Electric cars

[Blue Since 76]

Do you have access to an off road petrol pump?
Eh, what's that supposed to mean?
I live in Warrington, a town of 200k people, not some village in the middle of nowhere, the nearest public charger is 2 miles away from home, what do you suggest?

I'd suggest you'd drive your electric car there, just like you'd drive your ICE car to a filling station. So no difference, other than the time it currently takes to charge which, as I mentioned, is constantly decreasing with new chargers and vehicles

 

[Phil1]

I'll stick to powerful petrol powered cars for now. When the electric motor brigade stop acting like they are special I might reconsider but that seems a while away..

:-)

 

[tweety]

I'd suggest you'd drive your electric car there, just like you'd drive your ICE car to a filling station. So no difference, other than the time it currently takes to charge which, as I mentioned, is constantly decreasing with new chargers and vehicles

I filled up yesterday with petrol, it took me 5 minutes. Could you give me a ballpark figure on how many hours for queuing and charging an electric car.!
Look, I've nothing against electric cars, if I could charge at home I would consider one but like half of the country I can't. The infrastructure will never be built to charge so many cars, as it stands we are borderline with our current electricity supply let alone maybe 20 million EVs needing to be charged in the future.

 

[Blue Since 76]

I filled up yesterday with petrol, it took me 5 minutes. Could you give me a ballpark figure on how many hours for queuing and charging an electric car.!
Look, I've nothing against electric cars, if I could charge at home I would consider one but like half of the country I can't. The infrastructure will never be built to charge so many cars, as it stands we are borderline with our current electricity supply let alone maybe 20 million EVs needing to be charged in the future.

I can only talk from my experience and, so far, 0 minutes queuing in over 18 months. I usually charge at home, so it's only been on longer trips but never had an issue. Can't tell you how long I've spent queuing for petrol pumps over the years.

The time it takes to charge is, currently, an issue if you needed to use them more like a petrol station. It's fine on a long trip, as a loo/coffee break is usually enough to charge them, but it would be different if I needed to go out and do it. You at least don't have to stand there like a petrol pump and could read a book etc in the warmth of your car, but would still be a pain. But, as I said, technology is improving both for the cars and chargers and 400 or 800V architecture means that charging wouldn't be much different than filling a petrol.

Home charging is an issue if you don't have a driveway, but there are options being trialled. Most will disappear, as with any new technology, but the incentive is there for companies to sort it, not just in the UK.

We're still a minimum of 4 years from not being able to buy a new ICE car, and I suspect that'll end up at 2035. It's more likely that most manufacturers will stop making them as the market disappears. Current ICE vehicles will last a minimum of 10 years without major issues, so this isn't becoming an issue until >2040, so I really don't see it being a problem by the time it happens. Apart from a few very short range cars, or very expensive Teslas, EVs have only been mainstream for about 7 years, really talking off here with the company car rules around 2020, so lots of change and innovation to come.

 

[East Level 2]

I can only talk from my experience and, so far, 0 minutes queuing in over 18 months. I usually charge at home, so it's only been on longer trips but never had an issue. Can't tell you how long I've spent queuing for petrol pumps over the years.

Your first sentence sums up so many EV advocates: The poster you replied to specifically stated he didn't have access to charging at home, yet you come out with the "charge at home" phrase immediately.
Flats, terrace houses, other dwellings without private driveways. You must have noticed them.

 

[fulabeer]

I see the Bi-Curious are out again... :)

 

[fulabeer]

Anybody driving a Chinese EV? I am tempted, mainly because of price. You get a lot for your money.
I want to know the real owner experience with dealers and supply of spare parts.

From what i've read, some people are waiting lengthy times for even basic repairs.
So even though they can come with decent/long warranties, having to wait for parts to arrive is very off putting.
Saying that, mainstream car makers are suffering parts availability. Renault has been a nightmare, with me waiting months sometimes. It's been that way since COVID.
I'm not sure that is the only reason, as even booking a normal annual service can mean a wait of 1 to two months.

I'm also not sure what will happen when Chinese cars come out of warranty. Will parts be available?
I suppose only time will tell.

 

[Centurions]

Your first sentence sums up so many EV advocates: The poster you replied to specifically stated he didn't have access to charging at home, yet you come out with the "charge at home" phrase immediately.
Flats, terrace houses, other dwellings without private driveways. You must have noticed them.

They actually said they'd had 0 minutes queuing to charge away from home in 18 months, which means they have charged away from home but with no queues so 30 minutes or so to charge dependant on charging system. You can park up when shopping at your local Morrisons say and by the time you come out, it's done.

I've got a pure petrol 208 BTW, although I made a mistake not convincing the wife 18 months back. I'm looking at correcting that mistake. We don't have off road parking although I can park up right next to the back gate as we have garages at the back. Even if not, we have 2 charging bays literally a 5 minute walk away at a local sandwich shop. There's always a way.

 

[Centurions]

Anybody driving a Chinese EV? I am tempted, mainly because of price. You get a lot for your money.
I want to know the real owner experience with dealers and supply of spare parts.

From what i've read, some people are waiting lengthy times for even basic repairs.
So even though they can come with decent/long warranties, having to wait for parts to arrive is very off putting.
Saying that, mainstream car makers are suffering parts availability. Renault has been a nightmare, with me waiting months sometimes.It's been that way since COVID.
I'm not sure that is the only reason, as even booking a normal annual service can mean a wait of 1 to two months.

