Electric cars

Pontypool Blue said:
I've had my new ev 1 week, its a skoda enyaq sportline x in blue of course. Just a joy to drive, silent, powerful, safe and packed full of tech. You can customise the interior lighting, it came set to red its now sky blue. It's the 3rd ev I've had and each time they just get better.
I think that people just need to go and have a test drive of a few EVs it will change your mind about just how good they are and stop reading crappy clickbait articles on the daily fail.
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If only they were cheaper mate.
 
count down until my new scenic is delivered and planning to have a trip to Dorset in a few weeks.

Was informed on long journeys its better to have a quick stop more often and charge less each time rather than stopping less but staying longer by charging the car to 80%.

wondered what other people's experience is on such journeys

I could do they journey without having to recharge but worried about putting in 100% charge as the internet has put me off doing this as it could cause damage to the battery. Although have found some videos saying its ok to do it every now and again.
 
uweuweuwe said:
count down until my new scenic is delivered and planning to have a trip to Dorset in a few weeks.

Was informed on long journeys its better to have a quick stop more often and charge less each time rather than stopping less but staying longer by charging the car to 80%.

wondered what other people's experience is on such journeys

I could do they journey without having to recharge but worried about putting in 100% charge as the internet has put me off doing this as it could cause damage to the battery. Although have found some videos saying its ok to do it every now and again.
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The lower the charge left, the quicker it can charge. So leaving it to around 20%, then charging to say 60% is faster than leaving it to 40%, then charging to 80% etc. I tend to charge at around 20-30% and stop charging around 80%. It seems to recharge pretty quick that way. I change the charge amounts depending on that journey that day.
The car pretty much works it all out for you. It also pre-conditions the battery for a faster charge if the satnav is set.

I've just ordered a Charge pass/Mobilize (Ionity network) card through the Renault app. You can pay £4.99 a month subscription. First month free.
For that you can charge at any Ionity charger for 0.43p kwh. No tie in so only subscribe the month you will be doing longer trips. You will pretty much get your money back in a single charge.
I charge at home mainly, but it will certainly make road trips way cheaper.
I'm keen to see if my plug and charge "Car ID" works. Just plug in and the car just starts charging. The payment is automatically made to your Ionity account etc.

As for the 100% thing. Don't worry too much about that, or super charging versus slow charging at home.
While charging to 80% and slow charging are prefered, they don't seem to make that much difference.
In the early days of unmanaged battery packs, thermal hot spotting was doing the damage. More modern battery packs monitor/control temperatures, and have better charge curves.
More recent evidence is emerging that 100% and supercharging isn't as damaging as much as first feared. Now that very high mileage EV's used as taxis are more common, its seems their normal practice of 100% charges using super chargers isn't affecting battery life much.

So for domestic use. Feel free to charge to 100% if that is what suits you. The trick is not to leave it at 100% if you don't plan on driving for a while. So if you charge to 100% and then use it over the rest of the week (or go on a long trip), no harm should be done. We charge to 80-85%, as that is still way over what we normally need, and always charge to 100% ahead of a trip. Most people avoid 100% just because that last 20% takes ages.
 
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I charge to 100% whenever I can, the don't charge to 100% was maybe ok 5/10 years ago, but new EVs the battery's are different and can take it.
I will charge at home to 100% then use it all week and re charge again back upto 100%, if I'm doing a long journey, I'll get to about 30% then recharge back up to 100% (yes it takes longer, but only by about 10 minutes or so).
 
citytill1die84 said:
I charge to 80% (180 miles) in about 25 minutes to go to 100% it takes a further 20 and costs double the amount.

Absolutely no point for me.
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It shouldn't cost anymore to charge to 100% (from 80%), than it does from 60% to 80%.
If you have a 100kwh battery, charging the extra 20kwh from 80% to 100% is the same price, it just takes longer.
There maybe some slight losses due to heat, but cost per kw is fixed.

But as ever with this stuff, i'm happy to be corrected!
 
fulabeer said:
It shouldn't cost anymore to charge to 100% (from 80%), than it does from 60% to 80%.
If you have a 100kwh battery, charging the extra 20kwh from 80% to 100% is the same price, it just takes longer.
There maybe some slight losses due to heat, but cost per kw is fixed.

But as ever with this stuff, i'm happy to be corrected!
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I do it @ service stations mate on a Tesla supercharger. Costs about £10 and 25 mins to go from 20% - 80% but when it gets to 80% the car still shows time remaining as 20 minutes to get to 100% so I just stop. When I bought it anyway the recommended not to go past 80% so all good.

