EV general discussion

chanjy said:
Actually you're looking at this the wrong way.

If we want future generations to live well then we need to stop emitting CO2 - that's what this is about. EVs aren't being mandated as the only way forward and the government isn't saying everyone needs to use EVs, just that we have to stop using CO2 emitting vehicles. Regulations and laws spur innovation and technology and science will find a way forward, like how clean air acts made burning fossil fuels much cleaner by making producers develop ways to burn cleanly.
Click to expand...

The money would have been better put in to finding a clean burning liquid fuel to replace petrol. Trying to shoehorn in EVs in as a replacement is causing all kinds of problems and they aren't even all that clean when you look at the big picture. We got companies buying in loads of carbon credits and making themselves look clean on paper, but that does not make it a clean operation in reality.

We are exchanging a system where the problems are known to one where they are unknown. There will be a big impact from switching to all electric, we just haven't realised it yet.
 
Last edited:
Went for a day out in York today...

It seems York council are using 'Charge your car'.

Terrible experience...only 1 post ( 2x 7kw ) in rawcliffe bar park and ride however was surprisingly not in use. However it quickly came apparent why...

Tried to use their app and website but it just kept giving an error on the app and a 404 code or whatever on the website. Tried calling the phone number and it just rang out.

Headed to vanguard and no charge points...

We have 77 miles left, the Mrs has a 50 mile round trip journey to work. Hoping the new charge points at her work (hospital) are working, although if not we have
2 X supercharge in our town.

Not a great experience today compared to yesterday at Lidl.

At this point the next 2 weeks are going to take some planning...roll on getting the home charger fitted!
 
It’s mad you actually think we can synthesise something to replace energy dense dino juice that took millions of years to convert.

the first step in any process to make it will require large amount of energy, either solar or electric. From that point onwards it’s a losing ratio against pure BEV in terms of energy use.

plus anything else is tomorrow’s world stuff, EV is now. Unfortunately we can’t just hit the reset button on human transportation so in no uncertain terms we have to just start getting on doing “stuff” and not talking about it, and again, EV is now.
 
Nasher said:
The money would have been better put in to finding a clean burning liquid fuel to replace petrol. Trying to shoehorn in EVs in as a replacement is causing all kinds of problems and they aren't even all that clean when you look at the big picture. We got companies buying in loads of carbon credits and making themselves look clean on paper, but that does not make it a clean operation in reality.

We are exchanging a system where the problems are known to one where they are unknown. There will be a big impact from switching to all electric, we just haven't realised it yet.
Click to expand...
Making new laws costs the government nothing... the costs are all borne by the private sector and they will have to find the best way to meet the new regs.

The government hasn't mandated or shoehorned EVs into anything, they have just said petrol and diesel cars are on the way out. Let's see if the industry can make hydrogen work at a commercial scale.
 
Got the Andersen EV charger installed yesterday. Impressed with the low impact look of it, also how it hides all the cable within the body of the unit.


 
GinG said:
Went for a day out in York today...

It seems York council are using 'Charge your car'.

Terrible experience...only 1 post ( 2x 7kw ) in rawcliffe bar park and ride however was surprisingly not in use. However it quickly came apparent why...

Tried to use their app and website but it just kept giving an error on the app and a 404 code or whatever on the website. Tried calling the phone number and it just rang out.

Headed to vanguard and no charge points...

We have 77 miles left, the Mrs has a 50 mile round trip journey to work. Hoping the new charge points at her work (hospital) are working, although if not we have
2 X supercharge in our town.

Not a great experience today compared to yesterday at Lidl.

At this point the next 2 weeks are going to take some planning...roll on getting the home charger fitted!
Click to expand...

Also had a terrible experience with the CYC app when we were in the Peak District last month. The app was terrible and I kept getting the same errors. The website worked okay but didn't sync up with the app so we ended up having to drive another 15 miles to find a charger.

Thankfully it's the only app I've had that issue with. Most other apps work fine, it's just the sheer quantity of different apps that you have to have installed that frustrates me.

