First electric car experience

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icowden

Veteran
Location
Surrey
Sorry to pipe in again but what we really need is a lot less cars . Doesn’t matter what they are fuelled by , they are still clogging up the roads!

That's the next step. Once Tesla have level 5 autonomous cars, that will fuel the rise of the robots! Many people will find it cheaper to summon a car when they need it (or schedule a car) than to own one. Why own something that does nothing 22-23 hours a day, if it is more expensive than paying for a car when you need it?

The reason this can't happen yet is that humans require paying to drive cars*. When cars can drive themselves then the price can be lowered drastically. Just the electricity cost and a profit margin.


*and we haven't got to level 5 yet despite Elon Musk's optimism
 
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Times change. In fifty years time the idea that people clogged up their drives and roads with cars and spent hundreds each month buying them will be unthinkable.

EVs first then autonomous EVs.

Hopefully we will still have a public transport system and bikes unless someone invents the flying bike by then.
 

JhnBssll

Veteran
Location
Suffolk
I was quite excited to finally have my Tesla company car order confirmation come through last week - I put the order through in early June so it's taken a while ^_^ I've got a Model 3 Long Range dual motor on the way, in white with white interior and 19" sport wheels 😊 Of course I've already made it a project, and have some carbon fibre parts ready to fit as well as a quote incoming for lowering it :whistle::laugh: To be honest I was fairly surprised I'm allowed to modify it but i have had it confirmed in writing - as long as it's returned to standard before the end of the 4 year lease I can do what I want 😄 I've got a while longer to wait as it's not due to arrive in the country until November but I need that time to finish the drive off :laugh:
 

gzoom

Über Member
I was quite excited to finally have my Tesla company car order confirmation come through last week

Our current X has just turned 4 years old, whilst its not been fault free am looking forwards the next 4 years. Despite what you see floating around in the media on Tesla 'build quality' they age very well.

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Tenkaykev

Guru
Location
Poole
I was quite excited to finally have my Tesla company car order confirmation come through last week - I put the order through in early June so it's taken a while ^_^ I've got a Model 3 Long Range dual motor on the way, in white with white interior and 19" sport wheels 😊 Of course I've already made it a project, and have some carbon fibre parts ready to fit as well as a quote incoming for lowering it :whistle::laugh: To be honest I was fairly surprised I'm allowed to modify it but i have had it confirmed in writing - as long as it's returned to standard before the end of the 4 year lease I can do what I want 😄 I've got a while longer to wait as it's not due to arrive in the country until November but I need that time to finish the drive off :laugh:
Although I’ve never owned a car, and Mrs Tenkaykev gave her car up a couple of years ago making us a no car family, I’m really interested in Electric vehicle technology. The Munro Live YouTube channel provides some insights into what’s actually “ under the hood “ of various vehicles, and the difference between Tesla starting their vehicle design from scratch, and the approach of the traditional ICE vehicle manufacturers who are used to doing things and designing vehicles a certain way.
Weight saving through integrating and simplifying, designing out components etc can really add to a vehicles range. From my time working I’m very familiar with the insides of Electric motors, and mechanical gearboxes, seeing them stripped down to component level is fascinating, and I’m extremely impressed with some of the technological advances.
 

mikeIow

Guru
Location
Leicester
Our current X has just turned 4 years old, whilst its not been fault free am looking forwards the next 4 years. Despite what you see floating around in the media on Tesla 'build quality' they age very well.

View attachment 611388
They do look cool...although I read the rear doors let one get rather damp if entering or exiting in the wet?
What are the faults you've had? Any preventing you driving or causing real grief, or just minor things?

Our Kona EV is now 2¼ years old, no problems (yet!)
My XC60 has just this year had a sensor fail that cost £250 to replace. Not bad for a 7 year old vehicle!
 

gzoom

Über Member
They do look cool...although I read the rear doors let one get rather damp if entering or exiting in the wet?
What are the faults you've had? Any preventing you driving or causing real grief, or just minor things?

No issues at all with the rear doors, in rain they essentially work like umbrellas whilst loading in passengers. I've actually been surprised how often we use all 6 seats in the car, and the fact the doors open to full in spaces where normal doors would be an absolutely nightmare for trying to get people into the 3rd row is just fantastic.

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Most of the issues with the car has been minor stuff that should have been picked up at delivery. The one big failure was front control arms, that was an inherent design fault which was sorted new revised parts.