I've not got a system installed at home yet not sure if it's worth it tbh, I have a services 5 mins away.
 
liveandletdive said:
I charge to 100% whenever I can, the don't charge to 100% was maybe ok 5/10 years ago, but new EVs the battery's are different and can take it.
I will charge at home to 100% then use it all week and re charge again back upto 100%, if I'm doing a long journey, I'll get to about 30% then recharge back up to 100% (yes it takes longer, but only by about 10 minutes or so).
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Pretty much what I do.

I drove mine to France a few weeks ago, absolute breeze and the infrastructure over there was ridiculous. Made it very depressing stopping and charging this side of the channel!
 
fulabeer said:
It shouldn't cost anymore to charge to 100% (from 80%), than it does from 60% to 80%.
If you have a 100kwh battery, charging the extra 20kwh from 80% to 100% is the same price, it just takes longer.
There maybe some slight losses due to heat, but cost per kw is fixed.

But as ever with this stuff, i'm happy to be corrected!
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You're right - ie you pay for the Kwh you put on the car, not for how long it takes to do it.
 
aside from that VW bus thing and the saloon that is a Polestar they are just clones now and people are not impressed - thing is with no engine up front to accommodate there is so much room for design innovation to create different shapes and sizes but no they all persist

 
Bill Walker said:
If only they were cheaper mate.
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Residuals on them are shocking also, which makes the whole ownership much more expensive.

Most of the posh ones on the roads are company cars. The benefit in kind car tax on an EV is so low compared to a petrol or diesel car, it's a bit of a no brainer. But for everyone else, no.

Doesn't help the planet either.
 
bluethrunthru said:
aside from that VW bus thing and the saloon that is a Polestar they are just clones now and people are not impressed - thing is with no engine up front to accommodate there is so much room for design innovation to create different shapes and sizes but no they all persist

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Front wheel drive EV's don't tend to have a "frunk". (front trunk)
The motor and charger heat pump take up the space of the engine.

Also people don't like sudden changes. There is an history of failed cars sales due to designs being too ahead of the times. Front grills on EV's are not required, but many still have a nod to the old necessity.
Changes are coming, but drag efficiency and safety standards are still limiting what car designers can do.

EV's are already accelerate as fast as a car needs to go, so we will see another direction other than more and more power. We now have (EV) family saloons and hatchbacks trouncing many exotic supercars on the drag strip.
Automation (tech) and ride comfort are my prefered improvements. Not range or charge speeds.

If you want wacky designs, just have a poke around Youtube to see what's coming. I don't think many will come here though. The British are still too reserved to go for them en masse!
 
Chippy_boy said:
Residuals on them are shocking also, which makes the whole ownership much more expensive.

Most of the posh ones on the roads are company cars. The benefit in kind car tax on an EV is so low compared to a petrol or diesel car, it's a bit of a no brainer. But for everyone else, no.

Doesn't help the planet either.
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That should be residuals were shocking.
People are starting to wake up and buy. Still some way to go of course. Let those who get tax benefits pay the bulk and we get nearly new bargains!
That may change as the government have already fucked up adoption with the new tax/tax bands.

EV's don't need to help the planet (which they do eventually), just less toxic exhaust fumes around where we live and breath will do.
 
fulabeer said:
EV's don't need to help the planet (which they do eventually), just less toxic exhaust fumes around where we live and breath will do.
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If you like breathing micro rubber particles, the air's lovely.

I'm being a bit facetious of course, although there has been some comment about that. I think EV's are fine in principle, just have a bit of a way to go yet before they make sense for everyone. The range is OK for around town but not for my regular round trip from Bristol to Manchester for example. Hanging around a service station in a queue for a charger and then another 30 or 40 minutes for it to charge, isn't my idea of fun.

When they have a real useable 400+ miles of range and/or can be fully charged (not from 20% to 80%) in less than 10 minutes, I may consider it.
 
Took delivery of my Ford Explorer EV about 6 weeks ago done 3k miles - mainly motorway. Set it to Eco with the drive to B and cruise control and I'm consistently getting 4.5 kwh. This week for instance I went to stevenage - 160 miles each way. Set off with 80% charge. Got there with 38% left. 30 mins in a fantastic charging centre and home with 40% left.
Not got my home charger yet.
Never had to wait for a charger anywhere. Max has been 30 min charge that I do while shopping at Aldi, so it would just be sat there anyway.
Love the car - great to drive and loads of tech.
Resisted the change for ages - mainly over range anxiety but just making a few adjustments and it's been a great choice
Would genuinely recommend to anybody. I do more than the average mileage and it has been fab
 
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