EV Discussion thread

Martyn1981

ed110220 said:

This all reminds me of my dad who about a year ago was telling anyone who would listen that EVs are such a fire hazard that the repair centres that work on them keep them in widely spaced revetments, a bit like planes on a military base. Nonsense of course, probably picked up from Facebook.

Unfortunately the FF industry was quite clever in persuading some people early on that FF were part of their identity and therefore getting them to respond with emotional fear and hatred to anything that might threaten it - wind turbines, solar farms, EVs, heat pumps etc.

Yep, lots of fear of new things, it's actually a natural part of our survival mechanism, but it can mean people jumping to conclusions on tech, and then being unwilling to revise their opinion.

I think Ben Sullins does a great job of dealing with FUD. His background and approach are data/fact led.

MeteredOut

MikeJXE said:

I don’t have any experience with an EV either but that doesn’t matter as I have no intention of buying one 

What surprised me to learn from another thread 

Not only can your energy supplier charge up your car battery 

They can suck it out too if they so wish

"I don’t have any experience with an EV"

Goes on to prove that point extremely well.

silverwhistle

I'm a bit busy at the moment so won't hang around here.  I have no intention of buying one, and indeed have never driven one, but I'm just off to a JLR forum to tell them that their ICE cars have a higher chance of breaking down than average and have a propensity to burst in to flames from dodgy fuel pipes.

Actually my car can discharge but I have to plug in a special adapter and then press a button in the car. Very useful for power cuts and camping!

Some posters are a bit sad; not the fact that they don't want an EV (or whatever else is the subject of a thread) but they repeatedly have to tell you so, and then reveal that they are misinformed.

JKenH

Trouble ahead is forecast in the EV leasing market.

BVRLA warns of coming EV residual value storm

Leasing companies are staring at the horizon and not liking what they see, according to the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA). 

It says that there’s a named storm coming, and its name is electric vehicle (EV) residual values. 

https://www.fleetnews.co.uk/news/bvrla-warns-of-coming-ev-residual-value-storm

QrizB

As a habitual buyer of second-hand (and third-, fourth - and occasionally sixth-hand) motor vehicles, I welcome weak EV residuals. Me and my fellow second-hand car buyers will be more likely to buy EVs if the market is flooded and they become even cheaper.

Could I request a 50% fall in house prices too, please?

JKenH

QrizB said:

As a habitual buyer of second-hand (and third-, fourth - and occasionally sixth-hand) motor vehicles, I welcome weak EV residuals. Me and my fellow second-hand car buyers will be more likely to buy EVs if the market is flooded and they become even cheaper.

Could I request a 50% fall in house prices too, please?

And there will be even bigger bargains if the leasing companies go bust, just like when MG Rover went into administration in 2005. (I picked up a Rover 75 very cheaply. Probably the best car I ever owned. 80k miles without a hiccup.)

One problem I foresee with ever falling values for used EVs, (fuelled by even heavier discounting of new cars to meet quotas) will be that EVs reach the end of their lives much more quickly which is not ideal. (The lower the value the more likely it will be beyond economic repair if anything much goes wrong.) In an ideal world an EV would last as long as its battery. 

MeteredOut

JKenH said:

QrizB said:

As a habitual buyer of second-hand (and third-, fourth - and occasionally sixth-hand) motor vehicles, I welcome weak EV residuals. Me and my fellow second-hand car buyers will be more likely to buy EVs if the market is flooded and they become even cheaper.

Could I request a 50% fall in house prices too, please?

And there will be even bigger bargains if the leasing companies go bust, just like when MG Rover went into administration in 2005. (I picked up a Rover 75 very cheaply. Probably the best car I ever owned. 80k miles without a hiccup.)

One problem I foresee with ever falling values for used EVs, (fuelled by even heavier discounting of new cars to meet quotas) will be that EVs reach the end of their lives much more quickly which is not ideal. (The lower the value the more likely it will be beyond economic repair if anything much goes wrong.) In an ideal world an EV would last as long as its battery. 

But, there's a lot less to go wrong with an EV. 

In other news, is anyone surprised by this? BT no longer converting their street cabinets into EV charging points.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c75zwyeq3v9o

I find their claim that they're still doing their bit by concentrating on providing WiFi around existing chargers laughable.

silverwhistle

Yep, another former keen second hand buyer, and the only reason I bought my first ever new car, an EV,  back in 2020 was that the second hand EV choices didn't really meet my needs as a single car household and were over-priced in the market. (FWIW didn't want a Leaf with chargergate and Chademo, and most Zoes were lease..).

If there had been better SH offers I may well have jumped in sooner. As it is I've now got an MG4 standard range which I'll keep for ages despite people telling me that I need longer range..

JKenH

MeteredOut said:

JKenH said:

QrizB said:

As a habitual buyer of second-hand (and third-, fourth - and occasionally sixth-hand) motor vehicles, I welcome weak EV residuals. Me and my fellow second-hand car buyers will be more likely to buy EVs if the market is flooded and they become even cheaper.

Could I request a 50% fall in house prices too, please?

And there will be even bigger bargains if the leasing companies go bust, just like when MG Rover went into administration in 2005. (I picked up a Rover 75 very cheaply. Probably the best car I ever owned. 80k miles without a hiccup.)

One problem I foresee with ever falling values for used EVs, (fuelled by even heavier discounting of new cars to meet quotas) will be that EVs reach the end of their lives much more quickly which is not ideal. (The lower the value the more likely it will be beyond economic repair if anything much goes wrong.) In an ideal world an EV would last as long as its battery. 

But, there's a lot less to go wrong with an EV. 

In other news, is anyone surprised by this? BT no longer converting their street cabinets into EV charging points.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c75zwyeq3v9o

I find their claim that they're still doing their bit by concentrating on providing WiFi around existing chargers laughable.

At the moment it seems unclear how EV repair costs compare with ICE repair costs. Here are 2 articles both from Fleet News citing conflicting data. Take your pick.

Warranty claims for electric vehicles (EVs) are 30-50% higher, on average, than for comparable internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, new research suggests.

https://www.fleetnews.co.uk/news/electric-vehicle-warranty-claims-compared-to-ice-repair-costs

We are seeing is both noticeably lower running costs and numbers of garage visits for EVs compared to both hybrids and ICE vehicles

https://www.fleetnews.co.uk/news/electric-vehicle-smr-costs-almost-half-that-of-ice-by-year-three

michaels

Seems like both of the above could be true - individual repairs are more costly but because the rate of repair is lower the overall cost is also lower.

My leaf in 10 years and 95k miles has needed tyres and suspension bits about as much as an ice vehicle and they have cost the same - however it has needed 0% as many oil changes, exhaust repairs and brake component changes as an ice of similar age and miles.