Battery Electric Vehicle News / Enjoying the Transportation Revolution

silverwhistle

JKenH said:

Because I am an EV convert I would spend the extra and get a Skoda Citigo EV but my wife has said she would like another Picanto. She has said that while she much prefers driving an EV, if she needs to jump in the car at a moments notice to pick up the grand kids she doesn’t want to find the car has insufficient charge or has to charge to get back home.

How far away are the grand kids? Maybe if you showed her on the other forum the thread of that guy in Germany with a Zoe who doesn't have charging at home? Even "half a tank" on the smaller ranged Skoda would be getting near 80 miles, and if you have  a home charger you could easily keep it at 80% with little effort. Keep working away..:-)

JKenH

silverwhistle said:

JKenH said:

Because I am an EV convert I would spend the extra and get a Skoda Citigo EV but my wife has said she would like another Picanto. She has said that while she much prefers driving an EV, if she needs to jump in the car at a moments notice to pick up the grand kids she doesn’t want to find the car has insufficient charge or has to charge to get back home.

How far away are the grand kids? Maybe if you showed her on the other forum the thread of that guy in Germany with a Zoe who doesn't have charging at home? Even "half a tank" on the smaller ranged Skoda would be getting near 80 miles, and if you have  a home charger you could easily keep it at 80% with little effort. Keep working away..:-)

100 miles (or 102 on the Leaf trip meter). One of the reasons I switched from the 30kwh leaf to 40kwh was that it would become a comfortable rather than nervous run. My son now has the 30 but only a granny charger as he is waiting to be unlooped before the OVO V2G charger can go in. That is Chademo of course and incompatible with virtually everything modern other than a Leaf. 

I believe as well that the basic Citigo can only charge at 3.7kw. 7kw AC and 40kw DC are standard on the SEL but an extra on the SE. (Apologies but my comma key is broken).

ABrass

It is the downside to the lack of EV chargers everywhere, one of my relatives has a model 3 and if they visit we have to chuck a 13A plug out the window.

If I were in charge of building regs then all new properties would be required to have at least one charger built in to any parking spaces. I expect that'll happen eventually, but not yet.

Pile_o_stone

ABrass said:

It is the downside to the lack of EV chargers everywhere, one of my relatives has a model 3 and if they visit we have to chuck a 13A plug out the window.

If I were in charge of building regs then all new properties would be required to have at least one charger built in to any parking spaces. I expect that'll happen eventually, but not yet.

I don't really know too much about EV and chargers. Are they all the same, like petrol pumps or are they like mobile phone chargers where each manufacturer has their own design and you can't use your mates Nokia charger on your iPhone?

almillar

Pile_o_stone said:

I don't really know too much about EV and chargers. Are they all the same, like petrol pumps or are they like mobile phone chargers where each manufacturer has their own design and you can't use your mates Nokia charger on your iPhone?

They're not as bad as you might think, in terms of standards - the problem is the number of companies, and different payment and subscription options.

You've got AC, that's 3 pin plug (~2kW), Type 2 (3, 7, 11, 22, 43kW).

Then DC, that's CHADeMO and CCS. CCS is, literally, Type 2, with DC + and - connectors below. Both standards are capable of 50kW and way upwards.

That's it. You choose your car, it'll have 1 or 2 of the above plugs, and a cable, it'll be capable of a certain speed, and you plug in. If you try to use a 7kW car on a 22kW charger, guess what, you get 7kW.

Rapid chargers - that's Chademo, CCS and 43kW AC, will have the cable built into the machine - you won't have one for the car.

If you're capable of turning up to the pumps, and choosing between diesel, unleaded and super unleaded, you're capable of plugging an EV in correctly!

The payment systems, cards, apps and subscriptions services, are a different story.

buglawton

EVandPV said:

Martyn1981 said:

buglawton said:

Not sure where EV hater comes from. By following good maintenance practices and not doing big miles, ICE is just so cheap to stay with. And the reality is, like me a large part of the British public has other things to spend money on than keeping up with the EV Joneses. Fascinating tech though.

