When are you going fully electric?

Soldato
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18 Oct 2002
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Sussex
I've got a Zoe as a lender, I'm really taken with it tbh. Around 200 miles range, fairly zippy and happy on a dual carriageway, aircon, cruise, decent media and control system. The range is good enough for everything I normally do and it is capable of a rapid charge so it could go further if needed.

Range said 220, i ragged it for a charge or two and it went to 180, tried a few days of eco driving and got it back to 200. Genuinely think car is great, so much so my wife will be collecting one late in the new year :)
 
Man of Honour
Joined
17 Oct 2002
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159,621
Almost all of my mileage in the 530d is non-commuting long distance usage. We have another car for local use really (Which I really wish was an EV, it would be perfect and would never need charging away from home).

If EV is the future, it must accommodate all usage types. Currently, those for whom it works well think its great with no downsides, those for whom it doesn't work well wonder whether banning what does work well for them is really the right move...
 
Tea Drinker
Don
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13 Apr 2010
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Sunny Sussex
Assuming that is because you couldn't get fuel for your ICE car easily?

Not bothered trying I’ve got half a tank in the Discovery half a tank in her mini we are yet to sell, full tank in the bmw gs 1250, full tank in the r1 and gallons for the 4rt if things get really mad max :p plus a load of premix for my sons 2t trials
 
Soldato
Joined
17 Apr 2009
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7,591
Or you get to a motorway services and find that all of the chargers are out of order. That happened to by mate last weekend at Birchanger services on the M11. He ended up having to head across to Stansted Airport to use a charger there as he was already very low on juice.

The current infrastructure is still an absolute farse at times.

I got caught out on Thursday; 8.5 miles from home with maybe 5-6 miles of range left (M6 closure and other local diversions ate up my spare range). First charger I stopped at was broken. The second (in the opposite direction from home) broke while I was using it, meaning I still didn't have enough charge to make it home. On the third, someone had smashed up the card reader and I had to activate a charge over the phone (10 mins on hold) then phone back up to end the charge session (15 mins on hold). I eventually got home almost 2.5 hours later than I would have if I wasn't driving an EV.

I've had a fair few of these little disaster journeys since 2015. The reality is that the public charging infrastructure is still far from being adequate, and some of the network operators simply don't have enough funding behind them to maintain their kit. Upgrading to a longer range EV would reduce the frequency of these problems (I'm still driving a 2014 Leaf). But eliminating them would require a substantial upgrade of the national charging network; more sites, more chargers per site, faster response to faults. When people ask me whether I would recommend an EV to them, my answer is still very much "it depends".
 
Soldato
Joined
28 Jul 2003
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Dundee
The current infrastructure is still an absolute farse at times.

I got caught out on Thursday; 8.5 miles from home with maybe 5-6 miles of range left (M6 closure and other local diversions ate up my spare range). First charger I stopped at was broken. The second (in the opposite direction from home) broke while I was using it, meaning I still didn't have enough charge to make it home. On the third, someone had smashed up the card reader and I had to activate a charge over the phone (10 mins on hold) then phone back up to end the charge session (15 mins on hold). I eventually got home almost 2.5 hours later than I would have if I wasn't driving an EV.

I've had a fair few of these little disaster journeys since 2015. The reality is that the public charging infrastructure is still far from being adequate, and some of the network operators simply don't have enough funding behind them to maintain their kit. Upgrading to a longer range EV would reduce the frequency of these problems (I'm still driving a 2014 Leaf). But eliminating them would require a substantial upgrade of the national charging network; more sites, more chargers per site, faster response to faults. When people ask me whether I would recommend an EV to them, my answer is still very much "it depends".

I would imagine as EV uptake increases in your area your probably left even more chasing working chargers.

They definitely need to overshoot with installation capacity rather than skimping or just providing the basic number of charger's.

Even when you hear of Tesco's giving say 4-6 chargers, that completely pales in comparison to the actual number of cars at Tesco.

I think the main reliable guarantee is knowing you can charge at home, elsewhere is too much of a gamble at times.
 
