Automotive Vloggers (Vol. 5)

[simonw67]

Digga said:

Drove my EV Midlands to Newcastle upon Tyne. It's only got 220 miles range, but TBF I'd feel crap driving the whole journey in one anyway.

The charging infrastructure is totally wk right now. The huge, brand new services at Skelton Lake near Leeds has 550 car parking spaces aaaaand... 6 EV charge points. Yes, 6. And 3 of those were not working all weekend.

However, managed to grab a charge point, went inside and combined grabbing a meal, then a coffee for the journey and the car had added more than enough charge to complete the journey comfortably. There's really no actual time 'lost' to charging because you leave the vehicle to is and go off to have a piss and grab refreshments etc.

That's great but I regularly do 6-8hr drives with 1/2 x 20min stops which includes piss/coffee/fuel. Pissing about with apps/charging/plugging in wouldn't work for me (if they work)

[Digga]

simonw67 said:

Digga said:

Drove my EV Midlands to Newcastle upon Tyne. It's only got 220 miles range, but TBF I'd feel crap driving the whole journey in one anyway.

The charging infrastructure is totally wk right now. The huge, brand new services at Skelton Lake near Leeds has 550 car parking spaces aaaaand... 6 EV charge points. Yes, 6. And 3 of those were not working all weekend.

However, managed to grab a charge point, went inside and combined grabbing a meal, then a coffee for the journey and the car had added more than enough charge to complete the journey comfortably. There's really no actual time 'lost' to charging because you leave the vehicle to is and go off to have a piss and grab refreshments etc.

That's great but I regularly do 6-8hr drives with 1/2 x 20min stops which includes piss/coffee/fuel. Pissing about with apps/charging/plugging in wouldn't work for me (if they work)

Tech is shifting very quickly.

I note that, for example, the satnav was routing me via Stockport on way home because it was suggesting a rapid charge at Porsche Stockport where they have some high speed 'Porsche Turbo Charger' unit which run up to 350 kW DC.

[Beefmeister]

simonw67 said:

Digga said:

Drove my EV Midlands to Newcastle upon Tyne. It's only got 220 miles range, but TBF I'd feel crap driving the whole journey in one anyway.

The charging infrastructure is totally wk right now. The huge, brand new services at Skelton Lake near Leeds has 550 car parking spaces aaaaand... 6 EV charge points. Yes, 6. And 3 of those were not working all weekend.

However, managed to grab a charge point, went inside and combined grabbing a meal, then a coffee for the journey and the car had added more than enough charge to complete the journey comfortably. There's really no actual time 'lost' to charging because you leave the vehicle to is and go off to have a piss and grab refreshments etc.

That's great but I regularly do 6-8hr drives with 1/2 x 20min stops which includes piss/coffee/fuel. Pissing about with apps/charging/plugging in wouldn't work for me (if they work)

Then EVs aren’t for you right now, it’s quite simple. I’m a huge EV advocate and am heavily invested in them, but right now they aren’t for everyone, we’re still in the early days. In 5yrs time the charging infrastructure will be unrecognisable from what it is today, speaking as someone actively working in it.

Within 5yrs you’ll be able to buy a new EV that can do your 6-8hr journey with only a couple of 20min fast charge stops. Of course that’s only useful if you can afford a new car which many can’t. But it’s getting there, getting better every day and the great thing is, nobody is forcing anyone to go EV for at least 9yrs.

Think of where EVs were in 2012 and where they are now, and now think how it’s going to be in 9yrs time with all the manufacturers piling their money into research and tech, and infrastructure being invested in heavily.

[anonymous-user]

Digga said:

simonw67 said:

Digga said:

Drove my EV Midlands to Newcastle upon Tyne. It's only got 220 miles range, but TBF I'd feel crap driving the whole journey in one anyway.

The charging infrastructure is totally wk right now. The huge, brand new services at Skelton Lake near Leeds has 550 car parking spaces aaaaand... 6 EV charge points. Yes, 6. And 3 of those were not working all weekend.

However, managed to grab a charge point, went inside and combined grabbing a meal, then a coffee for the journey and the car had added more than enough charge to complete the journey comfortably. There's really no actual time 'lost' to charging because you leave the vehicle to is and go off to have a piss and grab refreshments etc.

That's great but I regularly do 6-8hr drives with 1/2 x 20min stops which includes piss/coffee/fuel. Pissing about with apps/charging/plugging in wouldn't work for me (if they work)

Tech is shifting very quickly.

I note that, for example, the satnav was routing me via Stockport on way home because it was suggesting a rapid charge at Porsche Stockport where they have some high speed 'Porsche Turbo Charger' unit which run up to 350 kW DC.

