Electric cars

[Dovydaitis]

I’m due to change my car next year, plus it’s now too small for us anyway. I was going to hand it back, take the equity and get a banger before buying mr dovy’s company car in 3 years time, but bangers have gone through the roof. If you want a brand new car, now is the time to look from what I’ve found. So, after watching the vid for the Ora cat, I am tempted by it. Looking like £25k starting figures, which is roughly the same as an mg zs ev but I don’t want an suv. We already have the charger for mr dovy and have solar panels that over produce. Might as well move over too and save on fuel and tax. I’ve signed up for new on the Ora cat but be interesting to see one in the flesh. Once China start importing their leccy cars over here, prices will plummet

 

[Teaboy]

I’m due to change my car next year, plus it’s now too small for us anyway. I was going to hand it back, take the equity and get a banger before buying mr dovy’s company car in 3 years time, but bangers have gone through the roof. If you want a brand new car, now is the time to look from what I’ve found. So, after watching the vid for the Ora cat, I am tempted by it. Looking like £25k starting figures, which is roughly the same as an mg zs ev but I don’t want an suv. We already have the charger for mr dovy and have solar panels that over produce. Might as well move over too and save on fuel and tax. I’ve signed up for new on the Ora cat but be interesting to see one in the flesh. Once China start importing their leccy cars over here, prices will plummet

It looks a fun little car. Hopefully it will be decent to drive as well.

I think one of the reasons there has never been a better time to buy from new (EV anyway) is that prices are not likely to plummet for some time if ever. They will gradually come down over time but there is limits on low they will be able to go simply because the technology is expensive and the rules around car safety are becoming more and more onerous.

Car makers have been saying for a while that they expect price parity for EV's with ICE cars in about 5 years but part of that is that the cost of ICE cars are going up. Emissions and safety rules are so strong that it will cost more and more to make them. The cheap little car is going to be a thing of the past and its already going that way with manufacturers discontinuing their production.

Sure the EV's will get cheaper but the days of buying a good little run around for a few grand will be over and quite soon-ish.

 

[kabbes]

Interesting article about the difficulty of plugging the tax gap as cars turn electric. Norway apparently now has >75% of its car sales being electric, and is facing this issue:

Norway Is Running Out of Gas-Guzzling Cars to Tax

The oil producing nation is learning what happens after a country fills its roads with electric vehicles.

www.wired.com

 

[Teaboy]

Norway is a funny old country. They seem to be able to manage a balance between two conflicting positions. Very environmentally minded and lead the world in many ways yet turning a well practiced blind eye to the source of the country's wealth.

 

[alex_]

Norway is a funny old country. They seem to be able to manage a balance between two conflicting positions. Very environmentally minded and lead the world in many ways yet turning a well practiced blind eye to the source of the country's wealth.

This is what they did with the oil income over the last 50 years.

Government Pension Fund of Norway - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

This is what they did with the oil income over the last 50 years.

Government Pension Fund of Norway - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Whilst we let the Tories hand our oil income to their mates.

 

[MrCurry]

Car makers have been saying for a while that they expect price parity for EV's with ICE cars in about 5 years but part of that is that the cost of ICE cars are going up. Emissions and safety rules are so strong that it will cost more and more to make them. The cheap little car is going to be a thing of the past and its already going that way with manufacturers discontinuing their production.

Sure the EV's will get cheaper but the days of buying a good little run around for a few grand will be over and quite soon-ish.

This is pretty interesting and quite counterintuitive, as I’d expect combustion engined cars to begin to decline in value as EVs become more and more the default choice.

I wonder what the best strategy to get through the next ten years or so will be, for those of us who don’t have the luxury of buying a new car.

 

[weltweit]

..
I wonder what the best strategy to get through the next ten years or so will be, for those of us who don’t have the luxury of buying a new car.

I am afraid Gov is going to make it much more costly to run a petrol or diesel car in the coming years, rather perhaps than pushing down the cost of electric vehicles.

 

[MrCurry]

I am afraid Gov is going to make it much more costly to run a petrol or diesel car in the coming years, rather perhaps than pushing down the cost of electric vehicles.

So we should all maybe rush to buy a classic car which might be old enough to be exempt from tax and new rules?

 

[weltweit]

So we should all maybe rush to buy a classic car which might be old enough to be exempt from tax and new rules?

OK, Perhaps. Though I expect the way that they are going to make petrol and diesel cars more expensive is that they are going to make fuel itself very costly.

 

[Teaboy]

This is pretty interesting and quite counterintuitive, as I’d expect combustion engined cars to begin to decline in value as EVs become more and more the default choice.

I wonder what the best strategy to get through the next ten years or so will be, for those of us who don’t have the luxury of buying a new car.

I don't think its going to happen in next few years but the increasingly the funnel of new small cheap cars will not be topped up so we'll start seeing the effect in maybe 6 or 7 years. I just can't see EV's coming down a huge amount in cost by then. It is crystal ball time though.

 

[MrCurry]

I don't think its going to happen in next few years but the increasingly the funnel of new small cheap cars will not be topped up so we'll start seeing the effect in maybe 6 or 7 years. I just can't see EV's coming down a huge amount in cost by then. It is crystal ball time though.

