EV Discussion thread

MeteredOut

Seems a funny thing to state they are "better" based on that one thing. Yes, they are better at some things (such as running costs - assuming you don't charge at the motorway charging points - and speed to heat the cabin), but they are certainly not better for some, eg if you do not having the ability to charge at home, and for those that get range anxiety, or need to travel each day more than or close to the range the car affords.

They are a good choice for many; they would be a horrendous choice for many others.

michaels

JKenH said:

Surprising figures from the SMMT today. Not only did BEVs lose market share year on year but volume also fell in a rising market. At the time of writing the SMMT news release was not yet out so we will have to wait and see what explanation they come up with. Meanwhile PHEVs were up 55.8%.

Edit: SMMT say BEV sales fell as last November was atypical with significant deliveries following supply chain disruptions.

BEVs accounted for 9.1% of sales to private buyers.

May link to the email I got from Tesla today offering an M Y for £3k down and 399 a month for 24 months 10k pa....

Presumably next year Tesla revenues will take a boost from selling credits against the 20% EV target to Toyota and JLR.

shinytop

JKenH said:

Good news for those who thought BEVs sucked in cold weather. Apparently they don’t and are better than ICE cars in winter. 

Electric Vehicles are better than gas-powered cars in winter—here’s why

Warm the cabin

In fact, BEVs outperform ICE here. Thanks to smaller grille openings and flatter underbodies (no driveshafts or tailpipes to worry about) BEV bodies tend to have lower coefficients of drag and slip through the air with less effort. Moreover, most of the complex parts in a car that require viscous fluids to do not exist in a BEV, i.e., no engine or transmission to worry about.

Furthermore, the very thing that creates the range disadvantage for BEVs also delivers a distinct advantage. Because electric motors operate so much more efficiently, there's a lot less waste heat to use to warm the cabin. As a result, you get separate electric heating elements that start working as soon as you start your car, heating either your seat or the whole cabin, or both. Ten minutes of shivering as you wait for the engine to warm up is a thing of the ICE past. And engineers continually work to utilize any waste heat available to warm the cabin and limit battery pack usage. 

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/12/electric-vehicles-are-better-than-gas-powered-cars-in-winter-heres-why/

I assume that website name originates in the USA. Nobody would call it that in the UK...

Grumpy_chap

An update on car efficiency for November.

I did 564 miles and the sub meter to the home charge point shows I used 160.96 kWh so I make that 3.5 miles / kWh.
Total cost for that electricity £49.74 so 9 pence per mile.

Energy demand is higher than the previous months.  I suspect the temperature change was the largest factor.  There type of driving was similar.  There may have been an impact of doing fewer journeys so more idle vampire drain, possibly.

Netexporter

Why are you using peak rate electricity for charging?

D123456789

I pay 7 pence / kw to charge at home. 

It works out to very approximately 3.4 pence per mile in the winter and 1.9 pence per mile in the summer.

 I find it inconvenient to have to charge every day or every other day in the winter.  however, I see neighbours scraping the ice from their cars whilst I have switched on the cabin heater from my phone  and have a nice warm car to get into without any effort to de ice it. 

Netexporter

My motoring is mostly discretionary, so I most charge when the electricity price is close to zero or, better still, when I'm being paid to use it.

Grumpy_chap

Netexporter said:

Why are you using peak rate electricity for charging?

Because I don't have any other kind.

MeteredOut

Grumpy_chap said:

An update on car efficiency for November.

I did 564 miles and the sub meter to the home charge point shows I used 160.96 kWh so I make that 3.5 miles / kWh.
Total cost for that electricity £49.74 so 9 pence per mile.

Energy demand is higher than the previous months.  I suspect the temperature change was the largest factor.  There type of driving was similar.  There may have been an impact of doing fewer journeys so more idle vampire drain, possibly.

This correlates with my figures too - I paid roughly 8.9p per mile during November, up slightly from October where it was milder. I use a 3 pin charger.

MeteredOut

D123456789 said:

I pay 7 pence / kw to charge at home. 

It works out to very approximately 3.4 pence per mile in the winter and 1.9 pence per mile in the summer.

 I find it inconvenient to have to charge every day or every other day in the winter.  however, I see neighbours scraping the ice from their cars whilst I have switched on the cabin heater from my phone  and have a nice warm car to get into without any effort to de ice it. 

I've found very little inconvenience in having to plug in - takes less than 30 seconds when I get home, and I actually think it is significantly less inconvenient that having to drive to a petrol station to fill up every couple of weeks. Cumulatively, its undoubtedly takes less time to "fill" the EV than it did my previous diesel car, even taking the reduced mileage on a single "tank" into account.

And I also love the ability to pre-heat/defrost the car too - that is a much larger positive to having an EV than I'd ever imagined it would be. It has huge wife-approval-factor too.