Anyone know anyone with an Electric car yet ?
Discussion
Was talking to one of the kids friends mums who has a Prius, normally I wouldnt mention cars as she had a Prius but she now also has a Nissan Leaf, so being interested I asked her how it was going and she was very positive, has had a it a few months so not novelty value.
She said she pays about £205 a month to lease it and the saving in fuel over the utterly profligate, rip snorting Prius covers the lease payments more or less and that it costs about six quid a week to keep it charged, which to me seemed a little bit low but I don't own one.
She said it will do 105 miles which is plenty for her day to day needs, longer journeys are tackled in the Prius. She said that it is serenity itself to drive and feels like being in a Roller due tot he lack of noise, plus being fairly heavy the ride is quite good. It wasnt a looker, kind of like a previous gen Micra that has had a good Christmas.
Apparently it beats everyone off the lights, I kind of thought she was dreaming but looking at it, some have managed an unofficial seven seconds to sixty, so with the max torque at zero rpm thing, a full battery and a determined driver I suspect it could give some other stuff a shock.
I found the conversation kind of significant, ok, plenty of threads on EV's, Autocar has increasing EV coverage (Tesla Model S got an excellent review recently) as it was my first conversation with an actual user of an EV, someone who has made the jump to full Electric Power and is getting along with it just fine, I think the EV revolution is almost upon us, at least for runabouts, I found myself looking at the possibility of getting one to replace our Citroen C1 at some point for local duties.
I am itching to have a go of one, anyone else ?
She said she pays about £205 a month to lease it and the saving in fuel over the utterly profligate, rip snorting Prius covers the lease payments more or less and that it costs about six quid a week to keep it charged, which to me seemed a little bit low but I don't own one.
She said it will do 105 miles which is plenty for her day to day needs, longer journeys are tackled in the Prius. She said that it is serenity itself to drive and feels like being in a Roller due tot he lack of noise, plus being fairly heavy the ride is quite good. It wasnt a looker, kind of like a previous gen Micra that has had a good Christmas.
Apparently it beats everyone off the lights, I kind of thought she was dreaming but looking at it, some have managed an unofficial seven seconds to sixty, so with the max torque at zero rpm thing, a full battery and a determined driver I suspect it could give some other stuff a shock.
I found the conversation kind of significant, ok, plenty of threads on EV's, Autocar has increasing EV coverage (Tesla Model S got an excellent review recently) as it was my first conversation with an actual user of an EV, someone who has made the jump to full Electric Power and is getting along with it just fine, I think the EV revolution is almost upon us, at least for runabouts, I found myself looking at the possibility of getting one to replace our Citroen C1 at some point for local duties.
I am itching to have a go of one, anyone else ?
J4CKO said:
I think the EV revolution is almost upon us, at least for runabouts, I found myself looking at the possibility of getting one to replace our Citroen C1 at some point for local duties.
I am itching to have a go of one, anyone else ?
I hold the same view, give it another 5 yrs and it will be the sensible 2nd car choice.I am itching to have a go of one, anyone else ?
DocArbathnot said:
J4CKO said:
I think the EV revolution is almost upon us, at least for runabouts, I found myself looking at the possibility of getting one to replace our Citroen C1 at some point for local duties.
I am itching to have a go of one, anyone else ?
I hold the same view, give it another 5 yrs and it will be the sensible 2nd car choice.I am itching to have a go of one, anyone else ?
Apparently you can get the car to warm itself up before you get in on a winters morning.
Has PH ever done any electric related stuff, perhaps a sister site is called for, unfortunately Rotorheads is spoken for by those odd chaps who like Dairylea Cheese Triangles spinning in a baked bean can type engines so would have to be Commutatorheads or Windingheads, plus I want to see Mr Harris trying to make a Leaf go sideways.
DocArbathnot said:
I hold the same view, give it another 5 yrs and it will be the sensible 2nd car choice.
My viewpoint too; brushing aside the usual baa! baah! diesel bad/electric rubbish PH bandwagon drivel then an electric car - especially looking at the OPs quoted costs - is a total no-brainer. We couldn't manage on a 100% electric solution (what do you do for that weekend off to France etc, the OH has a 100 mile return-trip commute), but for 90% (if not more) of our journeys an electric car with a 100 mile range would be excellent. I saw one of those Ampera things (I know they aren't electric btw) the other day and I thought it looked brilliant; properly out of a science fiction film.
ETA: Amperas - just perusing and they are electric? Or a hybrid...?
Edited by Dog Star on Monday 7th October 13:49
We have a BMW ActiveE as a pool car at work.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_ActiveE
I thought it'd be a joke, but it's actually surprisingly good. Will do 80+ on the motorway, very nippy around town (8.5s to 60), and feels very BMW-like to drive. Although, steering is quite heavy and standard 1er brakes not quite up to stopping nearly 2 tonnes of car!
Any idea of insurance premiums? Keeping an eye out for the first person killed due to lack of sound as they cross the road in front of something electric ...
TX.
Edit - if / when people switch to electric the Govt will tax electricity don't forget, revenues need to come from somewhere.
TX.
Edit - if / when people switch to electric the Govt will tax electricity don't forget, revenues need to come from somewhere.
Monty Python said:
Mate of mine has an Ampera.
I really like the look of the Ampera 
There is one at the local garage. I stopped and had a GOOD 15-20 minutes look at it. I was quite amazed that the tyres are something like 225s and it has full DTS surround sound.And looking at the local charging points. http://www.nextgreencar.com/electric-cars/charging...
there are far more than I thought.
Just a shame about the price.
I know he is an almost anti petrol head but that fella from red dwarf, Robert llywen(sp?) did a series where he had that very car to live with over a long period, like 6 months if I recall? He seemed to agree with the above, as a second car seemed fine. 100mile range a day is probably fine for most people.
Just the usual, you have to have somewhere to charge it and its not much good for a long trip.
Just the usual, you have to have somewhere to charge it and its not much good for a long trip.
J4CKO said:
Ours eschews the silent, old tech EV in favour of a Transit flat bed with a slipping alternator belt, makes the Ice Cream van seem quiet.
One house in our small cul-de-sac has milk deliveries, so we get a similar wake up call from the rattly diesel flatbed at 4.30am as the driver amusingly executes a noisy three point turn outside our house.I've thought many times about complaining, but as he clearly doesn't give a s
t anyway, I reckon it'd just encourage him 
Morningside said:
And looking at the local charging points. http://www.nextgreencar.com/electric-cars/charging...
there are far more than I thought.
There won'tbe "far more than you thought" when everyone has one; at the moment a lot of towns and cities put the charging points in as a bit of a gimmick - a handful. All fine and dandy when the EVs are so rare, it'll be a different kettle of fish when we all have them.there are far more than I thought.
Having said that, when they start getting mainstream (which is anytime now, I think) then I think they'll start sprouting up all over the place. Employers will provide them, they'll be available in multi-storeys etc etc. It's just about shifting expectations. Things won't be like they are now.
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