Is it too early to go all electric?

Is it too early to go all electric?

Author
Discussion

S. Gonzales Esq.

2,557 posts

213 months

Monday 9th August 2021
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J__Wood said:
...I feel I shouldn't still driving an old heap belching out pollution if I could reasonable manage with something that is far less polluting.

Preventative maintenance has always been an anathema to someone who spent 35 years expecting to be killed in an accident tomorrow. Decade pah.
Surely the environmental choice is to look after what you have, rather than cause yet another vehicle to be created.

We’re all going to have to get by with fewer shiny new things...

Smint

1,722 posts

36 months

Monday 9th August 2021
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For what you want from the car, basically a not well looked after people carrying van (no disrespect intended), i'd not want to spend out on a new car whatever its means of propulsion.

Not just what you do with the car, it's that a new and obviously (they all are now) expensive car will be a more likely target for those who take umbrage at your choice of sports or parking places, 2 Focus tyres slashed might cost £120 to replace, two for something fitted with any one of the thousands of frankly ridiculous new tyre sizes could easily cost you 3 times that, plus shiny paint to attract wrong uns to ruin.

I too would carry on with the Focus for as long as it's going, and then replace it with another estate car of some sort, Avensis springs to mind as the petrol versions are almost as good on fuel as similar sized Diesels, but have no idea what the roof is capable of carrying.

Daaaveee

910 posts

224 months

Monday 9th August 2021
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If a 20min top up on the way home is really a deal breaker, then no, an EV isn't really suitable at the moment. To me, this wouldn't be much of an issue, but I get that some people are always in a rush.

If it were me I'd be looking at the larger battery Enyaq.

P1ato

342 posts

129 months

Monday 9th August 2021
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Heres Johnny said:
With paddle boards on the roof? Leaving the car for a day half way to cool down and require all that reheating again?

This is the type of post that really frustrates me. It's ignoring the OPs question, just looking at simple range for a one way journey and proclaiming life is easy when it really isn't

The OPs sitution is the complete opposite of the ideal for EV ownership, Low overall mileage with 1 long trip every couple of weeks gives little environmental benefit and difficulty charging so the fit is pretty poor, whereas if the OP used the car daily for a 100 mile round trip commute and charged at home it would be perfect. .
My situation is similar to the OPs i.e. less than 5K miles per year mainly made up of long trips every month or 2.
Keeping my old family car for another 10 years would be better for the environment, but I live within the ULEZ and congestion charge zone and was paying highest rate road tax too. Now I get a 4 year warranty, dodge the diesel, and all the taxes.
I've fortunately still got petrol cars too, but we'll all be forced into EVs in future, whether we're "ideal" owners or not.




Europa Jon

555 posts

124 months

Monday 9th August 2021
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Is it too early for you? If you find a car that you're happy to own and it fits your needs - yes. If not, no.

granada203028

1,483 posts

198 months

Monday 9th August 2021
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S. Gonzales Esq. said:
Surely the environmental choice is to look after what you have, rather than cause yet another vehicle to be created.

We’re all going to have to get by with fewer shiny new things...
That's right we need to start undoing all those decades of increasing growth and consumption, get get back to what is sustainable, something like a 1/3 or less of what we enjoy now.

Trouble is all our lives depend on this cycle, selling one another stuff we don't need and some of us don't actually want. I wish I could some how turn off this incessant advertising I'm bombarded with, I don't want all this stuff, the planet is choking on it!

phil4

1,217 posts

239 months

Tuesday 10th August 2021
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granada203028 said:
That's right we need to start undoing all those decades of increasing growth and consumption, get get back to what is sustainable, something like a 1/3 or less of what we enjoy now.

Trouble is all our lives depend on this cycle, selling one another stuff we don't need and some of us don't actually want. I wish I could some how turn off this incessant advertising I'm bombarded with, I don't want all this stuff, the planet is choking on it!
I agree, but this is where digital helps massively. Yes there's electricity costs, but if I can sell you a virtual t-shirt for your virtual self for $15, then I have a job, you have a virtual t-shirt, and nothing needed to be made nor shipped nor will need to be thrown/recycled. So perhaps we need to move society to less physical and more virtual consumption.

survivalist

5,683 posts

191 months

Wednesday 11th August 2021
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phil4 said:
granada203028 said:
That's right we need to start undoing all those decades of increasing growth and consumption, get get back to what is sustainable, something like a 1/3 or less of what we enjoy now.

Trouble is all our lives depend on this cycle, selling one another stuff we don't need and some of us don't actually want. I wish I could some how turn off this incessant advertising I'm bombarded with, I don't want all this stuff, the planet is choking on it!
I agree, but this is where digital helps massively. Yes there's electricity costs, but if I can sell you a virtual t-shirt for your virtual self for $15, then I have a job, you have a virtual t-shirt, and nothing needed to be made nor shipped nor will need to be thrown/recycled. So perhaps we need to move society to less physical and more virtual consumption.
It only helps when compared to current rampant consumption of tat found in primark, boohoo, wish, alibaba etc

If anything, it’s the internet that has enabled the current situation. So aside from the direct impact if lots of kit in data centres and devices in people’s homes, there’s the knock on impact of delivery vans bringing me a 99p bag of rubber bands within 24h hours of placing an order.

