Battery Electric Vehicle News / Enjoying the Transportation Revolution

silverwhistle

orrery said:

although I share your view that buttons switches and twiddlers are better in some circumstances - like volume controls.

Another one here! I've accepted a few compromises with being at the cheap end of the market but given that I've always had cheap old cars it's not really an issue for me. But as an example my MG4 doesn't retain certain settings so I have to use the touch screen each journey to reset to ECO. Others complain about the infotainment, but again, given I toggle between Radio 3 and 4 that doesn't worry me and at least it has a steering wheel button for changing channel and a physical volume control.

My MG EV had a reversing camera but my base model MG4 doesn't, but that's what mirrors are for!

1961Nick

JKenH said:

Martyn1981 said:

Good news from VW as they move forward on their small BEV the ID.Life, now to be the ID.2, or hopefully carry the Golf name forward. At a potential £20k(ish), it would probably sell very, very well.

New Entry-Level Volkswagen May Carry The Golf Name Forward

Unnamed sources tell Autocar the new car is a compact 5-seater with a target base price of €22,500 (£20,135) in today’s money. They also claim the car will carry the well known Golf name forward. There is even the possibility that a GTI version may be in the offing sometime in the future.

Those sources also confirm that the Volkswagen ID 2/Golf will be the first Volkswagen based on the MEB Plus platform — an updated version of today’s widely used MEB electric car structure that will use lithium-iron-phosphate prismatic battery cells and be able to charge at speeds of up to 200 kW.

......and USS and rain sensing wipers that work properly - yes, that’s you, Tesla)

I'll second that! How hard can it be to make wipers rain sensing work properly?

CKhalvashi

Undertaking a first run to Poland next week in the Ioniq finally (flying has sadly been cheaper for a long time, we need to take enough stuff this time that it's better to take the car this time).

We'll be swapping in Poland with an E250d sadly for the Ukraine part for 2 reasons; first is currently unreliable supply of electricity (this is a business trip, not a personal one, but I should add that all travel is discouraged currently by the UK government), second is because that car is on UA registration needs to be not resident in Poland (the owner is worried about losing a registration in the standard series officially but has her year of birth and initials in it on re-registration) we'll be bringing a Hyundai Tuscon back owned by a family member of the same person.

Will update when we get back on how it went, but with a bit of research everything looks to be fine.

Martyn1981

Just one of many news articles over the last few months, demonstrating the shift by Ford towards BEV's. No idea how well they will (or won't) do, with the transition, as it will be hard and painful, but they do seem to be taking it very seriously.

Ford 1st To Build NMC Batteries & LFP Batteries In USA

Ford has become the #2 electric vehicle seller in the USA, but it’s also now #1 in something in the field. It’s the first automaker to state that it will produce both NMC (nickel manganese cobalt) and LFP (lithium iron phosphate) batteries for electric vehicles in the United States.

The Michigan-based automaker is investing a full $3.5 billion into a new LFP battery factory in Marshall, Michigan. Production is supposed to start in 2026 at “BlueOval Battery Park Michigan,” and 2,500 employees are expected to be hired in the process. The battery factory will have a production capacity of about 35 GWh once it’s up and running. That’s estimated to be enough batteries for 400,000 Ford electric cars, trucks, and SUVs.

Martyn1981

I know I mentioned this vehicle a while back, but since it's Scottish, another shoutout seems OK.

True workhorse, ideal for farming or tough rural area uses. Not cheap, but perhaps not too expensive for what it offers. And with the ability to run power tools, could be useful.

But again, what a beastie!

The Munro MK_1 Is An All-Electric All-Terrain Workhorse For Farms, Forests, Jobsites, & Beyond

The Munro MK_1 looks like the love child of a classic Ford Bronco and an International Scout, if they conceived under a giant Tesla coil, but this new electric vehicle could be a very practical solution to cleaner transport in heavy industry, agriculture, land management, and more.

Scotland’s Munro Vehicles was founded with the goal of “creating a practical, go anywhere do anything EV for the world’s heaviest industries,” and with the unveiling of its Munro MK_1, an electric all-terrain vehicle with plenty of moxie, the company appears to be well on its way.

Martyn1981

Sometime back I mentioned that BEV's should be good for 2 to 3 times the mileage of an ICEV (though they may ageout before achieving that). So here's an article on a US police department who have crunched the numbers and found significant savings by moving to BEV's, but interestingly they expect 10yrs, not 5yrs of use from the BEV's.

It seems that US police vehicles spend a huge amount of time idling, which wears/ages the engine without actually clocking up comparable mileage.

All good news for BEV's, and advertising as 'Joe Public' gets to see them in such usage. For the police, they don't have range concern, but power/acceleration when needed, so saving money is a winner.

The Overwhelming Savings Of The Tesla Model Y For Police Departments

It is clear that an electric car is a powerful saving tool for situations in which intensive use of the vehicle is made for years; this is the case of cars belonging to municipal fleets, also including (depending on the jurisdiction) police fleets. This savings have been actually already estimated at an American police station with a Tesla Model Y, with which they hope to achieve more than significant savings, and by the way double on the usual life span of this type of vehicle.

