Electric cars.

Cue

Well-Known Forumite
Mate of mine used that excuse. He has a diesel 5 series estate, which has a claimed 700 mile range when it's brimmed. Reckons that sort of range is essential to him.

It takes him over two weeks before he has to fill it again usually...

:roll:
Some people just don’t wanna know

And then they’ll complain that fuel prices are too high, and get upset when an EV leaves them at the lights.
 

timmo

Well-Known Forumite
Some people just don’t wanna know

And then they’ll complain that fuel prices are too high, and get upset when an EV leaves them at the lights.
It is a salient point however. Somebody boasting about a 360 mile trip on a single charge obviously has deeper pockets than most. If you do regular hour it’s of 260 miles plus with the toss normal people can afford life will be pretty miserable.
 

proactive

Enjoying a drop of red.
It is a salient point however. Somebody boasting about a 360 mile trip on a single charge obviously has deeper pockets than most. If you do regular hour it’s of 260 miles plus with the toss normal people can afford life will be pretty miserable.
Firstly I'm not boasting. I'm simply attempting to demonstrate that life with an EV is not the total misery many on here seem to believe.

Secondly, even a cursory glance at what's coming down the line in the next 12 or so months would show you that it's not going to be too long before 300 miles plus is nothing out of the ordinary.

Thirdly, I've no idea what your last sentence means. The English language is a wonderful thing, you should try it some time.
 

timmo

Well-Known Forumite
Firstly I'm not boasting. I'm simply attempting to demonstrate that life with an EV is not the total misery many on here seem to believe.

Secondly, even a cursory glance at what's coming down the line in the next 12 or so months would show you that it's not going to be too long before 300 miles plus is nothing out of the ordinary.

Thirdly, I've no idea what your last sentence means. The English language is a wonderful thing, you should try it some time.
You’re obviously boasting that your ev is extremely high end- model 3dm? Model S? Secondly if it’s all £30-40k plus then so what? Thirdly how have you been able to reply to my post were it something unfathomable?
 

Cue

Well-Known Forumite
At a point, range becomes more about marketing than anything else

Nobody is going 300+ miles without a break as a normal journey. That’s insanity. You only need to stop for 20 minutes, stretch your legs and grab a bite and you’ll have pumped most of the battery back into the car with CCS rates at 120kw on the motorways.

FYI a 62kwh Leaf is sub-30k used. You don’t need to spend 30-40k on a car to get a perfectly usable range
 

Noah

Well-Known Forumite
Aston Marina are planning to put in 16 car charging points. Useful if you are using the restaurant. (they say a mix of slow and fast charging points but no details).
 

BobClay

Well-Known Forumite
It is difficult to imagine 007 driving an Aston Marina. It would have to be pink, but how would that go with the motorised Gatling guns in each wing. Of course this opinion is probably politically incorrect .... I mean ... a future Bond film would have to have Lena Headey as Ernst Stavro Blofeld. !!!

(Come to think of it, that would work .... :mad:)
 

timmo

Well-Known Forumite
At a point, range becomes more about marketing than anything else

Nobody is going 300+ miles without a break as a normal journey. That’s insanity. You only need to stop for 20 minutes, stretch your legs and grab a bite and you’ll have pumped most of the battery back into the car with CCS rates at 120kw on the motorways.

FYI a 62kwh Leaf is sub-30k used. You don’t need to spend 30-40k on a car to get a perfectly usable range

I regularly make the 265 drive to my old man’s in one sitting. Why would I want to add an extra 30-60 minutes because the car can’t hack it?

Having lived with a Nissan Leaf I’m fully aware of just how many times I’d need to stop on that journey at motorway speeds…

I’m all for an ev revolution but at the minute aside from high end playthings and vastly overpriced sub-par 2030 will be the death knell for many in the world of personal mobility. Who knows, maybe that is the idea?
 

proactive

Enjoying a drop of red.
They’re not scrapping every ICE in 2030. Nor are they banning the sale of used ICEs. They’re stopping manufacturers from selling new ones.
End of course today's new EVs are tomorrow's used.

Besides, the car manufacturers will have cracked the affordable decent range EV by then. They have already to be fair with the MG5 Estate. I've been driving one for a couple of weeks and will report on it when I can be bothered to your the post.

