Could this be a "FREE" car?

Flyboy152

You are making an awful lot of wild presumptions there about distance to Sidjoloo's husband's work. As far as I could tell, she didn't mention distance.

Arfa__

How do the batteries degrade over time? Does their capacity gradually drop off, or is it fairly level before a final steep drop off? i.e. will your range gradually get less and less each year?

Of course taking on of these into London will work great, as you sit there on a cold night, stuck in a jam, whilst your lights, wipers and heaters slowly drain your battery, wondering whether the traffic will clear enough in time, to get home....

Personally, can't see the point of these tiny cars in London. You may as well get a motorbike. Luggage space of a couple of panniers/topbox is probably quite comparable, you don't pay for parking (in general) and you don't have to sit at standstill in jams. Although I might be biased... ;-)

NBLondon

Trebor16 wrote: »

And just how many people are likely to drive their car around London all day on a regular basis every week?

Courier? Florists' delivery van? If they've got a yard or lockup where it can be left charging overnight - then something like an electric Berlingo might well work out cheaper per mile than a small diesel - especially if you can duck congestion and parking charges. Estate agent taking people to viewings? Will Foxtons try the electric Mini?

scaredofdebt

The figures don't stack up for most people at the moment.

But by 2020 they will, when it's £2.50 a litre for fuel and electric cars have an actual range of around 200 miles between recharges.

Then watch electricity prices really go up as the tax increases.

Eliza_2

What sort of consumption would there be driving one of these little electric cars in the hills? My commute to work is around 4 miles each way and I go into the town once a week (mainly to buy petrol - grr - but do shopping, library etc at the same time, gone are the days when I popped into town just to look around!)

An electric car would be great for my kind of driving in a very rural area, however I have to go up and down some extremely steep hills just to get to work. Presumably this would cause a huge drain on the battery.

I couldn't possibly afford to buy one and it would still have to be my second car, but it feels as though it would make so much sense as well as making me less dependent on petrol station queues. Has anyone tried using an ev in a rural area ? I only hear of them in towns. I may try and rent one for a couple of days to see how it goes.

forgotmyname

Flyboy152 wrote: »

You are making an awful lot of wild presumptions there about distance to Sidjoloo's husband's work. As far as I could tell, she didn't mention distance.

SPECSAVERS?

" My husband drives about 50 miles per day "

I made my presumptions based on what they put in their post...

" My husband drives about 50 miles per day "

When the autoexpress mentioned 60miles..

So my concern still stands... Covering that distance in the winter maybe impossible.

Graham_Devon

Flyboy152 wrote: »

I find it quite odd, the abject rejection of the thought of an electric car being used on the roads. Why are so many people so dead against them?

Because, as someone I know found at...if the road you want is closed and you have to do a diversion, you can end up sat on the side of the road while everyone else sails past.

I don't think people are against electric cars per-se, rather they are just not suitable for 95% of journeys at the moment. Plus, they are only really suitable for London. Try finding a charging point anywhere else.

The mistake you are making is that people drive the amount of miles you have calculated the savings on, in the city. What on earth do you think people are doing to drive so many miles, within a city in a week? You are talking about a commute, within a city, so you need to reduce the daily mileage to around 10-20 miles per day. These cars then suit, but your sums are out by some way.

£80 a week would get me around 600 miles in my focus petrol. You have assumed people are driving 120 miles within the city each day to come to your conclusion based on my completely normal focus petrol consumption.

londonTiger

ive never waited to fill up ever, dunno where you people are gettimg your 20 minutes filling time from. i just drive in, full up and pay. i guess if you fill up during a rush hour commute, its a different story.

on the flip side, if you have a power cut, you're screwed

Flyboy152

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Because, as someone I know found at...if the road you want is closed and you have to do a diversion, you can end up sat on the side of the road while everyone else sails past.

I don't think people are against electric cars per-se, rather they are just not suitable for 95% of journeys at the moment. Plus, they are only really suitable for London. Try finding a charging point anywhere else.

The mistake you are making is that people drive the amount of miles you have calculated the savings on, in the city. What on earth do you think people are doing to drive so many miles, within a city in a week? You are talking about a commute, within a city, so you need to reduce the daily mileage to around 10-20 miles per day. These cars then suit, but your sums are out by some way.

£80 a week would get me around 600 miles in my focus petrol. You have assumed people are driving 120 miles within the city each day to come to your conclusion based on my completely normal focus petrol consumption.

Not around London it won't.

Graham_Devon

Flyboy152 wrote: »

Not around London it won't.

Probably not, no.

But then who is actually doing these miles within the city of London each week? Bar taxi's, couriers etc, all of which this car you have highlighted wouldn't suit.

You keep avoiding that question.