Best of luck to any ev driver going to Swansea on Saturday, I'm sure they'll enjoy their Sunday morning breakfast before getting back home. Abridged version, ev's are ****. The views expressed in my posts are not necessarily mine.
Just read an article, a bloke routinely does a 350-mile round trip in a diesel BMW, fuel cost around £50. He then did it in an EV, cost in electric about £85. The difference is accounted for by the massive variation in charge costs at public charging places, 80p/kwh at some places compared to say 30p charging at home. The journey took him 90 minutes longer than usual due to hanging about charging places but he reckoned the worst thing was the stress element. Working out where to stop to recharge, how close to running out of charge he dared to go, will it be dark/cold on the last leg so should he bank on an extra stop. The decision doesn't get any easier!
EVs are pretty bad unless you can charge at home/work. The charging network just isn't there yet and you have to have way to many apps to cover all the different public charging points and there different owners. I'm currently in a hybrid and find it the best of both worlds
I have a hybrid too, and am of the opinion that the infrastructure will never be there. How many hundreds a day use the fuel stations on the motorways, try that figure with ev's. The views expressed in my posts are not necessarily mine.
For me, hybrid's seem to be the worst of both worlds, as you are carrying the additional weight and complexity of two power sources for what can only be marginal gains compared to what could have been available if the investment in research hadn't been cut back to virtually nothing once the ICE ban was announced.
There was a report on BBC Lancs about it Den... it was an August BH I think and those interviewed complained that there was nowhere to park to go for a Number 1 because spaces had been given up to charging points...
I suppose it's all on your personal situation, mines a company car so the tax benefits of a fully EV are much better then My hybrid, but with the miles I drive and the flexibility I need, the fully EV just isn't there yet. With the hybrid I still get a decent saving on my BIK tax compared to a ICE car and all the range/speed of fueling and flexibility of the ICE engine. I have colleagues that have fully EVs and all bar 2 regret getting them. Strangely enough the 2 that love them both work in the office most the time and can charge there during the day
It'll get there eventually I've no doubt. I had a kind of hybrid years ago, powered by lpg and petrol. It was cleaner and cheaper to run but a pain finding lpg pumps so I ended up using petrol more than I wanted to.
With that sort of mileage nobody really cares do they! You're in the same boat as people who drive vintage cars, and they won't be going electric either!
Opinions vary, I very much doubt infrastructure will/can cope with the vast majority of vehicles being ev's. The views expressed in my posts are not necessarily mine.
The whole EV cars etc by eyz year is a typical politicians promise.....say what they think will get votes and it doesn't really matter on the viability of it as they'll be long retired by the time it's actually coming in and becomes an issue they need to deal with
Well, it's kept up so far, without anybody really noticing, I think about 15% of uk cars now are ev's. But the infrastructure will need upgrading, not just for ev's but for all the other demands on electricity and it will happen and it'll be a gradual, almost never-ending process. Continuing well beyond our lifetimes! I remember my wife saying 'broadband, what do you want that for?' and that only 15 or so years ago. It's all over the place now.
Ye, I mean, it's all about personal circumstances and not being a disciple of one specific fueling type. There are going to be a number of ppl who drive many miles a day, like Plum's colleague, who at this moment in time an ev is not practical. But for most who own their own houses and are a two car household, an ev is a cheaper and easier solution. I disagree with 2wrights. The world is focusing on EVs... China is pumping out the vehicles, the EU is subsidising charging point development, tax incentives etc. It's going to happen, whether he likes it or not. Much as the computer displaced the typewriter and carrier pigeon. It becomes a self fulfilling change... Once a certain number adopt EVs, petrol stations will start to close down to become charging stations and then it becomes harder to fill up a fossil fuel car and EVs become more attractive. Add in battery development etc. But like the heat pump point and Ernieshakleton's life as a traveller, an ev will never suit all.. a balance is probably the long term solution, but if in 20 years time I'm in England and see a mad Max Mel Gibson-lookalike in a Hull city tracksuit walking along the side of the road with a jerry can, I'll make a request to Beijing to be allowed to stop my EV and pick him to drive him to the last remaining petrol station.
It depends how you want to use the tech in the car. On a long drive, you programme in the destination and it alerts you to where the charging stations along the route and where you need to stop for 45 minutes to get a 80% charge on a fast charging station. From memory, a few years ago, a journalist drove from the west of Ireland to Romania doing this, using Tesla charging points. So in theory, should be less stress than a petrol car. It continually adjusts for battery usage, heating on, sports mode usage etc. The queues for charging stations are inevitable when the cars sell faster than charging development. Peak areas such as south mimms will always have queues, but if you leave your charging until precisely this moment on a peak time, ie Sunday evening, then anyone will have problems.
I think people also need to be more educated about just how non environmentally friendly hybrids/EVs are to produce. EVs create approx 40/45% more emissions to produce then a ICE car and then there's the whole ethical arguments of the way the minerals are mined in countries to get the bits they need for the batteries. I'm sure it'll change but ATM you'd need to drive an EV approx 50k miles before it becomes carbon neutral. That's all before things like battery replacement, battery disposal and the like are talked about in both cost and emissions.
Again in theory it might be good, but in reality it's not, the closest Tesla super charger to hull for example is at the ferrybridge services on the m62 ( there's plans for one in Hull in 2024 apparently )
