Soldato
I think so, been speaking with some builders that didn't have time for me, now looking for work due to cancellations etc. Seems like the higher interest rates are now having a real impact.
When are you going fully electric?
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I think so, been speaking with some builders that didn't have time for me, now looking for work due to cancellations etc. Seems like the higher interest rates are now having a real impact.
In the short term it is. In the longer term it isn't necessarily a good thing as 'no brainer' salary sacrifice deals and fleet purchases won't prop up the used market by taking a disproportional hit on depreciation.
I've seen several manufacturers shaving thousands off the entry price to their EV models which should help with the depreciation in percentage terms, assuming the second hand market has levelled off with what people are prepared to pay.
While the reliability and availability of chargers remains in question this is going to remain a, arguably very valid, barrier for some people to going EV. Poop sticks as they say and I personally know someone who owns an EV, went on their first long trip in it and hit issues with the entire BP Pulse network being down and having to waste hours looking for a charger all the time them getting more anxious about the ever reduced range each time they got to another dead or phantom charger. They are keeping the EV but aren't going anywhere in it that would require public charging. When they replaced their other car they got another diesel and if you talk to them about electric cars their viewpoint is very much don't bother. An unlucky anomaly? Absolutely. A vocal anti-ev voice who has been sworn off buying another, also absolutely.
It's so important that everything related to charging just works at this point as the ramifications spread like ripples across the pond when they don't. Even your own comment shows that "If you need to use public charging often, in different places, then it's wise to get a Telsa.". You could quite understandably see why someone might respond along the lines of "I don't want a Tesla but I travel a lot, oh... I guess I won't be getting an EV yet then. Maybe in a few more years..."
The boss had to replace his car recently and has gone for another diesel so it will be at least 2027 before he considers electric again. That doesn't bode well for the company cars going EV any time soon.
He travels the country as I do and his main concern was lack of destination charging. We both agreed that starting out each day with 200 miles of range would be perfect, but you simply can't count on that when you have an overnight hotel stop.
The first hotel chain that can offer up guaranteed 7kWh EV charging with a hotel room, even if that was at a premium of £30 or so on the room rate in addition to whatever it costs to charge, is going to absolutely be a game changer. Business travellers aren't going to care because it's just going to be expensed anyway.
Sure, and that's fine
People should manage their own expectations - it's not feasible to have an EV charging network which spans every city/location in the UK within ~8 years.
Looking back at the fuel station rollout - it took around 40-50 years before there was enough around to cover most peoples vehicle travelling requirements.
Also, up until around the mid 1990's, people travelling long distance had to plan their trips using paper maps. planning a couple of charging stops takes much less time than this.
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I have no idea why you think that is relevant to anything.
What next, pointing out that 100 years ago people had to walk everywhere?
Soldato
I miss the days of the A-Z booksSure, and that's fine
People should manage their own expectations - it's not feasible to have an EV charging network which spans every city/location in the UK within ~8 years.
Looking back at the fuel station rollout - it took around 40-50 years before there was enough around to cover most peoples vehicle travelling requirements.
Also, up until around the mid 1990's, people travelling long distance had to plan their trips using paper maps. planning a couple of charging stops takes much less time than this.
Soldato
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I dunno what you mean...............I have no idea why you think that is relevant to anything.
What next, pointing out that 100 years ago people had to walk everywhere?
its an EV as well (infact i think it has the same tyres as my i3)
(not sure if its CCS or not..... probably not at that age its likely chademo
)
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I believe an upcoming (or very recently released) version of the Hyundai/Kia software in their EVs can actually poll charging spots such as Instavolt etc., and see if there are free chargers. Doubt it's as slick as the Tesla, but the first signs of other manufacturers catching up are showing.
do you think we'll ever have that ? moreover it will be 800V/350Kw charging cars and the encumbrance of a slightly longer stop, plus the increasing relative cost of oil.
Did the boss do a mercenary cost per mile analysis on high end ev's that do support fast fast charging?
Soldato
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i dont follow........ 1) why would it effect cost of oil but more importantly.... why would it need 800v charging? imo hotels dont need fast chargepoints (because if they did it would undoubtedly be a couple and that would be that). They need destination charging for parking up overnight and getting a reliable, affordable slow charge.
30 even 3.6kw AC charge points in a hotel carpark....... that would be brilliant, no need to be fast as it would be overnight. from check in at say 8pm through to leaving at 7am, that would give a good amount of juice even at that speed (7kw would be the dream however), and no pressure to have to move your car out of the way for someone else like there would be with only a couple of DC chargers.
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I have no idea why you think that is relevant to anything.
What next, pointing out that 100 years ago people had to walk everywhere?
Well it's relevant because most of the people (always seems to be the older generation), who are complaining about planning charging stops, used to spend a lot longer writing out direction instructions. Some probably still do
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I meant destination charging everywhere won't be feasible for many years, so a fast charging car for his boss 800v/350Kw, to minimise stopping time is the necessary compromise,
and an economic necessity if diesel for his car becomes relatively expensive.
e: eg. ppe It can accept a 270 kW charge rate, meaning it can be taken from a 10 percent state of charge to 80 percent in less than 22 minutes on a 350-kW charger. Adding 60 miles of range takes just 4 minutes on a DC fast charger
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Won't that become irrelevant though when EVs are the majority of vehicles on the road? If it gives you the information in advance enough that you can change your route surely that gives a huge period for those free chargers to become occupied?
Hopefully we won't be in the scenario where we need to bother asking a charger if it is operational because the target must be that for 99% of the time the answer is yes.
I honestly don't know, I doubt that will ever be the case though unfortunately. Rapid chargers are great for getting you to your destination, there is no denying that, but unless you are driving somewhere you can then charge up it doesn't really solve the onward travel problem. The work around would be to rapid charge as close to your destination as possible but there is already plenty of bitching and moaning about people charging beyond 80% because of the charging speed tail off. So you are, best case, starting with 80% minus whatever it takes to get you to your destination. Or in other words three quarters or less than your potential range.
No, he didn't. I think in some ways because we live the same life of blending being office based and site based across an average week with similar numbers of nights away and trying to keep all the plates spinning with family life back home (grown up kids and grandkids in his case, young child in mine) then you can't just look at the cost per mile. In the same way that, even if I had a choice, I couldn't easily say "ooh, I can save £120 a month in company car tax, that's a no brainer" because life doesn't work that way.
Money is important, sure, but so is maximising my time at home and also making my work trips work for me. My job would be a bit grim if it was just service stations and Premier Inns but I get to see areas of the country I wouldn't normally travel to, walk areas of coastline, see national parks etc. Being able to get to a hotel early and grab an hour or two of daylight and exercise vs spending that time hopping between chargers and shoving service station food in my mouth and downing cup after cup of Costa... £120 a month suddenly seems good value.
With regards to (fossil) fuel price, again this isn't particularly relevant for business miles as those are expensed at cost. Until HMRC gets with the times the same can't be said for electricity. 9ppm means you are quids in when charging at home but massively out of pocket when public charging.
AC charging is cheaper and easier to deploy than rapid charging.
It’s criminal that so much focus is being put on rapid chargers which you wouldn’t need half the time you do now if you can charge when your car is parked.
I can drive from my house in the east of England to Cardiff in a single charge. I’m not driving for 4 hours to turn round and drive back again… plugging in to AC at the stop off point (e.g. a hotel) is THE solution and I wouldn’t even need to touch a rapid charger for the whole journey there and back.
It’s criminal that so much focus is being put on rapid chargers which you wouldn’t need half the time you do now if you can charge when your car is parked.
I can drive from my house in the east of England to Cardiff in a single charge. I’m not driving for 4 hours to turn round and drive back again… plugging in to AC at the stop off point (e.g. a hotel) is THE solution and I wouldn’t even need to touch a rapid charger for the whole journey there and back.
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Soldato
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i guess i am biased as my car only does a max of 100kw (and in reality its closer to 75 in actual use in my experience)
however whilst the super fast chargepoints may make headlines personally they just dont interest me. nice to have as a cherry on the icing on the cake but given a choice of multiple exeter type charging hubs with rows and rows of chargers, personally i would take these every single time even if limited to 100kw (but on the basis that they can actually deliver 100kw).
If people do not need to worry about whether there will be available chargepoints and just know that there will be when ever they pull in, then i really do not think the vast majority would care so much about the headline speed.
lets say a car has a 65kwh battery and you pull in with 15% remaining. a 100kw charge point is gonna fill that battery to 90% in half an hr........ by the time most people have stopped, gone for a toilet break and what not, the car is likely to be good to go again. (and lets be honest my 100kw is vastly under speccing what will likely be installed...... 150kw that 30mins is down to 20 mins).
for me its all about destination charging, and i think that NEEDS to be feasible by 2030 at the latest if there is any chance at all of going all new cars being EV by 2035. Personally i am confident the fast charging network will get there, Tesla have shown it can be done....i agree destination is the challenge but i think its a necessity, esp for those who cant home charge.
Soldato
This is why I have used my portable AC charger so many times, as with such a small battery and high efficeincy even the 10A I can get gives massive % boost over night. Still need to have a host willing to let you plugin, and make sure it is safe to do so, I have on occasion turned it down to 6A based on the state of the electrics involved which could be described as shoddy at best, and potentially lethal in other circumstances, an ICE comparison would be some one chain smoking around a fuel pump.
I do hope they start to replicate the state of affairs like in Oslo airport where they have 700 load sharing AC chargers, and have done so for over 4 years now, on sites in the UK. Places with a known volume of stationary vehicles and the length of stay, like theme parks, holiday resorts, (and as already pointed out hotels) etc. If they took a modular approach they could install capacity as and when needed, or available from the local grid.
VW/ Cupra do it with some charging networks already
I like the look of those too. Always had a soft spot for the Kona in particular.
The Kona is an extremely welcoming car, especially as a first EV. It will probably do closer to 230 miles on a charge over summer though, and that's at lower motorway speed (think 65mph and below). Winter motorway range, think around 190. If you're just doddling around town though, you could easily see over 250mi range, especially in summer - one day I had over 6.5mi/kWh doing just town driving! Charging speed typically doesn't often get much above 55kW, even though the highest possible is around 75kW, so expect stops to be a little longer. In the summer you'll get much closer to that limit (or even hit it). It's fun to drive though - almost 400Nm of instant torque makes it a bit of a hooligan, especially as it's front wheel drive. I liked mine, and I miss it to a degree.
At the top of your price range, the Model 3 from 2021+ onwards is becoming readily available, so even though the SR+ won't be hitting 250mi real world range, you've got the backup of the Supercharger network integrated into the navigation. Given the prices, I myself intend to be in a Model 3 by the end of the year