I'm also not sure what will happen when Chinese cars come out of warranty. Will parts be available?
I suppose only time will tell.

Parts availability and reliability are both giving me pause for thought where the Chinese makes are concerned.

 

[Blue Since 76]

Your first sentence sums up so many EV advocates: The poster you replied to specifically stated he didn't have access to charging at home, yet you come out with the "charge at home" phrase immediately.
Flats, terrace houses, other dwellings without private driveways. You must have noticed them.

He asked about queuing for EV charging and I gave him my experience , but caveated it that I usually charge at home, hence a small sample size from longer trips.

The second and third paragraphs literally talk about the issues if you can't charge from home whilst also acknowledging that things are likely to change over the next few years due to the scale of the problem and therefore the opportunity

 

[tweety]

Your first sentence sums up so many EV advocates: The poster you replied to specifically stated he didn't have access to charging at home, yet you come out with the "charge at home" phrase immediately.
Flats, terrace houses, other dwellings without private driveways. You must have noticed them.

I forgot to mention that charging away from home is approximately 10 times more expensive than at home.

 

[hilts]

I'd like a land where choice, be it EV or not is allowed. You bang on about EV's like your life depends on it. I'm happy that you love your choice of transport. Really I am. I am happy that you get enjoyment out of it and it works for you. And a few millions of others.

But...

I like to be able to tinker with my cars. I like an engine noise. I like buttons (EV's, and increasing more other cars) appear to be moving away from physical buttons and shoving everything on a touch screen. that's safe...leaning over fiddling with a touch screen...I love changing gears...must be a weirdo. But I love driving. Sitting in a cabin with no noise, no buttons and no gears is my idea of something I hate.

Each to their own I suppose.

And yes I've driven a few electric cars as my Wife is thinking of moving away from petrol seeing as she does around 60 miles a day. And we have a drive. They do the job. A to B. I want more than that though.

Yes and what you want is much more important than say clean air.

You could put the radio on to solve the horrendous quietness, i guess that's one of your 1st world problems sorted :-)

Gear stick from a toy car
You tube vroom vroom noises maybe
Bubble wrap instead of buttons.

:-)

 

[Pontypool Blue]

I filled up yesterday with petrol, it took me 5 minutes. Could you give me a ballpark figure on how many hours for queuing and charging an electric car.!
Look, I've nothing against electric cars, if I could charge at home I would consider one but like half of the country I can't. The infrastructure will never be built to charge so many cars, as it stands we are borderline with our current electricity supply let alone maybe 20 million EVs needing to be charged in the future.

5 Minutes! it takes me 30 seconds to fully charge my cars.
15 seconds to plug in and 15 seconds to unplug.

Over the last 4 years of driving EV's and 60k miles I have probably only ever charged away from home about 10 times. My car takes about 35 minutes to nearly full, the wife's 18 minutes because it has 800v tech.

The time you will have to wait when charging is continually coming down as technology evolves, and when we move to solid state batteries and other types the time will be the same or less than petrol top up.

As others have said, by the time we all need to move to BEV there will be solutions to charge from your own property even if you have no place to park apart from a the most difficult cases. I would also say that some people will choose to move house in order to have a place to park and charge.

I think we will manage it for when its needed by all, but the way the governments have and continue to roll out the charging solutions has been shocking.

60k miles in my EV has saved me £8000 in fuel over 4 years. 2p per mile vs 15p per mile

 

[tweety]

Whoosh. Thanks for the 'I'm alright Jack' essay.

 

[Pontypool Blue]

Yes and what you want is much more important than say clean air.

You could put the radio on to solve the horrendous quietness, i guess that's one of your 1st world problems sorted :-)

Gear stick from a toy car
You tube vroom vroom noises maybe
Bubble wrap instead of buttons.

:-)

Lol!
I'm sure that when the first cars began to replace horse and carts, people then complained that they preferred the clickerty clack of hooves and having to pick up shit too!

 

[hilts]

Lol!
I'm sure that when the first cars began to replace horse and carts, people then complained that they preferred the clickerty clack of hooves and having to pick up shit too!

Missed the guy with the red flag walking in front of them.

 

[Centurions]

I forgot to mention that charging away from home is approximately 10 times more expensive than at home.

From my limited research it's a maximum of 3 times, not your arbitrary 10 times.

 

[Semper aggressus]

When it takes about 5 minutes or less to fully charge from near zero, I’ll consider one.

 

[tweety]

From my limited research it's a maximum of 3 times, not your arbitrary 10 times.

And from my limited research with AI home charging starts at 7p/kWh whilst motorway charging can be as high as 89p/kWh. On those figures nearly 13 times more expensive.

 

[crooky]

And from my limited research with AI home charging starts at 7p/kWh whilst motorway charging can be as high as 89p/kWh. On those figures nearly 13 times more expensive.

Had a look myself (With Gemini) and this is what it came back with.

50/50 is a mix between fast charging and the slower chargers. I think realistically not many people will be able to use the slow chargers unless they have them at work.

50 mpg is what I currently get in my petrol car which is why it's in their as a reference.