Changing car to lower power - frustrating?

BOWFER

SallyDucati said:

BOWFER said:

SallyDucati said:

BOWFER said:

Really discouraging to see people on here, who evidently have money, discussing buying new ICE cars - especially diesels.

'evidently have money'?  No, I just now choose to finance my cars by saving rather than borrowing. 

I'm not knocking how you're paying for the car, I'm just saying that the make/model of cars you're looking at aren't cheap and it's disheartening to see people still wanting to spend sizeable money on a diesel.
The cost of the charger would easily be offset by fuel saving costs
I'm not sure why you'd have to dig up your garden to get one, but OK.

My parking is at the end of the garden, so i can't have a charger on the house wall.   tbh its as much the lack of charging infrastructure that puts me off at the moment.  I'm looking at 5 yo + cars so probably not as much as you are thinking.

Fair enough re the 5YO comment.
FYI though, for future reference, charging cables of 20M are readily available.
What I mean is the charger doesn't have to be near the car, you just need a long enough cable with plug to the car.

SallyDucati

BOWFER said:

SallyDucati said:

BOWFER said:

SallyDucati said:

BOWFER said:

Really discouraging to see people on here, who evidently have money, discussing buying new ICE cars - especially diesels.

'evidently have money'?  No, I just now choose to finance my cars by saving rather than borrowing. 

I'm not knocking how you're paying for the car, I'm just saying that the make/model of cars you're looking at aren't cheap and it's disheartening to see people still wanting to spend sizeable money on a diesel.
The cost of the charger would easily be offset by fuel saving costs
I'm not sure why you'd have to dig up your garden to get one, but OK.

My parking is at the end of the garden, so i can't have a charger on the house wall.   tbh its as much the lack of charging infrastructure that puts me off at the moment.  I'm looking at 5 yo + cars so probably not as much as you are thinking.

Fair enough re the 5YO comment.
FYI though, for future reference, charging cables of 20M are readily available.
What I mean is the charger doesn't have to be near the car, you just need a long enough cable with plug to the car.

Ohhhh interesting re the 20m cable - thanks I never knew that.  I'll have to get my big tape measure out!  A hole in the fence might suffice.

jimjames

BOWFER said:

Really discouraging to see people on here, who evidently have money, discussing buying new ICE cars - especially diesels.

There is also the possibility that electric will be completely obsolete in a few years if hydrogen/fuel cell technology takes off. If you're looking to buy an older car then electric just isn't in the price range at the moment

born_again

Flight3287462 said:

How many miles over the lifetime of an EV do you have to drive to make it more sustainable than an ICE car?

That all depends on how many miles you drive.

I do 6K a year. Cost wise depending on the cost of petrol I have between 50 & 80K miles to play with comparing the cost of a hybrid to a full EV. That was not including any charging costs either. Which will continue to rise as more EV's hit the road.

Flight3287462

born_again said:

Flight3287462 said:

How many miles over the lifetime of an EV do you have to drive to make it more sustainable than an ICE car?

That all depends on how many miles you drive.

I do 6K a year. Cost wise depending on the cost of petrol I have between 50 & 80K miles to play with comparing the cost of a hybrid to a full EV. That was not including any charging costs either. Which will continue to rise as more EV's hit the road.

That was the point I was highlighting with my question.  In your case the car will probably be scrap before an EV was was ahead in the CO2 stakes.

Flight3287462

jimjames said:

BOWFER said:

Really discouraging to see people on here, who evidently have money, discussing buying new ICE cars - especially diesels.

There is also the possibility that electric will be completely obsolete in a few years if hydrogen/fuel cell technology takes off. If you're looking to buy an older car then electric just isn't in the price range at the moment

Unless something changes.

Hydrogen’s efficiency problem

The reason why hydrogen is inefficient is because the energy must move from wire to gas to wire in order to power a car. This is sometimes called the energy vector transition.

Let’s take 100 watts of electricity produced by a renewable source such as a wind turbine. To power an FCEV, that energy has to be converted into hydrogen, possibly by passing it through water (the electrolysis process). This is around 75% energy-efficient, so around one-quarter of the electricity is automatically lost.

The hydrogen produced has to be compressed, chilled and transported to the hydrogen station, a process that is around 90% efficient. Once inside the vehicle, the hydrogen needs converted into electricity, which is 60% efficient. Finally the electricity used in the motor to move the vehicle is is around 95% efficient. Put together, only 38% of the original electricity – 38 watts out of 100 – are used

EV Efficiency:-

Herzlos

jimjames said:

BOWFER said:

Really discouraging to see people on here, who evidently have money, discussing buying new ICE cars - especially diesels.

There is also the possibility that electric will be completely obsolete in a few years if hydrogen/fuel cell technology takes off. If you're looking to buy an older car then electric just isn't in the price range at the moment

Hydrogen isn't going to become a mainstream fuel - it's really inefficient to produce and pretty dangerous to store.

I can see it being used for stuff that electricity isn't particularly viable for (like heavy plant and remote haulage), but it's not going to be a common thing to see in populated areas.

DrEskimo

Flight3287462 said:

born_again said:

Flight3287462 said:

How many miles over the lifetime of an EV do you have to drive to make it more sustainable than an ICE car?

That all depends on how many miles you drive.

I do 6K a year. Cost wise depending on the cost of petrol I have between 50 & 80K miles to play with comparing the cost of a hybrid to a full EV. That was not including any charging costs either. Which will continue to rise as more EV's hit the road.

That was the point I was highlighting with my question.  In your case the car will probably be scrap before an EV was was ahead in the CO2 stakes.

No it wouldn't.

The thing is using averages or blanket estimates is every EV will be different. One built in China then powered in Germany will be very high, whereas one built in a 100% renewable factory and then powered off peak in the UK would be extremely low.

Same for the ICE that is being used as a comparison.

It's a bit like asking how much is a house in the UK. 'it depends'.

Given most of the CO2 contribution from an ICE is tailpipe (~75% of total lifetime emissions) when you factor in the CO2 from the entire fuel generation (mining, pumping, refining, transporting) plus using real world emissions, the worst case scenario is about 50k miles, more realistic estimates are around 25k miles.

homersimpson246

I went from a 400BHP Jag to a 90HP VW Passat and it was fine, you can't really use all the performance on UK roads and what you lose in power you will probably save in fuel costs, insurance and tax.

The Passat was an estate and I could get a huge amount in the back of it.

coffeehound

BOWFER said:

FYI though, for future reference, charging cables of 20M are readily available.

What I mean is the charger doesn't have to be near the car, you just need a long enough cable with plug to the car.

Those must cost a lot and weigh a fair bit too?