"Up to". From all the videos, reviews, etc that I've seen and read, I don't think I've ever heard of a charger delivering the "up to" figure - even the big boys like Braintree Gridserve etc.

[Digga]

OpulentBob said:

"Up to". From all the videos, reviews, etc that I've seen and read, I don't think I've ever heard of a charger delivering the "up to" figure - even the big boys like Braintree Gridserve etc.

They do, but not always. Gridserve at Wooley Edge was actually showing slightly over 50kW, somehow yesterday.

Sometimes the speed restriction is the car's system, rather than the charge point. Taycan with large capacity battery can charge at up to 270kW DC.

Charge point I used on Friday was vacated by a girl in an new Audi Q4 etron. She reckoned it was only charging around 30kW on her car, but when I plugged min in, it was 50kW. Go figure.

[AngryPartsBloke]

I've been watching back Driftworks videos as i hadn't really looked at the channel in a while.

It's nice to see a genuine fan get an allocation at a dealer for a GT3 when there's seemingly so many flippers about. On what other said about getting a bi bored of Youtube stuff, it does feel a bit samey from channel to channel. I'm more into the 4wd action or other travelling based automotive channels, even though the content is the same the virtue of being in different locations all the time brings something unique each time.

[Quags]

I personally feel it will still be prohibitive cost wise, plus the infrastructure for much of the country just won't be there still, be it living in Victorian street or a sleepy country village.

An EV for my daily commute will be fine, so i'll probably end up with one as a company car, but for many it just won't be feasible.

I'm still with Harry on this though, I think Hydrogen or Synthetic Fuel is the way forward. The extraction, refinement and processing of lithium etc al still as far as I'm aware, produces more green house gases. But I accept this could be different now.

[Beefmeister]

Quags said:

I personally feel it will still be prohibitive cost wise, plus the infrastructure for much of the country just won't be there still, be it living in Victorian street or a sleepy country village.

An EV for my daily commute will be fine, so i'll probably end up with one as a company car, but for many it just won't be feasible.

I'm still with Harry on this though, I think Hydrogen or Synthetic Fuel is the way forward. The extraction, refinement and processing of lithium etc al still as far as I'm aware, produces more green house gases. But I accept this could be different now.

Without wishing to take this thread further off course, the biggest issue is that people can only see a one-solution future when in my view at least it's going to be three-pronged.

EV for daily driving duties for 99% of people.
Hydrogen for LGV, HGV and other commercial applications like tractors, agri equipment etc.
Synthetic fuels for those who still wish to enjoy the wonders of a burbling V8 at the weekends.

The three can exist together perfectly well.

[Mark-E34-535]

They'll need to do something to encourage people out of cars all together though really, as the idea that we could cope with millions of cars stood around charging and/or waiting to charge, in anything like the numbers we have of ICE cars just seems ridiculous. Not to mention all the millions of people that work in garages, spares stores, mod shops, etc etc that are all going to find their employment / businesses bite the dust.

[Dave.]

Dave. said:

The Rotrex Kid said:

I was just watching Tavarish’s video on his 675LT (which looks ace) https://youtu.be/PALjmY6XP2Q

The opening bit about Gears And Gasoline Ben being in hospital with Covid was news to me, he has a couple of great cars and does great videos. Hope he recovers soon

https://youtu.be/PALjmY6XP2Q

He was in hospital at the end of September, posted a pic on IG early Oct... A week or two later they posted another old(er) photo which put people in a panic before reading the description. Not much in the way of updates since but from the comments etc he seems to be on the mend slowly.

Just seen this...

[WarrenB]

Beefmeister said:

Without wishing to take this thread further off course, the biggest issue is that people can only see a one-solution future when in my view at least it's going to be three-pronged.

EV for daily driving duties for 99% of people.
Hydrogen for LGV, HGV and other commercial applications like tractors, agri equipment etc.
Synthetic fuels for those who still wish to enjoy the wonders of a burbling V8 at the weekends.

The three can exist together perfectly well.

Interesting. That's almost a future I could get along with, though if hydrogen gets to the point where it can sustain the commercial/heavy industry and synthetic fuels are developed to the point they can replace unleaded/diesel would there still be a need for EVs?

[Challo]

Mark-E34-535 said:

Jules Sunley said:

Mark-E34-535 said:

The teardown on the Alpina by M539 is pretty impressive given he's an enthusiast turned mechanic. Such a great methodical approach.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMfC4LLMJgM

Can't wait to see him work on Misha's E34 M5.

I've been watching a few Evil GT videos lately and like how down to earth they are. I'm not really into moderns but it'll be good to see what they do with the E46 M3. I'd considered viewing that car myself and seeing how much work it needs I'm glad I passed.

