Fully Electric Cars

[GodIsADeeJay81]

Going out on a limb here to say Casper isn't interested in the development of EV's, their range or charging network....

Btw Mercedes managed 600 miles on a single charge recently...
https://www.motortrend.com/news/mercede ... ange-test/

[jen1066]

Electric cars range will improve. Speed of charging will improve. Number of charging points will increase. They are currently expensive. Best way to charge them is with a home charger.

That's my point - wait a few more years and the prices will drop.

Funny that they bang on about helping the environment but don't make them cheaper than petrol/diesel. If you want us to buy them - make them cheaper.

[Rileybobs]

So it costs you £90 worth of petrol to go 90 miles , maybe get YOUR facts right instead of making things up .

No, it costs me £90 to do 300 miles. If I get a car with a battery that performs ridiculously worse as you are claiming and only manages 90 miles on a full charge which costs me £5, then it would still only cost me £17 to do the 300 miles. It’s pretty simple arithmetics.

[Tricky Trevor]

Test driving a Renault Zoe tomorrow and a Hyundai Kona next week. Recently had Solar panels fitted and I’ve heard you can trickle charge straight from socket without need for an ev home charger point. We, generally, only do short trips and this would be ideal for us. Anybody any experience and would they recommend?

[Whitgord]

I have a plug in hybrid. Charge at home on 7kw home charger takes 2 hours. On standard 13 amp socket about 6 hours. Range on battery approx 28 miles. I am on current “capped” price of 33p per kWh. Petrol engine as backup cures range anxiety. Can do daily commute on battery only. Rough calculations by me shows electric at 14 pence per mile, petrol at 19 pence per mile. Bear in mind cost to buy car and install charger (approx £1000). It’s not easy to justify outlay but it is nice when monthly running costs are much lower. Oh, and it’s great driving it in electric only mode (quiet, smooth and instant torque).

[jen1066]

How do Hybrids work - is it fuel until the tank is empty and then it changes to electricity, or do you just manually select?

[GodIsADeeJay81]

Test driving a Renault Zoe tomorrow and a Hyundai Kona next week. Recently had Solar panels fitted and I’ve heard you can trickle charge straight from socket without need for an ev home charger point. We, generally, only do short trips and this would be ideal for us. Anybody any experience and would they recommend?

The Zoe is a good laugh to drive, used to use one quite regularly as our MOT station had one as a courtesy car.

[Whitgord]

My plug in hybrid can run in 3 modes. Electric only, hybrid (where battery is mainly used but petrol helps out) or combined mode (both electric and petrol all the time-powerful but not very eco).

[Herts Clarets]

Test driving a Renault Zoe tomorrow and a Hyundai Kona next week. Recently had Solar panels fitted and I’ve heard you can trickle charge straight from socket without need for an ev home charger point. We, generally, only do short trips and this would be ideal for us. Anybody any experience and would they recommend?

3 pin plug will give you 3kw max per hour. The Zoe I think has a 52kwh battery so a full charge from empty would take just over 17 hours. A 7kw home charge will take just over 7 hours.

[Whitgord]

I want to move to a tarrif that gives me cheaper charging overnight but be aware that nobody is offering them at present to new users.

[G0foste]

You can, I moved to Octopus. It's just that the general advice is you get best rate by not moving suppliers, you will need to liaise with them and explain why you want to move e.g you got an electric vehicle. They are trying to act in people's best interest.

[G0foste]

See link

https://octopus.energy/quote/#/

if you use the referral code below, we get an extra £50 each.

https://share.octopus.energy/red-ibex-455

[BurnleyFC]

The wife has an iPace on order, due in December.

I like the fact that it looks like a normal car and not a monstrosity like most EVs do.

[dougcollins]

My mate had a Merc (kind of A class size) that he used for deliveries, but it let him down badly and he's back to a diesel.

[Newcastleclaret93]

And when you have 50 miles of charge left and it suddenly drops to zero how do you feel ?

That has literally not happened once in 18 months

[Newcastleclaret93]

300,000 charging points there are nearly 40 million vehicles on the road in UK

Do you know how many petrol stations there are?

Il give you a hint, it’s considerably less.

[1968claret]

The wife has an iPace on order, due in December.

I like the fact that it looks like a normal car and not a monstrosity like most EVs do.

I chose the mini electric for the same reason. Looks just like the cooper until you look a bit more closely.
Really enjoying it. Really fun drive, great handling coupled with instant power .
Oh and it is a hell of a lot cheaper to run than my last car (diesel a class) that was costing around £120 per month (before the price hikes) now costing me about £15 per month using Octopus EV tariff.

