EV Owners Thread

[icowden]

He works for a vehicle manufacturer and he was saying that they are struggling with ev sales as they can't get batteries and the trays for them from a UK producer so the manufacturer is struggling to meet the % target of UK sourced content in the car's so they face a fine from someone.

It's not a fine. It's tariff charges from the EU because the morons in the Government have dropped the ball again.

Then when asked about what his thoughts were about ev's as he has used them for 18 months and he thinks the UK is nowhere near ready for them yet based on his experience and that hydrogen is the better long term answer but again a real lack of infrastructure so he has opted for a hybrid .

What on earth has he been driving? There are virtually no hydrogen stations and it's massively inefficient compared to electric. Still, if he's opted for a hybrid he either can't afford electric (fair enough) or he's a fool to himself.

I went to pick up a mattress last week, 70 miles each way. Wasn't expecting to go so the car was only on 40% (about 100 miles range). With motorway driving plus rain that lowered a bit and I needed a charge in Canterbury. Found a station 10 mins away from the destination and hooked up. Got myself a nice lunch from Greggs, 20 minutes later I was at the mattress place having had lunch and with enough charge to get home. Cost me about £20.

Easy.

 

[classic33]

You know what, I've never heard anyone make as much fuss over something they claim to be plentiful, but go to great lengths to make sure they can reach a charging point(s), and allow themselves the time to use it(them).

Sounds a bit like planning a trip across America from coast to coast. Where you'll be travelling in isolated areas, where you don't know where the petrol stations are, so you check.
Lands End to John O'Groats is less than a third of that distance.

 

[CXRAndy]

Driving an EV has it's difference s.

Those being you charge at home, plan your longer journey stops to coincide with comfort breaks

Small price to pay for zero tailpipe emissions whilst driving.

Plus they're really nice to drive.

 

[Jameshow]

If you have a drive ,are in the market for a new-ish car. then an EV makes perfect sense

That knocks out 50+pc of the population.

Charging solutions need to improve tbh

Pop up bollards and street light, fake kerb stones.

 

[Tenkaykev]

Daughter uses the " Electroverse " app. She drove down from Leeds on Saturday and made a couple of stops as she usually does in her petrol car, but this time in her new VW ID3 ( I think ) She did a couple of short top ups while having a break, more for peace of mind than necessity as it's her first long journey. She went to a local Shell garage yesterday and for some reason her charge started then stopped with an error message. She tried a couple of chargepoints with the same result. She didn't have time to investigate as she was under time pressure to meet up with family, so she's just popped round to the garage to try again. I seem to remember a topic about some apps not playing friendly with some chargers so it might well be related to that.

 

[Tenkaykev]

Still no joy at the local garage so she drove a couple of miles to the BP garage which has a load of fast charge points and everything worked perfectly.

 

[CXRAndy]

Not heard of electroverse, looked it up, it's run by Octopus energy.

A one stop app is a good idea. But until everyone gets on board, there are going to be teething trouble.

It's seems slow the requirement to have contactless payments on all EV chargers. That would be the most reliable solution.

Pleased I don't have this issue. Longer journeys are done with Tesla

 

[chris-suffolk]

It's not a fine. It's tariff charges from the EU because the morons in the Government have dropped the ball again.

What on earth has he been driving? There are virtually no hydrogen stations and it's massively inefficient compared to electric. Still, if he's opted for a hybrid he either can't afford electric (fair enough) or he's a fool to himself.

I went to pick up a mattress last week, 70 miles each way. Wasn't expecting to go so the car was only on 40% (about 100 miles range). With motorway driving plus rain that lowered a bit and I needed a charge in Canterbury. Found a station 10 mins away from the destination and hooked up. Got myself a nice lunch from Greggs, 20 minutes later I was at the mattress place having had lunch and with enough charge to get home. Cost me about £20.

Easy.

I appreciate you may charge at home normally, but £20 for 140 miles strikes me as rather high. My, non electric, car will do much better than that and I don't have to stop for 20 minutes in only a 140 mile trip. Oh, and before you ask, yes a mattress will go inside no problem.

 

[CXRAndy]

I appreciate you may charge at home normally, but £20 for 140 miles strikes me as rather high. My, non electric, car will do much better than that and I don't have to stop for 20 minutes in only a 140 mile trip. Oh, and before you ask, yes a mattress will go inside no problem.

I know you don't need to stop, but a 140 mile journey is going to take ~3 hours. A stop for a break is perfectly normal, combining it with a snack works well.

£20 is normal for main highway EV charge prices. Comparable to fuel prices. EVs begin to on economy from home charging.

My son had a high performance petrol car, it cost him £15 per day. He now uses our EV with overnight charging, this costs him the £2.50 for the same journey. He's sold his petrol car and is awaiting a Tesla Model Y performance.

 

[cougie uk]

One of swmbo's relatives popped in yesterday as you do every Christmas.
He works for a vehicle manufacturer and he was saying that they are struggling with ev sales as they can't get batteries and the trays for them from a UK producer so the manufacturer is struggling to meet the % target of UK sourced content in the car's so they face a fine from someone.
Then when asked about what his thoughts were about ev's as he has used them for 18 months and he thinks the UK is nowhere near ready for them yet based on his experience and that hydrogen is the better long term answer but again a real lack of infrastructure so he has opted for a hybrid .

Anyone who says hydrogen is the answer is absolutely clueless. If ignore him on anything.

 

[Tenkaykev]

Anyone who says hydrogen is the answer is absolutely clueless. If ignore him on anything.

Completely agree about hydrogen being a dead end except for some niche applications. There are vested interests pushing for adoption but none of them seem willing to invest their own money building the infrastructure.

 

[CXRAndy]

Completely agree about hydrogen being a dead end except for some niche applications. There are vested interests pushing for adoption but none of them seem willing to invest their own money building the infrastructure.

It has some great potential, heavy industrial machines that are located to a fixed working site. Hydrogen could be shipped in on a container

 

[mustang1]

Just check that the battery isn't on a lease. Renault do a weird thing with battery leasing.

Exactly. If the car is unusually cheap then there's a higher chance that the battery is on a lease.

On auto trader, it tells.you.if the battery is leased (but of course do your own additional checks).

My neighbour has one and rather likes it although he prefers his Volvo suv.

 

[mustang1]

Evening. Must have missed this one in my kamikaze death flight into the xmas shutdown. Sorry.
So, the BMW i4, all two tonnes of it. Not bad really. I took the wife's Mini Cooper S for a burn at the weekend and marvelled at the actual noise of an olden days engine. Anyone who says EV's are great drivers cars is deluded. Apart from that its great.

A large part of the fun of driving a sports car is the sound it makes and EVs, no matter how fast they go, are boring as heck. For pure adrenaline, give me an ICE sports car any day.

 

[Gunk]

A large part of the fun of driving a sports car is the sound it makes and EVs, no matter how fast they go, are boring as heck. For pure adrenaline, give me an ICE sports car any day.

For pure adrenaline I prefer a motorcycle, nothing beats an insanely fast sportsbike