Electric cars

[bluethrunthru]

I am fortunate enough to have my own drive and charge point. As you allude to, public charging could be time consuming and hit and miss.

I dread to think how many petrol and diesel engined cars will have pulled up and filled up and driven off in the time the 4th guy spent there

 

[BlueMoonRisin’]

I dread to think how many petrol and diesel engined cars will have pulled up and filled up and driven off in the time the 4th guy spent there

He should have been savvy enough to have had enough charge in it, fool him he hadn't.

I like the look of the Skoda Enyaq, the 80 model has a(test track) acclaimed 330 mile range. That is impressive, but if it can do north of 280 miles on a full charge in normal driving conditions then i think that is perfectly acceptable.

 

[blueish swede]

I believe very much in climate change.

But, sorry to say - I bought a new Jeep Rubicon Wrangler recently.

Turns out that there are electric powered Jeep options available now... I didn't know this at the time of my purchase.

At any rate... availability of an electric vehicle to the design of my liking - read Jeep - is rather moot for me.

As a practical matter - I cannot purchase an electric vehicle. I'm retired, I live in a condo. There are not charging outlets in my condo.

Moreover, I like to take long trips from time to time - to remote destinations - to take week-long plus hikes.

All told - electric car infrastructure needs to be radically improved for me to consider purchase of such a car.

Which is a shame - because I'd gladly pay 20K more or so to be environmentally conscious.
===
Label me a hypocrite if you will.

But quite honestly it comes down to this - if the cost of going green far outstrips convenience/affordability - then some subset of those who wish to go green, will not do so.

I went half way and switched to ethanol (produced in Sweden, 15% pertol). Biodiesel is becoming more available as well over here. The major problem with electrics for me is the towing capacity, which is zero on most models and pitiful on even the best.

 

[crublue1]

He should have been savvy enough to have had enough charge in it, fool him he hadn't.

I like the look of the Skoda Enyaq, the 80 model has a(test track) acclaimed 330 mile range. That is impressive, but if it can do north of 280 miles on a full charge in normal driving conditions then i think that is perfectly acceptable.

That's deffo more like it range wise. I could live with that. Range anxiety would do my head in.
Any prices yet for that enyak?
Also that mg mentioned sounds cheap, sorry, better value than the competition. If ev's get cheaper and the range gets better I might consider one. Until then it's hard to justify for a lot of people.

 

[Essex blue]

Electric cars are really not that green.
We are having to open new mines to obtain the tin, lithium etc needed for the batteries plus the extra power stations to charge them.
The batteries are very hard to recycle and the amount of energy needed to do adds massively to their carbon footprint
Then you have the safety aspect of them. It’s been well reported that the batteries when they get older can short out and burst into flames. When involved in a accident it’s been reported that petrol car needs around 500 gallons to extension a fire and the battery ones around 30000 gallons which is way more than a fire engine carries. The batteries have been reported as igniting again for many hours after been put out and sometimes over a week later they have burst into flames.
The gases they release even in very small quantities are lethal to humans.

 

[BlueMoonRisin’]

That's deffo more like it range wise. I could live with that. Range anxiety would do my head in.
Any prices yet for that enyak?
Also that mg mentioned sounds cheap, sorry, better value than the competition. If ev's get cheaper and the range gets better I might consider one. Until then it's hard to justify for a lot of people.

The Enyaq entry model(Loft 60) is a tenner shy of 38 grand but it has an acclaimed range of 256 miles. The 80 model has a £39,365 RRP which Skoda claim will do up to 331 miles.

VW's base model equivalent of the Loft, the ID.4 Life is a cheaper alternative to the Enyaq but it is also lesser equipped with a lower mileage range. The VW brand snobs though won't be interested in a Skoda though but they've come a very long way since VW bought them out in 91. But aSkoda is more than holding it's own against VW and Seat and the plusher Skoda's are heading towards lower end Audi. The Enyaq has ben judged the better var against the ID.4 by several top car reviewers.

As for electric cars being expensive, well a decent one is initially but woth free road tax and and charging considerably cheaper (for now) than going to the pumps to fill up buying or leasing an electric vehicle is surely the way forward if one can afford to switch of course.

 

[Well Wisher]

cba to read the thread but I saw a Harry's Garage vid with Lord Whatsit who owns JCB. He's got hydrogen working well for him - batteries don't cut it for plant machinery. Hydrogen at the pump rather than waiting hours to charge your car. The other benefit would be letting those mostly useless wind turbines produce the electricity to create the hydrogen (when it's windy).

We could do with a few honest politicians getting us invested in sensible ideas, rather than being at the mercy of a few billionaires heavily invested in the wrong ideas.

 

[bluethrunthru]

He should have been savvy enough to have had enough charge in it, fool him he hadn't.

which misses the point entirely - being an early adopter in this case is not a good thing. The infrastructure isn't there. I have no idea who he is but say he was a business traveller who got a call to attend somewhere unplanned in his day. He had charge enough to get home at the outset but the detour meant he didn't. Were that a combustion engined car not an issue - he will have watched tens if not over a hundred combustion engined cars come in fill up and drive off whilst he sat waiting for access to the one charger or whilst charging. One charger vs 8 pumps which have diesel, petrol and petrol super on both sides - no comparison. Until that is sorted electric cars in their current format are unviable for anyone doing more than a commute on a regular basis

 

[bluethrunthru]

The major problem with electrics for me is the towing capacity,

One channel on YT - I can't remember which one - if I see it again I'll add in an edit - they took a number of electric cars from "full" to "empty" - none made their claimed range. One was fitted with a towbar so they put a caravan on the back - claimed miles was 200 + whereas in reality it died after 36 miles.

 

[BlueMoonRisin’]

which misses the point entirely - being an early adopter in this case is not a good thing. The infrastructure isn't there. I have no idea who he is but say he was a business traveller who got a call to attend somewhere unplanned in his day. He had charge enough to get home at the outset but the detour meant he didn't. Were that a combustion engined car not an issue - he will have watched tens if not over a hundred combustion engined cars come in fill up and drive off whilst he sat waiting for access to the one charger or whilst charging. One charger vs 8 pumps which have diesel, petrol and petrol super on both sides - no comparison. Until that is sorted electric cars in their current format are unviable for anyone doing more than a commute on a regular basis

Sorry, but i didn't pick up on your point pal. I get what you meant now.