But all in all the economic part has undoubtedly been crucial: after subtracting the estimated cost in equipment and electrical consumption,department authorities expect that after 10 years, the electric car will basically allow them to achieve total savings of a staggering $83,810, which is about $18,810 more than what the car actually cost. 

orrery

Martyn1981 said:

 For the police, they don't have range concern, but power/acceleration when needed,

In the UK they do have range concerns. There's no average for a police vehicle. Some do low mileage with civilian staff going and getting statements, some local police on duty - all OK for EVs. Response cars are where the issue is: locally they can take off North and South on either the A1 or the M1, and Bedfordshire are a member of a 'tri-force' arrangement with Cambs and Herts, so some travel between the counties. Response cars are driven hard, so the range can come down and they work 3 shifts.

Other issues are that most locations don't have enough capacity for charging and there'd need to be procedures for ensuring they are put on charge - not easy where most locations don't have adequate parking.

Martyn1981

orrery said:

Martyn1981 said:

 For the police, they don't have range concern, but power/acceleration when needed,

In the UK they do have range concerns. There's no average for a police vehicle. Some do low mileage with civilian staff going and getting statements, some local police on duty - all OK for EVs. Response cars are where the issue is: locally they can take off North and South on either the A1 or the M1, and Bedfordshire are a member of a 'tri-force' arrangement with Cambs and Herts, so some travel between the counties. Response cars are driven hard, so the range can come down and they work 3 shifts.

Other issues are that most locations don't have enough capacity for charging and there'd need to be procedures for ensuring they are put on charge - not easy where most locations don't have adequate parking.

Hiya, sorry should have been clearer, this is an article about a US police department, and I read quite a few on this story, most pointing out that range is not an issue:

Tesla Model Y To Save Police Department $80,000

The chief also pointed out that the officers are enjoying the Model Y. Its 300 miles of range ensures that there are no issues with anxiety. Shifts typically cover about 30 to 60 miles, and once the car is back at the station, it can be plugged into a Tesla Wall Connector that was recently installed.

Tesla Model Y Expected To Save Police Dept. $83,810

The goal of purchasing the Model Y was to “save taxpayers money and eliminate idle waste/cost,” according to Somerset Police Chief Joel J. Trepczyk.

Trepczyk says the Model Y cruiser will be shared amongst officers in the department and has been a “popular choice” thus far, even though most are still adjusting to the use of “one-pedal driving and quick acceleration.” The department also had a Tesla wall connector installed at the office to charge the vehicle while not in use. Trepczyk added that most officers only average between 30 and 60 miles per shift.

Martyn1981

On the subject of UK police, the take up varies between forces, here's a useful article from last autumn giving some detail on the number of EV's that have gone into service. Certainly popular in Gloucestershire with over 80, and 99 for the Met but some forces don't have any. Also interesting to see that whilst there are (were) 430 EV's, there are twice as many chargers. The Met have 264 chargers!

Electric police cars in the UK: exclusive survey plots forces’ EV uptake

Police forces in the UK have more than 430 electric vehicles on their fleets and in excess of 808 chargers. These numbers are not evenly spread among forces, however, with some constabularies having adopted large numbers of EVs and others none at all.

Among the 26 forces that do run EVs, the Nissan Leaf proves to be the most popular, with 117 of these in operation. The BMW i3, Nissan e-NV200 and Vauxhall Corsa-e are also highly popular choices, with 87, 71 and 60 of these vehicles featuring in police fleets respectively.

Most of the EVs used by police forces are cars, but we were told about a number of vans and motorcycles as well.

shinytop

Martyn1981 said:

On the subject of UK police, the take up varies between forces, here's a useful article from last autumn giving some detail on the number of EV's that have gone into service. Certainly popular in Gloucestershire with over 80, and 99 for the Met but some forces don't have any. Also interesting to see that whilst there are (were) 430 EV's, there are twice as many chargers. The Met have 264 chargers!

Electric police cars in the UK: exclusive survey plots forces’ EV uptake

Police forces in the UK have more than 430 electric vehicles on their fleets and in excess of 808 chargers. These numbers are not evenly spread among forces, however, with some constabularies having adopted large numbers of EVs and others none at all.

Among the 26 forces that do run EVs, the Nissan Leaf proves to be the most popular, with 117 of these in operation. The BMW i3, Nissan e-NV200 and Vauxhall Corsa-e are also highly popular choices, with 87, 71 and 60 of these vehicles featuring in police fleets respectively.

Most of the EVs used by police forces are cars, but we were told about a number of vans and motorcycles as well.

I was interested in the percentage rather than the numbers and came across this (admittedly slightly older) article.

https://www.sparksunderland.com/2021/12/02/police-ev-investigation/

Police Scotland were a bit more forthcoming, which maybe explains the higher number.  It's not a lot out of a total of over 31,000 though.