EV general discussion

It's when you go up a hill 4/5-up that you sense it more -
would be interesting to know sensation in a ev going up, say, the honiston pass, on a switchback, where with an ICE you would change gear to maintain torque,
how the profile of ev's relative torque/power curve feels
 
Bug One said:
Why, because I doubt a big heavy brick of a car with only 25kw battery capacity would get that far under real world conditions.

Is it this car? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEJO33oSxTM

My limited experience of EVs is that when a manufacturer quotes an 'Up to' figure - you should take at least 30% off of it to not be disappointed.


Greebo said it's a ~30kwh battery. Maybe 63miles is possible with that much capacity.
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Again i am only going on my real world EV mileage on my 45e which i have driven for 40,000 miles that the reality is 10% off official figures in summer and obviously much less in winter (only does 30-32 miles in winter) and the fact that the new model has a 23% bigger battery.

Also be careful watching US reviews of the 50e or the 45e as in the US the percentage of the usable battery is much less than the rest of the world. The US model 45e only had a claimed range of 30 miles on EV in the states so around 27 in real life in summer and 20 in winter. The new model is sold with an EV range of only 40 miles in the US, still not even matching the UK 45e - they are limited to two thirds of the usable battery that we are in the UK. I did read somewhere its so BMW cant be sued in 10-20 years time when the car wont do the claimed new mileage anymore. Sucks to be Americans
 
sandys said:
They've significantly upped the power of the motor, I doubt they have managed to make the motor that much more efficient to compensate so I'd imagine its going to pull more out of the battery to perform but your efficiency is great, if it was the same ballpark mpkw range that'd still be pretty good, loads of range.
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They have also improved the brake regen putting more back into the battery. Hopefully with all the changes that should offset the higher power motors. Plus higher power doesnt always mean more kW per mile used in reality.
 
[TW]Fox said:
Is there a technical limitation on it or is it not just because the test they use to measure range is different?
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No its done deliberately by BMW. They both have the same 24kW battery fitted

Battery capacity:
in Europe: 24.0 kWh battery (gross) and 21.6 kWh (usable/net)
in the U.S.: 24.0 kWh battery (gross) and 17.06 kWh (usable/net)
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So a US model done on the more generous European WLTP test would always come up with 21% less range.

The US car can be easily coded to give the same range as the Europe X5s but obviously negates your warranty

I did at the time try and find out why the US was limited but couldnt find a definitive answer. Lots of guesses about the BMW battery warranty is much longer in the US and they limited US cars to only using 71% of the capacity in order not to fall foul of this in years to come. EU models get to use 90% of the battery.

So the U cars end up carrying around the same 24kw battery but only ever get to use 71% of it's capacity. I am not aware of any other car manufacturer who limits the usable capacity of the EV/hybrid battery different in the sates to the rest of the world. Tesla certainly don't.
 
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In EV world they do sell the same models with different battery packs but they don’t tend to have such wide differences in capability.

For example the Berlin made Model Y standard range has the BYD blade battery (LFP) and the Shanghai made version has a CATL LFP battery. They both have similar capacities and range but they are not the same. The BYD blade battery is widely regarded as being better, it charges a lot faster than its CATL counterpart. In the US they use Tesla’s own NMC cells in the standard range Y.

The long range cars have historically had LG in the U.K. and Panasonic in the EU, the EU cars had slightly more capacity, range and charging speed but it wasn’t a significant difference. I think they are all LG now.
 
lordrobs said:
Still don't get the irony around a broken down car.
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The car that broke down in the middle of the road closing the whole of the A30 was ICE. It was beautiful from my pov on my first long journey in my EV :)

lordrobs said:
Still don't get the irony around a broken down car. Or why you seem to think cruise control is isolated to EVs.
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[TW]Fox said:
I have never owned a car that cannot travel up a hill on a dual carriageway at the speed limit.
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Some/most ICE cars struggle on the steep incline because people forget they need to nearly floor in just to stay at 70mph on those hills and start slowing down. This was one of many times I was able to cruise (literally) past them at 70mph. And my car does any speed I want to 70/80/90 going up or down a hill if I was so inclined, but I wanted a base line range test for the first run.

[TW]Fox said:
What did you drive previously?
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VW Fox :) didn't even have electric windows.
 
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The same people who slow down because they don't understand the car needs a bit more power applied to go up hill instead of along a flat road, will do so whether they're in an ICE or an EV, surely?
 
Kenai said:
No quite possibly not, it's not mandatory to use it :p

All you've described is the behaviour of a car with cruise control active and a propulsion system that wasn't sourced from a lawnmower.
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Sure, although only an automatic ICE car would meet the same level as electric cruise control. Mine has radar that slows/stops itself in whatever traffic there is and then speeds right back up to 70 again, all I'm doing is the steering bit.
 
keyser van someone said:
Sure, although only an automatic ICE car would meet the same level as electric cruise control. Mine has radar that slows/stops itself in whatever traffic there is and then speeds right back up to 70 again, all I'm doing is the steering bit.
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Like a DSG VW Golf from 10 years ago, nothing to do with it being electric (or having 'electric cruise control'), just having radar cruise and being an automatic car :p
 
b0rn2sk8 said:
In EV world they do sell the same models with different battery packs but they don’t tend to have such wide differences in capability.

For example the Berlin made Model Y standard range has the BYD blade battery (LFP) and the Shanghai made version has a CATL LFP battery. They both have similar capacities and range but they are not the same. The BYD blade battery is widely regarded as being better, it charges a lot faster than its CATL counterpart. In the US they use Tesla’s own NMC cells in the standard range Y.

The long range cars have historically had LG in the U.K. and Panasonic in the EU, the EU cars had slightly more capacity, range and charging speed but it wasn’t a significant difference. I think they are all LG now.
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Yeah but in BMW's case its exactly the same battery pack, just set to 90% capacity for one market and 71% for another. Its's weird.
 
EVs in China are dirt cheap. Shame we can’t get them at the same prices here in Europe. Imagine if there is nominal tariff on EVs coming in from China. We would be seeing BYD/XPeng etc on the roads everywhere obviously German/french/Italian car makers will go out of business unless they got in bed with one of them.

Political manoeuvring and protectionism is stopping Europe from going green on personal transport.

Also the ridiculous insurance industry but if EVs are dirt cheap as they are in China premium will fall rapidly on EVs.

Damn Brussels ruling class still shafting us Brit’s
 
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