EV cars, would you, wouldn't you?

[NDNDNDND]

I would consider one if it smelled faintly like a scalextric...

[J4CKO]

I just see infinite opportunities for being told off by the wife for forgetting to put the car on charge

Really, if she had a day of perusing John Lewis and the Trafford centre planned and I hadn't plugged the car in then I would be dead meat, its like when I dare to put chilli in any dish she makes a song and dance about it, even when the dish is called "Chilli", the other night she made herself something and for the first time ever put chilli in it and then complained about it being too hot, as if I had something to do with it ! I asked her how she planned to pin that one on me "I will think of something" she said, similarly sometimes I get grumpiness off her due to something I allegedly did in a dream of hers.

So, not plugging the car in, if I forget it will just be easier to plug myself in.


So, chaps, it will be our job, we need to evolve ways to not forget to put the the thing on charge !

[Axionknight]

I would certainly give one a try if I wanted a low mileage car to use for city driving ETC - not sure how good the technology is range wise, so I'm not sure if I'd want one for the longer journies. It'd probably end up being a second car against something more fun/interesting for weekend kicks.

[Debaser]

Yes I'd have one. Most of the ones I've driven have been quite entertaining though, as with an ICE car, I'd want it to be RWD.

[J4CKO]

Debaser said:

Yes I'd have one. Most of the ones I've driven have been quite entertaining though, as with an ICE car, I'd want it to be RWD.

Yep,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOXDsUCZfgg

[mat205125]

J4CKO said:

I just see infinite opportunities for being told off by the wife for forgetting to put the car on charge

Really, if she had a day of perusing John Lewis and the Trafford centre planned and I hadn't plugged the car in then I would be dead meat, its like when I dare to put chilli in any dish she makes a song and dance about it, even when the dish is called "Chilli", the other night she made herself something and for the first time ever put chilli in it and then complained about it being too hot, as if I had something to do with it ! I asked her how she planned to pin that one on me "I will think of something" she said, similarly sometimes I get grumpiness off her due to something I allegedly did in a dream of hers.

So, not plugging the car in, if I forget it will just be easier to plug myself in.

So, chaps, it will be our job, we need to evolve ways to not forget to put the the thing on charge !

In our household, judging my consistent experience with the lap top we share, it would be me that was presented with the flashing red battery logo when I wanted to use it.

[Harry H]

I would have thought the obvious answer would be to have batteries as cassettes. Standardised across all manufacturers.

All the petrol stations could then have a charging/ change over unit. Simply drive your EV in, machine swaps the dead battery for a pre charged one and off you go again.

Yes occasionally you'd end up with a battery that has less performance but the charging could be based on miles done/ amps used since the last swap so apart from the inconvenience of having to stop sooner it wouldn't really matter too much. Government could tax it nicely as well.

With the quietness/ performance these EV's are now getting added to the simplicity of above why wouldn't we all be driving them.

Edited by Harry H on Monday 5th October 13:13

[gazchap]

I've had a Leaf for just under a month.

I don't have to worry about MOT, tax or servicing (well, I will need to get it serviced, but it's a much simpler vehicle so should be far cheaper to service.

Fuel costs are minimal - I did a 220 mile journey the other weekend (85 miles there, 85 miles back, plus pottering around at my destination) and between charging up at work using our solar panels and using the Ecotricity chargers on the motorway, my fuel costs were literally zero.

My home charger takes 4 hours to charge the car from 0% to 100% and costs £3 per charge.

Yes, I could buy a snotter or a cheap barge and then use money saved to pay for fuel etc. but it would have to be an older car and there's the bork factor to consider, and the Leaf is very well specced even in the standard models, let alone the Tekna that I have.

My daily commute is 18 miles each way. I have ~60% battery (from 100%) left at the end of each day.

[LordGrover]

J4CKO said:

Yep,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOXDsUCZfgg

Similarly: youtube.
'Holy Cow!'

[J4CKO]

mat205125 said:

J4CKO said:

I just see infinite opportunities for being told off by the wife for forgetting to put the car on charge

Really, if she had a day of perusing John Lewis and the Trafford centre planned and I hadn't plugged the car in then I would be dead meat, its like when I dare to put chilli in any dish she makes a song and dance about it, even when the dish is called "Chilli", the other night she made herself something and for the first time ever put chilli in it and then complained about it being too hot, as if I had something to do with it ! I asked her how she planned to pin that one on me "I will think of something" she said, similarly sometimes I get grumpiness off her due to something I allegedly did in a dream of hers.

So, not plugging the car in, if I forget it will just be easier to plug myself in.

So, chaps, it will be our job, we need to evolve ways to not forget to put the the thing on charge !

In our household, judging my consistent experience with the lap top we share, it would be me that was presented with the flashing red battery logo when I wanted to use it.

Yes, but that would still be my fault, as I work in IT, every item of technology is my sole responsibility, the internet if it is slow is somehow my fault, any attempt at printing anything on A4 requires my full attention regardless of what I happened to be doing at the time when just mashing the button repeatedly and growling at it isn't working.

