When are you going fully electric?

wozzizname · 6 Oct 2021 at 11:43

I currently have an M340i, but I started to wonder if I need something more sensible. I thought a Tesla model 3 long range might suit, until I checked the numbers and saw it'd cost me loads more than my current car. Similarly, the Kia EV6 and Hyundai Ioniq 5 both work out more expensive (not including fuel savings, though my mileage at the moment is pretty low).
Maybe I just got a really good deal when I bought mine 2 years ago, but the costs of the more interesting EVs are pretty off-putting.

Jez · 6 Oct 2021 at 11:45

wozzizname said:
I currently have an M340i, but I started to wonder if I need something more sensible. I thought a Tesla model 3 long range might suit, until I checked the numbers and saw it'd cost me loads more than my current car. Similarly, the Kia EV6 and Hyundai Ioniq 5 both work out more expensive (not including fuel savings, though my mileage at the moment is pretty low).
Maybe I just got a really good deal when I bought mine 2 years ago, but the costs of the more interesting EVs are pretty off-putting.

An EV will never be justifiable if you do not include the fuel savings....i cant make the numbers work at all even with a large monthly fuel spend.

jpaul · 6 Oct 2021 at 14:26

stellantis automotive news comment

With only so many semiconductors to work with, Stellantis is putting electric cars before combustion-engine vehicles as consumers respond to sweeteners including significant subsidies.
"We will continue to manage all powertrains together but EVs come first," Anne-Lise Richard, Stellantis’s head of e-mobility, said in an interview in Milan. "We see more costumers that are willing to buy EVs now."

linked article

“The service, called “battery as a service” (BaaS), entails drivers paying a monthly rental fee for use of the batteries.We believe with BaaS, more customers of gasoline cars will consider electric vehicles,” Nio’s chief executive William Li told reporters.
Nio operates 143 battery-swapping stations around China, where drivers can swap spent battery packs for fully charged replacements. Li said Nio was building a new battery-swapping station in China every week and planned to build 300 new stations next year.
Li also said the firm hoped to enter some international markets from the second half of next year starting with some European countries. He added the firm aimed to enter more markets from 2022.

the option to recharge at home 7kw , or, swap 70kwh batteries at the service station on a long drive ?
cars not bad looking https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSEgU9G4BVo - for taxis it's a killer

Basher · 6 Oct 2021 at 14:29

[TW]Fox said:
I don't drive non stop either but neither do I want to hang around for more than I need too, especially given it's far from certain you can immediately plug in at a services.

This is one of the best things I've found now I've switched to EV. Literally no waiting around/wasted time to 'refuel'.

Jonnycoupe · 6 Oct 2021 at 14:35

Don’t start him off. Don’t forget as an international jet setter travelling from the arseend of nowhere he needs to do it in one go. :cry:

Minstadave · 6 Oct 2021 at 14:35

McPhee said:
The current infrastructure is still an absolute farse at times.

I got caught out on Thursday; 8.5 miles from home with maybe 5-6 miles of range left (M6 closure and other local diversions ate up my spare range). First charger I stopped at was broken. The second (in the opposite direction from home) broke while I was using it, meaning I still didn't have enough charge to make it home. On the third, someone had smashed up the card reader and I had to activate a charge over the phone (10 mins on hold) then phone back up to end the charge session (15 mins on hold). I eventually got home almost 2.5 hours later than I would have if I wasn't driving an EV.

I've had a fair few of these little disaster journeys since 2015. The reality is that the public charging infrastructure is still far from being adequate, and some of the network operators simply don't have enough funding behind them to maintain their kit. Upgrading to a longer range EV would reduce the frequency of these problems (I'm still driving a 2014 Leaf). But eliminating them would require a substantial upgrade of the national charging network; more sites, more chargers per site, faster response to faults. When people ask me whether I would recommend an EV to them, my answer is still very much "it depends".

I've rarely had to charge away from home and had some OK experiences on longer journeys (working charger at the hotel we went to earlier this year made everything easy apart from some moving around as people juggled in and out the 2 charging spots) but also other times when I've thought I'd charge proactively to find a single DC charger either broken or with a car on it (no idea how long they'd be) and a car or two waiting and it's pretty much made up my mind to go the Tesla route when my lease ends. The price of charging seems excessive too, although I gather there's a large material investment to recoup but the decent charges are no cheaper than fossil fuel.

SDK^ · 6 Oct 2021 at 14:45

Jonnycoupe said:
Don’t start him off. Don’t forget as an international jet setter travelling from the arseend of nowhere he needs to do it in one go.

The public charging system over the next 1-2 years is probably the worst it will ever be. Even Tesla owners are complaining of queues, which isn’t surprising given the amount they are selling.
We need the Grid Serves’s out there to ramp up their plans quickly.

Journey · 6 Oct 2021 at 14:49

SDK^ said:
We need the Grid Serves’s out there to ramp up their plans quickly.

Sadly they can only move as fast as the planning committee and councils do, not to mention the delays in receiving the actual chargers which are now suffering the same shortages as vehicles.

Jonnycoupe · 6 Oct 2021 at 14:49

I think MFG and Osprey are ahead of Gridserve plans now.

MFG has sites going live with 8 charger hubs and Osprey with Kempower charger posts fed by a central charger module is much more flexible.

Wigan
https://forecourttrader.co.uk/lates...ier-forecourts-and-constructon/654672.article

& Manchester Stretford

[TW]Fox · 6 Oct 2021 at 18:13

Jonnycoupe said:
Don’t start him off. Don’t forget as an international jet setter travelling from the arseend of nowhere he needs to do it in one go.

Literally millions of us live down here (or up there in other far-away parts of the United Kingdom)

Journey · 7 Oct 2021 at 13:00

Seems like Audi/VAG are happy keeping both feet firmly in the past for the next generation of A4, no all-electric version to be offered for a long time. So unless you want an SUV or a sport GT type affair then Audi is going to be making a slow but steady loss of sales to others vendors.

How can VW be so progressive, and VAG be so backwards both at the same time? :confused:

XeNoN89 · 7 Oct 2021 at 13:09

Journey said:
Seems like Audi/VAG are happy keeping both feet firmly in the past for the next generation of A4, no all-electric version to be offered for a long time. So unless you want an SUV or a sport GT type affair then Audi is going to be making a slow but steady loss of sales to others vendors.

How can VW be so progressive, and VAG be so backwards both at the same time?

Is this confirmed? Quite odd considering they already showed a fully electric A6

Journey · 7 Oct 2021 at 13:17

XeNoN89 said:
Is this confirmed? Quite odd considering they already showed a fully electric A6

Yep, auto news sites have confirmed, and it is what Audi have said.

b0rn2sk8 · 7 Oct 2021 at 13:36

That could be interesting if a full electric 3 series comes out soon.

chanjy · 7 Oct 2021 at 15:49

VAG aren't dumb, they will have done the figures and their conclusion is they think there's no profit in it.

They might be wrong of course, but there's no way they haven't studied it extensively to come to the decision.

Probably the same reason so many EVs are SUV shaped

SDK^ · 7 Oct 2021 at 15:56

b0rn2sk8 said:
That could be interesting if a full electric 3 series comes out soon.

Have you seen the BMW i4?
The M50 version looks very nice - 540 bhp, 800 Nm Torque, 200 kW DC re-charging speed, starting from £64k. Some nice colours to choose from too - love Sanremo Green metallic

jpaul · 7 Oct 2021 at 16:26

jpaul said:

European tastes in (just) August

Jonnycoupe · 7 Oct 2021 at 16:28

sub £10k car has mass wide appeal and can meet demand with limited reliance on semi conductors. Wheres the news?

Kenai · 7 Oct 2021 at 16:37

Journey said:
Seems like Audi/VAG are happy keeping both feet firmly in the past for the next generation of A4, no all-electric version to be offered for a long time. So unless you want an SUV or a sport GT type affair then Audi is going to be making a slow but steady loss of sales to others vendors.

How can VW be so progressive, and VAG be so backwards both at the same time?

Link?

The last stories I saw suggested the A4 was lined up to be released as effectively two platforms, one ICE based and one EV based - presumably that's now changed?

SDK^ · 7 Oct 2021 at 16:40

Jonnycoupe said:
sub £10k car has mass wide appeal and can meet demand with limited reliance on semi conductors. Wheres the news?

Any new EV models coming from Jag anytime soon?