EVs... no one wants them!
Discussion
FWIW said:
Ankh87 said:
I've found James May's view on BEVs rather interesting. I'm completely with him on the view of if it took 2 minutes to charge up 150 miles then more people would be fine with EVs but because it still takes an absolute age to charge up such a small amount.
https://youtu.be/vQY-VeA87cM?si=ihW9oByGPZFvDTJW
It doesn't take 'an age', but it's a moot point anyway; many people never (or rarely) need to charge away from home.https://youtu.be/vQY-VeA87cM?si=ihW9oByGPZFvDTJW
NDA said:
FWIW said:
It doesn't take 'an age', but it's a moot point anyway; many people never (or rarely) need to charge away from home.
Also, a point rarely made, is that 'refuelling' is a very different habit with an EV.With my petrol cars I generally drive to nearly empty and then fill to the brim.
With my EV it's never driven to empty and never charged to 100%. It's always sipping volts overnight and, on the rare occasions I would use a supercharger it's charged just enough to get me home or to the next charger. Could be 30 - 60% for example.
It would be once in a blue moon that you'd charge from 0 - 100% - if ever. Most charges, as above, are overnight or 15 minute quickies.
wormus said:
clockworks said:
wormus said:
Hmmm so that 15 minutes on a supercharger we were talking about to get you 150 miles will kill your battery? Doesn’t sound as good as the 450-600 miles you’ll get from filling an ICE car with a tank of fuel in 5 minutes. At 80% battery capacity, I wonder what the range is? Surely it’s the equivalent of buying a second hand phone that can barely make it through the day on a single charge? Meanwhile an ICE will do 250k miles with the same range and fuel efficiency. Doesn’t sound much progress to me.
No doubt some angry, small man will be along in a moment to tell me I’m wrong.
I've owned plenty of cars in the past 45 years.No doubt some angry, small man will be along in a moment to tell me I’m wrong.
I've never had a petrol car that would do 450 miles on a tank. Some would barely do 300.
I think I've owned just one diesel car that was capable of 600 miles, driven with care.
Rusty Old-Banger said:
NDA said:
FWIW said:
It doesn't take 'an age', but it's a moot point anyway; many people never (or rarely) need to charge away from home.
Also, a point rarely made, is that 'refuelling' is a very different habit with an EV.With my petrol cars I generally drive to nearly empty and then fill to the brim.
With my EV it's never driven to empty and never charged to 100%. It's always sipping volts overnight and, on the rare occasions I would use a supercharger it's charged just enough to get me home or to the next charger. Could be 30 - 60% for example.
It would be once in a blue moon that you'd charge from 0 - 100% - if ever. Most charges, as above, are overnight or 15 minute quickies.
Rusty Old-Banger said:
Question from someone who's never driven anything more EV than a Prius... How come it doesn't get to 100% overnight? Is that just because it's "slower" than the superchargers, or can/do you set it to stop charging at say 95% because going to 100% is bad for the battery?
Already answered above.For 'most' EV's, it is unwise to charge to 100% as batteries don't like being full - so it's recommended to only charge to 80% (which the car or the app can set) unless you're going to immediately go on a long trip. i.e. don't leave it for days at 100%. My MacBook is the same as it happens - it uses intelligent charging to only take it to 80% most of the time.
And yes, 80-100% takes much longer - as the battery fills beyond 80% charging slows down. Not noticeable overnight at home, but would be at a charger on the road.*
The newer Tesla batteries (and maybe other marques too) are a different technology and can be filled to 100% without damaging them.
- ETA It's quicker on a road trip to do a series of, say, 30-80% charges, than it would be to sit going from 10-100%. Charge enough to get you to the next charger rather than fully charge it.
Edited by NDA on Thursday 28th March 11:45
Essarell said:
Dave200 said:
So about 100 miles more than my EV. Not exactly a massive gamechanger.
can your EV carry several passengers plus a heavy payload and tow a trailer and still have meaningful range?NDA said:
Rusty Old-Banger said:
Question from someone who's never driven anything more EV than a Prius... How come it doesn't get to 100% overnight? Is that just because it's "slower" than the superchargers, or can/do you set it to stop charging at say 95% because going to 100% is bad for the battery?
Already answered above.For 'most' EV's, it is unwise to charge to 100% as batteries don't like being full - so it's recommended to only charge to 80% (which the car or the app can set) unless you're going to immediately go on a long trip. i.e. don't leave it for days at 100%. My MacBook is the same as it happens - it uses intelligent charging to only take it to 80% most of the time.
And yes, 80-100% takes much longer - as the battery fills beyond 80% charging slows down. Not noticeable overnight at home, but would be at a charger on the road.
The newer Tesla batteries (and maybe other marques too) are a different technology and can be filled to 100% without damaging them.
Dave200 said:
Essarell said:
Dave200 said:
So about 100 miles more than my EV. Not exactly a massive gamechanger.
can your EV carry several passengers plus a heavy payload and tow a trailer and still have meaningful range?I have good insurance, not because i need it every day but because that once in blue moon time its needed it doesn't let me down, motorists feel the same way re EV, the thought of ending up stranded in a vehicle that in all likely hood will need (expensively) recovered is obviously a major concern. Still it's a PR problem apparently........
Essarell said:
Dave200 said:
Essarell said:
Dave200 said:
So about 100 miles more than my EV. Not exactly a massive gamechanger.
can your EV carry several passengers plus a heavy payload and tow a trailer and still have meaningful range?I have good insurance, not because i need it every day but because that once in blue moon time its needed it doesn't let me down, motorists feel the same way re EV, the thought of ending up stranded in a vehicle that in all likely hood will need (expensively) recovered is obviously a major concern. Still it's a PR problem apparently........
