Advisability of buying electric car at this point in time

PixelPound

henry24 said:

I'd also like to know where all the trucks are going to charge up possibly twice a day 

They won't.

A couple of decades ago I worked in a warehouse with electric and diesel forklifts. For the electric ones they'd use a FLT to swap out a battery with a charged one and put the one taken out on charge (these were massive lead acid batteries roughly 1mx1mx0.5m).

I'd imagine firms with electric trucks would do something similar, have swappable batteries. Truck drives in has battery swapped whilst the waggon is unloaded/loaded and goes on their way.  

henry24

That might work if the truck comes back to base every day but what about the one's on the road all week 

MEM62

MX5huggy said:

@MEM62 why would that not work for you? Or are you driving 100 miles per day while at work on top of the 90? 

* No charger at work or home.  Winter range is less than two days commuting meaning daily charging would be needed.  (Happy to find and use a public charger if it was a couple of time a week but daily?  Nah!)   
* I also have to make site and client visits on occasions  (Basingstoke, Heathrow, Milton Keynes and then back home to Basingstoke would give me major range anxiety)

If the range was there I really would like an electric car.  After all, if would save me a fortune in company car tax.    

Martyn1981

MEM62 said:

MX5huggy said:

@MEM62 why would that not work for you? Or are you driving 100 miles per day while at work on top of the 90? 

* No charger at work or home.  Winter range is less than two days commuting meaning daily charging would be needed.  (Happy to find and use a public charger if it was a couple of time a week but daily?  Nah!)   
* I also have to make site and client visits on occasions  (Basingstoke, Heathrow, Milton Keynes and then back home to Basingstoke would give me major range anxiety)

If the range was there I really would like an electric car.  After all, if would save me a fortune in company car tax.    

Hi, if it helps and this isn't being too nosey or pushy, (I'm only replying as you seem interested and open to the idea.) Then there are a growing number of BEV's that should be good for ~200 miles in cold weather. But of course, relying entirely on the public fast charging network will be harder and more expensive. 

Just to say that you should be good for range with a Tesla, such as the base model 3, EV-Database does give the cold highway range as 180 miles, but that is at -10C. But the additional advantage of a Tesla, is that there's a large supercharger network, which removes any range anxiety/issues. It's also a bit cheaper than most public charging, but post Ukraine invasion, prices are still very high at ~39p/kWh, when before they tended to range from 20p up.

Supercharging a Tesla is really fast, and if you select the charging location on the navigation, then as you get nearer, it will start to pre-condition the battery (heat it up, or cool it down), to allow faster charging. Even the older and slower V2 chargers can add about 150 miles in 20 mins. The V3's are even faster, and if the battery charge is low enough, can charge at 1,000mph, as a forum friend proudly sent me a photo of his screen, to prove. When I tried, the car was at 30%, so 'only' charged at 200kW / 800mph.   

[Just to say, that a Tesla model 3 will manage 250Wh/mile (4miles/kWh) at 70mph, in hot and cold weather, but not in extremely cold weather.]

For other BEV makes and models, Tesla is slowly opening up its supercharger network, across Europe, to non-Tesla's, but on checking, the current number in the UK is only 23, and none in/near Basingstoke. The nearest are Reading and Guildford (sorry), but one of the Heathrow locations is open (to all). Supercharger by Milton Keynes, but not an 'open to all' one. Non-Tesla's either pay a higher price for the leccy, or the same, but with a monthly subscription fee.

Hopefully leccy prices will slowly continue to slide back down, as Europe gradually reduces gas demand to balance out the 'lost' supply from Russia. But at ~40p/kWh today, perhaps 10p/mile, I've no idea if the small fuel savings, plus BIK make this viable for you. Plus I do of course realise that BEV's are expensive to buy, so don't wish to appear flippant.

Goudy

I want one but am frustrated they just don't work for me for various reasons that are really not my fault and I'm not alone.

I work with a team of 32 people, some of which are currently working on a project to take 150 or more petrol and diesel vehicles off the road and replace them with EV's.

Of the 32,
3 can charge at home no problem.
8 possibly but would have to stretch long cables through gardens and over public pavements.
The rest are just like me and can't.

That's a little bit different from what is always quoted, that it's only a small percentage that can't charge at home.
It doesn't help me that so many others can and why should we be left behind or have to pay 4 or 5 times the price?

I can afford a EV and it's not like I live on the breadline, my property is worth nearly 4 times the current national average. It's just what/where it is that spoils my ability to realistically change.
Ok I could move to a property with off street parking as fit a home charger. Now my £40k EV is going to cost me another 3 or 4 times the national average property price. I think that isn't viable.

If for instance, certain areas of the country had to pay nearly 4 or 5 times the current average price per litre of petrol just because of where they lived, there would be a massive national outcry.
Just look now, the government are on the backs of supermarkets as they have been over charging on the price, but it's still only £1.39 a litre, not £5.50 or more.

