12 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

@rjack1282, the situation is very different in the U.K. to the US. How much things change in the years to come is unknown.

Yes completely agree the practicality of EV ownership is very situationally dependent. 

I love the pro-EV commentary from people who don't drive one and have never even owned one LOL!

If you live in an urban area where there is an abundance of charging stations and you mostly make short trips, then an EV might be practical.

Check out these videos for a dose of reality:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-M9Z6F18Vk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vOT4Z3HclM

There are many others similar to these.  When these things are truly ready, probably in about a decade, I'll get one.

Dave

Edited March 10, 20224 yr by dave2013

2 hours ago, JRMurray said:

As for the battery, most manufacturers guarantee the batteries for 8 years or 160,000 kms,

Thats what the hybrid system on my Prius is guaranteed for.  96 months/100,000 miles.

Noel

One can also relieve any "range anxiety" by keeping a small Predator* generator in the trunk to generate enough charge in their EV's battery pack to reach the next charging station. 

* Predator is Harbor Freight's "Honda" clone.

13 minutes ago, n4gix said:

One can also relieve any "range anxiety" by keeping a small Predator* generator in the trunk to generate enough charge in their EV's battery pack to reach the next charging station. 

* Predator is Harbor Freight's "Honda" clone.

Ummm. Make sure the exhaust is being directed outside the vehicle or one wouldn't make it to the next charge station..or anywhere as far as that goes!

4 minutes ago, Adrian123 said:

Ummm. Make sure the exhaust is being directed outside the vehicle or one wouldn't make it to the next charge station..or anywhere as far as that goes!

I was unclear. I was suggesting that one would pull off the road and sit still while charging off the generator. 😉

6 minutes ago, n4gix said:

I was unclear. I was suggesting that one would pull off the road and sit still while charging off the generator. 😉

Assuming the generator is outside of the vehicle when running!

5 minutes ago, charliearon said:

Assuming the generator is outside of the vehicle when running!

If the generator is in the trunk and one leaves the trunk open, there shouldn't be a problem...

10 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

You live in Guernsey don’t you? Maximum distance you can drive must be <50 miles.

 

 

Getting over range anxiety isn't elated to living in Guernsey on a small island. General consensus amongst EV owners. As per the opinion of the EV driver earlier in the thread.

https://fullycharged.show/blog/why-range-anxiety-is-a-myth/#:~:text=In recent years%2C electric vehicles,true in the first place.

We have just over 1000 here apparently. The police have quite a few.  Although shipping cars over here can be troublesome. There are only 3 charging stations on the island, but of course charging at home is the preferred option given the size of the island. That's not an option for those without on street or on drive parking facilities though (like me). My daughter has to park her Fiat Hybrid in secure parking. Parking is a big issue here. 

 

Quote

Well sadly we can’t all afford Tesla’s. I imagine your bog standard EV batteries will be very different to the Tesla.

 

Nope, not really, applies to all EV batteries. Tesla batteries are good, but not magical. There's no physics defying stuff going on. Its not just Tesla batteries that have a long enough lifespan to be used for "second life" batteries after use in a car. 

I find the following statistic interesting regarding driving in the US and the requirement for range.

 

Quote

Did you know that the 95% of car journeys in the US are under 48km (30 miles)?

In fact, according to the US Department of Energy, 60% of all vehicle trips are less than 9km (6 miles) and the average individual car journey is just 15.1km (9.4 miles), rising to 19.4km (12.1 miles) for rural areas.

 

 

https://fullycharged.show/blog/why-range-anxiety-is-a-myth/#:~:text=In recent years%2C electric vehicles,true in the first place.

 

Quote

 

Of course, one of the supporting factors in “range anxiety” was the availability of EV charging points, and again this situation has changed rapidly.

There are now over 20,200 charging points at over 7,000 locations in the UK alone and this number continues to grow

 

 

Quote

Northern Europe offers a fantastic case study for the future of EV charging, where three in four new cars sold are EVs. At present, there are about five EVs on the road for every public charging point, but by 2020 the European Commission expects the region to boast 220,000 chargers at a ratio of 10:1. These sites will offer up to 400km of driving range in only 15 minutes, with one recharging point every 34km on average according to a study by Transport & Environment.

 

13 minutes ago, martin-w said:

We have just over 1000 here apparently. The police have quite a few.  Although shipping cars over here can be troublesome. There are only 3 charging stations on the island,

The authorities need to get their act together.

10 hours ago, dave2013 said:

I love the pro-EV commentary from people who don't drive one and have never even owned one LOL!

 

I could reverse your logic and say, you having a negative opinion isn't valid because you "don't drive one and have never even owned one". 

I won't though because the facts are available for all to research whether you own one or not. And of course many of us have, used to have, friends, relatives neighbours with electric cars. Like my neighbour who had a Model X and raved about it. 

I'm unbiased, I look at the facts, but you Dave, like with other topics you comment on, seem to be biased against no matter what evidence you are shown. I would regard you as a cynic rather than a sceptic. 

And I'm afraid that cheery picking a couple of videos on YouTube doesn't really work when there are even more videos with a positive opinion. In fact we have electric car owners in this very thread providing very positive opinions. I'm sure they aren't telling fibs and they DO have first hand experience and do own one.  

I'm sure you have seen the EV owners comment on the previous page where he states that once you drive an EV you don't go back. Not sure about you... but I believe him. 

 

 

Edited March 11, 20224 yr by martin-w

10 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

The authorities need to get their act together.

 

How so? You mean charging stations? I'm not sure we need them. Driving home to charge  is something like 20 minutes not often more.

 

13 hours ago, martin-w said:

 

Range anxiety, so I'm told, is something you get over pretty quick. My old Mazda CX5 had a range of only 365 miles according to the trip computer. Many electric cars exceed that. And when we consider the performance you get, comparable to a Lamborghini or Ferrari, well those guys have a minuscule range. 

Some electric vehicles have a neutral mode for towing, most don't though, so its a flat bed required. Not a bid deal really. From what I've read companies are working on a solution for this. I've been towed once in my entire driving history. 

 

 

Its not an issue. battery life for a Tesla is between 300,000 and 500,000 miles. Tesla batteries retain 80% of their range after 80,000 miles. There are Tesla's used as taxi's that have done phenomenal ranges. I've never come anywhere near putting 500,000 miles on a car before changing it. Think the max I've done is about 70,000. Petrol cars have usually cost you a fortune in repairs and parts by the time they are getting up to 100,000 miles. 

The other point of course is that even after a battery has done 300,000 miles, they are still used for grid scale storage, so called "second life batteries". 

Myths and misconceptions about electric cars abound. 

 

The main problem here is that Electric cars need electricity and that is in very short supply😔

32 minutes ago, IanHarrison said:

The main problem here is that Electric cars need electricity and that is in very short supply😔

 

Short supply? How do you mean?