Battery Electric Vehicle News / Enjoying the Transportation Revolution

Exiled_Tyke

michaels said:

Exiled_Tyke said:

thevilla said:

Exiled_Tyke said:

Martyn1981 said:

thevilla said:

I ofter wonder how soon people buying PHEVs, assuming they actually plug in, regret not going full EV.  Trying to fit a journey into limited battery capacity and paying to service a redundant ICE.

I ponder the same, but flipping it, I can see a positive benefit from PHEV's, and that's because I not so secretively think of them as 'Trojan BEV's'.

For some people, BEV's may not yet work, but a PHEV will give people a positive experience (hopefully!) of driving in electric only mode. But more importantly, I hope that folk who wrongly (but genuinely) think that a BEV won't work for them, will change their mind after experiencing a PHEV, and move on to a BEV.

So that PHEV may teach, and build confidence, allowing for a partial then full move away from an ICE. But .... crucially, that PHEV will now go on to someone else SH, and another and another, helping to educate more and more people about BEV's. So the new PHEV sale may displace one new BEV sale, but ultimately help to transition many from ICE to BEV. [As viewed through my green tinted glasses.  ]

So, an evolutionary dead end, but perhaps a useful stepping stone for some, for now?

Absolutely right. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have gone full BEV if I hadn't had a PHEV first.  And that one did pretty well with my mix of long and short drives (including a trip to France) averaging 85mpg for the petrol use. 

Was there a "wish I'd bought a BEV" moment or just natural progression?

 😁

Sorry for the delay in responding. I've just spent two days driving to the Dordogne (with pre-planned but trouble free charging stops).      I don't think it was either of these really.  I'd quite fancied a BEV as soon as ranges became practical but didn't have the courage to go for it. I guess at the time charging infrastructure was still a bit of a worry.    The PHEV made me much more aware of all things BEV and gave me the confidence to go all the way. 

That said, and in response to other comments here, the PHEV performed really well. On long journeys it got similar mpg to my previous diesel  (which I think is great as the PHEV was a brick of a mini SUV and petrol) .  And as I've mentioned here already, overall with lots of daily commutes averaged over 80mpg.   

How does charging work in France?  I sort of fear you either have to pay motorway service rates on the motorway or spend time coming off and have to pay extra on the peages for breaking the journey?

It works pretty well,   When I use service stations it tends to be about 50p/kWh which isn't absurd.  Coming off the autoroutes isn't too much of an issue as they tend to charge fairly by the Km.  However for some journeys  I'll mix autoroute and N roads.  This time I did St Malo, Nantes, Niort,  Perigeux.   Just one section of Autoroute. (I could have used the autoroute for the last section but it would only have saved around 15 mins).    I used Tesla charges at each stop at about 25p.   On my previous trip EDF chargers at McDonalds were convenient and they were were even cheaper.    So, as I would in the UK. I plan the route (using Electroverse and Tesla) and don't have much problem. 

silverwhistle

Yes, on some routes you can maintain a pretty good pace on N roads and the distances may even be shorter.

Sometimes though there aren't really practical alternatives, e.g: from Macon up into the mountains via the Autoroute Blanche. 

I find planning with a large scale map helps, before getting in to the detail. On small screens and phones you don't get a good feel for the situation.