Adventures in an all electric vehicle.

[Morrisman]

Biker friend of mine has just been given a company electric car, VW ID5. He really wants to hate it, as he is a full blooded petrol head..... but he has found it surprisingly easy to live with. Charging has been a doddle, he uses the app to find charging points, and it tells him if they are free or busy, and what amperage they can charge at, and even whether he can get to it on his current battery charge.

Eta. It calculates his usage per mile and it equates to almost identical costs to a diesel car of the same size.

 

[Erie Fred]

I mean it’s not like anything like that could happen to existing vehicles…

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True, however, charging stations are not mobile, and they are bolted to something in a public place, outside 24/7.

 

[daleyd]

True, however, charging stations are not mobile, and they are bolted to something in a public place, outside 24/7.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a catalytic converter being nicked from a car on the move though

 

[Cato]

I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a catalytic converter being nicked from a car on the move though

Catalytic converters did bring that silly car display tactic of sticking the cars facing the road with one front wheel on a little ramp to put them at an angle to an end.

Bristol Street Motors also found that it created a self service buffet for the tatters to whip the cats off.

 

[Bobtail4x4]

My car is plugged in when I am at home, if the sun is out the solar panels are charging the car for free,
overnight I have a 4.5p per unit rate, the car will do 5.5 miles per kwh
I come out of the house each day to a fully charged car, do 80 or so miles a day, and repeat,
its a pain using a normal car where I have to wait for a pump to come free to refill,

 

[daleyd]

Biker friend of mine has just been given a company electric car, VW ID5. He really wants to hate it, as he is a full blooded petrol head..... but he has found it surprisingly easy to live with. Charging has been a doddle, he uses the app to find charging points, and it tells him if they are free or busy, and what amperage they can charge at, and even whether he can get to it on his current battery charge.

Eta. It calculates his usage per mile and it equates to almost identical costs to a diesel car of the same size.

Pretty much same as us, we were looking for a car and were open to anything. We test drive a few, had decided against a ev then decided why not give an electric one a go just for the hell of it, and off the back of the test drive we decided to take the plunge.

It’s not what you would call an involving drive but then I can’t think of many cars I’ve ever owned that were. It is however silent, easy to drive and remarkably smooth.

As I said we charge mainly at home, overnight on an octopus ev rate. Works out at around 3p/mile, was about 2p before the rate increases this April. Even if the equivalent cost/mile was the same as petrol we would probably still choose an ev.

It won’t suit everyone that’s for sure, but we went into it with no pre conceived ideas or prejudice and we are more than happy with the choice. I will caveat that statement with the fact that it’s my wife’s car and we have access to another hybrid (company) car. But we pretty much always take her car when we need to go somewhere.

 

[Erie Fred]

I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a catalytic converter being nicked from a car on the move though

Please don't give them any ideas.....

 

[not done it yet]

I’ve only charged once at a public charger. Too expensive if it can be avoided.

After 231 miles from home, the car was down to 40 miles indicated range. It eventually cost me about thirty five quid to get home (only about 155 miles). I could have stopped part way home for a 25% cheaper charge rate, but chose not to.

155 miles from home could cost only £3, charging at home on the cheapest tariff available (and after spending out on an expensive charger!). It currently costs me rather more than that.

Amps charging rate can be misleading. My home connections can be either 10 or 29A (2.3 or 7kW). The charging rate for mine was the full 75kW output of the charger dropping to 74kW towards my target charge level.

I’ve no idea of the voltage but likely it was charging around 180-190 Amps? Rather less than 40 minutes to charge, from that particular charging station, including sorting out how to do it. It was only a mile from where we were staying, so quite convenient, if expensive.

Will I be changing it back to an ICE vehicle? Not B likely!

 

[atomant48]

I thought the Tesla superchargers were open to all now - think you have to set up the Tesla account (Tesla is pay once you’ve charged rather than swipe your card in advance). You can often get 200kW + out of them … depending on occupancy and etiquette !

I do get the frustration around the number of apps/charging providers …. Like him or not that is something Elon got very, very right.

Sounds like your son (OP) just needs a bit more time and pre-planning routes.

All that said (slightly different topic) we were out family riding in the new forest yesterday. One particularly tough hill where I was behind my daughter (8) probably doing about half a mph … and near the top I turned round to see an EV sat behind us with a row of cars behind her. I had no idea - maybe as an EV driver I’ll give a friendly beep to say I’m here on that situation.

 

[not done it yet]

I thought the Tesla superchargers were open to all now - think you have to set up the Tesla account (Tesla is pay once you’ve charged rather than swipe your card in advance). You can often get 200kW + out of them … depending on occupancy and etiquette !

Only a selection, at present, I believe. Perhaps only a dozen charging stations in England?