Going back to the project of remove all those ICE cars.
I am not directly involved as I am involved in another project on the same planned site, but the arrangements to charge all these vehicles is pretty cheap, cheaper in fact than all your special EV tariffs and the site is only 400 yards from my home and no, I won't be able to charge there either, site space it at a premium so it will never open to staff and the public.

I can't charge at work and using a supermarket with it's time limits is not really going to give me any range except to get me there and back and perhaps one or two trips to work.
It's a drop in the ocean, what about the other 9990 or so miles I do?

If these things make me anti EV then I guess I am, but I think there's a good reason and I probably will be classed as such even when I eventually have to go EV though having no choice.

I can't see the current charging situation ever changing, there's just no push or any weight behind a change and as people like to explain, there appears no hope of any alternative.

Goudy

henry24 said:

That might work if the truck comes back to base every day but what about the one's on the road all week 

We haven't yet touched on the thousands of temperature controlled road freight on the roads each day either.
Moving and the availability of chilled and frozen goods is a massive part of the economy.

I'm staring at this problem professional at the moment and where I work are only moving chilled goods a few miles through the city and solutions seem pretty thin.

MEM62

Martyn1981 said:

MEM62 said:

MX5huggy said:

@MEM62 why would that not work for you? Or are you driving 100 miles per day while at work on top of the 90? 

* No charger at work or home.  Winter range is less than two days commuting meaning daily charging would be needed.  (Happy to find and use a public charger if it was a couple of time a week but daily?  Nah!)   
* I also have to make site and client visits on occasions  (Basingstoke, Heathrow, Milton Keynes and then back home to Basingstoke would give me major range anxiety)

If the range was there I really would like an electric car.  After all, if would save me a fortune in company car tax.    

Hi, if it helps and this isn't being too nosey or pushy, (I'm only replying as you seem interested and open to the idea.) Then there are a growing number of BEV's that should be good for ~200 miles in cold weather. But of course, relying entirely on the public fast charging network will be harder and more expensive. 

Just to say that you should be good for range with a Tesla, such as the base model 3, EV-Database does give the cold highway range as 180 miles, but that is at -10C. But the additional advantage of a Tesla, is that there's a large supercharger network, which removes any range anxiety/issues. It's also a bit cheaper than most public charging, but post Ukraine invasion, prices are still very high at ~39p/kWh, when before they tended to range from 20p up.

Supercharging a Tesla is really fast, and if you select the charging location on the navigation, then as you get nearer, it will start to pre-condition the battery (heat it up, or cool it down), to allow faster charging. Even the older and slower V2 chargers can add about 150 miles in 20 mins. The V3's are even faster, and if the battery charge is low enough, can charge at 1,000mph, as a forum friend proudly sent me a photo of his screen, to prove. When I tried, the car was at 30%, so 'only' charged at 200kW / 800mph.   

[Just to say, that a Tesla model 3 will manage 250Wh/mile (4miles/kWh) at 70mph, in hot and cold weather, but not in extremely cold weather.]

For other BEV makes and models, Tesla is slowly opening up its supercharger network, across Europe, to non-Tesla's, but on checking, the current number in the UK is only 23, and none in/near Basingstoke. The nearest are Reading and Guildford (sorry), but one of the Heathrow locations is open (to all). Supercharger by Milton Keynes, but not an 'open to all' one. Non-Tesla's either pay a higher price for the leccy, or the same, but with a monthly subscription fee.

Hopefully leccy prices will slowly continue to slide back down, as Europe gradually reduces gas demand to balance out the 'lost' supply from Russia. But at ~40p/kWh today, perhaps 10p/mile, I've no idea if the small fuel savings, plus BIK make this viable for you. Plus I do of course realise that BEV's are expensive to buy, so don't wish to appear flippant.

The charging cost is not an issue as it would be a company car.  Actually, a Tesla would work well for one very good reason - there is a dealer on the estate where I work, with loads of customer charging points, so charging would not be an issue.  Trouble is, it is beyond my spending allowance.    

HillStreetBlues

I have no issue with EVs  just been thinking how it would affect me in the future.
Currently have an oldish car but when I fill up I still get much the same kind of distance that I would when it was new. Would I be right in thinking that when having an oldish EV the downside to the age will be less distance?

Ectophile

HillStreetBlues said:

I have no issue with EVs  just been thinking how it would affect me in the future.
Currently have an oldish car but when I fill up I still get much the same kind of distance that I would when it was new. Would I be right in thinking that when having an oldish EV the downside to the age will be less distance?

It depends on what you mean by oldish.  The manufacturer's warranty tends to be something around 80% of original capacity after 7 or 8 years.

HillStreetBlues

Ectophile said:

It depends on what you mean by oldish.  The manufacturer's warranty tends to be something around 80% of original capacity after 7 or 8 years.

My current car is an R reg.