Electric Cars
- Thread starter foxspeed
- Start date
D
Deleted member 534
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Also, is that your house???!!!I’ve had a BMW i3 range extender for the last couple of years. It might look like it’s been modelled on Kryten’s head, but it’s been an absolute joy to own and drive.
Twin rear engined, carbon fibre chassis, rear wheel drive - what’s not to like (yeah yeah…but looks are subjective!)?
We keep it charged up from a mix of solar panels and “cheap” overnight tariffs (sadly not as cheap as they once were - oh how I took for granted paying 4p/kWh). If we want to do more than 90 miles in one trip it’ll happily do 50mpg from its 8 litre tank (can’t be bothered fighting with people for the knackered, over-used public chargers).
It’s also great fun to drive. I have a GR Yaris and a Boxster at my disposal but I certainly never feel short changed when driving the i3.
Definitely a place for electric, even in a petrolhead’s garage
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coldcuppatea
Devoted member
- Sep 26, 2022
- 73
- 191
Our charging network just isn’t good enough for battery only, not unless you have a Tesla, something with a massive range or enjoy crippling range anxiety. Prices went crazy on these here too since we bought it. Last time I looked they were selling for more than we paid for it in July 2020. Crazy times.
Where in Sweden are you. I spent 3 years working in windy Malmö!
It is…not
Although it is a place that we stayed that inspired us to sell up in Sheffield and move to Wales.Bronson
Totally Hooked
As Tesla (and others) continue to hike their kW charges and petrol comes down a little bit, it's worth noting that in real world tests that at 71p per kW that's nearing the equivalent of 35mpg. If you're desperate/crazy/unfortunate enough to land on an Ionity charger or similar you could be paying over £1 a kW.
In my ninth year of driving electric vehicles I'd like to think I have some real world experience of these damned things. Claimed range, of any make, is often 30-50% above real world ranges. My current EV, a Model Y, has a claimed range of 331 miles - I work this out to be closer to 210-240 when using it. A good rule of thumb is 3 miles per kW.
A gallon of V-Power was £8.40, last time I filled up. If a kW is costing 71p and I'm only getting 3 miles out of one, that's 23.667p per mile.
840/23.667 = 35.5 mpg.
Now not all my charging is done at 71p per kW, with my overnight electricity rate the equivalent mpg rate jumps to 229 mpg, but it's an illustration that how you charge and when you charge is very important - and you're stuffed if you want to go any reasonable distance.
In my ninth year of driving electric vehicles I'd like to think I have some real world experience of these damned things. Claimed range, of any make, is often 30-50% above real world ranges. My current EV, a Model Y, has a claimed range of 331 miles - I work this out to be closer to 210-240 when using it. A good rule of thumb is 3 miles per kW.
A gallon of V-Power was £8.40, last time I filled up. If a kW is costing 71p and I'm only getting 3 miles out of one, that's 23.667p per mile.
840/23.667 = 35.5 mpg.
Now not all my charging is done at 71p per kW, with my overnight electricity rate the equivalent mpg rate jumps to 229 mpg, but it's an illustration that how you charge and when you charge is very important - and you're stuffed if you want to go any reasonable distance.
MarkinStoke
Obsessed member
Totally agree, my works EV is forever sat at chargers and finding ones that are working or don't already have a queue of people waiting to use the are getting harder, I hate ev's with a passion, the last charger that was installed in Stoke on Trent was about 18months ago and nothing since. I won't be going ev until the gun is to my head.
MarkinStoke
Obsessed member
Today I started with a range of 149 miles I actually travelled 16 with the heater on and I'm now at 88 miles, I near as damn it have to charge every day and each time is around the hour mark.
D
Deleted member 534
Guests
Wife's Leaf range has dropped from 150 to 130ish in the winter. Cold weather is making mincemeat of the battery.
Fuel consumption goes up too massively on short trips from a frozen ICE, but yes BEV's can half their range in nordic winters, well at least with heat pumps, without can be even worse as there is no huge heat waste as with ICE. At the same time, more cars allow battery preheating when still at home on the cable, and preheating before charging. Here I was charging 4x faster then my neighbour chargers with 800v and pre-heating, so it's not all doom and gloom...
MarkinStoke
Obsessed member
Yesterday was a pita, put the van on charge at work and then came back an hour and half later to find the charger had developed a ground fault and had only added 4 miles to my range before stopping
I then swapped it to another only to find that didn't work either
coldcuppatea
Devoted member
- Sep 26, 2022
- 73
- 191
Yesterday was a pita, put the van on charge at work and then came back an hour and half later to find the charger had developed a ground fault and had only added 4 miles to my range before stopping
The charging infrastructure is dreadful isn’t it. I bought my first EV in 2014 and the situation has barely changed since then despite a vast increase in the number of EV on the road. I have a couple of i3 with range extenders so I’m rarely in a situation where I am reliant on public chargers, but when I try to charge I’d say 9 out of 10 times the charger is broken, faulty, occupied, ICE’d or just an absolute pain in the backside to get working.
Kiwi Greg
Obsessed member
Sounds fantastic
Bronson
Totally Hooked
The list of complaints goes on…
In the last few weeks I’ve had my wall charger at home ‘condemned’ by an electrician as it doesn’t meet the latest requirements. It’s been installed since March 2020.
It does meet the standards as far as he’s concerned but according to the NICEIC it doesn’t. As far as advice from U.K. Power Networks, my provider and government ‘guidelines’ it’s perfectly fine to use. But then each of them have got conflicting opinions, largely around RCD protection, but increasingly over consumption. I can use my one only if I pay another £500 for a special RCD for three phase, which funnily enough has rocketed in price since the change of rules... The whole thing is a flipping mess. I’ve got access to another wall charger that’s 9 years old and installed under much different regulations, yet apparently that’s fine!
