What's the problem with electric cars?

[Thekilt]

Originally Posted by baggy798

Sounds like constant range anxiety, analogous to an ICE owner only being able to put in a tenner each time.

"Oh s**t! Need to fill up! 😨"

*finds petrol station, fills up with £10*

"Ahh.. all better. 😌"

*2 minutes later, casually glances at fuel gauge*

"Oh s**t! Need to fill up! 😨"

Nightmare. Anxiety is really bad and can drastically reduce your lifespan. With ICE, you only live twice... as long!

Tad bit of over exageration there. to me its not an issue, as i tend to stop for a coffee its just being selective about where you stop. To me the benefits of the electric outweigh the odd long journeys and not needing to stop. I tend to have to stop for toilet breaks more often anyway as i have the baldder of a 10 year old, and even on the above trips there were stops just quick toilet breaks.

I am sure there were similar conversations between horse and cart owners and the new generation of Automobile drivers....

[GSS]

Originally Posted by Thekilt

All in all not so different than using a normal car.

Really? According to your narrative you recharged or topped up seven times. If I had to do that with my V70 diesel over that sort of mileage I would be looking to see if I had a hole in the fuel tank!

[Forg]

Originally Posted by GSS

Really? According to your narrative you recharged or topped up seven times. If I had to do that with my V70 diesel over that sort of mileage I would be looking to see if I had a hole in the fuel tank!

But never having to use a filthy diseasal bowser is worth filling-up even every 100 miles!!!

Seriously, is there some unspoken rule that diseasal nozzle users must spray fuel all over the handle before they put it back in the bowser? Or is ensuring a filthy handle part of the service offered by service station operators?

[GSS]

Originally Posted by Forg

But never having to use a filthy diseasal bowser is worth filling-up even every 100 miles!!!

Seriously, is there some unspoken rule that diseasal nozzle users must spray fuel all over the handle before they put it back in the bowser? Or is ensuring a filthy handle part of the service offered by service station operators?

In the 25 years I have been driving diesels I have only once ever come across a fuel pump nozzle which was contaminated by fuel and I have never felt the need to use the gloves supplied by the service station. Fuel will only get onto the handle if someone tries to fill their tank to the absolute brim too quickly and a blowback occurs and the diesel has "frothed up."

And No; it isn't worth having to fill up "even every 100 miles". It's not even worth it if I had to fill up every 500 miles.

[Forg]

When I've rented a diseasal I've grabbed (if I remember!) a pack of disposable gloves ... they tend to be left/right interchangeable, and you don't need to touch the filthy handle with both hands, so the pack lasts a while.

[Kev0607]

I always use gloves at the fuel pumps. Diesel gives me a rash on my skin.

Originally Posted by Thekilt

Tad bit of over exageration there. to me its not an issue, as i tend to stop for a coffee its just being selective about where you stop. To me the benefits of the electric outweigh the odd long journeys and not needing to stop. I tend to have to stop for toilet breaks more often anyway as i have the baldder of a 10 year old, and even on the above trips there were stops just quick toilet breaks.

I am sure there were similar conversations between horse and cart owners and the new generation of Automobile drivers....

Out of curiosity, do you know how much the electric top-ups cost you on your recent trip?

[Thekilt]

Just to clear a few things up:

1. I never once had any "Anxiety" around range. I could have made the full journey to London wihtout stopping if i could charge overnight but where I parked there was no charging so had to do it juring the journey.

2. I plug in every night and top the car up, like you do your phone. I dont know very many people if any who wait until their phones go almost dead then put on charge. Its not good for the battery. It is recommended to keep batteries charged between 60-90% majority of the time and only above 90% if your going on a long journey. Day to day i probably only use about 20 miles range each day so i tend to charge every night as i can only charge 35 miles over night at present on the slow charge at my home (3 pin plug). If i had the 7k2 charger i could charge 42kw overnight on the 7.5p per kw rate given me 125 miles. A vast difference.

3. Comparing high performance electric cars to a V70 diesel that you can get 500-600 miles range, maybe more if you are really frugle isnt comparible. As i stated in my original Journey discription i wasnt hanging around so comparing apples with apples would be with an Audi RS6 or similar....think of the fuel used in a car like that.

As for how much the charging cost, i charged 4 times at Tesla Superchagers which cost a total of £72.49. I did a total of 710 miles trip on those costs. I did charge at home 2 of the nights, which only adds approximately 35 miles of charge a night as i am still on the slow 3 pin plug, but i didnt include that as we also went around sunday and monday which would have used that charge.

this equates to 10p per mile. previously my diesel estate would get roughly 500 miles from a full tank which used to cost roughly £100 to fill up which equates to 20p per mile, and would have cost me £142 for the trips i did.