[dougcollins]

Do you know how many petrol stations there are?

Il give you a hint, it’s considerably less.

Less than 5 minutes to fill up with fuel. That's the relevant part of this equation.

[Bosscat]

I chose the mini electric for the same reason. Looks just like the cooper until you look a bit more closely.
Really enjoying it. Really fun drive, great handling coupled with instant power .
Oh and it is a hell of a lot cheaper to run than my last car (diesel a class) that was costing around £120 per month (before the price hikes) now costing me about £15 per month using Octopus EV tariff.

Am off to look at a Vauxhall Mokka EV to replace my E-Pace tomorrow ...
£0 road fund licence as opposed to £510 ... The charging at home overnight on Economy 7 or during the day when at home with the Solar Panels ...
Should be interesting

[jen1066]

When I go to the gym (just wanting to make people aware I go to the gym), I walk to Costa and see 2 cars charging - a 500-space carpark and they have 2 spaces to charge. What's all that about? And they have to bog off for 17 coffees while it charges.

Don't get me wrong, this is the way it's going and I fully agree. But it needs to be quicker and cheaper.

[Taffy on the wing]

I’ve only read the first few posts on this but they read like D.P. Gumby wrote them.
IDIOTIC

[IanMcL]

My Tesla model S is now 6 years old and has 93k on the clock.

No tax. No services.
Free supercharging at the numerous superchargers around. Miles on clock irrelevant. Brakes still originals.

Even camp on it occasionally - last week's trip to Scotland included.

Different lifestyle. Love it. Autopilot although first edition, is magnificent.

Electric is wonderful, especially when it is free!

[1fatclaret]

£5 to fully charge the car I’m looking at on Octopus go - which has a range of approx 240 miles. That’s versus about £85-£90 to fill up my current car which only gets me about 300 miles on a full tank.

You won’t get a full charge on octopus go. Max donestic charger on single phase electric is 7kw, you only get 6 hours of the low rate charge per night so most likely about 150 miles at 25 miles per hour charging. Still great value in comparison but not quite to your levels.

[dsr]

4 years on from the start of this thread, where are you at regarding electric vehicles?

Still living in a terrace, so still impractical to drive electric. That, plus I have never spent more than £5k on a car in my life and until electric ones come down to that sort of level for a good second hand one, I won't be switching.

[Tricky Trevor]

3 pin plug will give you 3kw max per hour. The Zoe I think has a 52kwh battery so a full charge from empty would take just over 17 hours. A 7kw home charge will take just over 7 hours.

It is a 52Kwh but has a range of 250m. With our regular longest trip only being 70m we are thinking to top it up every sunny day and never let it get empty. Obviously if we are on a longer trip we would pay at the power point. Thanks for the reply, food for thought.

[beddie]

My neighbour has a Tesla, he’s had it for about 6 months. He travels occasional long distances a few days a week with his work, he’s become fed up of spending far too much time charging the vehicle or having to wait to get on a charger and has decided the cars does not meet his needs, as such he’s getting rid of it and going back to diesel or petrol.

[It Is What It Is]

Would a solar powered car need a battery? Must be better for evironment .
Just in hot sunny country...not Lancashire!!

[Newcastleclaret93]

Less than 5 minutes to fill up with fuel. That's the relevant part of this equation.

It is. But in the U.K. there are around 8500 petrol stations.

There are currently 40,000 charge points. That number is going to increase by around 300,000 to allow for wait times.

[Quicknick]

It is. But in the U.K. there are around 8500 petrol stations.

There are currently 40,000 charge points. That number is going to increase by around 300,000 to allow for wait times.

It will still take an age to actually charge up, though. I think that was his point.

[Herts Clarets]

Would a solar powered car need a battery? Must be better for evironment .
Just in hot sunny country...not Lancashire!!

A 1m sq solar panel will produce around 150-200w of electricity per hour. Assume 8 hours of sunlight per day the max you would get would be 1600w or 1.6kw. The previously mentioned Renault Zoe has a 52kwh battery, so you would need 32m sq of solar panels to charge the battery in 8 hours,

[Burnley1989]

My neighbour has a Tesla, he’s had it for about 6 months. He travels occasional long distances a few days a week with his work, he’s become fed up of spending far too much time charging the vehicle or having to wait to get on a charger and has decided the cars does not meet his needs, as such he’s getting rid of it and going back to diesel or petrol.