Sreten of M539 is excellent viewing and I echo your comments as that was a serious strip down.

I wonder if a side benefit of filming is that he can watch the video back to see what order everything goes back together in.

Also no ego which is nice as he's joined the relevant Facewaste group for that engine and has asked a couple of questions in relation to this build.

My favourite channel now, closely followed by Harry.

I don't know how he finds the time to do the amount of research he does. The E21 was a great build to watch and I learned a fair bit about the old injection.

simonw67 said:

DuncanM said:

Great racing again from Dan, those MR2s look brilliant, can take a beating!

I love this channel, it's the best racing I've seen on yt, and it's always funny and chilled in the way it's filmed.

Brilliant stuff.

https://youtu.be/ToSSbUeAUOY

+1. Really enjoyable. Paid some thanks back via patreon.

+2 and same re patreon. Well worth the few quid paid too.

The MR2 video with time to say goodbye music video included was brillIant. Proper laughed out loud while watching it.

[Beefmeister]

WarrenB said:

Interesting. That's almost a future I could get along with, though if hydrogen gets to the point where it can sustain the commercial/heavy industry and synthetic fuels are developed to the point they can replace unleaded/diesel would there still be a need for EVs?

Yeah, because as a vehicle, a BEV is far cheaper and simpler to produce than a Hydrogen car. And the hydrogen tech is heavy and hydrogen is harder to create and distribute cleanly. As much as people have a go at EVs, they’re still the cleanest option moving forwards. And they’re going to get silly cheap too - there will be a point where battery tech and/or production means that battery costs will reduce massively - again not too far away - at which point the simpler to design/produce EVs won’t just be the same price as ICE cars, they’ll end up being far cheaper.

One Chinese brand is aiming to be selling a 5dr, 4-seater, 150 mile range EV city car for £7,000 in the U.K. within the next 5yrs - that’s what is known as a game changer.

Also, the synthetic fuels will likely be incredibly expensive - Shell have said it could be upwards of £5/litre at the start. But in all honesty, by the time it comes down in price most will be in EVs anyway - once you start driving one as a daily, you won’t want to go back to ICE. They’re much more relaxing to drive and an unexpected benefit is they generally have really good sound systems - without engine drone noise they can tune the speakers to be much better

[wastedyouth86]

Beefmeister said:

Yeah, because as a vehicle, a BEV is far cheaper and simpler to produce than a Hydrogen car. And the hydrogen tech is heavy and hydrogen is harder to create and distribute cleanly. As much as people have a go at EVs, they’re still the cleanest option moving forwards. And they’re going to get silly cheap too - there will be a point where battery tech and/or production means that battery costs will reduce massively - again not too far away - at which point the simpler to design/produce EVs won’t just be the same price as ICE cars, they’ll end up being far cheaper.

One Chinese brand is aiming to be selling a 5dr, 4-seater, 150 mile range EV city car for £7,000 in the U.K. within the next 5yrs - that’s what is known as a game changer.

Also, the synthetic fuels will likely be incredibly expensive - Shell have said it could be upwards of £5/litre at the start. But in all honesty, by the time it comes down in price most will be in EVs anyway - once you start driving one as a daily, you won’t want to go back to ICE. They’re much more relaxing to drive and an unexpected benefit is they generally have really good sound systems - without engine drone noise they can tune the speakers to be much better

But costings wise EV running costs will rise as the taxes from fuel and road tax will slowly drop off... Personally i hope synthetic fuels kill off the EV nothing about them excites me. Ev's have become the Patagonia fleece of motoring.

[Digga]

wastedyouth86 said:

But costings wise EV running costs will rise as the taxes from fuel and road tax will slowly drop off...

Not necessarily. They could and might gradually raise fuel taxes to bring more revenue form less volume.

wastedyouth86 said:

Ev's have become the Patagonia fleece of motoring.

IKWYM about Potatogonad fleeces.

[Yidwann]

Ha! Class love that! Definitely sums up a few people I know!

[Bubba Zanetti]

Someone has bought the SH22 MEE number plate from the DVLA and Shmeedog is none too happy about it.

[North West Tom]

Bubba Zanetti said:

Someone has bought the SH22 MEE number plate from the DVLA and Shmeedog is none too happy about it.

"Joke's on you! I'm not going to buy it from you!"

[waynecyclist]

Bubba Zanetti said:

Someone has bought the SH22 MEE number plate from the DVLA and Shmeedog is none too happy about it.

It is interesting you say that as when I have looked in the past, it said that SH** MEE is not available so I always assumed that he had an agreement with the DVLA to purchase them and they could not be sold if that is possible.

[anonymous-user]

waynecyclist said:

What a bellend he is