Rusty Old-Banger said:
NDA said:
Rusty Old-Banger said:
Question from someone who's never driven anything more EV than a Prius... How come it doesn't get to 100% overnight? Is that just because it's "slower" than the superchargers, or can/do you set it to stop charging at say 95% because going to 100% is bad for the battery?
Already answered above.For 'most' EV's, it is unwise to charge to 100% as batteries don't like being full - so it's recommended to only charge to 80% (which the car or the app can set) unless you're going to immediately go on a long trip. i.e. don't leave it for days at 100%. My MacBook is the same as it happens - it uses intelligent charging to only take it to 80% most of the time.
And yes, 80-100% takes much longer - as the battery fills beyond 80% charging slows down. Not noticeable overnight at home, but would be at a charger on the road.
The newer Tesla batteries (and maybe other marques too) are a different technology and can be filled to 100% without damaging them.
It's also worth mentioning that Tesla's (and other EV's) have extremely sophisticated battery management systems, unlike phones and laptops. So the batteries should be good for 1,500 cycles - which is a huge mileage.
But your point is right, keeping a battery in good health involves not supercharging it a lot and not charging to 100% unless absolutely necessary.
Seasonal Hero said:
And yet every single time you get into any car you may be ‘stranded’.
None of the people I know with EV’s have ever been stranded. Are you seeing lots of them on your 500 mile drives with 7 adults, a trailer and a roof box?
never been stranded, well admittedly not since the battery died on my Capri in 1989, my last 3 work vehicles from 2014 covered, 190K, then 190K and this ones 19 months old with 56K on it, there isn't one EV on the market that I could swap the keys for today that would meet my daily needs. My vehicles need to carry a decent payload, tow (admittedly rarely) be suitable for accessing rough roads like farm tracks, spend hours on remote sites as a mobile office with the ability to respond to an outage literally anywhere in the country at the ping of an email. None of the people I know with EV’s have ever been stranded. Are you seeing lots of them on your 500 mile drives with 7 adults, a trailer and a roof box?
To me its irrelevant if a floorpans worth of electrons costs the sum total of 30p compared to circa £100 for a tank of diesel, the customer has to pay or its quite literally lights (still) out.
Essarell said:
Seasonal Hero said:
And yet every single time you get into any car you may be ‘stranded’.
None of the people I know with EV’s have ever been stranded. Are you seeing lots of them on your 500 mile drives with 7 adults, a trailer and a roof box?
never been stranded, well admittedly not since the battery died on my Capri in 1989, my last 3 work vehicles from 2014 covered, 190K, then 190K and this ones 19 months old with 56K on it, there isn't one EV on the market that I could swap the keys for today that would meet my daily needs. My vehicles need to carry a decent payload, tow (admittedly rarely) be suitable for accessing rough roads like farm tracks, spend hours on remote sites as a mobile office with the ability to respond to an outage literally anywhere in the country at the ping of an email. None of the people I know with EV’s have ever been stranded. Are you seeing lots of them on your 500 mile drives with 7 adults, a trailer and a roof box?
To me its irrelevant if a floorpans worth of electrons costs the sum total of 30p compared to circa £100 for a tank of diesel, the customer has to pay or its quite literally lights (still) out.
Essarell said:
never been stranded, well admittedly not since the battery died on my Capri in 1989, my last 3 work vehicles from 2014 covered, 190K, then 190K and this ones 19 months old with 56K on it, there isn't one EV on the market that I could swap the keys for today that would meet my daily needs. My vehicles need to carry a decent payload, tow (admittedly rarely) be suitable for accessing rough roads like farm tracks, spend hours on remote sites as a mobile office with the ability to respond to an outage literally anywhere in the country at the ping of an email.
To me its irrelevant if a floorpans worth of electrons costs the sum total of 30p compared to circa £100 for a tank of diesel, the customer has to pay or its quite literally lights (still) out.
And mine don't. I have never towed a trailer or used a roof box and have been driving since 1987. If my use case was your use case then I'd not run an EV, but it isn't.To me its irrelevant if a floorpans worth of electrons costs the sum total of 30p compared to circa £100 for a tank of diesel, the customer has to pay or its quite literally lights (still) out.
See the point I'm making? We all have our own needs. Me telling you an EV is for you is wrong. You telling me I need a an ICE to do the same as you is also wrong.
It's this reason that leaves me baffled as to why people who don't want a particular type of car tell those who do that it's not the right thing.
The rate that Tesla keep installing new Superchargers across the UK is going to make the whole 'running out of charge' argument very old, very quickly.
Asda/EG group have purchased the chargers and are installing their re-branded versions across their forecourt estate too.
The charging just isn't an issue. I'd rather stop for 15 mins on a longer journey once a month and take the benefit of 'topping up' at home, overnight, for next to nothing.
Asda/EG group have purchased the chargers and are installing their re-branded versions across their forecourt estate too.
The charging just isn't an issue. I'd rather stop for 15 mins on a longer journey once a month and take the benefit of 'topping up' at home, overnight, for next to nothing.
Dave200 said:
I guess the measure of "an absolute age" is relative. On a supercharger my car takes about 10-15 minutes to add 150 miles, depending on various factors. Not as quick as a splash and dash, but hardly the end of the world or a dealbreaker.
takes me 3 minutes to add 700 miles, so yes 10-15 minutes is an age to wait for a fraction of that. I guess if you don't mind waiting that time then fair enough.Gassing Station | Car Buying | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff