Electric Vehicles and Punctures

[BellaBlythe]

Is this all true?
At a well lubricated lunch we were informed that owners cannot jack up their car and change a wheel, Tesla or BMW. This is because they are so heavy. They need full recovery and a repair to the tyre or a new one.
Some EVs have rare sizes and it might be a while, days to weeks, before the car is returned.
I was also told that Tesla models have different sizes. So not many of each size in stock or even not many in the country.
We are a country living set of friends, (think Kaleb) so all horrified at having to rely on others rather than self or mates.
How do you get on?

Tbf in 17 years of driving, I've never needed to jack up to change a wheel. In fact my dad only has had to twice in about 60 years of driving.

Our electric would probably be easier to jack up than our petrol car (Zafira) because it's tiny in comparison. It's certainly lighter.

Some petrol cars have strange size tyres. My dd's got a petrol car that is reasonably common (VW), but the tyres for her specific model are unusual enough that Kwikfit has to order them especially in.

They need full recovery and a repair to the tyre or a new one. Um... if the tyre has a puncture it doesn't matter whether it's a petrol car, an electric, a bike or even a wheelbarrow, you'll need to either repair the tyre or get a new one. What else do you think is possible? Turn it inside out and hope?

You do have the tyres at higher pressure on electric cars.

I think there's a grain of truth in what you heard, but by no means the full picture.

I’ve recently been looking at new cars and some - not just electric ones - don’t come with spare tyres these days (not even space savers), just a tyre repair kit. Is this what you mean?

Our electric car, like most modern cars doesn't have a spare to change to anyway. It has run flat tyres, an inflator and sealant to let you get home like a space saver spare does.
No problem with supply either, last time it picked up a nail in the side wall the nice man from Halfords tyres came and fitted a new one the next day, no problems.
Weight wise, it weighs the same as my Defender which is still pretty easy to jack up

Thanks for the above. We bought a Skoda diesel and bought a space saver kit. We have used it once. Previous car a Kia had a space saver, so was able to use the car.
Is it possible to buy space saver for EVs?

We had our first puncture recently. Unfortunately the foam stuff the car came with didn't work so we had to call the AA. They repaired it temporarily with a plug

Maybe true for certain fancy cars I suppose.

Days to weeks for a tyre though? Sounds like bollocks.

I got a flat recently and the car being electric made ZERO difference to outcome.

It's been that way with Audi for the last decade took awhile for me to get used to it

Tesla tyres are expensive. We had to change 5 one month (bad luck) and it cost over £1200.

You cannot jump start an electric car

You cannot bump start an electric car

Require recovery on the back of a truck

My mini e had a slow puncture. It’s leased and they sent a guy out to the house who repaired it in 15 minutes. Didn't seem to be an issue.

We live in the country and wouldn't contemplate electric. Given that a perfectly serviceable but old car has to be replaced by electric, looking at the huge environmental cost of mining the lithium etc for the batteries , the additional weight causing additional road wear and tear, and the fact that the tyres wear out more quickly due to the weight causing excessive particulates over a normal diesel car...no thank you. We'll carry on as we are, and migrate to hydrogen fuel cells in due course (when costs appropriate). You can't really tow 3 tonnes of horse/sheep/cows/pigs with electric anyway.

@ModernMadnessEra you can, however, change an EV's tyre without taking it anywhere.

It's increasingly less common to have a spare in any cars because of the weight but I'm not sure any EVs have one do they?

The only puncture I’ve had was too serious for the puncture kit to be any use. The AA guy changed the wheel for a universal spare and followed me home; he then put my wheel back on and I got someone to come and replace the tyre. The place I called had a different make tyre the right size in stock but I preferred an exact match which it took them a day to get in. All very straight forward.

Hydrogen fuel cells aren’t coming, at least for cars. No major car companies are developing them with any seriousness, and when did you last see a hydrogen pump at a petrol station? It seemed like a good idea about five years ago but has largely gone away.