If the whole network was as simple and pleasant to use as InstaVolt, I'd be a happy man.

The one tip I would give is to start the charging process prior to plugging the charger into your car. I find most charging networks get fussy if you plug it into the car first and then try to set up the charge.
 
This is why I really like having the CPS/CYC RFID card, it is the only network I bother with an RFID for not that you should have to, but it is much better than the app for reliability.
 
DarrenM343 said:
Had one since Feb and from my research the i3 seems to have great reliability. Seems to be more issue with those who have the REX (backup petrol engine generator). Top quality battery pack and BMS. Good used EV bargain IMO. From what I've read, battery warranty claims are very rare which is a crucial thing if keeping an EV for a long while. Battery related issues once EV warranties expire are gonna be big £.
Click to expand...

Good to know. I'd consider the 94ah model as 90% of my driving is town or town + A-roads as part of a <30 mile round commute in mixed traffic conditions most of the time. Newer 120ah makes the REX redundant but out of my price range. Likely still going to get a Lexus RC or IS 300 though and then the car after that will be EV as they'll be a lot more than Zoe, Leaf's and I3's sub £20k used.
 
Journey said:
This is why I really like having the CPS/CYC RFID card, it is the only network I bother with an RFID for not that you should have to, but it is much better than the app for reliability.
Click to expand...

Thanks both.

I have found the BP pulse and Podpoint app work fantastic and no issues...just these other apps seem to be terrible and question why councils even consider them over other options?

I'll have a look into the RFID cards...is it only for them 2 providers that I need them for?

I'm hoping that once the home charger is installed it's going to be a rare moment when we would need to charge anywhere but home.
 
GinG said:
Thanks both.

I have found the BP pulse and Podpoint app work fantastic and no issues...just these other apps seem to be terrible and question why councils even consider them over other options?

I'll have a look into the RFID cards...is it only for them 2 providers that I need them for?

I'm hoping that once the home charger is installed it's going to be a rare moment when we would need to charge anywhere but home.
Click to expand...


Well I originally got the CPS (Charge Place Scotland) RFID last year as we went on a trip around Scotland, and given how poor the phone signal can be in some remote areas having the RFID card seemed sensible, and it also works all the CYC (Charge Your Car) chargers as well. SWARCO are taking over CPS as of this month, so the £20 fee I paid for access to the charge points is being abolished, but most of the rapid chargers are no longer free so you win and lose, but the reliability was worth the fee anyhow.

Once you have your home charger installed you are correct things will be much easier for a huge proportion of your journeys, but it is nice to be able to know who are good, average and bad in the public charging world.
 
[TW]Fox said:
This is why I just don't think they work for people who do longer trips. I thoroughly enjoyed my EV experience last month and I'd like one (mostly because it's interesting and I like cars) but for us it makes no sense for it to be anything more than our local use town car - charged almost exclusively at home I think it would be an absolutely ideal car for day to day use. Then for actual journeys where I have no interest in bothering about whether and where I can charge, a conventional efficient ICE car.

I've said it before but this is why I think the whole 'ban ICE!!!!' thing is just flawed politics. I think we could encourage EV take up far better if we played to the strengths of EV rather than trying to pretend it's a solution as a total replacement for the ICE. It really isn't.

Just imagine if we'd properly gone with a mixed fleet approach - pure EV's for town usage, plug in hybrids for longer journeys - you'd end up with no range anxiety problems but also sufficient EV range in virtually every car to be able to truly introduce zero emissions zones in cities. Got to do a 400 mile trip for work? No bother - sit on the motorway at 55mpg emitting minimal CO2, pull off the motorway into EV mode and drive into the city with no emissions.

But no, instead we have to ban things and insist that EV is the answer to everything.

I remember when diesel was the answer to everything. That went well.
Click to expand...

I hear this a lot, and I cannot agree. With the caveat that I have a Tesla (so the best charging experience) and a Zoe (so all the rest), I do have to do long-distance multi-stop trips (in the beforetimes anyway!). If your car can do 200+ miles in a go, you really need to stop anyway, and in the time it takes to pee, go to Starbucks, cool down the coffee and get back in the car, you've added another 100-200 miles.

This relies on you (or your employer) making the choice to get a car with the range, having the money for a new-ish car, and taking a minute with your in-car software or ABRP to route plan. It's not a big deal at all.

If you're a company car driver, even Teslas are no more expensive than BMW 3 series et al, so the cost is not an issue. There are edge cases like Mid-Wales where this is less true, but by and large, where people are, so are chargers.
 
Nasher said:
The money would have been better put in to finding a clean burning liquid fuel to replace petrol. Trying to shoehorn in EVs in as a replacement is causing all kinds of problems and they aren't even all that clean when you look at the big picture. We got companies buying in loads of carbon credits and making themselves look clean on paper, but that does not make it a clean operation in reality.

We are exchanging a system where the problems are known to one where they are unknown. There will be a big impact from switching to all electric, we just haven't realised it yet.
Click to expand...

Thing is, they can be properly clean. As we increase our sustainable energy generation, companies and individuals can make the choice to properly use 0 CO2 electricity. Then they can use that electricity ~80%+ efficiently, rather than hydrogen which is like 20%+ efficient? The tech is improving all the time, as happens with any surge in investment. So what's the problem then? We need electricity to run BEVs, we need electricity to make hydrogen, why not choose the more efficient solution?
 
Obliter8 said:
I hear this a lot, and I cannot agree. With the caveat that I have a Tesla (so the best charging experience) and a Zoe (so all the rest), I do have to do long-distance multi-stop trips (in the beforetimes anyway!). If your car can do 200+ miles in a go, you really need to stop anyway, and in the time it takes to pee, go to Starbucks, cool down the coffee and get back in the car, you've added another 100-200 miles.
Click to expand...

The Tesla is a unique case because I accept that the charging infrastructure seems excellent. For everyone else though - especially from the experiences I see on EV youtube channels etc - it is far from certain that you can spot a Motorway services, pull off and know that within 20 minutes of arriving you'll have been able to sufficiently charge your car and leave. I have never in all my years of driving wondered if I'll be able to get fuel, whereas I've watched with interest one high profile Youtubers experiences with a Porsche EV...

I accept that this is in some cases a chicken and egg situation but it needs solving. There simply isn't the charging infrastructure reliably available to facilitate regular long journeys. Many people won't use the car for things like this, which is fine - for these people an EV is ideal (ie, for us for half our usage, and we have two cars - so one EV will work really well). But many people - myself included - use a car for long journeys and nothing can compare to the flexibility offered by a 600 mile tank range which takes 2-3 minutes to replenish from empty. No, I do not drive 250 miles non stop. I always take a break. But it's far from certain that you can replenish range in that 10-15 minute stop and thats enough to ensure that EV is a significant compromise for people who do long distance driving. I live in the South West, anywhere I want to go is a long way.

I must stress again I am not anti EV. As soon as our Mini requires replacement, it will be with a full EV Mini. There is no question I'd buy the ICE MINI now the MINI Electric exists. I loved how it drove, I loved how quiet it was around town, it was great fun and would really fit as a town car.

There is, however, no EV that can do what my 530d does for me*. This might not be true for everyone - it might not even be true for the majority - but I'd bet there are many others who have the same view.

*This isn't quite true. The 530e/545e are interesting cars that might work. But they are not pure EV. Which goes back to my original point about how I think for environmental reasons we may be better off making more of a thing of Plugin Hybrid. There are loads of people who you'll never convince to buy an EV but whom you could quite feasibly get into a plug in hybrid. Then when you've done it with enough people you can take radical steps like banning any car that emits anything from the tailpipe from entering cities.

If you're a company car driver, even Teslas are no more expensive than BMW 3 series et al, so the cost is not an issue
Click to expand...

Many people are not a company car driver - and this is of course only true because the market has been distorted by different tax treatment. I am not sure how sustainable giving EV drivers massive tax breaks is in the long term.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom