First electric car experience
- Thread starter figbat
- Start date
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AuroraSaab
Veteran
The sticking point for me is the life of the batteries. If I bought a 3 year old EV, how long till the batteries need replacing? The life of a battery in a Nissan Leaf is apparently ten years and a quick Google suggests £4-5 k to replace. For someone who buys used cars and keeps them a long time, I don't think EV cars add up just yet.
Battery replacement is a really good point, but its important to remember that the tech is moving quickly and the price will move with it. You need to consider what the price of the replacement battery might be when it needs replacing, not what it's current price is. Four or five years is a long time in battery pricing and prices will continue to fall.
Richard A Thackeray
Legendary Member
I recorded the Guy Martin programme about building the fastest accelerating road-legal electric car
I saw the series that 'Mog' was associated with 'Vintage Voltage' & there was some nice cars in it
But, that Beetle is lovely
The VW pick-up looks scary, with the rolling burnout!
Impressive!!
My (previous) Octavia estate 1.6Tdi (remapped) could give an estimated 700miles on a tank, at a 60MPH cruise,
I can't really comment on its replacement (Kodiaq 2.0Tdi/6-speed manual), but after a few m-way trips, it gives an estimated range of 660miles
I'm happy with that, as it's bigger/heavier/more ''draggy'than the Octavia (it's the 4x4 model)
The tank is about a gallon bigger than the Octavia too
It's best average, to East Midlands Airport, brimmed less than a mile from home
That hypothetical 700 miles
And, even better
This one included M62/A63 to Hull
125 miles, plus the range remaining!!!
I saw the series that 'Mog' was associated with 'Vintage Voltage' & there was some nice cars in it
But, that Beetle is lovely
The VW pick-up looks scary, with the rolling burnout!
Impressive!!
My (previous) Octavia estate 1.6Tdi (remapped) could give an estimated 700miles on a tank, at a 60MPH cruise,
I can't really comment on its replacement (Kodiaq 2.0Tdi/6-speed manual), but after a few m-way trips, it gives an estimated range of 660miles
I'm happy with that, as it's bigger/heavier/more ''draggy'than the Octavia (it's the 4x4 model)
The tank is about a gallon bigger than the Octavia too
It's best average, to East Midlands Airport, brimmed less than a mile from home
That hypothetical 700 miles
And, even better
This one included M62/A63 to Hull
125 miles, plus the range remaining!!!
As I've mentioned our EV is already 4 years old and the battery is absolutely fine. I have no intention of swapping cars for another 4 years at the latest.
The Leaf battery doesn't last well because it has very basic cooling and battery management. All the EVs you can buy new should last long while.
I do expect to replace the battery in our EV at somepoint as I anticipate keeping it 10 years+.
cougie uk
Guru
Where did you get 10 years from ?
https://www.zap-map.com/electric-ta...les in Nissan LEAF,single bar of battery life.
Richard A Thackeray
Legendary Member
Crazy!!
650BHP, & ??? of torque, from that Beetle
Enough to prevent a better than 10.6 1/4 mile. due to wheelspin............... even on that surface (which he was sticking to as he walked on it)
90% battery life after 200k miles.....Which far more millage than most post people keeps their cars for (even after 10 years).
Though I have no doubt someone will be alone soon to say they do 100k miles in a month (whilst towing a caravan across the alps) and hence 90% battery life at 200k is useless
.https://insideevs.com/news/525820/tesla-battery-capacity-retention-90/
I was reading an article about EV's on Ars Technica, which is mainly US based. There were the usual BTL comments debating the various benefits / limitations of Electric Vehicles. One commenter in particular was very negative about range, stating that in his job as a musical instrument repairer he often had to travel great distances, and quoted a recent instance where he had supposedly had to travel several hundred miles to perform an emergency repair to a trombone😄90% battery life after 200k miles.....Which far more millage than most post people keeps their cars for (even after 10 years).
Though I have no doubt someone will be alone soon to say they do 100k miles in a month (whilst towing a caravan across the alps) and hence 90% battery life at 200k is useless
https://insideevs.com/news/525820/tesla-battery-capacity-retention-90/
This became a bit of a "Meme" with comments on subsequent articles referring to the mythical emergency trombone repair situation.
On the Guy Martin programme he drove a Hyundai to JOG and back. About 1100 miles if I remember correctly. What surprised me was the cost of recharging. Something like £240 which was around twice what the diesel would have cost. Don't know if this was just because he was looking for the fastest chargers, but is this the reality?
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
The super chargers were near 70p a KWh. Normal on-road charger is about 30p kwh. At home I think you can get a 15p rate for overnight, maybe cheaper. Standary leccy is 20p a kwh currently, and given my leccy bill on the house = Yikes.
I think Guy was just following the map which told him where they (chargers) were. Just the super chargers were the ones working.
It shocked me of the cost, and again, the broken chargers.
TBH I wouldn't splurge £50k on a tin box, EV or planet burning ! I don't have that much money. £25k for a small EV, I wouldn't even spend that.
My last car cost me £12k at 10 months old, having lost £8k from the new price in 10 months, and I've still got it 19 years later. You can get an old Leaf or a Zoe for under £10k, but most Zoe's have a £70 a month battery rental, which added in with free recharges at work, is only say £50 less than my car costs to fuel, then add in all the depreciation on a newer car. Financially it's a no brainer for me.
They are just too expensive. I'd still need a planet burner to transport the bikes to the caravan and back, until North Wales actually gets a few chargers.
EV chargers near Penygroes, Beddgelert, Capel Garmon, COnwy, all over anglesea, near black rock sands, all over North Wales and indeed Wales. Not so many superchargers but lots of Tesla Level 2 destination chargers, podpoints, chargemaster points, geniepoints etc.
cougie uk
Guru
I do know that the instavolt on the motorway are 30p per kWh.
He was paying 70p per kWh because of the stupid challenge of Leicestershire to John O Groats and back in a day.
And is nobody mentioning safety ? That was a lot of driving hours for no point.
I did see a tweet from the EV guy saying that Guy is a bit down on EVs. He bought his girlfriend an EV citycar - but they live out in the middle of nowhere. It'd be great in a city - but not where they are.
A lot of driving hours with a lot of stops too. We didn't see what sort of speed he was doing but my guess would be that he was stopping every 2 or 3 hours which is comparable to the usual suggestions.
The main things I took from this though was
1. recharging is not super cheap. You can charge at 30p/kwh but that only puts it slightly cheaper than diesel
2. Range is not even close to the stated numbers
3. Availability of working charge points is an issue at the moment.
cougie uk
Guru
Most people will charge at home for the vast amount of their journeys. I only need to use chargers on holiday.
Range is pretty close. Obviously it depends on how you drive. I don't think Guy is the world's most economic driver.
I've not had issues but rarely use them. There are more dedicated charging stations being built though - so like a garage forecourt with chargers instead of pumps and a coffee and snack bar too.