I live in the city and wouldn’t contemplate petrol. My old car was knackered so nothing to factor in there and as for weight…..a Tesla doesn’t weigh as much as the 3 tonnes of horse/sheep/cows/pigs you’re towing so I’d suggest your vehicle is probably causing as much, if not more damage than an electric.
Also, my tyres wear at the same rate as the big diesel I got rid of.

I don’t get the snootiness over electrics. If having one suits you, brilliant, go for it. If it doesn’t then don’t.
Its that simple.

It’s a weird myth that electric cars are somehow so unbelievably heavy. My current electric car is 60kg heavier than my previous petrol car. Same size of car, same manufacturer.

That’s the same weight as my 15 year old. I’m pretty sure if I had him in the passenger seat of the old car it wouldn’t have made it so heavy that it would wear out the road, mean I had to change my tyres every month, or whatever other random nonsense is being dreamed up 😅,

I don't know where you guys are all getting this additional weight for EVs from? Yes Teslas are heavy but almost every other EV is nowhere near that weight and are far lighter than petrol or diesel cars. Also, Teslas are American cars made for a market where most other cars are much, much heavier (eg a Tesla Model 3 is 2300kg, a Chevy Tahoe is 3,810kg).

So setting massive American cars apart, just in the UK: I have a Hyundai Kona EV, weighs 1,400kg. Similar weight to the DS3 crossback EV, the VW Golf EV, etc. The petrol version of the Kona weighs between 1290 and 1700 kg, depending on spec.

I don't know what kind of cars you drive but a Toyota Hilux weighs 1800kg, a Range Rover Evoque is between 1800 and 2200kg.

Finally a Land Rover Defender weighs 2300 to 2700kg.

I believe it was a daily mail clickbait sensationalist headline a while back about how EVs are ruining roads. Of course rather than looking at facts (roads are buggered because councils haven’t got the budgets to fix potholes so there are more than ever) some people just blindly believe the bollocks. See also EVs catching fire etc

I'm glad it's not just me that thought all this was rubbish. EVs are marginally heavier than equivalent ICE cars. Roads are designed for the axle weight of HGVs. Bridges are designed to be stacked with HGVs. Cars, even EVs, are small change. EVs are not going to punch through the floors of car parks and fall into the centre of the earth due to having the density of a neutron star.

Second or third @WelshPool & @Xiaoxiong about weights it's a load of nonsense, or just smoke and mirrors.
I have to understand axle weights in my job. Yes EV batteries are heavy but the cars themselves are often lighter or if they are it's marginal or the payloads are reduced. Not that I expect anyone weighs anyone before they get in the car.

The industry standards for weights are silly anyway it's 75 kg for a person well actually 68 kg and 7 kg for their luggage.

So BMW M5 which is a hybrid Vehicle curb weight 2,550 kg
Permissible gross weight in kg 3,050
Payload 575kg

Ford Mustang Mach E curb weight 2257 kg
Gross Vehicle Weight 2690 kg
Payload 433kg

What the car industry has done is reduced the over all weight of the car and the payloads to increase the range of the battery whilst improving efficiency.

I know for a fact a Jaguar XJ had a payload of 600kg and day at about 2900kg Gross.

This thing about EVs damaging road is just silly.

I've leased my last 5 cars. So the way to go, no hassle motoring - no unexpected bills. I had 3 new tyres in summer, 2 worn and 1 nail in. Would have cost £225 per tyre if I had to pay 😱

I've only just gone electric last week. Last 5 cars never had a spare. Brand new leases! Been that way for ages

Good analogy. I compared weight of old petrol to new electric - different brands and not much in it. For me, I wanted it to weigh more because I like heavy feeling car.

Well I drive around a small city that is in a dip and has an issue with air pollution. I felt guilty driving round in a stinky diesel adding to the issue. LOVE our EV. Never changed a tyre in my life.

It's absolutely your choice to get petrol or diesel thank God for the moment. I don't think anyone should be forced into electric.

However, it's absolute lies about electric cars weighing so much they are damaging the road, use this website to compare size and weight of cars

www.carsized.com/en/

For me it wasn't about saving the planet. I was putting £200 a month in petrol in my car and now I have got electric it's going to cost me under £5 per month to charge from Home. It's a no brainer for someone who does just about town driving.