EV general discussion

jpaul said:
It's true the lack of engine noise/audio cues as a cyclist, or runner, that you use to support visual data aren't there,
the tyre roar you get from heavier vehicles approaching predominates cycling on nsl roads.

with rapid acc'n, ev's moving off, can be on you fast, even though you'd visually checked a second ago - talking about you mr ipace in the village;
have had a argument with the guy in the village with a model S who doesn't know the width of his car, too. ... they're out to get you
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my ipace isnt silent........ it makes a fake "spaceship" noise as do my friends teslas and indeed (i could be wrong) but i thought all cars had to make a noise from around 2021 onwards. I guess it is possible that is why mine does.... mine is a MY21 car, perhaps older ones are silent but to be honest i didnt think they were.... our I3 is, as are the gen 1 leafs but they are both older cars.

even so however, if the driver was speeding then fair play that is on him. if however you were purely going on sound and you miss judged how quick he could accelerate....... then you need to look better.

too many people wander around (not necessarily accusing you) often with headphones on or glued to their phone totally oblivious to their surroundings.

it is funny tho. for decades car manufacturers (outside of performance cars) have been trying to make their cars as quiet as they can with as good performance and effeciency as they can... and these were sticks used against other cars to show how much better their cars were vs the competition.


now EVs come out............ with low running sounds, excellent acceleration and an efficiency ICE cars can only dream of.......... and now all of a sudden that is a bad thing.

I cant keep up with how fast the goal posts are moving ;) ***

*** esp now that EVs are not silent, they are just not obnoxiously loud.
 
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Above 12-15mph, external tire noise is usually greater than external engine noise anyway.

All modern EVs have noisemakers which switch off above 18mph too. My cars spaceship noise is really very loud in reverse, I can clearly hear a reversing Tesla from a pretty significant distance, the noise is very distinctive.

So it’s all very much a nonsense and you really have to ask what the objective is here.
 
blun said:
The public infrastructure issues are not close to as bad as the media make out - you charge at home 99% of the time. I’ve had one tricky experience in 5 years (had to wait 15 mins, and that was 2 years ago, no issues since). There’s 3x more public charge points today than there were in 2020, and nearly 50% more than there were 1 year ago.

I’d not rely on charging at work - home charging is so cheap it’s practically free, and it’s way more convenient than fighting over work charging spots. My office has 40 chargers and people book them 4 weeks in advance to get £4 of free electricity!
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Agreed - also check whether the free workplace charging is guaranteed to stay. My workplace is starting to withdraw that (and change for newer chargers which are set at 20p/kWh instead); there have been more than a few haughty posts on the internal message boards about it.

But, in 3,000 miles since having an EV - 2 months of ownership, i've done 62% of my charging at home, 23% away from home (parents house, socket on b&b I stayed at, work), and 15% enroute on the superchargers. That's the percentage of total kWh put into the car - and I've done a fair few long trips in it!
 
blueacid said:
Agreed - also check whether the free workplace charging is guaranteed to stay. My workplace is starting to withdraw that (and change for newer chargers which are set at 20p/kWh instead); there have been more than a few haughty posts on the internal message boards about it.

But, in 3,000 miles since having an EV - 2 months of ownership, i've done 62% of my charging at home, 23% away from home (parents house, socket on b&b I stayed at, work), and 15% enroute on the superchargers. That's the percentage of total kWh put into the car - and I've done a fair few long trips in it!
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TBH anyone who currently has free workplace charging and expects that to remain for the long term is kidding themselves. It's great for a bit of 'green' virtue signalling for the company but short term causes animosity with other staff and long term would be an added expense they don't need and a BIK headache if they want to stay on the right side of the HMRC.

Very much on the outer edges of my customer base but Norwich to Peterhead today had me annoyed at the range of my ICE. It was my fault setting off with only a third of a tank but a mistimed first fill up meant I had to do 2 fuel stops. Annoyingly I was 10 miles short of reaching my destination (which had a petrol station within 100 yards) and had to fill up with 35 miles to go only to find the petrol station closed awaiting a delivery. Ended up adding 20 minutes to my journey by the time I'd found another petrol station. Add in a couple of coffee stops and I don't think it would have been a million miles away from the time taken on rapids in an EV to cover the same journey.

Edit - 2 different charging options within a minutes walk if the hotel as well. If the company agreed to ensure my work miles were covered at cost, not the pathetic HMRC rate, maybe it's time to start pushing for an EV. My car just landed them over £800 to repair a fuel leak so they'll either want to keep it a bit or be getting twitchy about more out of warranty repairs.
 
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b0rn2sk8 said:
All modern EVs have noisemakers which switch off above 18mph too
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yes my conclusion with the i-pace creeping up on me as a runner was the acceleration was so rapid I missed the 1-2s of noise before it reached/exceeded village 30mph limit.


someone local has an i-pace in what appears to be portofino blue (a very deep blue) very classy - could be a convert
 
Joining the EV crew today. Went for the Smart #1 Pro+ using salary sacrifice from work. 4-year lease deal which worked out to be very competitive. Honestly was surprised, as I was pricing it vs getting a 2nd hand Zoe on PCP, and costs after 4 years were close. Lease deal however gives much more peace of mind, and it is a much nicer, new car for it!

Not had more than 5 minutes to drive it around the town, but first impressions very good. A lot more acceleration than I am used to (other car is Scoda Scala).

This will be our main commuting and weekend car (wife will use it days I am WFH, but otherwise she will keep using the Scala to get to work).

Looking forward to taking it out properly tomorrow :)


upload picture online free
 
jpaul said:
someone local has an i-pace in what appears to be portofino blue (a very deep blue) very classy - could be a convert
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you are around Cambridge aren't you? probably isn't as I don't live in Cambridge (town outside) but it could be mine as I drive in sometimes

hopefully am not the one who tried to run you over........ I don't recall any near misses!
 
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[TW]Fox said:
Of course the issue here is that there are people who do tow things 300 miles in the winter. Not many, I agree, but they do exist. They can currently do this without issue, but soon it will be an issue.

The problem is that the petrol or diesel engine is hugely flexible - it can do almost any task you'd ever want from a vehicle. Most people don't need that, but some people always will and these people are going to find things increasingly more difficult as time goes on.

I am sure that electric car owners happily telling them they are wrong will help, though.
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Controversial but towing a box around is just wasteful - use accommodation already at your destitution!
My guess - eventually the personal use Caravan business will die out
 
SDK^ said:
Controversial but towing a box around is just wasteful - use accommodation already at your destitution!
My guess - eventually the personal use Caravan business will die out
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People tow things which aren't caravans... Horse boxes, trailers, boats, etc.

Granted there are alternatives for all of those just like for caravans, but as Fox points out, it's a loss of flexibility.

Instead of having a normal vehicle for everyday use (which is also capable of towing) plus a smaller towed "thing", they will instead need a dedicated specialised vehicle to perform the task.

Example: our scout group has a minibus plus a trailer. This gives great flexibility in moving stuff & people around. Remove the ability to tow and you then need 2 vehicles, which also means you need 2 drivers to be available (who need the appropriate training/certification).

Obviously as charging becomes faster/more ubiquitous, then needing to charge a couple of times on a longer journey will become less of an issue, but it's still something which needs to be considered.
 
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Haggisman said:
People tow things which aren't caravans... Horse boxes, trailers, boats, etc.
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Sure - I'm referring to the people who specifically tow caravans and use this as a reason (excuse) to not move to cleaner transport.
Could even be the same people complaining about the weight of EV's when there are towing 1-2 tons of caravan around :p
 
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SDK^ said:
Sure - I'm referring to the people who specifically tow caravans and use this as a reason (excuse) to not move to cleaner transport.
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That doesn't change the fact that towing things becoming more difficult is going to be a problem for some people, which isn't solved by saying "well don't tow things then"
 
Haggisman said:
That doesn't change the fact that towing things becoming more difficult is going to be a problem for some people, which isn't solved by saying "well don't tow things then"
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Based on the current EV range limitations and charging speed & infrastructure, yes it's an issue.
But - those areas are all improving and not staying as they currently are !

It maybe that hydrogen vehicles work best for doing this, but at a higher cost that pure EV.
 
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I tow our caravan with our Model Y.

Could it be easier? Yes, is it particularly difficult? No. Is the infrastructure actually a problem? No.

Most caravaners are not doing 300 miles each time they go out. Most are doing under 100 if it’s a week or less. You can do 100 miles even the 60kwh Model Y with a standard caravan on the back.
 
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