I normal get the 'itch' to change cars very quickly but 4.5 years into owing a X I have zero interest in any other cars. The only car I would replace it with is another X, the newer version does have about 70 miles more real world range and quicker 0-60 times......but its nearly £50k more expensive than ours with a total cost of change coming in at nearly £70k if we were to trade in ours, even my man maths cannot make those figures work!!!


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Even if you had the cash spare, look at the delivery date, not till next end of NEXT year. So am more than happy to keep our car longterm. Off to Norway for a 2 week road trip next summer, have started planning already and it'll be a nice 40th birthday present to my self ^_^.
 

CXRAndy

Guru
Location
Lincs
I think I've found my next EV and could be willing to let my Model S go for this. :ohmy:





Rivian R1T ^_^
 

mikeIow

Guru
Location
Leicester
No issues at all with the rear doors, in rain they essentially work like umbrellas whilst loading in passengers. I've actually been surprised how often we use all 6 seats in the car, and the fact the doors open to full in spaces where normal doors would be an absolutely nightmare for trying to get people into the 3rd row is just fantastic.

View attachment 611629

Most of the issues with the car has been minor stuff that should have been picked up at delivery. The one big failure was front control arms, that was an inherent design fault which was sorted new revised parts.

I normal get the 'itch' to change cars very quickly but 4.5 years into owing a X I have zero interest in any other cars. The only car I would replace it with is another X, the newer version does have about 70 miles more real world range and quicker 0-60 times......but its nearly £50k more expensive than ours with a total cost of change coming in at nearly £70k if we were to trade in ours, even my man maths cannot make those figures work!!!


View attachment 611630

Even if you had the cash spare, look at the delivery date, not till next end of NEXT year. So am more than happy to keep our car longterm. Off to Norway for a 2 week road trip next summer, have started planning already and it'll be a nice 40th birthday present to my self ^_^.
Sounds good: I had read that the doors took enough time for people to get wet, sounds like you experience is not that :okay:

Have to ask: what the heck is a front control arm?
Indicator/light stalk?

As with our Kona & other EVs, I do wonder what happens when the warranty runs out (8 years for Tesla?). They are basically computers that happen to drive: once the manufacturer decides to charge £££s more to support, or indeed stops support, where will we all be!
 

MrGrumpy

Huge Member
Location
Fly Fifer
Front control arms are the on the front suspension . Strut attached to that which then attaches to drive shaft . Upper and lower arms are normally in use ! Of course being a Tesla it’s maybe some magic fairy dust made be Elon Musk :whistle::laugh:
 

Nebulous

Guru
Location
Aberdeen
I'm coming late to this, and haven't read it all, but I've wanted to get an electric car for some time.

We have a van, bought to carry bikes inside and also tow a caravan.

I retired earlier this year, discovered I wasn't ready to stop and took a part-time job. That is 25 miles from home and leaves my wife without a vehicle. I'm supposed to work two days a week, but have got sucked in to doing more, which tips the balance to getting a second vehicle.

I saw some good deals on leasing, though stock was an issue, and got some quotes. Then I noticed supply was drying up and prices rising, possibly because of the fuel shortage. Quoted prices have gone up by £30-40 a month in the last couple of weeks.

I dived in, found a company willing to honour my previous quote (valid for 28 days) and they sourced a car. Taking delivery of a leaf next week.

It's all happened very quickly, I have no facility to charge at home, so will be subject to public charging, but I'm up for the challenge.
 

biggs682

Touch it up and ride it
Location
Northamptonshire
There are bugger all near my caravan in Prestatyn. Those you 'quoted' are miles away from each other, and Anglesey gets then as 'posh' people go there. Where I am in South Manchester, most supermarkets have chargers, and are only a mile or two apart.
Must admit we only saw a haven works van plugged in to what looked like a standard multi plug on the Prestatyn site a couple of weeks ago.

There were some charging points at Bodnant Gardens .

We have talked about ev ownership a few times but the range put's us off i would want a min of 360 miles so i can safely do most journeys without having to risk going hunting for a charge point oh and the price needs to drop like the titanic before we would go any further
 
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icowden

Veteran
Location
Surrey
We have talked about ev ownership a few times but the range put's us off i would want a min of 360 miles so i can safely do most journeys without having to risk going hunting for a charge point oh and the price needs to drop like the titanic before we would go any further

Fair enough on the price, but how often do you actually drive 360 miles without stopping? That's a heck of a commute!
 
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