Yep deffo hard to see the future, but we know electric cars are an inherently more simple product and it‘s mainly the battery cost which is making them so expensive at present, so we are beholden to the price trends in the lithium battery market.

Exploding demand as EVs properly take off no doubt will keep battery prices high, unless some new innovation fundamentally changes the market.

 

[MrCurry]

I’m not sure why I find this so enjoyable, but I do!

Tesla drivers left unable to start their cars after outage

The carmaker's CEO Elon Musk acknowledged the app used to gain entry into the car had malfunctioned.

www.bbc.com

Tesla drivers say they have been locked out of their cars after an outage struck the carmaker's app.
Dozens of owners posted on social media about seeing an error message on the mobile app that was preventing them from connecting to their vehicles.
Tesla chief executive Elon Musk personally responded to one complaint from a driver in South Korea, saying on Twitter: "Checking."
Mr Musk later said the app was coming back online.

THE TESLA APP IS USED AS A KEY BY DRIVERS TO UNLOCK AND START THEIR CARS.
Owners posted a multitude of complaints online about not being able to use their vehicles.

"I'm stuck an hour away from home because I normally use my phone to start [my] car," one owner tweeted.
About 500 users reported an error on the app at around 16:40 ET (21:40 GMT) on Friday, according to the outage tracking site DownDetector. Five hours later, there were just over 60 reports of an error.
"Apologies, we will take measures to ensure this doesn't happen again," Mr Musk tweeted.

 

[hash tag]

For info BBC One - Panorama, The Electric Car Revolution: Winners and Losers

 

[hash tag]

A motoring programme featuring leccy cars New Fifth Gear TV show to focus on electric cars

 

[hash tag]

Just seen the first episode of recharged. Some of the tech going into leccy cars is stunning and some seems a little silly. They did show a £6000 Citroen. Sadly, I still think they have no personality, soul or character and are simply boring.

 

[weltweit]

Just seen the first episode of recharged. Some of the tech going into leccy cars is stunning and some seems a little silly. They did show a £6000 Citroen. Sadly, I still think they have no personality, soul or character and are simply boring.

Boring perhaps, but cheap also .. do you have a link?

 

[T & P]

A £6,000 electric car (if a full size car rather than a clown one) is mind blowingly cheap!

 

[weltweit]

 

[platinumsage]

A £6,000 electric car (if a full size car rather than a clown one) is mind blowingly cheap!

It's not a car it has a top speed of 28mph. Basically an expensive scooter and one step up from this sort of thing:

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

It's not a car it has a top speed of 28mph. Basically an expensive scooter and one step up from this sort of thing:

View attachment 299591

Or, to put it another way, it’s actually all that’s needed for an awful lot of people.

 

[platinumsage]

Or, to put it another way, it’s actually all that’s needed for an awful lot of people.

Cars have their greatest value outside of cities, where this would be unfit for use. I can see it cannibalizing city bus ridership though, which would be no bad thing.

 

[T & P]

Or, to put it another way, it’s actually all that’s needed for an awful lot of people.

I thought you were against the use of cars in cities on principle. Platinumsage has a point. If all cars veered towards a more powerful and larger design best suited for extraurban journeys, there'd be less car use in cities. This thing is going to put shit loads of additional cars on city streets, and operated by teenagers for good measure.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

I thought you were against the use of cars in cities on principle. Platinumsage has a point. If all cars veered towards a more powerful and larger design best suited for extraurban journeys, there'd be less car use in cities. This thing is going to put shit loads of additional cars on city streets, and operated by teenagers for good measure.

I’d rather no cars in cities. But for those that genuinely need one, something like that little Citroen is better than the current options.

 

[kabbes]

But for those that genuinely need one…

Uh-oh…

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Uh-oh…

Most of us on bikes and public transport. A few in those things. Cities instantly a much nicer place for everyone.

 

[dessiato]

I keep looking at electric cars, they still aren’t up to fulfilling my transport needs. I’m going to go petrol/diesel hybrid when I make the change. Now all I need to do is find the right car.

 

[hash tag]

Boring perhaps, but cheap also .. do you have a link?

Try https://www.discoveryplus.co.uk/show/fifth-gear-recharged-uk

In some countries a quadricycle? They could be tipped over quite easily

 

[A380]

Most of us on bikes and public transport. A few in those things. Cities instantly a much nicer place for everyone.

Trouble with bikes (push or motor) in uk cities is they are great for 80% of the time but, for most people, shit for the 20% of the time it’s raining, snowing , cold or even just dark at 4pm. However much you lecture people that’s the lived experience for most people. It’s why in Chinese cities with similar climates everyone has sacked of the bike for a car.

Now a proper warm, dry personal transport might go some way to avoiding everyone dragging around 3 or 4 empty seats most of the time.

 

[platinumsage]

I’d rather no cars in cities. But for those that genuinely need one, something like that little Citroen is better than the current options.

Nonsense. I can assure you that a pedestrian hit at 28mph by that will be less likely to survive than if they're hit at 28mph by any normal car or SUV. There's literally nothing better about it.