Electric cars, the future. If it is were all stuffed!

[Ghost]

Joined up thinking in the UK? Haha.

We did a road trip last month up to the very top of Scotland and then over to Orkney via ferry. Just over 1500 miles in total. I think we filled up 4 times, and in total it probably took no more than 20 minutes to do so.

I shudder to think what the equivalent time would have been with an EV, let alone all of the additional anxiety for range and finding somewhere to charge up!

 

[ianwC4S]

Hi all,

Sorry to hear some of the bad experiences you've had with EV cars and the charging infrastructures BUT I was asked by my employer last year to consider an electric company car, as others have mentioned there was a huge advantage with company car benefit so was a no brainer. We were looking at the VW ID3 but decided range and charging network were an issue so I contributed to upgrade to the Tesla Model 3 which I've had for 15 months now. I'm lucky that work had charging point installed at work so the 2 days a week I'm there the car is fully charged. The manual says about 370 miles but charging to 100% gets about 343, Tesla also recommend only charging to 80% so I'm generally leaving work with about 275 miles of range. I looked at having a home charging point but as yet have not had to top up at home. Now we come onto the difference between Tesla and third part charging points, Tesla have their own dedicated supercharger network, this for me has been amazing, all charge points shown on the sat-nav which advises which to visit on a long journey, it states with one's are occupied so you know before you arrive that one is available and generally between 8 and 12 charging points. Just pull in go for a coffee and use the facilities and it's back to full. App lets you know when it's done as you generally have to move off the charger within a set time to free them up. Long journeys to the Lakes and the south coast have been a breeze, the difference is for me Tesla have come at this whole EV thing with a single goal, to sell long range EV's with supercharger back-up, other manufacturers have had a half baked approach in the beginning and are very much playing catch-up. The biggest problem other EV manufacturers have is the charging network, multiple networks, multiple app's, charge points not working, apps not working, until this is sorted it's always going to be an issue.

 

[MisterCorn]

Once you own the charger network you can start to get the revenue in....

MC

 

[Alex]

So when are Tesla going to release this 'long range EV'?

370 miles is p**s poor on a run. I can get 465 miles in my 911 doing motorway speed limits and I thought that wasn't too great in today's automotive world. My Dad pulls 800 mile in his Pug 3008 soot belcher. We pulled nearly 700 fully loaded on a trip to France in April. How Tesla can even use the term 'long range' is a joke.

 

[bazhart]

Well as a former motorcycle racer and Director at Hartech I love petrol cars and especially when they are really torquey and fast.

However I also bought the same electric car as the instigator (Peugeot 208 GT) for my wife and I absolutely love it.

It has 3 settings "ECO", "NORMAL" and "SPORT" and in "ECO" a full charge gives over 200 miles range.

In "SPORT" it will keep up with a Porsche to 40 mph, I plug it in overnight at home every few weeks and it is a dream to drive.

But it is only for local journeys for which I don't think it could be beaten.

However borrowing it to go to an appointment locally I was late for - despite being extremely fast - the electricity consumption plummeted. It might do 200 miles @ 30 mph but no way at speed.

But for a local run around it is fantastic - for spirited journeys it is great if they are short. For any distance driving - I agree - It is not in any way suitable.

Baz

 

[Alex]

I'll stick to me Vespa :grin:

 

[easternjets]

Well as a former motorcycle racer and Director at Hartech I love petrol cars and especially when they are really torquey and fast.

However I also bought the same electric car as the instigator (Peugeot 208 GT) for my wife and I absolutely love it.

It has 3 settings "ECO", "NORMAL" and "SPORT" and in "ECO" a full charge gives over 200 miles range.

In "SPORT" it will keep up with a Porsche to 40 mph, I plug it in overnight at home every few weeks and it is a dream to drive.

But it is only for local journeys for which I don't think it could be beaten.

However borrowing it to go to an appointment locally I was late for - despite being extremely fast - the electricity consumption plummeted. It might do 200 miles @ 30 mph but no way at speed.

But for a local run around it is fantastic - for spirited journeys it is great if they are short. For any distance driving - I agree - It is not in any way suitable.

