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Electric vehicles

21K views 335 replies 50 participants last post by  WRENCH 
#108 ·
I was sitting with a friend overlooking one of the main arterial routes going from the east to west of Scotland, and we started discussing the fact that in less than nine years, all NEW cars that pass will be electric. I notice recently that there are more and more EV's where I live, and noticing them is made easy by the green rectangle on the left side of the registration plate. I have two friends who have bitten the bullet. One, retired, has a Tesla, the other has a Renault Zoe, for business use. Both are happy. The performance of the Tesla is shattering, the range is excellent, but the cost puts it out of reach for many. The Renault is ordinary, has a "safe range", to quote it's driver, of around 200 miles, and does everything well. It is on a rental agreement of around £400/month all in excluding insurance. I've had a go on a couple of E scooters, and they were fine for nipping about town, but restricted by a range of 20-30 miles. This can be doubled by purchasing an extra battery, but this comes at a price, (an extra £500 for a very basic example), and the scooters I used had a charge time of around 7 hours via a 13 amp plug, so no on street charging facilities.

Anyone else have any experience ?
 
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#1 ·
There are a couple of charging points at the train station mostly occupied by a dull as ditchwater Datsun

But I saw this on Saturday, a bit of Maserati look to it but never the less a smart bit of kit

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Surely the way forward, build a few more nuclear power station to get some clean leccy and some more of these on the road.
 
#2 ·
Surely the way forward, build a few more nuclear power station to get some clean leccy and some more of these on the road.
They could if they wanted to but deliberately don't.

When they first started making nuclear power there are videos of top government guys saying " we can now make electricity so cheaply, we are going to give it away for free"

So if they could have give it away back then, what is different now ? Surely nuclear plant are more efficient now
 
#9 ·
They could if they wanted to but deliberately don't.

When they first started making nuclear power there are videos of top government guys saying " we can now make electricity so cheaply, we are going to give it away for free"
I remember them saying that about North Sea Gas :)
 
#3 ·
There are a couple of charging points at the train station mostly occupied by a dull as ditchwater Datsun

But I saw this on Saturday, a bit of Maserati look to it but never the less a smart bit of kit

image_zpsbw16ypp1.jpg


Surely the way forward, build a few more nuclear power station to get some clean leccy and some more of these on the road.
Nice knees, do you veet?? :)

Or, seeing's as we live on a lump of coal, dig the stuff up and burn it!!
 
#5 ·
For those of you that are car reliant and I've been there, live half my life stuck on the M1 maybe the work/life balance needs a look at as well

But hey we all need that big shack with a hot tub on the decking and £100 quid restaurant bills

:biggrin:

And by the way I don't Veet but who knows what Big M does to me after I have a few V&RB's and pass out

:laugh: :laugh:
 
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#11 ·
There will most likely be some way to get into it, even my old Merc has a small flap that allows access to one door with a conventional key if the battery goes flat.

And how did we go from electric cars to our folicular challenge?

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Even though some here winge it's par for the course, a bit like my local, nobody talks about the beer for long

:laugh: :laugh:

I'll keep my eye out for the postman.

:biggrin:
 
#13 ·
Seems to be a bit of a thing Stateside recently. I caught an episode of Wheeler Dealers the other night and they updated an old Maserati to a modern electric drive train.

 
#15 ·
Maybe easier than you think all be it not cheap. A few people in the UK doing electric conversion.

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/features/electrified-aston-martin-db6-driving-future-proof-classic

I could live with something along these lines, it's only a 20 mile round trip to work and a few miles at the weekend for some shopping, if we go out of town we just use the local trains which are cheap and reasonably frequent. The station is only five minutes walk away

https://www.electricclassiccars.co.uk/
 
#21 ·
I used to think that - and I use to think hybrids made more sense or that hydrogen fuel cells would become more popular and ultimately prevail.

However, I then watched this video and it got me thinking. I rarely have to drive more than 250 miles and I could just charge up over night and never have to have the faff of going to a petrol station.

Without a internal combustion engine, the cooling that it needs and a large fuel tank that can't be as conveniently positioned an electric vehicle can be much better 'packaged'.

I still have a petrol engine car at the moment - but I'm coming to the conclusion that for me at least - electric makes more

http://



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
#22 ·
That's interesting, I thought wireless (inductive) charging was either too slow or a hazard - so apparently science has made a step forward.

Not sure where I read that but the charging power required to actually charge a car overnight would apparently endanger small animals / toddlers etc. if they get between the charger and the car.

Then again, that might be a welcome protection against martens / ferrets nibbling on the car's brake pipe. :biggrin:
 
#23 ·
I agree with your first sentiment, Steve @WRENCH, and your Betamax comparison strikes a chord with my own feelings about electric cars. For me, there appear to be two almost insurmountable long-term drawbacks to electric cars. Firstly, there is the problem of just how many accessible charging points are going to be available when motorists start buying electric cars in large numbers, and secondly, there is the problem of how we are going to safely dispose of all the used lithium batteries.
 
#24 ·
I borrowed a BMW i3 for the day recently. It is seriously quick - quicker 0-30 than a M4 - and range would rarely be an issue. But rarely isn't never, and as yet the infrastructure isn't in place. Plus a new one is £38k, whereas half that would get me a decent petrol car.

Petrol for another few years here
 
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#27 ·
I think it will for low mileage users. There are a few "e-vans" appearing in my area, but what will happen is that car ownership will become almost impossible for anyone on a low income given the cost of owning these things, although predictions are that prices will become more realistic as production increases. I've spoken to a few people that "own"/drive e-cars, and so far, they're all leased, with the payment costs being linked to annual mileage.
 
#31 ·
we do not have the infrastructure or the generated electrical capacity or home electrical capacity/ facilities for every one to have a electric car and will not have for some time , so range is only ok/good if you can charge the car .

deano
 
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#34 ·
I'm sure there weren't many petrol stations around when the first cars were introduced. Gradual transition to electric vehicles will drive innovation and change. Batteries, motors etc will improve in efficiency and I suppose one good thing is that much of the demand for charging will come from overnight demand?

I'm pretty excited about autonomous vehicles with no steering wheel and a drinks cabinet.
 
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#38 · (Edited by Moderator)
I'm sure there weren't many petrol stations around when the first cars were introduced
true, but it was only the privileged and rich who had cars then , common people ran horse and carts , trolly bus or walked, which is what some would like to see return, until there is a model T electric car for the masses then I see car ownership declining, also don't see electric becoming cheaper to purchase as demand rises un like oil / petroleum did either. I may be biased as a old petrol head :laugh:

deano
 
#47 ·
I want to know were all this electricity is coming from? to run all this, and together with the banning of gas boilers/heating in new build homes from 2025? were is this extra electric coming from?

deano
 
#48 ·
were is this extra electric coming from?
I don't know, but my home has the latest spec insulation, and the heating is off from March till November, and even in the coldest days this winter the heating is on for one hour a day, 1/2 hour in the morning and another 1/2 in the evening. So in theory, the power consumption in new builds is greatly reduced, unless you fill them with gadgets. I agree with the poor thinking 're infrastructure for electric cars. If public transport was even acceptable, more would use it. All new rural housing where I live have solar panels as part of spec, and the local park and ride is undergoing a huge expansion of charging facilities.
 
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