It's the charging infrastructure that will let us all down unless government and providers work together to get things sorted.
 

timmo

Well-Known Forumite
They’re not scrapping every ICE in 2030. Nor are they banning the sale of used ICEs. They’re stopping manufacturers from selling new ones.
Let’s hope they’re less than £45k for a decent one by then…
 

timmo

Well-Known Forumite
It's the charging infrastructure that will let us all down unless government and providers work together to get things sorted.

That’s another biggie. if like me you haven’t the option of home charging you’re high as dry in many respects.
 

The Hawk

Well-Known Forumite
It's the charging infrastructure that will let us all down unless government and providers work together to get things sorted.
I tend to plan my longer journeys, as I like to take advantage of the free chargers that are out there, rather than drop in on motorway service stations (which I've always tried to avoid). So far (9 months in), I've not had any issues with the charging infrastructure, with all my target chargers being in working order and available on arrival.

Yesterday I made a return journey to Bempton, Yorkshire (just over 300 miles). I did a couple of stops on the outward journey, 30 minutes at Tesco Alfreton (with its free 22kWh chargers) and 50 minutes at Lidl, Driffield (22kWh at 26p per kWh). First stop (Alfreton) was to grab a drink and the latter stop (Driffield) was for lunch and to top up the battery, so that I could continue to Bempton and make the return journey without any further charging stops.

That stop at Driffield was the first time I've paid to charge, whilst out and about, but the free chargers in Driffield were only 7kWh, so I was happy to pay the £4.16 for the faster charge. Total cost (including home charging) for the return journey was approximately £15.

So far, as I said, I've had no issues with the charging infrastructure but, in the future, that will obviously depend on the rollout of the charging infrastructure keeping up by the surging demand for electric vehicles.
 

Mudgie

Well-Known Forumite
I tend to plan my longer journeys, as I like to take advantage of the free chargers that are out there, rather than drop in on motorway service stations (which I've always tried to avoid). So far (9 months in), I've not had any issues with the charging infrastructure, with all my target chargers being in working order and available on arrival.

Yesterday I made a return journey to Bempton, Yorkshire (just over 300 miles). I did a couple of stops on the outward journey, 30 minutes at Tesco Alfreton (with its free 22kWh chargers) and 50 minutes at Lidl, Driffield (22kWh at 26p per kWh). First stop (Alfreton) was to grab a drink and the latter stop (Driffield) was for lunch and to top up the battery, so that I could continue to Bempton and make the return journey without any further charging stops.

That stop at Driffield was the first time I've paid to charge, whilst out and about, but the free chargers in Driffield were only 7kWh, so I was happy to pay the £4.16 for the faster charge. Total cost (including home charging) for the return journey was approximately £15.

So far, as I said, I've had no issues with the charging infrastructure but, in the future, that will obviously depend on the rollout of the charging infrastructure keeping up by the surging demand for electric vehicles.
Maybe more pubs should have chargers in their car parks.
 

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
Always wondered why they don't use lamposts.
There has been a steady trend, in recent years, to move lampposts from the kerb to the far side of the footpath - there might be trip hazards, as a result, although that doesn't always seem to be a concern...

And there would be a matter of the current capacity of the supply, without some forward planning.
 

The Hawk

Well-Known Forumite
Always wondered why they don't use lamposts.
There are a growing number of companies installing lamp post EV chargers although, as @Gramaisc states, the lamp posts need to be positioned in the right place.

E.G. https://www.ubitricity.com/
all-ubitricity-chelsea-uk-web.jpg
 

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
There has been a steady trend, in recent years, to move lampposts from the kerb to the far side of the footpath - there might be trip hazards, as a result, although that doesn't always seem to be a concern...
This was the picture I had in mind when I made that comment.

E4i2NfhXIAABwfh.jpg:large
 

The Hawk

Well-Known Forumite
There are some innovative approaches being installed for those without off street parking.

Some Councils are installing charging gullies to allow cables to safely cross pavements, for example:
cable-channel-5-jpg.51833


And, of course, Stafford has been trialling pop up chargers (think rising bollards), installed by Urban Electric, similar to this one in Oxford:
 
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