Electric cars, does everyone really think they are amazing.

Electric cars, does everyone really think they are amazing.

Author
Discussion

Lancerevo

Original Poster:

175 posts

143 months

Saturday 5th August 2017
quotequote all
Every person I have spoken to tells me how great the electric car they have just purchased is and how easy they are to charge and use day to day and now it only takes 4 charges to do a 500 mile round trip.

Personally the electric car is not for me yet, Britain is not ready for it, my local Asda has a charging point but the manager likes to park his Corsa there so not much chance of getting a charge there anyway.

My question is has anyone bought an electric car and realised It just does not work for them, if so could you let me know your reasons.


James_B

12,642 posts

257 months

Saturday 5th August 2017
quotequote all
There's a new Tesla shop next to my flat, and I wandered in, had a look, and specked up a car recently.

Unfortunately, picking the options I wanted, it came to £165,000. I also was refused permission to fit a charger in the block's communal garage, so that brought up two reasons not to have one yet.

The fact that I can't yet do the 300 mile trip home in a single hit was the final reason. Nearly, on the last one, but not quite yet.

pti

1,697 posts

144 months

Saturday 5th August 2017
quotequote all
James_B said:
There's a new Tesla shop next to my flat, and I wandered in, had a look, and specked up a car recently.

Unfortunately, picking the options I wanted, it came to £165,000. I also was refused permission to fit a charger in the block's communal garage, so that brought up two reasons not to have one yet.

The fact that I can't yet do the 300 mile trip home in a single hit was the final reason. Nearly, on the last one, but not quite yet.
P100D has an EPA range of 335 miles...

BenjiS

3,768 posts

91 months

Saturday 5th August 2017
quotequote all
James_B said:
There's a new Tesla shop next to my flat, and I wandered in, had a look, and specked up a car recently.

Unfortunately, picking the options I wanted, it came to £165,000. I also was refused permission to fit a charger in the block's communal garage, so that brought up two reasons not to have one yet.

The fact that I can't yet do the 300 mile trip home in a single hit was the final reason. Nearly, on the last one, but not quite yet.
I've just gone on Tesla's website, and configured both a model S and an X, with every single option they do, and I can't get one over £155k.

Lancerevo

Original Poster:

175 posts

143 months

Saturday 5th August 2017
quotequote all
I don't think price will be the biggest issue as BMW are doing one now for about £35,000 all electric ( I think the government are doing a £6000 contribution). Charging point will be a huge thing. Lots of us live in houses with no drive way. Are we going to have 1000s of extension leads going acrosss the road.

Big GT

1,805 posts

92 months

Saturday 5th August 2017
quotequote all
Electric cars are great. They've been around for about 100 years. Old tech but good if you can wait to charge one up






manracer

1,544 posts

97 months

Saturday 5th August 2017
quotequote all
Firstly on what basis do you say that the infrastructure isn't there yet? Have you taken a look on zapmap?

What car for less than 150k costs as little to run and also has the acceleration the Tesla is capable of and also has autopilot capabilities and also has can sit 5 or 7 in relative comfort and refinement?

Do you often fully spec the cars that you own?

How often do you do 300 miles in a single trip? And is a 30 minute break such an inconvenience? Really? I know I like a break every 100 miles or so!

I'm not being argumentative, just curious as the same reasons for not embracing them keep coming up and usually it appears to be from people that just don't like the concept and or haven't looked into it enough.

fido

16,790 posts

255 months

Sunday 6th August 2017
quotequote all
The biggest plus point for me is the flat torque curve. If they could add electric boost or a KERS type system to a turbo car then it would make them a better match.

lee_fr200

5,476 posts

190 months

Sunday 6th August 2017
quotequote all
Tbh I was against electric but I'm liking them more and more I'd prefer the security of having an engine as well though as the new golf gte apprantly only does 30 miles on full electric and sometimes I can be doing 250/300 miles in a day, and I can't afford a tesla model s unfortunately

Second Best

6,403 posts

181 months

Sunday 6th August 2017
quotequote all
I think they're fantastic pieces of modern engineering. Would I own one? Maybe not just yet. I'd rather wait until the technology becomes a little more reliable and affordable (the Model 3 is a good step in the right direction).

gangzoom

6,280 posts

215 months

Sunday 6th August 2017
quotequote all
Lancerevo said:
My question is has anyone bought an electric car and realised It just does not work for them, if so could you let me know your reasons.
No.