I come across a number of electricians through work and most are saying that they won’t touch home and especially commercial installations with a barge pole. The regulations are placing the onus on installers rather than suppliers and I think a lot of people will be caught out.
The problem with electric cars is what started off as something to genuinely liberate the masses in an efficient and effective way has been taken over by incompetent politicians and regulators who are driven more by ideological zealotry than any real life experiences.
Encourage people to use them, demonise those who don’t, then set about squeezing those that have swapped over through hiking the cost of usage and tightening consumption - and it’s the latter I’m convinced is going to be a big issue in the future. What did Reagan say, ‘government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem’…
In the last few weeks I’ve had my wall charger at home ‘condemned’ by an electrician as it doesn’t meet the latest requirements. It’s been installed since March 2020.
It does meet the standards as far as he’s concerned but according to the NICEIC it doesn’t. As far as advice from U.K. Power Networks, my provider and government ‘guidelines’ it’s perfectly fine to use. But then each of them have got conflicting opinions, largely around RCD protection, but increasingly over consumption. I can use my one only if I pay another £500 for a special RCD for three phase, which funnily enough has rocketed in price since the change of rules... The whole thing is a flipping mess. I’ve got access to another wall charger that’s 9 years old and installed under much different regulations, yet apparently that’s fine!
I come across a number of electricians through work and most are saying that they won’t touch home and especially commercial installations with a barge pole. The regulations are placing the onus on installers rather than suppliers and I think a lot of people will be caught out.
The problem with electric cars is what started off as something to genuinely liberate the masses in an efficient and effective way has been taken over by incompetent politicians and regulators who are driven more by ideological zealotry than any real life experiences.
Encourage people to use them, demonise those who don’t, then set about squeezing those that have swapped over through hiking the cost of usage and tightening consumption - and it’s the latter I’m convinced is going to be a big issue in the future. What did Reagan say, ‘government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem’…
coldcuppatea
Devoted member
- Sep 26, 2022
- 73
- 191
Strange thing for the head of a government to say really
Government really should be providing the solution to the crap charging infrastructure.You would think that any government that legislates for a switch in how we fuel our vehicles might also be able to legislate to provide a means to get the new fuel to the new vehicles.
I’m amazed how few petrol stations have any charging facilities. With a bit of carrot and a bit of stick, any government could make sure that all the big players are providing a minimum number of chargers on each forecourt.
They could also make sure that every charging point can provide a charge with nothing more than the tap of a contactless card (and I mean an actual debit or credit card, not some godawful RFID card which will reach you about 2 weeks after you needed to charge or a heinous app to prioritise data harvesting ahead of charging the damned car).
As it is, it appears that it’s going to be left entirely to market forces, which means it’ll get there eventually as it becomes profitable enough, but in the meantime screw those who are making the transition that they are demanding.
Bronson
Totally Hooked
He was referring to the mess he was about to inherit!
This could have been the argument 5-6 years ago but not now. It’s precisely because governments have got involved that has caused the problem. They didn’t need to mandate for scrapping ICE cars by 2030, they didn’t need to manufacture an energy crisis by stifling domestic production because of the shoutiness of a minority causing us to rely on despotic regimes, they didn’t need to create planning issues so that we can’t even get fricking wind farms built etc. The list goes on…
Five years ago subsidies were announced to encourage companies to install hydrogen filling stations. We were supposed to have 200 by 2021, we don’t have a fraction of that. It was government interference, excessive regulation and scrapping tax incentives that has killed the hydrogen production industry in this country.
Government can’t provide solutions because it is neither dynamic, competitive or competent enough. We have a managerial class of politicians that are Jack of all trades and master of none. They’re useless.
This could have been the argument 5-6 years ago but not now. It’s precisely because governments have got involved that has caused the problem. They didn’t need to mandate for scrapping ICE cars by 2030, they didn’t need to manufacture an energy crisis by stifling domestic production because of the shoutiness of a minority causing us to rely on despotic regimes, they didn’t need to create planning issues so that we can’t even get fricking wind farms built etc. The list goes on…
Five years ago subsidies were announced to encourage companies to install hydrogen filling stations. We were supposed to have 200 by 2021, we don’t have a fraction of that. It was government interference, excessive regulation and scrapping tax incentives that has killed the hydrogen production industry in this country.
Government can’t provide solutions because it is neither dynamic, competitive or competent enough. We have a managerial class of politicians that are Jack of all trades and master of none. They’re useless.
coldcuppatea
Devoted member
- Sep 26, 2022
- 73
- 191
Coastliner
Dedicated member
The answer is not electric. 
coldcuppatea
Devoted member
- Sep 26, 2022
- 73
- 191
Depends what the question isThe answer is not electric.
0-60mph and 1/4 mile records set for carwow at Silverstone in McMurtry Spéirling - McMurtry Automotive
The McMurtry Spéirling fan car has achieved an independently measured 0-60mph in 1.40s and 1/4mile (400m) in 7.97s during filming for one of YouTube’s largest automotive channels, carwow. This makes it the fastest accelerating car they have ever tested, surpassing some of the World’s greatest...
mcmurtry.com
Bloody hell that's rapid, and even more impressive is the way its meant to handle because of the combination of the weight of the car and the downforce generated by the fans at any speed.
It was pretty quick at Goodwood doing the hill climb earlier this year:
