Electric cars

I'm on several car forums, both ICE and EV etc. Obviously, forums tend to be people moaning about failures.
Human nature tends to be unhappy people shout the loudest. So reading any forum would put most people of any purchase car or otherwise, as it would seem that item is nothing but trouble.

Any german car forum will have post after post moaning about very expensive repairs just to keep their car on the road. For whatever reason, german car makers seem to design cars these days that are over complicated and a nightmare to work on. This means even minor issues can cost more than the cars worth.

Other none german car forums, tend to be more DIY approach to fixing issues. The same issues seem to afflict all makes, but are generally cheaper to fix than german cars.

Then you get to EV forums. Yes EV's do fail, but because they tend to be newer, warranties tend to cover the owners. So most posts are just moans about waiting for parts etc.
Not many moans are about the batteries though, same for the traction motors.
In fact most moans are about the infotainment screens. Glitches and bugs, that don't affect the actual driving of the car.
It makes a nice change to see people generally moaning because Netflix has failed to update, rather than crying because the timing chain/injectors/DPF needs doing and they haven't got £4k going spare!
 
I had a Volvo XC60 plug-in hybrid (about 40 miles of electric per full charge) and got way more than 200 mpg. At one stage it was over 1,000 mpg I think.

I only did a few short journeys per day (school run, shopping etc) and so I could basically just run it on electric mode. That was until somebody told me that petrol deteriorates and I shouldn't leave it sitting in the tank for a long period. I then started using it a bit more on hybrid mode, just to make sure the petrol was gradually being used up.

I had a Volvo XC60 plug-in hybrid (about 40 miles of electric per full charge) and got way more than 200 mpg. At one stage it was over 1,000 mpg I think.

I only did a few short journeys per day (school run, shopping etc) and so I could basically just run it on electric mode. That was until somebody told me that petrol deteriorates and I shouldn't leave it sitting in the tank for a long period. I then started using it a bit more on hybrid mode, just to make sure the petrol was gradually being used up.

IMO plug-in hybrids are great for someone like me who would normally do less than 40 miles per day but also does the occasional longer journey.
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Does anyone have a Tesla that doesn’t have a home charger and just relies on their superchargers? If so, how do you find it?
Company Tesla for 3 years. Live in a flat so cannot charge at home. I do live close to the Stockport Superchargers though so that helps. If I could charge at home I would be quids in. The benefit of Tesla is that you can use all the public chargers but additional is all the Tesla network as well, especially on long motorway runs (the amount they have at Exeter services on the M5 is insane compared to just 18 months ago). If I do long trips, the sat-nav plans your charging stops, the one tip I have is to plan your journey as a return journey, putting in your home as the final stop. That way when you get to your destination, you have enough charge in to get around the destination as it is not clever enough to think of that and assumes that you will 'home charge' at the destination. Acceleration = Insane, Noise/Vibration = Non existent, all in all once you get over range anxiety it is almost relaxing.
 
Had a company tesla for 3 years and love it. Due to change next year but Elon Musk being a complete tool is putting me off getting another. I'll start looking at other options soon. I'll always be EV now.
 
Does anybody have experience of plug-in hybrids? Some of the mpg figures seem ludicrous eg over 200 mpg. I know these result from a totally unrealistic measurement method so I'm after some real world experience.
I live in a flat so full electric isn't an option, but plug-in might work economically if the high mpg offset the higher public charger prices.
I used to have one (gone full electric now) and the answer really depends on how you use it. If all you do is long motorway journeys then you aren't going to see much benefit compared to a normal internal combustion engine. However, if you do a lot of shorter journeys and have the opportunity to plug in between them then you can start to get the sort of numbers you are talking about (where you only used the IC engine for occasional longer trips). That's how I tended to use it as my office was just under the battery range away from the house (and I could charge at both). So I often went 2-3 months between fill ups of the 'normal' fuel tank as that was only used when I did longer trips.
 
Now the cold weather is here. The EV has dropped some range.
The max range is 280 miles. Real world is around 250.
This is now 200-220. Still plenty, but could be better with the new solid state stuff coming next year.

The good news is the wiffy is very happy.
The cars pre-heating is going well. The car has been defrosting and heating up just before she goes to work.
It has heated seats and steering wheel, and the car seems to know when to activate those as well. She has also been pressing the pre-condition button on the app before leaving work.

I don't bother with all that when i borrow the car. But i have noticed one obvious thing.
EV's don't use the engine for heat. (Well it does have a heat pump that can scavenge battery and motor heat)
So, even if not pre-heated, the car gives heat within seconds regardless, due to using electric heat...nice!

I wasn't sure about these new digital "rear view" mirrors. But up to now, i've not come across any issues.
We share our cars, so it does help not having to adjust that mirrors after she's used it etc.
You do have to get used to the "Vampire" effect though. After years of a normal mirror, i didn't realise how much i checked if i needed a shave/haircut. I still glance sideways to check, and obviously, there is no reflection!
 
Seems people are wising up to the internet scare mongering and buying second hand EV's.

"And, in a sign of their increasing popularity, the market for second hand EVs has also been growing, with the sector enjoying a bumper year in 2024 as Q2 sales soared by more than 50%."

The downside is all those bargains i'm looking at will be drying up!
 

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