Baz

Mines a 2008 but it's the same platform. I agree with you it is a really nice car to drive, I would almost say its as smooth as big Merc and as I said before it's eerily quiet.
My partner really doesn't want me to sell it but after what happened the other night it's going.
I went to collect it an hour ago and drive it home to my house, the distance is 17 miles, it's sunny and warmish so no need for heater lights or wipers. I set off showing 130 miles of charge, I did a short 6 miles run on the A1 at 60 and got home showing 96 miles left in the battery! It literally uses 2 miles of charge for every mile travelled, it's just hopeless.

 

[mark pearce]

There appears to be a lot of rejection for unmerchantable quality
Send it back to the dealership
You won't be the first or last

 

[HMG66]

Hi all,

Sorry to hear some of the bad experiences you've had with EV cars and the charging infrastructures BUT I was asked by my employer last year to consider an electric company car, as others have mentioned there was a huge advantage with company car benefit so was a no brainer. We were looking at the VW ID3 but decided range and charging network were an issue so I contributed to upgrade to the Tesla Model 3 which I've had for 15 months now. I'm lucky that work had charging point installed at work so the 2 days a week I'm there the car is fully charged. The manual says about 370 miles but charging to 100% gets about 343, Tesla also recommend only charging to 80% so I'm generally leaving work with about 275 miles of range. I looked at having a home charging point but as yet have not had to top up at home. Now we come onto the difference between Tesla and third part charging points, Tesla have their own dedicated supercharger network, this for me has been amazing, all charge points shown on the sat-nav which advises which to visit on a long journey, it states with one's are occupied so you know before you arrive that one is available and generally between 8 and 12 charging points. Just pull in go for a coffee and use the facilities and it's back to full. App lets you know when it's done as you generally have to move off the charger within a set time to free them up. Long journeys to the Lakes and the south coast have been a breeze, the difference is for me Tesla have come at this whole EV thing with a single goal, to sell long range EV's with supercharger back-up, other manufacturers have had a half baked approach in the beginning and are very much playing catch-up. The biggest problem other EV manufacturers have is the charging network, multiple networks, multiple app's, charge points not working, apps not working, until this is sorted it's always going to be an issue.

Tesla have the best Infrastructure agreed, but my god all their cars are fugly.. do you honestly look back and think......that's a nice looking thing. ?

The rest are just playing catch up and probably don't care what the user experience is going to be as long as the sales come in. It's hardly a premium ownership experience for the premium price some of the EVs cost.

 

[Alex]

Teslas look like an unwanted sperm on steroids.

My partner calls them 'white goods'.

 

[Alex]

In other relevant news, this is how much the planet's on fire:

Zharkova was right, GSM is now showing up in the current decline in global temp:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7575229/

 

[spongebob squarepants]

The EV v ICE debate is hilarious. Almost as funny as the petrol v diesel :floor:
Electric vehicles are a total disaster and will surely die a death with the ongoing energy crisis.

Lets get back to improving ICE further. Diesel is with us for many more years, there's loads still that could be developed on a diesel engine, and the diesel frankly smashes the petrol all over the park. Its outrageous how the journos still bang on about the petrol is the best choice v diesel, total tosh-in the real world little petrol's are shiite and get no where near the claimed figures (a bit like electric)
My new 1 series (1.5 diesel Auto) has averaged over 60 mpg since new, so that's not on a run etc, that's average, on a run 80 mpg is easy, with some more work and manufacturer development that could go over 100, but the best current option has been demonised although its euro 6 compliant the same as the petrol! The equivalent petrol auto would be getting 35 at best.

All the drivers cutting about in their diesels on 0-30 quid a year tax and 50 mpg must be pis sing themselves and just keep hoping the chancellor has forgotten about them, :floor:

 

[mark pearce]

Look at the finish on a Tesla

reminds me of British leyland

 

[Alex]

:floor:

 

[berni29]

Hi

My daughter has a Seat Leon PHEV, and you can get about 40 miles out of it with luck. But it does have a petrol engine, so no range anxiety, but around town it is a great car to drive. Much better than its ICE equivalent.

But we have a charge point at home and you do have to plug it in every evening if you want to be all electric round town the next day.

She is being forced to buy a an all electric by her company (MG ZS I think it might be). But she really does not want it and has so far successfully dodged actually taking delivery.

And by the way, all the strange lights on the front of those electric Peugots look horrific to my eyes.

Berni