I'm waiting for delivery of mine, and we already have 34 at my company with the majority of us doing a lot of travelling, nobody is complaining yet although I dont tend to spend much time in the office.
The Tesla app allows you to plan your route very carefully so you know exactly where to charge etc, granted it's not as easy as filling up with Diesel like I currently do but the £450 tax saving a month will make that a little easier to cope with.

[claret2018]

I seriously considered one this time, but a few things put me off. I think they’re still too expensive, and there isn’t a huge amount of choice.

I know a few people with Teslas who’ve had all sorts of issues that all boil down to build quality and reliability. Also the thought of giving any money to Musk is massively off-putting.

I’ll probably get one next time as I’d imagine there will be far more models out there in 4 years time.

[1882Clarets1882]

Screenshot_20221011-110823_Google.jpg (378.46 KiB) Viewed 2478 times

[beddie]

I'm waiting for delivery of mine, and we already have 34 at my company with the majority of us doing a lot of travelling, nobody is complaining yet although I dont tend to spend much time in the office.
The Tesla app allows you to plan your route very carefully so you know exactly where to charge etc, granted it's not as easy as filling up with Diesel like I currently do but the £450 tax saving a month will make that a little easier to cope with.

Talking to him and knowing he’s a very organised individual he’s been planning his routes in order to charge, however, as many stations are often full, some remote places have so few he worked out over a 6 month period he’s lost far too many man hours and as such decided to revert back.

[Burnley1989]

Screenshot_20221011-110823_Google.jpg

Do we use electricity to power the petrol pumps?

[Stayingup]

I haven't read this thread but I read last weekend that due to cost of electricty it is now more expensive to run an EV than a petrol car. I have it from a very good source that in the USA major car manufacturers were told to make a %age of their production EV's. They haven't all sold so a number aee being crushed. Politicians!!! As long as they are dictating energy policy we will never have a satisfactory one.

[1968claret]

I haven't read this thread but I read last weekend that due to cost of electricty it is now more expensive to run an EV than a petrol car. I have it from a very good source that in the USA major car manufacturers were told to make a %age of their production EV's. They haven't all sold so a number aee being crushed. Politicians!!! As long as they are dictating energy policy we will never have a satisfactory one.

Can assure you that it is still massively cheaper to run an electric car. As long as you have a home charging unit and an EV electricity tariff with your supplier.
Don’t think they are having any problems selling EVs in UK. Percentage of all new cars being sold is growing exponentially.

[Darthlaw]

Had my Tesla for nearly two years now and cant ever foresee going back to petrol/diesel.

I've had octopus Go at home for almost the same period so, despite electricity going up in the summer, I'm looking at around £6 to charge my car which (when required) has got me from Whalley to Newcastle and back. Even so, my workplace currently does free charging so I'm not even spending that to keep the car topped up.

On the occasions I've had to charge at the supercharger network, I've had to queue on possibly 4 occasions. That said, it often tends to be on a bigger journey when I use them, so the ability to go to the loo & grab a coffee whilst the car is charging nullifies any disadvantage for being able to fill up 'quickly'.

By my reckoning (whilst admittedly taking into account my lucky circumstances) the car has saved me £1080 in RFL, £500 in servicing and approx £1800 in fuel costs in the two years I've had it. Definitely worth it for me, but for anyone not doing the mileage it would still be a tough sell.

[Lancasterclaret]

I haven't read this thread but I read last weekend that due to cost of electricty it is now more expensive to run an EV than a petrol car. I have it from a very good source that in the USA major car manufacturers were told to make a %age of their production EV's. They haven't all sold so a number aee being crushed. Politicians!!! As long as they are dictating energy policy we will never have a satisfactory one.

This source put his thought down so we can all read where he got his info from?

I'm sceptical, the price of electric cars and the waiting lists for them are plus six months so I find it very hard to believe

[Taffy on the wing]

I've had my Tesla model 3 for 4 yrs now.....love it!
I have the range set at 240 max which saves the life of the battery, there's been no service to perform, no problems & i never go near a gas station. I recently used a Supercharger, i put on 130 miles & it cost me $3.

To those proud ICE car owners talking about pollution from mineral mining for batteries.
Oil companies have been polluting & defacing the Earth for 70 plus years & been responsible for many wars.
Oceans and Jungles ruined!......plus these companies are heavily subsidized & pay little in taxes.....it goes on and on.
Get with it!

[Lowbankclaret]

A 1m sq solar panel will produce around 150-200w of electricity per hour. Assume 8 hours of sunlight per day the max you would get would be 1600w or 1.6kw. The previously mentioned Renault Zoe has a 52kwh battery, so you would need 32m sq of solar panels to charge the battery in 8 hours,

Whilst I agree with the majority of this, it’s unlikely you will get the 8 hours of direct sun which lowers your amount you get.
My 6.8 kw solar array best 5 days were the 5 in Aug with full sun all day , they generated around 32kwh of electric. But in the main around 15kwh per day. Powering your house and charging your car, a 52kwh battery would take you all week to charge. In winter your unlikely to have any spare electric to charge a car.

In summer, 32 sq meters might charge your car in a day, in winter you probably need over 100 sq meters.

[lakedistrictclaret]

Whilst I like the idea of an electric car, it would be totally impractical for me. I wouldn't be able to get to a home match and back on one charge.

When they have a range of at least 400 miles, and you can recharge them as easily and quickly as filling up with petrol, I'll buy one.

[jen1066]

Whilst I like the idea of an electric car, it would be totally impractical for me. I wouldn't be able to get to a home match and back on one charge.

When they have a range of at least 400 miles, and you can recharge them as easily and quickly as filling up with petrol, I'll buy one.

Similar to my thinking. It's too early.

[Bosscat]

Whilst I agree with the majority of this, it’s unlikely you will get the 8 hours of direct sun which lowers your amount you get.
My 6.8 kw solar array best 5 days were the 5 in Aug with full sun all day , they generated around 32kwh of electric. But in the main around 15kwh per day. Powering your house and charging your car, a 52kwh battery would take you all week to charge. In winter your unlikely to have any spare electric to charge a car.

In summer, 32 sq meters might charge your car in a day, in winter you probably need over 100 sq meters.

Might not charge it but would go towards it reducing the cost ... we get paid for every kwh we produce regardless of exporting to the grid or using it ... charging an EV would use more of that production and therefore get paid to put power in the car ... We also have Economy 7 so could use cheap night rate electricity, making it even cheaper and keep the battery topped up on cheap rate electricity ...

We wouldn't use our ev for long distance but use the wifes C3 petrol if going over 80 or 90 miles from home ... the EV would be used for every day motoring, these sort of trips are rarer these days ... so its really just shopping trips, doctors etc ... nipping to the recycling ...

So replacing my EPace diesel with an EV (thus saving £510 a year in road tax) and keeping the wifes C3 for further trips makes sense for us ...

[Stayingup]

This source put his thought down so we can all read where he got his info from?

I'm sceptical, the price of electric cars and the waiting lists for them are plus six months so I find it very hard to believe

From head of BMW service Southern California. Give him a bell.

[Taffy on the wing]

This source put his thought down so we can all read where he got his info from?

I'm sceptical, the price of electric cars and the waiting lists for them are plus six months so I find it very hard to believe

He read something published by BP.... i reckon.

[CombatClaret]

After pollution, EVs need to tackle the other two problems with vehicles.

Safety: Speed limit cars. With GPS in vehicles no reason we cannot limit cars to the correct speed limit, even a blanked 85mph would be better than nothing. Amazing we've speed-limited e-bikes before cars/vans/lorries.
Congestion: No way of solving this other than better public transport.

[jen1066]

After pollution, EVs need to tackle the other two problems with vehicles.

Safety: Speed limit cars. With GPS in vehicles no reason we cannot limit cars to the correct speed limit, even a blanked 85mph would be better than nothing. Amazing we've speed-limited e-bikes before cars/vans/lorries.
Congestion: No way of solving this other than better public transport.

It goes into another discussion.

How about we let cars drive themselves? But then when that happens, we'll be complaining about those.

[CombatClaret]

It goes into another discussion.
How about we let cars drive themselves? But then when that happens, we'll be complaining about those.

It we could get it right we could nearly remove all jams caused by accidents and then all the jams caused by nothing more than human inefficiency, laziness, and impatience.

Shockwave traffic jams recreated for first time 2008
https://youtu.be/Suugn-p5C1M

[jen1066]

It we could get it right we could nearly remove all jams caused by accidents and then all the jams caused by nothing more than human inefficiency, laziness, and impatience.

Tech will rule the world completely. It's when we get it right, not if. I'd love to take drivers off the road - and remove the 'beep' button. The number of imbeciles who press it to say hello to their friends - ban them for 4 years.