FAO electric car owners - an observation

BOWFER

Fellow EV owners, have you also noticed just about every new EV is coming out with charge ports on the side?
What is this all about, is it just pandering to pathetic ICE owners who crave familiarity??
Am I the only one who hates side ports?
I've always found them a pain when you park next to another EV, they're dodgy for anyone walking between parked cars and I also don't like the fact anyone walking past my drive can see I'm charging.
Even Nissan have resorted to a side port on the Ariya, which is hugely disappointing when the Leaf is a nose port....
What's going on....?

Grumpy_chap

This is an observation I think you have commented on before, and it seems a very sound comment based on your practical experience.
I doubt the issue is one of pandering to ICE owners, as even TESLA seem to have the side-ports and Elon has done much to make the cars just "different" - take the blank canvass one screen TM3 interior or the gull-wing TMX doors.  Nothing there pandering to tradition.

JamoLew

Quite happy with my pathetic ICE thanks that can do 500+miles on a single refuel and can then do another 500 if required with a quick 5min refuel ad infinitum

using language like that isnt likely to endear people to your crusade or point of view

Sandtree

BOWFER said:

I also don't like the fact anyone walking past my drive can see I'm charging.

Why on earth do you have an issue with that? Round our way there are a few different road side charging options inc most the lampposts.  Its just as easy to see cars with front end charging ports are hooked up or not as you walk past them

neilmcl

Not all charging points are at the head of parking bay. If were going to massively increase charging infrastructure then charging points will need to be placed on the side of pavements as not everyone has access to their own home charging point.

BOWFER

JamoLew said:

Quite happy with my pathetic ICE thanks that can do 500+miles on a single refuel and can then do another 500 if required with a quick 5min refuel ad infinitum

using language like that isnt likely to endear people to your crusade or point of view

It was meant as written, against ICE owners that crave familiarity so badly it would make them feel better to have a side port.
IMO that's a bit pathetic.

BOWFER

Sandtree said:

BOWFER said:

I also don't like the fact anyone walking past my drive can see I'm charging.

Why on earth do you have an issue with that? Round our way there are a few different road side charging options inc most the lampposts.  Its just as easy to see cars with front end charging ports are hooked up or not as you walk past them

Because it's none of their damn business, and there's always the chance some pesky kid or drunk decides to have a closer look.
None of those concerns in an EV with front or rear ports, the charging is far more discrete.

BOWFER

Sandtree said:

BOWFER said:

I also don't like the fact anyone walking past my drive can see I'm charging.

Why on earth do you have an issue with that? Round our way there are a few different road side charging options inc most the lampposts.  Its just as easy to see cars with front end charging ports are hooked up or not as you walk past them

Wouldn't a front or rear port still be better though?
Would you fancy Joe Public walking past a sticking out charger handle and an open flap?

[Deleted User]

JamoLew said:

Quite happy with my pathetic ICE thanks that can do 500+miles on a single refuel and can then do another 500 if required with a quick 5min refuel ad infinitum

using language like that isnt likely to endear people to your crusade or point of view

This old chestnut is trotted out every time. Who, realistically, does 500+ let alone 1000+ miles in even a couple of days, with any sort of regularity? Basically no-one. There are obviously the odd extreme cases where current EV tech won't work out but no-one is saying you must have an EV right now. You could buy an ICE car on 31/12/2029 and run it for 15 years (average scrap age in UK is about 13 years) so still be on ICE in 24 years time. By that time EV tech will be much more than 500 miles and much faster than now. The only argument ICE proponents have now is the 5 minute refill obsession. A Tesla on the 150kW rapid charge does full in 30-60 minutes, perfectly fine if you were going on holiday and could charge overnight, or stop for lunch somewhere - pending a future infrastructure improvement of course - and by 2030 the 10 minutes full charge 250 mile, 2500x recharges will be commonplace and likely surpassed.

The VAST VAST majority of the UK would be 100% fine on EV, the average commute in the UK is 23 miles round trip with more home working that's even less useful now. The highest average region in that survey was 31 miles around. A Nissan Leaf would work for the average commuter. Only 14% of people surveyed did more than 42 miles in a day who could get by on something with 300 miles range

p.s. I drive a diesel and commute by bicycle, I have nothing to do with EV, though my next car will be one.

Grumpy_chap

I wonder whether there is a practical advantage in having the charge point plug to the car in the side, similar place to a fuel filler?  
How large is the "gubbins" for the socket assembly?  I sort of assume something broadly a 6" to 9" cube.  If all the socket gubbins is in that sort of size range, it can be squeezed into space around the wheel arch (which would otherwise be wasted) without sacrificing any useable space elsewhere.

BOWFER

Grumpy_chap said:

I wonder whether there is a practical advantage in having the charge point plug to the car in the side, similar place to a fuel filler?  
How large is the "gubbins" for the socket assembly?  I sort of assume something broadly a 6" to 9" cube.  If all the socket gubbins is in that sort of size range, it can be squeezed into space around the wheel arch (which would otherwise be wasted) without sacrificing any useable space elsewhere.

You're pretty accurate with the sizes.
But remember if it's a nose port, it's space that would normally be taken up by a radiator.
It's weird that the original mass-market EVs (Leaf and Zoe) are both nose ports, but it seems to be becoming changed now.
I really can only think it's for familiarity sake, the actual practicalities of it are a pain.