In all i am happy with electric cars and it suits me. Again it wont suit everyone, especially if you do long journeys all the time or you dont have the infrastructure to charge sufficiently.

[Forg]

I'm seeing a few more cars coming out with wireless charging ... for example the most recent A Bath 500e has it ... intrigues me you could put a big pad-thingy on the floor of your garage, park on top of that, and not ever even have to think about using an electron-bowser, just drive & drive & drive.

[Kev0607]

Originally Posted by Thekilt

Just to clear a few things up:

1. I never once had any "Anxiety" around range. I could have made the full journey to London wihtout stopping if i could charge overnight but where I parked there was no charging so had to do it juring the journey.

2. I plug in every night and top the car up, like you do your phone. I dont know very many people if any who wait until their phones go almost dead then put on charge. Its not good for the battery. It is recommended to keep batteries charged between 60-90% majority of the time and only above 90% if your going on a long journey. Day to day i probably only use about 20 miles range each day so i tend to charge every night as i can only charge 35 miles over night at present on the slow charge at my home (3 pin plug). If i had the 7k2 charger i could charge 42kw overnight on the 7.5p per kw rate given me 125 miles. A vast difference.

3. Comparing high performance electric cars to a V70 diesel that you can get 500-600 miles range, maybe more if you are really frugle isnt comparible. As i stated in my original Journey discription i wasnt hanging around so comparing apples with apples would be with an Audi RS6 or similar....think of the fuel used in a car like that.

As for how much the charging cost, i charged 4 times at Tesla Superchagers which cost a total of £72.49. I did a total of 710 miles trip on those costs. I did charge at home 2 of the nights, which only adds approximately 35 miles of charge a night as i am still on the slow 3 pin plug, but i didnt include that as we also went around sunday and monday which would have used that charge.

this equates to 10p per mile. previously my diesel estate would get roughly 500 miles from a full tank which used to cost roughly £100 to fill up which equates to 20p per mile, and would have cost me £142 for the trips i did.

In all i am happy with electric cars and it suits me. Again it wont suit everyone, especially if you do long journeys all the time or you dont have the infrastructure to charge sufficiently.

Thank you for your response.

Personally, I can see the benefit of having an electric car if you're doing shorter journeys. On a longer journey, with the present charging infrastructure in this country for "ordinary" cars, it seems like a faff and a lot of time stopping and starting your journey.

You're lucky that you have a Tesla, as they generally have a very good charging hubs all over the place (here anyway where I live). I heard fairly recently on the radio that a person who had a Jaguar electric car was on a long journey and he had a very dire experience, as most of the places he went to charge had long queues or the chargers simply didn't work. He said he would never bring his electric car on a long journey again. In fact, he traded it in for an ICE vehicle. If he had a Tesla, then it may have not been so much of a problem.

The fuel/electric calculations sound promising, but there's not as much in the difference as I thought there would be. It cost you £73 roughly on electric, the same journey in the Volvo would have cost £142.. .Lets say double to keep things easy, but you stopped several times. Yes we all need a toilet break and a drink, but you stopped realistically not just for toilet breaks and drinks, but to charge the car for the next leg of your journey whilst you were at it.

In a diesel car, you wouldn't have to stop as much... so long as there's fuel and you don't need a drink/toilet break, you keep going. I think the same journey in an ICE car wouldn't have taken you as long. Yes, you didn't spend as much money, but you "spent" more of your time.

Also, not forgetting the price of the Tesla. You'd buy a lot of diesel for the Volvo or another ICE car for what you spent to buy that, I imagine. Tesla's certainly aren't cheap.

[ITSv40]

I'm neutral when it comes to the electric versus ICE debate. Electric doesn't really interest me and I have no need or desire to replace my current cars in the near future.

I met a chap a few weeks ago who is on his third Tesla and wouldn't buy anything else. I asked about range anxiety and he replied that he had recently completed a continental journey with no issues. He started from home - in Northamptonshire - and travelled across France, around the coast of Italy, down the Adriatic and ended up in Greece. Then returned via a more direct route. He was also planning a similar journey via France, up through the Netherlands, Germany and around Scandinavia and back. I asked how he knew where to recharge and apparently Tesla monitors his journey and battery condition and suggests the nearest charging point. If that one is busy he will be directed to the next nearest without a queue.

I was quite impressed, but found it equally creepy that Tesla were monitoring his every move. No idea if he was talking utter bull, but he is not a chap known for that.