few years when there's more about I'll be looking at them quite seriously.
300bhp/ton said:
Financially you'd be better off buying a £2500 V8 Jag and running that over an EV!
Financally you'd be better off buying a £2500 1.4 Fiesta than a V8 Jag.Financialy you'd be better off buying a 2nd hand fridge than a new one
etc etc
Some people put a value on Bork factor
The comparisoon with old vs new is as flawed as it was the first time someone posted asking why anyone bothers with a new Hot hatch when they could have an E36 M3 for £5k...
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