I had only to go about a mile out of my way to get to one but there was journey time to take into account as well as the short ‘splash’n’dash’ time - likely more time to organise the charge than taking charge - but that bit of extra time might have landed us in the rush hour period as well. It was easier to just get home, than mess around with my wife on board, to save a few pence at that point.

No range anxiety at all. For the whole journey it showed about ten miles range surplus. We arrived home with 4% SOC and 12 miles range. I don’t normally expect to run that low on charge (nor fully charge to 100%). 20-80% seems to be the recommended battery usage/charge levels for optimum battery life.

That gives it a range of about 160 miles, without exceeding the ideal charge levels. I expect charging at 7kW, to full charge, is less stressful on the battery than using a high power DC charger. Two charging stops should get us about 480 miles (up to Inverness and a bit) without any worries - unless we want/need to go at high speed.

 

[knighty]

my girlfriend has a hybrid golf and really likes it, gets about 25miles on electric only, so right now that easily gets her to work, it's really nice to drive.... really really nice

I've got a 2010 range rover, had it a long while now, thinking of getting a much newer one... but seriously thinking about a jaguar i-pace instead

love the comfort of the range rover but even after a remap it's slow

 

[tom 748]

ev not the answer,the japs will have it fixed shortly

 

[knighty]

have what fixed?

if I need to go on a long trip I'll take a work van or swap cars with my gf and use her hybrid

I like the comfort of the range rover (the reason I bought it) but miss the performance/driving feel of the XJR I had before it

I've been thinking about the 5.0 supercharged range rover.... but it feels like petrol/diesel cars are a dying breed.... maybe electric cars aren't right for everyone just yet... but eventually all cars will be electric

 

[m_c]

The Japanese are putting most of their efforts in to Hydrogen Fuel Cells, not pure battery EV.

 

[Erie Fred]

Only a selection, at present, I believe. Perhaps only a dozen charging stations in England?

I had only to go about a mile out of my way to get to one but there was journey time to take into account as well as the short ‘splash’n’dash’ time - likely more time to organise the charge than taking charge - but that bit of extra time might have landed us in the rush hour period as well. It was easier to just get home, than mess around with my wife on board, to save a few pence at that point.

No range anxiety at all. For the whole journey it showed about ten miles range surplus. We arrived home with 4% SOC and 12 miles range. I don’t normally expect to run that low on charge (nor fully charge to 100%). 20-80% seems to be the recommended battery usage/charge levels for optimum battery life.

That gives it a range of about 160 miles, without exceeding the ideal charge levels. I expect charging at 7kW, to full charge, is less stressful on the battery than using a high power DC charger. Two charging stops should get us about 480 miles (up to Inverness and a bit) without any worries - unless we want/need to go at high speed.

What happens when you run into the un-expected ?
Crash on the major hi-way, backed up for hours, running the A.C. or heat in winter ?
Can't get off the hi-way.
Major power outage, can't charge car ?
I like the idea of the plug in hybrid better.

 

[indy4x]

I've got a 2010 range rover, had it a long while now, thinking of getting a much newer one... but seriously thinking about a jaguar i-pace instead

I have an i-pace, just coming up to 3 years of ownership

It has phenominal performance, range around 250miles, comfortable and plenty of leg room

Have put about 30k on it and it's been fault free apart from a failed inverter that charges the auxiliary battery

It's going next week or so as its a lease car, not planning on replacing it, nothing to do with it being electric it's just that new cars do not go with my lifestyle as I treat my cars as a van. Picked up an hydraulic press off a forum member and he was a little surprised at me stuffing it into the back of the Jag

Have done some big trips and used lots of public chargers, only had an issue once or twice finding a free working charger

 

[knighty]

if hydrogen really was the way forward every car manufacturer around would be throwing a fortune at it to develop their own systems, advertise them and get early cars out so we start to adopt the system

there's a point in the future where all cars will be electric, the only talking point I see is when that will be

 

[indy4x]

What happens when you run into the un-expected ?
Crash on the major hi-way, backed up for hours, running the A.C. or heat in winter ?
Can't get off the hi-way.
Major power outage, can't charge car ?
I like the idea of the plug in hybrid better.

AC or heat doesn't use much battery, if I've got AC on it drops the estimated range by about 2.5%

 

[Erie Fred]

AC or heat doesn't use much battery, if I've got AC on it drops the estimated range by about 2.5%

A.C. is always optional
How about heat in winter ? 4 hours standing still is average ?
Can someone come by with 5 gallons of fuel ?

 

[daleyd]

A.C. is always optional
How about heat in winter ? 4 hours standing still is average ?
Can someone come by with 5 gallons of fuel ?

Are these real or imagined scenarios?

How often do you spend standing still for 4 hours, and how would someone come past with 5 gallons of fuel if no one can move?