Personally, I can’t see a solution. People love convenience and don’t give stuff up unless there are immediate consequences. In this case the consequences could be decades away.


Richard-D

768 posts

65 months

Wednesday 11th August 2021
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phil4 said:
granada203028 said:
That's right we need to start undoing all those decades of increasing growth and consumption, get get back to what is sustainable, something like a 1/3 or less of what we enjoy now.

Trouble is all our lives depend on this cycle, selling one another stuff we don't need and some of us don't actually want. I wish I could some how turn off this incessant advertising I'm bombarded with, I don't want all this stuff, the planet is choking on it!
I agree, but this is where digital helps massively. Yes there's electricity costs, but if I can sell you a virtual t-shirt for your virtual self for $15, then I have a job, you have a virtual t-shirt, and nothing needed to be made nor shipped nor will need to be thrown/recycled. So perhaps we need to move society to less physical and more virtual consumption.
Virtual clothing is fine in the summertime but will seem a bad idea when the weather turns.

ChocolateFrog

25,486 posts

174 months

Wednesday 11th August 2021
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Your use case sounds about the absolute worst for a brand new EV.

We've just taken the plunge on an ID3 because of the very cheap lease deals but it will sit alongside a Touareg to cover off the bases a smallish EV just can't.

Unless you're loaded it seems a bit silly buying a new car, EV or not, if you know it's going to get a bit trashed quickly.

DaveCWK

1,996 posts

175 months

Thursday 12th August 2021
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I agree that your use case is not suited at all to an EV OP - I'd stick with the Focus.
You probably could 'make it work', but who wants to spend money in order to voluntarily sacrifice/downgrade & add stress to their current lifestyle.

phil4

1,217 posts

239 months

Thursday 12th August 2021
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anonymous said:
[redacted]
Lol, not quite... as in plenty of games have online stores selling "skins" and the like. But you're right, doesn't always apply to every aspect of life easily.

ReubenMcdonald

7 posts

69 months

Saturday 14th August 2021
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It is certainly possible, I'm one month into running a Skoda enyaq IV 60, I've just come back from a week away with a large roof box on the whole time (and 5 of us jn the car) and I've managed 210-220 miles per charge.

If you went for the larger battery iv80 and a heat pump then your distance is do-able even in winter without a charge.

However are you saying you are putting 4 * 40kg on the roof? With none in the boot? In that case you would be over the weight load which is ~100Kg.

J__Wood

Original Poster:

322 posts

62 months

Saturday 14th August 2021
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ReubenMcdonald said:
It is certainly possible, I'm one month into running a Skoda enyaq IV 60, I've just come back from a week away with a large roof box on the whole time (and 5 of us jn the car) and I've managed 210-220 miles per charge.

If you went for the larger battery iv80 and a heat pump then your distance is do-able even in winter without a charge.

However are you saying you are putting 4 * 40kg on the roof? With none in the boot? In that case you would be over the weight load which is ~100Kg.
Kayaks being around 2.5m long would be quite a push to fit in the boot! One will just fit in diagonally with the front passenger seat lying flat.
With four of us the boot is full of personal kit (4xhelmets, buoyancy aids, spraydecks, drysuits, boots, 30m throwlines, sarnies) and the paddles (at 2m long spend their time between the seat, scratching the rear demister lines off and stopping selection of 2,4,6th gear after braking...).

The boats when empty are around 30kg, but some kit tends to get left in them on the journey and if it rains (fingers crossed) filling up with 10l of water isn't difficult (bit of hard cornering fixes that providing, as you say, you are expecting 160kg to produce a super high CofG. We all know all limits are advisory only it's PH? To be fair my car (and I'd guess 100s of others) has managed it for 13 years, sometimes short stints of five whilst running a shuttle between ingress/egress.

From many of the post's it is looking promisingly close, particularly if I could spend 20 minutes having a coffee and a charge.

I'm not so sure about keep the diesel as its carbon footprint V new car etc argument - it's already 13 years old and if batteries last that long the next car will last me around the same length of time. If cars lasted forever I'd still be driving my P reg Dolly Sprint and my carbon halo would be bigger than my head gasket bill.
Can someone give me some facts on what is the correct length of time to own a car? Is there some calculation I can use to work out how long I should keep a car to ensure it's 'carbon' cost in production doesn't get exceeded by its ageing old tech motor's ever increasing pollution verses new car that produces no pollution at 'tailpipe' but obviously will have its own carbon cost in production.