Electric cars

[Mazzarelli's Swiss Cheese]

I thought you’d find that attractive as you’d fit right in !

;)

Seriously though, does anyone know an ev owner that isn't a massive twat?

 

[inbetween]

They are currently just not as good or as practical as an internal combustion engine. There isn't a ev can that can realistically do over 400miles on a charge in real life conditions. Most cant do anywhere near 300. A friend of ours has a £90k audi electric e tron q4. It does significantly less than 175miles. My 10yr old Audi A6 does over 600 on a single tank at over 54mpg. It takes 5mins to fill. It's done over 150k mls doesnt depreciate really and is therefore massively cheaper to run than any ev car and much more convenient. Until ev cars can get near those stats they will always be second best in most people's eyes as they don't suit the majority of car users lifestyles and budgets. If and when they get there I will buy one.

I have an EV (Tesla Model 3) and I was worried about the range at first but I have zero anxiety about it now. If you own a house with space for a charger then there is no problem. I usually only do around 500 miles a month so there's just no need for a car that can do 400+ in one sitting. I charge it at home once a week to full and that's more than enough.

I had a diesel previously which had the range but I wouldn't go back to it as it wasn't that practical or cheap to run. It cost £500 a year in road tax, £400 a year to service and £80 to fill up whereas my EV costs £2.50 to charge and there's no tax or servicing to worry about (EV's don't need regular servicing other than wear and tear on tyres, brakes etc).

The biggest journey I've done so far is to Center Parcs near Milton Keynes which for me is a 200 mile drive. I first drove down to Rugby services which got me down to around 20% so 15 min stop there to charge up to around 50%. We then did the remainder 30 miles or so to Center Parcs and charged up to full there over the weekend as they have loads of chargers. We did the return in one go no problem.

The game-changer is not range but rather whether you can get a home-charger. If not then it becomes very different as in my experience public town chargers just aren't designed for mass use, there aren't enough of them and they're too expensive. The Tesla supercharger network is perfect when you're on the motorways though.

 

[Grassland Blue]

The Rotary engines are a nightmare, compression loss being a huge issue and you basically have to hand hold them all the time. Great performance-wise, but shit economy and really, really temperamental, you can see why nobody really bothers.

It was just curiosity on my part. I had a neighbour who had a Mazda rotary and I used to see an NSU quite regularly a few miles from where I live.

 

[dave_blue12]

Seriously though, does anyone know an ev owner that isn't a massive twat?

I know 2.

My next door neighbour who admittedly is in the process of changing back to diesel and a young lady who has one on the NHS salary sacrifice scheme and uses her husband’s diesel for any long trips.

Others who I know tend to be somewhat evangelical about them which makes them somewhat twattish.

I have looked into it but decided against. I’d be surprised if electric cars in their current form are the future of personal transport.

 

[Churchlawtonblue]

I have an EV (Tesla Model 3) and I was worried about the range at first but I have zero anxiety about it now. If you own a house with space for a charger then there is no problem. I usually only do around 500 miles a month so there's just no need for a car that can do 400+ in one sitting. I charge it at home once a week to full and that's more than enough.

I had a diesel previously which had the range but I wouldn't go back to it as it wasn't that practical or cheap to run. It cost £500 a year in road tax, £400 a year to service and £80 to fill up whereas my EV costs £2.50 to charge and there's no tax or servicing to worry about (EV's don't need regular servicing other than wear and tear on tyres, brakes etc).

The biggest journey I've done so far is to Center Parcs near Milton Keynes which for me is a 200 mile drive. I first drove down to Rugby services which got me down to around 20% so 15 min stop there to charge up to around 50%. We then did the remainder 30 miles or so to Center Parcs and charged up to full there over the weekend as they have loads of chargers. We did the return in one go no problem.

The game-changer is not range but rather whether you can get a home-charger. If not then it becomes very different as in my experience public town chargers just aren't designed for mass use, there aren't enough of them and they're too expensive. The Tesla supercharger network is perfect when you're on the motorways though.

Horses for courses I think. I regularly do trips of 150- 200miles one way. So they are not for me. I've also seen teslas queuing for charging points at Keele Services. Which doesn't fill me with confidence.

When they get to the range I want , I will look at them.

Cheers

 

[inbetween]

Horses for courses I think. I regularly do trips of 150- 200miles one way. So they are not for me. I've also seen teslas queuing for charging points at Keele Services. Which doesn't fill me with confidence.

When they get to the range I want , I will look at them.

Cheers

Chances are they'll never do those kind of ranges as they're just not designed to do it but then the vast majority of people aren't doing those kind of miles. There are meanwhile however tons of people driving polluting diesels despite the fact that they don't even really need diesel range.

Since COVID I've barely pushed past 6000 miles per year and I'm sure many are similar now that office workers are working from home more. I just had no need for a diesel anymore and the economics of the EV still beat a comparable new petrol.

The charging networks will only get better in time. I've done one or two trips to the lakes and Tebay services was in the news over Christmas with the queues so in response they've since put in 20+ new uprated chargers. You won't see a positive story like that in the mostly anti-EV media of course!

 

[kippax_blueboy]

Too expensive for now. I don't a car currently. I think that is greener still.

 

[somapop]

I have an EV (Tesla Model 3) and I was worried about the range at first but I have zero anxiety about it now. If you own a house with space for a charger then there is no problem. I usually only do around 500 miles a month so there's just no need for a car that can do 400+ in one sitting. I charge it at home once a week to full and that's more than enough.

I had a diesel previously which had the range but I wouldn't go back to it as it wasn't that practical or cheap to run. It cost £500 a year in road tax, £400 a year to service and £80 to fill up whereas my EV costs £2.50 to charge and there's no tax or servicing to worry about (EV's don't need regular servicing other than wear and tear on tyres, brakes etc).

The biggest journey I've done so far is to Center Parcs near Milton Keynes which for me is a 200 mile drive. I first drove down to Rugby services which got me down to around 20% so 15 min stop there to charge up to around 50%. We then did the remainder 30 miles or so to Center Parcs and charged up to full there over the weekend as they have loads of chargers. We did the return in one go no problem.

The game-changer is not range but rather whether you can get a home-charger. If not then it becomes very different as in my experience public town chargers just aren't designed for mass use, there aren't enough of them and they're too expensive. The Tesla supercharger network is perfect when you're on the motorways though.

Tis a good point over the home charging.
Hazard a guess when I move from here it will likely be another flat, so another barrier for charging.

As much as I love (and use) public transport, your wings can be clipped a fair bit without a car.
I want to explore the country more, take one of the kids away at the weekend, national trust properties.
Heck, if I can be arsed dating again a car would be very handy.

I'll jump on the VW forums (and Honest John) to dig out more info.

 

[Bluemanc100]

I was dead set on an EV as my next car having driven a BMW i3s as my last company car for a couple of years

I had a moment however where I thought about whether the UK charging infrastructure is ready for more EV’s (it isn’t) and that, coupled with the residuals for EV’s like Tesla (my preferred choice) being up and down I’ve gone full circle and am now on the waiting list for a Toyota GR86

I loved the i3s but won’t go back to an EV until the country is ready for them.. Possibly never

 

[inbetween]

Tis a good point over the home charging.
Hazard a guess when I move from here it will likely be another flat, so another barrier for charging.

As much as I love (and use) public transport, your wings can be clipped a fair bit without a car.
I want to explore the country more, take one of the kids away at the weekend, national trust properties.
Heck, if I can be arsed dating again a car would be very handy.

I'll jump on the VW forums (and Honest John) to dig out more info.

If you're thinking about an EV then yeah a home-charger is a must and I'd definitely think twice about getting an EV if you might end up living in a flat and won't have access to one.

Unfortunately public chargers can't always be relied upon because they can be in use, broken or even worse sometimes dickheads in petrol cars park in the charging spaces (probably on purpose, such is society nowadays!).

Public chargers also cost a ton more than home-charging on an EV tariff. A full charge on a town/supermarket charger will cost around £30 whereas for me it's £2.50 at home so a massive difference.