EV general discussion

[Tinders]

Ive had company cars since 2006, and ive pretty much covered 90k in each of them, very very little has gone wrong with the 5 cars. That said, when i look back at the mot histories, 2 of them are no longer on the road

Even when i was in older cars, i never really had any drastic problems to deal, well apart from the MX5 which rusted for fun. Even my old 306 DT never ever let me down. I expect my 3 series to self destruct overnight after saying all that!

 

[lordrobs]

Well for one you just have a lot more "sundries" which need wear and tear replacement......... Have you never needed to replace an exhaust, radiator, cambelt, clutch, oil/filters, ...... ok brake disks and pads can go on an EV, but not as much (i drive entire journeys without touching the brakes and indeed have to force myself to use them properly once a week just to make sure they do not seize - one of the many anti EV complaints which triggers me about their increased brake dust )

a lot of this depends on how lucky you are or how long you keep your car but i have had all the above fail / have to be replaced as part of good maintenance on my cars, along with DPF (that was a pig), blown turbo (that actually was what made me get shut of my 2nd fiat coupe) and a new gear box in 1 car, tho part of me thinks the garage swindled me there!!!)

to be balanced, an EV can have a range of charging faults that you wont get on an ice.... the battery could fail but that is under long term warranty so not something i need to think about for a good few years yet.

Now i have said all that you can be certain i am going to have an electrical fault in one of our cars...... probably the I3 as that is the one not under warranty

I have done exhausts in the past. One on a 13 year old 1990 Hyundai Pony and one on a 15 year old 1997 Polo. I've not had an exhaust on anything modern. Well... We had a clamp come loose on the Punto but the garage fixed it FOC and simply asked that I put a couple of quid in the charity box. As for the others...

Radiator - no
Cambelt - yes, preventatively as per the service schedule.
Clutch - only once at 114k on a remapped car that got driven hard.
Oil / Filters - obviously
Brake discs and pads - now this is an interesting one. My company car is on original pads and discs at 76k. We had to do the discs and pads on the wife's car at 22k due to corrosion through lack of use. Or in other words, I haven't really worn them out very often.

The people I find have the issues with cars are those driving premium or performance cars. The run of the mill stuff is so reliable currently that I really don't see it as a positive/negative argument for EVs either way.

Sure, servicing should be cheaper but everything chassis related (shocks, springs, bushes etc..) are on parity and I think it's probably fair to say you'll be spending more on tyres in an EV.

 

[Belloni]

I'll be stepping into EV for the first time on April 11th. Getting a Jaguar I-Pace 2023 HSE EV400 through work.

Probably should have planned chargers and tariff before but it's in stock so getting it sooner then I thought! Currently with Octopus Flexible tariff, and I can buy chargers much cheaper through work discount; was thinking of the Zappi 7Kw tethered for home but open to recommendations. I get free charging when traveling to branches/office, circa 1100 miles a month give or take. Longest journey would be 110 miles up to Birmingham.

My plan is to buy a charger then pay separately to get someone to install it. Review the options on tariffs with Octopus, let me know if I'm doing this wrong.

 

[Tinders]

I'll be stepping into EV for the first time on April 11th. Getting a Jaguar I-Pace 2023 HSE EV400 through work.

Probably should have planned chargers and tariff before but it's in stock so getting it sooner then I thought! Currently with Octopus Flexible tariff, and I can buy chargers much cheaper through work discount; was thinking of the Zappi 7Kw tethered for home but open to recommendations. I get free charging when traveling to branches/office, circa 1100 miles a month give or take. Longest journey would be 110 miles up to Birmingham.

My plan is to buy a charger then pay separately to get someone to install it. Review the options on tariffs with Octopus, let me know if I'm doing this wrong.

Thats what i did back in 2020. The Ev 'installers' we giving me daft quotes, and that was talking the grant into account at the time. Everyone wants to be on the EV gravy train I was getting quoted ~1500. In the end I paid £500. Aside from the paperwork the actual install is not rocket science.

My only regret is not going for a more future proof charger like the zappi, i have a basic old tethered pod point 7kw.

 

[Minstadave]

I'll be stepping into EV for the first time on April 11th. Getting a Jaguar I-Pace 2023 HSE EV400 through work.

Probably should have planned chargers and tariff before but it's in stock so getting it sooner then I thought! Currently with Octopus Flexible tariff, and I can buy chargers much cheaper through work discount; was thinking of the Zappi 7Kw tethered for home but open to recommendations. I get free charging when traveling to branches/office, circa 1100 miles a month give or take. Longest journey would be 110 miles up to Birmingham.

My plan is to buy a charger then pay separately to get someone to install it. Review the options on tariffs with Octopus, let me know if I'm doing this wrong.

I enjoyed my I-Pace, biggest downside is the slow charging.

 

[bigmike20vt]

I'll be stepping into EV for the first time on April 11th. Getting a Jaguar I-Pace 2023 HSE EV400 through work.

Probably should have planned chargers and tariff before but it's in stock so getting it sooner then I thought! Currently with Octopus Flexible tariff, and I can buy chargers much cheaper through work discount; was thinking of the Zappi 7Kw tethered for home but open to recommendations. I get free charging when traveling to branches/office, circa 1100 miles a month give or take. Longest journey would be 110 miles up to Birmingham.

My plan is to buy a charger then pay separately to get someone to install it. Review the options on tariffs with Octopus, let me know if I'm doing this wrong.

nothing wrong with the zappi but if at all possible get the grid CT clamp wired into the zappi rather than wirelessly using the harvi (your installer will understand)

 

[bigmike20vt]

Sure, servicing should be cheaper but everything chassis related (shocks, springs, bushes etc..) are on parity and I think it's probably fair to say you'll be spending more on tyres in an EV.