Your ICE argument relies entirely on someone else buying new ICE cars. Since there is no factory turning out 'new' secondhand cars, or bangers, then any old ICE car argument applies equally to old BEV cars.

Most of the UK own cars, so your 'other things' argument is equally false, and your keeping up with the EV Joneses statement simply proves your bias - I (and I suspect most on here) have chosen to go down the BEV route as it is simply a better car, and better economics, with the environmental angle being a strong one, but not the main one*, it's simply an unavoidable bonus that nobody, even you will be able to avoid in the medium to long term - assuming no 'new' banger factory ever get built.

*That said, for those wishing to make an environmental change, the economic benefits of a BEV make the environmental beneficial switch an easy decision, so perhaps 'our' decisions be they environmental or economical, are more intertwined.

Also, surely if economy is your only concern, a second hand BEV makes far more sense than an 'old banger' that's only going to become more of a money pit as it starts to need continual repairs.
If your a low mileage driver, a second hand Zoe 22kwh can be bought for as little as £6k and charged for 1p a mile or less on Octopus Go/Agile.

My current > 10 yo car is far from being a money pit though the day will arrive. For a combination of flexibility (= range) and low cost of ownership it's ICE all the way for me for the time being. Remember the name of this website. I am sure things will change and it's only then that the public will vote for EV in serious numbers with their wallets. After checking that national and local govt has a joined up EV infrastructure policy of course (an interesting all-time first that would be).

buglawton

Martyn1981 said:

*That said, for those wishing to make an environmental change, the economic benefits of a BEV make the environmental beneficial switch an easy decision, so perhaps 'our' decisions be they environmental or economical, are more intertwined.

I watched a German documentary on EVs the other night and apparently you to have to run a new EV for 6 years average mileage before the environmental benefits overtake an ICE.

There's a chart here that takes into account the larger carbon footprint (30-40% more Co2) of manufacturing EVs so I guess that's where the 6 years comes from:
https://www.br.de/nachrichten/wissen/faktenfuchs-wie-umweltfreundlich-sind-elektroautos,RGBSYTj

I'm not rushing to replace my old ICE car whose manufacturing Co2 is a sunk environmental cost already. In fact if manufacturers supported the repair after market better, that would probably be the biggest environmental benefit.

EVandPV

buglawton said:

Martyn1981 said:

*That said, for those wishing to make an environmental change, the economic benefits of a BEV make the environmental beneficial switch an easy decision, so perhaps 'our' decisions be they environmental or economical, are more intertwined.

I watched a German documentary on EVs the other night and apparently you to have to run a new EV for 6 years average mileage before the environmental benefits overtake an ICE.

There's a chart here that takes into account the larger carbon footprint (30-40% more Co2) of manufacturing EVs so I guess that's where the 6 years comes from:
https://www.br.de/nachrichten/wissen/faktenfuchs-wie-umweltfreundlich-sind-elektroautos,RGBSYTj

I'm not rushing to replace my old ICE car whose manufacturing Co2 is a sunk environmental cost already. In fact if manufacturers supported the repair after market better, that would probably be the biggest environmental benefit.

Begs the question then, why are you even viewing let alone posting on a EV thread when you clearly have no interest in them ?

Martyn1981

EVandPV said:

Begs the question then, why are you even viewing let alone posting on a EV thread when you clearly have no interest in them ?

Technically he has great interest in them as everything he's posting on this thread, be it negative, FUD, debunked myths/claims etc. he has already posted over the years on the Motoring Forum EV thread.
Some folk just like to disrupt threads, conversations and discussions. Sadly I can see a repeat of the nonsense we had on the G&E energy thread from last summer starting on here, same game, just a different pawn to be 'played'. Ho hum!

EVandPV

Some actual news about EV's, in case anyone's interested  
https://www.motor1.com/news/399462/dacia-electric-car-concept-geneva/

"a preview of the "most accessible 100% electric city car on the market."