Are we being forced to go electric?

[byegad]

Our petrol Toyota Yaris did about 45mpg, and carried enough fuel to do 370 miles before it was on reserve. ie. needle reading Empty but it's still running, from experience it would run for about 55 more miles, but you would be pulling dregs out of the bottom of the tank and not doing it much good.
Our Hybrid Yaris had a smaller tank, using some of that space for battery. It did 56 mpg and had a range from full to reserve of 385 miles or so.
Out Corolla Touring Sport Hybrid does about 61mpg, it has a bigger battery than the Yaris and from full tank, will do 580 miles or so to reserve.

As I tend to fill up once I get to 150 miles range is left (A legacy of having lived a decent distance from a variety of increasingly frail relatives) I merely notice that I fill up about half as often as I used to.


If I had an EV, it would be topped up most nights so I'd always have the full range available.

Having a son who works all over the country, often driving 400+ miles from job to home than another 400+ miles returning to the job when he has a weekend off, I fully understand that some people really will have issues with EV range, but for most of us this worry is illusionary.

 

[cougie uk]

Yep. That's why the EV Database exists.
Take the Tesla Model 3 long range for example:-

https://ev-database.uk/car/1591/Tesla-Model-3-Long-Range-Dual-Motor

Real world range is between 215 and 435 miles depending on weather and type of driving.
Or take the car I've ordered (ish - it's actually the pure but the 2022 model which has a longer range so I've gone with the Pro as an example):-

https://ev-database.uk/car/1627/Volkswagen-ID4-Pro

Between 180 miles and 370 miles.

Now my Renault Grand Scenic *can* do 55 miles to the gallon and holds 11.5 gallons of diesel. So that's a range of 600 miles.
I fill it up roughly every two weeks.

So, why would I choose to get a car with (on average) a third of the range of my current car?

• The headline figure for the scenic isn't real world. I actually get around 38 to 42mpg depending on how much I'm sitting in traffic. So about 500 miles on a good day.
• The reason that the Scenic can do about 500 miles is that owners of ICE cars don't want to visit a petrol station every day to fill up.
• When I'm stuck in traffic, my Scenic is still burning diesel. An EV will be using enough battery to power the in car entertainment - so not very much.

95% of my journeys in the car are less than 20 miles. Sometimes I take the car on longer journeys - the New Forest (80 miles), Alton Towers (144 miles), Worcester (103 miles) Lake District (282 miles), Isle of Wight (75 miles).

So, as long as I can find somewhere to charge when I get there, the ID4 will get me pretty much anywhere I need to go without needing to stop for a charge. If I visit the Lake District again, then I'll need a stop. Last time we stopped at Alton Towers for the night and yes, they don't have any chargers (yet - they say they are looking into it), but there are places to charge nearby, and we did stop at the services on the way there and again between Alton Towers and the Lake District - so plenty of opportunities to top up.

But that's a real outlier of a journey.

I don't need an EV that can go 500 miles because most of the time, it will be at home, and fully charged when it needs to be.
The whole "you need more range in an EV before they are viable" is complete rubbish. It's like trying to compare a landline with a mobile and complaining that the mobile is just going to run out of charge, so a land line is better.

They are different. So comparing them on range is pointless.
Finally - if you are really worried about the real world impact of weather, this is a good article:
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a38883045/electric-cars-snow-cold-fact-check/

There was a blizzard in Wisonsin with people stuck for up to 16 hours.

Yep. In an EV he stayed warm, and watched some movies for 14 hours and still had enough range to get to a supercharger, avoiding the huge queues for gasoline.

Not forgetting those guys who asphyxiated themselves running their car engine in a blizzard the other month in Pakistan I think ? Deaded.

 

[CXRAndy]

All signed off DNO happy with load demand from my Zappis. I've set the ball rolling for solar, planning consultant given initial brief.

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/...z5YRI4ci_m3uRkYm5HhAh5TNXukAscljh7C18UtjzLUAM

 

[cougie uk]

Behind a paywall

 

[MrGrumpy]

Just popping back in here , interesting that the Tesla charging network is about to be opened up to every EV on the road . It’s the one brilliant thing about Tesla and it’s the charging. Public charging network is dire in places I’m told by a colleague. Reason why he ditched his his Nissan Leaf .

 

[icowden]

Just popping back in here , interesting that the Tesla charging network is about to be opened up to every EV on the road . It’s the one brilliant thing about Tesla and it’s the charging. Public charging network is dire in places I’m told by a colleague. Reason why he ditched his his Nissan Leaf .

True, there is one major issue with the Tesla chargers for other cars though, and that is that they are designed for Teslas and have relatively short cables. This means that the cables are sited to reach the driver side tail light which is roughly where the charging port on a Tesla is. If you have an EV which has the charging port on the left, you may have difficulty using a Tesla Supercharger!

 

[DRM]

True, there is one major issue with the Tesla chargers for other cars though, and that is that they are designed for Teslas and have relatively short cables. This means that the cables are sited to reach the driver side tail light which is roughly where the charging port on a Tesla is. If you have an EV which has the charging port on the left, you may have difficulty using a Tesla Supercharger!

Business opportunity there for someone to market a fly lead to extend the chargers reach

 

[cougie uk]

I know there's about 15 on trial opened up now.
I think I'd need an adapter for my leaf. If you do your homework and plan your journey you won't have too many problems in the UK.

 

[MrGrumpy]

True, there is one major issue with the Tesla chargers for other cars though, and that is that they are designed for Teslas and have relatively short cables. This means that the cables are sited to reach the driver side tail light which is roughly where the charging port on a Tesla is. If you have an EV which has the charging port on the left, you may have difficulty using a Tesla Supercharger!

Yes we did have that discussion about chargers cables !

 

[mistyoptic]

Took the opportunity to test drive a Kia EV6 yesterday. Very nice, comfortable, spacious. Placid, hard ride, undramatic.

The thing is, if I could afford to drop that kind of money on a new car, my existing BMW diesel would still be out there, driven by someone else, polluting the planet and I would have added yet another car to the overloaded UK road. Not happening

 

[gzoom]

I think I'd need an adapter for my leaf. If you do your homework and plan your journey you won't have too many problems in the UK.

Sadly no one is going to make an CCS to CHAdeMO adaptor, even though Tesla does make a CHAdeMO to Type 2 DC adaptor!

But you are right, in some parts of the UK the DC rapid charging network is getting there without needing the Tesla SC network.

We are currently in France, on holiday with friends, we drove in convoy from the EastMidlands in a pair of EVs. The ID4 actually charges faster and has more range than our 5 year old+ Tesla, but nethier took any longer to do the trip compared to a combustion car given the numbers of kids what were been ferried around.

It's now very hard to buy a 'bad' EV .

 

[Gunk]

Well I’m not going electric, I’ve just bought a 3.0 Diesel!

 

[MrGrumpy]

Well I’m not going electric, I’ve just bought a 3.0 Diesel!

View attachment 646842

Currently contemplating chopping in the twin axle and buying something more sensible to swap the Discovery with. That a 335 D ?

 

[icowden]

Well I’m not going electric, I’ve just bought a 3.0 Diesel!

You must be minted! 💰💰💰