I think it's a fair point about performance cars needing more tlc , tho funnily enough the single most reliable car I ever owned was my nissan 350z.
just needed an exhaust which my garage were brilliant they gave me one free, paying labour only as some fast and furious type had took theirs in and asked him to bling one up and the mechanic ended up with a pristine standard exhaust with no where to store it.... oh and 4 tyres over the course of my 5 year ownership

tyres wise on my ipace I resigned myself to some hefty bills (and they are expensive as they are massive) but it would appear my car is still on it's virgin boots at 48000 miles. I guess the previous owner must have driven it like a vicar!. mind you I have done 6000 miles in it and the tyres haven't changed much since getting the car (they are getting close to end of life tho, if for no other reason the tread is cracked and a bit brittle.

 

[paradigm]

More on tyres, but less on brakes. Overall my EV costs far less in maintenance than my ICE car does.

 

[OldKitMan]

nothing wrong with the zappi but if at all possible get the grid CT clamp wired into the zappi rather than wirelessly using the harvi (your installer will understand)

The installer used something called 'ultra ev' cable when installing my zappi last week - it has a data cable in it as well as the electric cables so they joined the data cable to the CT Clamp that way.

 

[Belloni]

Absolutely no idea what that means, what's the benefit?

 

[bigmike20vt]

The installer used something called 'ultra ev' cable when installing my zappi last week - it has a data cable in it as well as the electric cables so they joined the data cable to the CT Clamp that way.

smashing! mine didn't and tried going wireless which ended up being flakey so had to run a 2nd wire to it. works fine but bit messy.

 

[Mr Jack]

My only regret is not going for a more future proof charger like the zappi, i have a basic old tethered pod point 7kw.

I get the feeling that current home electric chargers are going to end up being one of those things like phone ports or coax tv aerials that people buying houses in the future are going to wonder what they are for.

 

[bigmike20vt]

Absolutely no idea what that means, what's the benefit?

the harvi is a device which works with the zappi charge point . it allows you to monitor how you use your energy, whether you are using electricity, selling it, or whether the electricity is going to your car or to your house . it is a wireless device.
the zappi can also do the same but is wired.

to work properly the zappi HAS to be able to monitor the energy from the grid. some installers will use the harvi to do this as it's wireless . you can get an all in 1 cable as the poster suggested above but this is pricey so some installers may install the harvi and do it wirelessly and use a cheaper cable to install the zappi.

this works , and can work just fine but if (like me) you have a source of radio interference or your walls are too thick, or your zappi is a long way from your electricity source then the connection can be flakey (like when a radio gets poor reception)
this will then give you issues charging.

that is roughly right. for a more detailed explanation you will have to google

 

[jpaul]

I get the feeling that current home electric chargers are going to end up being one of those things like phone ports or coax tv aerials that people buying houses in the future are going to wonder what they are for.

5 year warranty seems best in class (humax) so car could outlive them, but, like getting older NA cars for better reliability, a dumber charger could be a better bet.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

I get the feeling that current home electric chargers are going to end up being one of those things like phone ports or coax tv aerials that people buying houses in the future are going to wonder what they are for.

Presumably on the assumption that EVs are an ‘stop gap’ and are not a thing in 20 years?

That idea is looking less and less likely every day.

 

[Mr Jack]

Presumably on the assumption that EVs are an ‘stop gap’ and are not a thing in 20 years?

No, on the assumption that the chargers for today's EVs are going to be superseded in the coming years. I don't think the solutions worked out today are going to be the same as the solutions used in 10 years time, let alone 20.

 

[Phoenix211]

Has anyone done thr 48 hour test drive for the for mustang emach? Did you manage to keep in the mileage? 100 sounds a lot but I would want to get a decent trip to test it out which when you do there and back, doesn't actually get you that far!

 

[b0rn2sk8]

No, on the assumption that the chargers for today's EVs are going to be superseded in the coming years. I don't think the solutions worked out today are going to be the same as the solutions used in 10 years time, let alone 20.

Why and what by?

Fundamentally, an EVSE is just an electric plug with a relay in it and a small amount of electronics which tells the car how much electricity it can draw. It’s very very basic stuff. Unless the electrical system is fundamentally changing, an EVSE will probably look pretty similar for the foreseeable.

The only thing on the horizon is bi-directional system where by the EVSE can pull power from the car. If this is via AC, it just needs a few more control electronics to work. If it’s via DC then it also needs to incorporate an inverter.

All of these things are solved problems already. The only reason why it’s not really a thing already is that there is no widely accepted standard. It’s literally just the red tape that needs working out. The ‘technology’ has existed for decades.

Bi-directional chargers are not going to replace one way chargers. They’ll just be in addition to them.

 

[Mr Jack]

Why and what by?

Because they've already changed several times. Because they will want new features, perhaps for new battery technology having different needs. Because the whole nature of the powergrid may well need to be changed to deal with the future needs.

And because I think it's very likely that cars will be primarily charged by induction in future.

 

[Jonnycoupe]

Absolutely no idea what that means, what's the benefit?

Power cable has CAT5 inside it too so dont need to rely on wifi

ktxbye

No, on the assumption that the chargers for today's EVs are going to be superseded in the coming years. I don't think the solutions worked out today are going to be the same as the solutions used in 10 years time, let alone 20.

Yeah i hate it how every 10 years the plugs for toaster and kettles change...

Oh whats that, they dont? Heres the clue.... the AC charger is in the actual car.