Does anyone here own an electric vehicle?

[strung out]

Thinking about getting one to replace my 13 year old Citroen C2, but unsure whether it will be cheaper in the long run.

Interested in things like how reliable the battery indicator is (e.g. when it tells you you've got 10 miles until empty, does that really mean 10 miles?), location/convenience of charging points, servicing costs etc.

We get free charging at work, so wouldn't need to worry too much about home charging (for now).

 

[gosub]

If they put a solar panel on the roofs of the things they might be slightly improved.

 

[kebabking]

Didn't A380 get one?

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

They are the future, but like Betamax, I’ll not rush in. Audi do one now, 70k’s worth. In 18 months they will have a new one that can do 80% charge in under 10 minutes. Once that happens they will be viable.

 

[DownwardDog]

I once ordered a Tesla then they bought my delivery slot back off me at a slight premium so my experience with electric vehicles has so far been good. I would have liked a Taycan but the dealer wanted an $80k (!) deposit for an undefined duration of time.

 

[JimW]

Two electric trikes but doubt that's what you had in mind.

 

[8ball]

Two electric trikes but doubt that's what you had in mind.

I have an electric unicycle.

 

[alex_]

If they put a solar panel on the roofs of the things they might be slightly improved.

Won’t make any perceivable difference, and will be fragile and ugly.

You can get approx 200w out of a sq meter of panels, plus you’d need an inverter etc so extra weight.

A Nissan Leaf battery is 30kw and can do 100 miles.

So assume a car roof is a sq meter, it could charge the battery less than 10% in 12 hours.

Alex

 

[gentlegreen]

There's a guy in Australia who worked out it makes sense to replace your alternator with a solar panel - but they get a lot of sun over there.
A bit inconvenient when you need to carry some plywood home from B&Q ...

 

[weltweit]

Until they drive 400 miles then recharge in less than 10 minutes, I will stick to what I have.

 

[a_chap]

Until they drive 400 miles then recharge in less than 10 minutes, I will stick to what I have.

Because - obviously - climate change isn't as important as people's convenience.

We're all fucking doomed.

 

[weltweit]

Because - obviously - climate change isn't as important as people's convenience.

We're all fucking doomed.

It isn't impossible to have electric cars that charge fast and do a reasonable distance between charges. Every month there are new developments in battery technology which are bringing us closer to more ideal performance levels. I think it is important to maintain a certain amount of pressure on the engineers and car builders coupled with the confidence that they can and will do it.

 

[Leafster]

Until they drive 400 miles then recharge in less than 10 minutes, I will stick to what I have.

How often do you drive 400 miles in one go? Even when you do, how often would that be a non-stop journey with no comfort breaks?

 

[cupid_stunt]

Until they drive 400 miles then recharge in less than 10 minutes, I will stick to what I have.

Some can do well over 200 miles, and recharge in 20-30 minutes.

Surely after 3-4 hours driving, you would want to pull in & re-charge yourself anyway?

 

[8ball]

How often do you drive 400 miles in one go? Even when you do, how often would that be a non-stop journey with no comfort breaks?

It’s more that when you drive a long way those comfort breaks are *short*.

 

[weltweit]

How often do you drive 400 miles in one go? Even when you do, how often would that be a non-stop journey with no comfort breaks?

It is a good point, tomorrow I will drive 150 miles probably with a comfort break, I will then drive around at the weekend and drive back having done about 350 miles without refilling.

There are going to have to be a lot of universal charging points, a lot, before I would be able to rely on getting a charge in the meantime.

 

[Leafster]

Some can do well over 200 miles, and recharge in 20-30 minutes.

Surely after 3-4 hours driving, you would want to pull in & re-charge yourself anyway?

I think the better ones will now do around 300 miles or more on a charge - Tesla, Kia e-Niro and Hyundai Kona, come to mind.

 

[weltweit]

Some can do well over 200 miles, and recharge in 20-30 minutes.

Surely after 3-4 hours driving, you would want to pull in & re-charge yourself anyway?

Indeed, good point.
If we are all driving electric there are going to have to be a stack of charging points at every stopping opportunity. I am wondering about motorway service areas where perhaps a quarter of the cars entering might want to top their batteries up. That would be a lot of charging points?

 

[weltweit]

I think the better ones will now do around 300 miles or more on a charge - Tesla, Kia e-Niro and Hyundai Kona, come to mind.

We have 3 Tesla around here (that I have seen so far), along with a few Dacia also, probably pointed at a different customer demographic.

 

[cupid_stunt]

I think the better ones will now do around 300 miles or more on a charge - Tesla, Kia e-Niro and Hyundai Kona, come to mind.

It just keeps improving, another 50 miles on a charge, and even weltweit will be converted.

 

[Leafster]

It's true there could be more charging points but don't forget anyone with a drive or a garage have their own "filling station" at home and, for many people the length of most of their journeys would mean they might not ever have to waste time visiting a traditional filling station.

 

[weltweit]

I think I would trust a hybrid at the moment if I could afford one.

The likes of a Tesla are well outside of the amount I can imagine spending on a car.

 

[Leafster]

I think I would trust a hybrid at the moment if I could afford one.

The likes of a Tesla are well outside of the amount I can imagine spending on a car.

The purchase price is certainly an issue with many of the EVs around at the moment. Even something like a Renault Zoe is about £25k (with a range of about 180 (?) miles)

 

[neonwilderness]

I’m considering getting a hybrid too. The battery would probably cover most of my daily driving so the saving on fuel and tax would offset some of the cost.

I’ve driven a Citroen C-Zero a few times while I was in a car club a few years ago. They were ok for city driving. Not great in winter though as the range is dramatically reduced when you turn the heating on

 

[weltweit]

Someone I know had a Mitsubishi hybrid, they swore it was great.

 

[gosub]

Won’t make any perceivable difference, and will be fragile and ugly.

You can get approx 200w out of a sq meter of panels, plus you’d need an inverter etc so extra weight.

A Nissan Leaf battery is 30kw and can do 100 miles.

So assume a car roof is a sq meter, it could charge the battery less than 10% in 12 hours.

Alex

Hmm

100w 319v dc roll up Flexible solar panel 100% flexible Thin Film | eBay
100w 319v dc roll up Flexible solar panel 100% flexible Thin Film | eBay

 

[dessiato]

... Not great in winter though as the range is dramatically reduced when you turn the heating on

This is a big part of the problem for me. It is not unusual for me to drive for two or three hours. Living where I do there's a lot of mountains which will impact on range, and, of course, the heat means I want at least a fan to help cool the car. I seldom use the car for journeys of less than an hour.

I don't have a charging point available because I live in a flat and the garage is a short walk away.

A petrol car does everything I need it to. And on demand.

 

[ChrisD]

We recently got a 1 year old Mitubishi outlander PHEV. (Plug in Electric Vehicle). Supposed to do 33 miles on battery and has hybrid petrol with range of 300 miles . Running as EV only does c. 20 miles in real life. Principle is that local stuff is all electric ( except we generally cycle ) but needed a car as elderly parents live v rural location 160 miles away.
The instructions say not to top up the battery ( not sure how that is defined ) so that affects the “range” at random times as we are not charging till under half full.
Took it 2000 miles through France in April and was really disappointed with petrol consumption on long trip without any electric charging...did about 29 mpg but I think that’s cos we were doing 130kph on motorways. On main roads in uk 50-70 mph it appears to be doing 38 mpg. It’s v brick shaped.
We needed to get a newer vehicle (Toyota had previously was 14 years and 150k miles) and was looking for a 3 year old one but failed to find anything suitable. It’s a compromise until EVs get more main stream... in theory Sainsbury’s does free charging but for plug in hybrid it’s not worth it.

 

[Supine]

I'm waiting for the roads to be made of solar panels before I get one.

(I don't drive)

 

[neonwilderness]

Someone I know had a Mitsubishi hybrid, they swore it was great.

We recently got a 1 year old Mitubishi outlander PHEV. (Plug in Electric Vehicle). Supposed to do 33 miles on battery and has hybrid petrol with range of 300 miles . Running as EV only does c. 20 miles in real life. Principle is that local stuff is all electric ( except we generally cycle ) but needed a car as elderly parents live v rural location 160 miles away.
The instructions say not to top up the battery ( not sure how that is defined ) so that affects the “range” at random times as we are not charging till under half full.
Took it 2000 miles through France in April and was really disappointed with petrol consumption on long trip without any electric charging...did about 29 mpg but I think that’s cos we were doing 130kph on motorways. On main roads in uk 50-70 mph it appears to be doing 38 mpg. It’s v brick shaped.

This is what I’ve been looking at too. I should be able to run on electric most of the time during the week then just use petrol on longer journeys at the weekend.

A mate has a BMW 330e, but my budget won’t quite stretch to that