20k covered in various different EVs since 2015, currenly awating delivery of our second Tesla (first one written off by a Seat driver who didnt understand how junctions work). Have a Model 3 on order for my wife, once that's here we'll have a fully electric driveway.

Previous combustion cars included a modified BMW 335i dynoed at 380bhp with Quaife LSD, 350Z, DC2 Teg.

Never going back to combustion car, EVs aren't the future, they are here today and for me is already the default choice for the last 2.5 years.

Edited by gangzoom on Sunday 6th August 03:42

caziques

2,571 posts

168 months

Sunday 6th August 2017
quotequote all
As long as you can accept the range and charge time of an EV, they are superb.

I use an e-nv200 van as my daily driver, up to 60 miles a day - costs about £1. Charge it every week night. Bought three months ago.

Mrs Caziques has a Leaf, usually charged every other night. Bought a couple of months ago.

We have a number of dinosaur vehicles for longer journeys.

Go back to an ICE vehicle for daily driving? Not under any circumstances.

kambites

67,543 posts

221 months

Sunday 6th August 2017
quotequote all
I can't imagine many people buy them and then find out about their limitations. Its not as if they aren't well publicised, especially on here.

Riley Blue

20,942 posts

226 months

Sunday 6th August 2017
quotequote all
I haven't driven one yet so can't say whether they're amazing or not. Before I could consider one I'd need a minimum 300 miles range and be able to charge it fully in the time it takes to fill a car with petrol.

F10ben28

1,702 posts

92 months

Sunday 6th August 2017
quotequote all
I was never bothered about them, until I saw a tesla model s in person.

They would be suitable for my lifestyle as I rarely do multiple hundreds of miles in a day.


ashleyman

6,973 posts

99 months

Sunday 6th August 2017
quotequote all
We had a Golf GTE courtesy car last year and driving on electric only mode was better than I had expected - the range at 30 miles would have been enough to get my wife to work and back per day without needing fuel. On GTE mode where it uses the EV and ICE together it wasn't totally boring and the range was sufficient but only because of the petrol engine.

There's no infrastructure at my block of flats to charge an EV without running extensions cords out of windows and there's nothing on the street either. Our closest public charging point is about a mile away and looking at the reviews on Zap-Map it's regularly filled with non-EV's and the car park operator isn't ticketing ICE cars.

An EV for the wife to go to work in would be perfect as it's only 3 miles there and back per day but because of the charging issue we can't get one. I think that's a sticking point for a lot of the people I know who've looked but have nowhere to charge. She currently uses my Golf R to get to and from work and does about £100 a month in fuel as it's all town stop/start traffic.

A friend has just bought a house in a new build development and it doesn't have allocated parking outside the houses, just a long bay down the road where anyone can park. I was visiting and parked outside somebody else's house and a few hours later, the doorbell went and it was the EV owner asking me to move my car so she could charge hers when she went to bed. Frustrating situation for the both of us.

Edited by ashleyman on Sunday 6th August 08:04

HappyMidget

6,788 posts

115 months

Sunday 6th August 2017
quotequote all
fido said:
The biggest plus point for me is the flat torque curve. If they could add electric boost or a KERS type system to a turbo car then it would make them a better match.
the power is flat not the torque. Torque drops as rpm rises.

VonSenger

2,465 posts

189 months

Sunday 6th August 2017
quotequote all
We're on our second leaf and 3 years of ownership. Absolutely perfect......... For our use, school, supermarket and grandparents trip across town. Anything else? Forget it. Too much hassle. I did a 100 mile round trip in it twice. It was a proper faff.

Also, be wary of the stated mileage, you need to drive like mother Theresa to get near the advertised figure.
But it's brilliant in town, will always have an ev for that type of use.

thebraketester

14,209 posts

138 months

Sunday 6th August 2017
quotequote all
The model 3 would be perfect for me. I rarely need to do more than 200 miles in one hit.



Would buy.

patmahe

5,745 posts

204 months

Sunday 6th August 2017
quotequote all
I seriously considered a leaf the last time we changed cars but I simply couldn't make the sums add up because of the purchase price (we just needed a runabout) but range etc... would have been fine. If there is a good electric option next time around I'll consider it then too, no reason not to yet.