Soldato
Joined
17 Feb 2003
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5,153
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Northampton
Anyone got thoughts on the Vauxhall Mokka-e?

After looking around it seems it would fit my needs better than a Mini or Honda-e. Better range as well.

Had ours since May and am really pleased with it. Its got good enough range, is well spec'd and drives well. We've done nearly 5000 miles so far and its running at an average of 3.6m KW so not bad. My wife uses it mainly for commuting and on our current tariff it works out less than 4p a mile.
 
Soldato
Joined
19 Oct 2008
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5,951
I would imagine as EV uptake increases in your area your probably left even more chasing working chargers.

They definitely need to overshoot with installation capacity rather than skimping or just providing the basic number of charger's.

Even when you hear of Tesco's giving say 4-6 chargers, that completely pales in comparison to the actual number of cars at Tesco.

I think the main reliable guarantee is knowing you can charge at home, elsewhere is too much of a gamble at times.
I've not had to charge away from home yet but seeing more owners stating charge points are getting busier.
We're probably going to make a mess of it I think. Government should have taken control from the beginning to ensure standards incl reliability, support, minimum accepted payment methods and I'll go as far as saying standardised charging so any EV can use any publicly accessible charge point.

Went to the site of my client last week and even though most people are working from home, both of their charge points were in use when I arrived so at least 2(3 including mine) of the 12(estimate) cars in the carpark were EV's and am sure another one parked next to me when I was leaving too. While it's just a nice to have, for this company it's going to be difficult to better support EV charging on site because when the offices are busy you can't move cars around so whoever gets to a charger first is there all day. Cars end up double parked. So the local members of staff who get there early & probably only need a tiny top up will be grabbing them.
 
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Soldato
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26 Aug 2012
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North West
Been driving Tesla's for over 4 years now. I find the Tesla Supercharger network mostly ok with barely ever any wait times, at most get slower charging due to the chargers sharing delivery capacity.

However, in the last 12 months I've seen the non Tesla networks get absolutely rammed. I don't use them often but for years I could always get an EV spot at The Trafford Centre with almost non in use. Now, I am lucky if I get one at all. They were great as closer to entrances than empty spaces and normally paid for the cinema cost (including odeon limitless) in charging by time we got in and out. So it has started to irk me. Large shopping centres need to stop investing as it's a great way to get people to come in and spend money $$ post covid and the online age. Especially since EV drivers tend to have most disposable income on average compared to an ICE driver.
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
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14,152
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West Midlands
Data from SMMT shows that over 15% of total registrations in September (new reg month) were BEV's, with a total of 32,721 vehicles registered, YTD there is 9.5% total BEV registrations, so should hit the 10% mark by year end, then depending on the chip supply issue could hit 18-20% easily next year.

Edit: To add the top registered vehicle for September was the Tesla Model 3, with 6,879.
 
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Soldato
Joined
1 Mar 2010
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21,926
the fleet/private split had been 50:50 in june with some 70% of Mod3's fleet, if that's maintained ? the BIK concessions still manipulate the market.

the comments today about silicon prices leaping 300% maybe ominous for further new car delays (alloys)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...surge-throws-another-price-shock-at-the-world
although it's unclear whether it's that silicon source, that is refined/grown for chip wafers.
 
Associate
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Edit: To add the top registered vehicle for September was the Tesla Model 3, with 6,879.

Quite impressive figure considering the price ranges from about £41k to £60k. If you roughly take £50k as the average price thats £343m in sales for Tesla in a single month.
 
Soldato
Joined
1 Mar 2010
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21,926
At least the expert on r4pm acknowledged that company car BIK was a big reason for UK ev sales,
govt figures (used by smmt) don't seem to show latest % of bev sales into fleet,
it was 70% of total bev sales in january(not m3 per earlier post), so can still expect 5K fleet from the M3 6.8K. sep total

I'm not seeing those company taycans on cambridge roads

51555796642_204fc465cf_o_d.jpg
 
Soldato
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Northamptonshire
I have the data, but cannot share. However, you're basically right. A very good proportion of BEV registrations are into True Fleet (i.e. Fleet excluding Rental, Motability and manufacturer's own registrations).
 
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