[Blue62]

I'm seriously thinking about a Tesla next time around, I noticed that you can increase the range by 6% for an extra couple of grand, seems rather a lot of money to add 15 miles or so.

[JD]

Iva Barchetta said:

Electric is useless for a roadtrip....I'm out.

1000 miles in a day ?.....no way !

The 2 scandinavian regestered Tesla's I saw in the south of France beg to differ!

[Devil2575]

JD said:

Iva Barchetta said:

Electric is useless for a roadtrip....I'm out.

1000 miles in a day ?.....no way !

The 2 scandinavian regestered Tesla's I saw in the south of France beg to differ!

It is also stretching it a little as well to dismiss a car becaus of it's lack of suitability for a 1000 mile a day road trip

[Blue62]

How practical would it be though to take a driving/golfing trip around Scotland or Ireland?

[J4CKO]

Blue62 said:

How practical would it be though to take a driving/golfing trip around Scotland or Ireland?

You would have the flashiest Golf Buggy on the course I expect.

[Rig Monkey]

I voted yes I would have one but...

I could have had one, the i3 (which I loved when on test for a few days) was comfy, nippy, enough range for all my needs and a similar price to my m135i, with all the obviously cost savings involved.

However I still bought an m135i, so I guess I wouldn't buy one, because an i3 makes more sense from a financial point of view, it would do everything g I asked if it and save me (not cost as much as ICE) money at the same time.

[jazzybee]

There seems to be an option missing in the Poll. I am absolutely love the Tesla proposition, and would even consider an i3 or i8.... However, I have not YET bought one. The Tesla Model S and X are very expensive from a purchase perspective, particularly for a large family car. The free charging via the supercharger network is one of the biggest draws, and is far from being unsuitable for long trips, I think I would make more long trips if I had one - If it was a large 4-seater convertible like the new S-class Mercedes convertible, I think I would have gone for one by now. i8 is good fun as well, but seems a bit of a compromise. The i3/Leaf seem the most likely one for me to get as a 'cheapish' city run around.

[300bhp/ton]

gazchap said:

I've had a Leaf for just under a month.

I don't have to worry about MOT, tax or servicing

Not really any different to any other new car then is it.

Tax breaks will only be temporary. And lets not forget you forking out what £16k+ to save a couple of hundred quid on tax.

gazchap said:

(well, I will need to get it serviced, but it's a much simpler vehicle so should be far cheaper to service.

Nope not simpler at all. Infact probably more complicated when all said and done. And it still has breaks and steering. The only thing it doesn't need is an oil and filter change. But seeing as the cost of doing this is £50 for most cars, maybe once or twice a year, it's not a big saving. And I'm sure Nissan still have a servicing package and plan for the Leaf.

gazchap said:

Fuel costs are minimal - I did a 220 mile journey the other weekend (85 miles there, 85 miles back, plus pottering around at my destination) and between charging up at work using our solar panels and using the Ecotricity chargers on the motorway, my fuel costs were literally zero.

So how long did you spend on the motorway charging? Not saying it's a bad thing, but I find no reason to stop at all on the motorway unless you really have too. Then it's only for 5-10 mins max.

And this fuel cost isn't minimal. Because don't you have to pay monthly battery rental or something??

gazchap said:

My home charger takes 4 hours to charge the car from 0% to 100% and costs £3 per charge.

And effort to remember to charge it and likely far more monitoring of the battery level.

Again, not saying this is a bad thing. But EV's simply aren't cars you can park up and leave, and then just jump in and use. If you parked it with 15% charge left and forgot to charge it, then you are knackered if you need or want to go anywhere.

And of course, this fully relies on you having somewhere to charge and park it, which simply isn't the case for MOST of the UK population.

gazchap said:

Yes, I could buy a snotter or a cheap barge and then use money saved to pay for fuel etc. but it would have to be an older car and there's the bork factor to consider, and the Leaf is very well specced even in the standard models, let alone the Tekna that I have.

My daily commute is 18 miles each way. I have ~60% battery (from 100%) left at the end of each day.

Is that summer use? I wonder how much more battery it will use when it's minus numbers out and maybe raining/snowing and dark. Honestly curious.

As running an EV and only needing to power the dash lights and motors is one thing. Running wipers, heater, heater blowers, lights and the other normal items must have a big impact.

[London424]

Harry H said:

I would have thought the obvious answer would be to have batteries as cassettes. Standardised across all manufacturers.

All the petrol stations could then have a charging/ change over unit. Simply drive your EV in, machine swaps the dead battery for a pre charged one and off you go again.

Yes occasionally you'd end up with a battery that has less performance but the charging could be based on miles done/ amps used since the last swap so apart from the inconvenience of having to stop sooner it wouldn't really matter too much. Government could tax it nicely as well.

With the quietness/ performance these EV's are now getting added to the simplicity of above why wouldn't we all be driving them.

Edited by Harry H on Monday 5th October 13:13

Tesla tested this in California but customers didn't use it. When the supercharger network is good and you leave your house every day with a 'full tank' range really isn't an issue for most people.

[TLandCruiser]

Could get annoying if a motorway is closed due to an accident in the winter and you can't run the heaters due to battery life or a huge que of people charging their cars at the motorway services.