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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think a 100 mile range is not a lot?

231 replies

jennymanara · 22/10/2019 08:53

Where I live we are being encouraged to buy electric cars through billboard adverts. These say things like electric cars can travel 100 miles before needing to be charged and that the average charging time is half an hour.

That sounds fine if all you want is a run around for a city or town to go to the supermarket and work, but pretty impractical for a lot if people. Especially given how few charging places there are. It would in reality mean that I could never drive more than 100 miles before going nack home to charge up the car.

OP posts:

museumum · 22/10/2019 14:42

I'm pretty sure that statistics show a HUGE number of car journeys are for less than 5 miles. I'm all for cycling but it's not always possible for me with kids and equipment for my job and I know many people won't consider cycling anyway. Electric cars are ideal for short journeys which generate terrible air pollution in exactly the worst spots for air pollution. Buses and bikes are better but people still resist these and we can't force people to bus or bike.

Original poster

jennymanara · 22/10/2019 14:48

A lot of our car journeys are for under 5 miles, we do a lot of nipping kids places and nipping to the shops. But we also do the long journeys.

OP posts:

DGRossetti · 22/10/2019 14:55

You can't really compare hydrocarbon and electric cars too much before it all starts to fall apart.

Hydrocarbon car: run out of fuel ? Pour some fuel into the tank and drive on.

Electric "car": run out of charge ? Tow car to nearest charging point and wait at least 30 minutes.

(and Betamax was superior to VHS )

DGRossetti · 22/10/2019 14:55

Electric cars are ideal for short journeys which generate terrible air pollution in exactly the worst spots for air pollution.

Who remembers milk floats ....

SubisYodrethwhenLarping · 22/10/2019 14:58

How much money does it cost to charge up at charging points?

In petrol stations or various other places around the country?

ErrolTheDragon · 22/10/2019 14:58

You can't really compare hydrocarbon and electric cars too much before it all starts to fall apart.

We're up against the laws of chemistry - the covalent bond is a great way of storing lots of energy compactly and transportably.

ErrolTheDragon · 22/10/2019 15:01

Who remembers milk floats ....
There's surely a lot of potential for urban supermarket and postal/parcel deliveries to use EVs. (Presumably some companies are?)

Nat6999 · 22/10/2019 15:01

It's fine for anyone who lives in a house or property where there is a charging point available, what will happen to people like me who have to park their car on a public road 100 metres away from where they live? It has taken threatening the council with prosecution to get them to provide & mark spaces for disabled residents. I can't see the council installing charging points for the 50+ cars that park in my road, never mind the whole city.

Original poster

jennymanara · 22/10/2019 15:05

Surely the majority of people park in a road rather than have a driveway or garage?
Basically there is a massive infrastructure issue before these would become more popular than petrol cars.

OP posts:

DGRossetti · 22/10/2019 15:06

We're up against the laws of chemistry - the covalent bond is a great way of storing lots of energy compactly and transportably.

Not a patch on the nuclear bond ...

DGRossetti · 22/10/2019 15:08

There's surely a lot of potential for urban supermarket and postal/parcel deliveries to use EVs. (Presumably some companies are?)

Nope.

Speaks volumes, really.

There are quite a few hybrid buses around, to be fair - certainly in Brum. But a bus is pretty much the poster child for electric vehicles.

Purpleartichoke · 22/10/2019 15:08

It would work for DH and we may do it for his next car. Enough power to get to and from work and even make a run to his GP or something. Charge overnight.

It wouldn’t work for me since my car is the one we use for lots of errands and trips.

stayingaliveisawayoflife · 22/10/2019 15:10

We have a Tesla and we charge it at home on our solar panels for free. We also use a lot of Tesla super chargers on long distance so it is now mostly free. It's never been a pain to stop as we usually need a break anyway.

I love our car and don't miss anything about using fuel but it is a personal choice.

ErrolTheDragon · 22/10/2019 15:12

Not a patch on the nuclear bond ...

Well, when we have a small fusion reactor powered car, I'll definitely be long dead a customer.

Nat6999 · 22/10/2019 15:15

I have swapped from having a diesel car to petrol this year, I have got the same car that I previously had but the petrol version. I used to get 40mpg with the diesel one, I am now lucky to get 28mpg in the petrol version, this is a car that has all the ecological advances available. I am disabled & need a car that is always available without having to worry that it is charged, given the chance, I would go back to diesel in a heartbeat, I tried to do the right thing for the environment but am using nearly twice the amount of fuel I used to. How is this protecting the environment?

TeenPlusTwenties · 22/10/2019 15:17

I am actively thinking that next time I change my car I'll go electric/hybrid.
My car is the 'second car' in the household and I very rarely do a journey of more than 70 miles in it, so a 100 mile range would be OK.
The motorway services I stop at most often has an electric charging point, as does one of the carparks in my small town, and I haven't been looking out for them.

user1480880826 · 22/10/2019 15:20

I think the assumption is that a lot of households have two cars. There’s no reason that one of those cars couldn’t be electric. You’ll find that in most households it’s one of the cars that does the majority of the big journeys and the other is more of a run around (supermarket, school run etc). The car that is used for mostly local journeys should be electric.

catyrosetom2 · 22/10/2019 15:22

How much money does it cost to charge up at charging points?

About a fiver usually.

Original poster

jennymanara · 22/10/2019 15:26

Yes if you have 2 cars I can see that. 87% of households have a car, but less than a third have 2 cars.

OP posts:

Brown76 · 22/10/2019 15:31

How does the 100 miles work if in crawling traffic? Road near us was down to one lane yesterday which meant it took 2 hours to do what is usually a 40 minute round trip (under 5 miles, london). Would that use up the full charge, even though it's only 10 miles?

YogaDrone · 22/10/2019 15:40

Perhaps the e-Golf is okay PettyContractor but compared to other fully electric cars it's slow. The i3 has 0-60 of 7.5 but the Golf can only manage 9.6. Frankly 9.6 is very slow for an electric car. I do travel with a loaded car frequently, I do a lot of motorway driving and I need a car with pace, pickup and the stamina to take on hills. I just don't think the e-Golf is quite there yet.

I don't think electric cars are being in any way aimed at the traditional diesel car driver. They are being aimed at people who live in Cities and only do short drives.

For me, I think this time I'll get a hybrid with a view to getting a fully electric car (or even a hydrogen cell car ) next time round by which time I hope the ranges will be better and the means of recharging them better; whether that's swappable batteries or self charging roads (unlikely I admit).

If the Government want to make electric cars the norm they will have to incentivise them and the price will have to come down to make them afforable. This is what they've done in Norway. DP was there about a month ago (Oslo) and said pretty much every car there now is electric due to implementation of Norway Electric Car Policy

Original poster

jennymanara · 22/10/2019 15:40

Presumably if that happened you would contact roadside assistance who would tow you to a charging point.

OP posts:

DGRossetti · 22/10/2019 15:40

I think the assumption is that a lot of households have two cars.

A lot of households have no cars.

How does the 100 miles work if in crawling traffic?

In theory, it should make no difference - generally electric motors have a much wider efficiency envelope.

In practice ? Who knows. If it's dark, and cold, then the longer you have lights and heater on, the less miles you can go.

I would hope the emergency services are already prepared to deal with a fleet of run-down electric cars on motorways in winter, when an unexpected delay holds everyone up by an hour or more ?

I could probably carry on thinking of downsides to electric cars in todays environment long after people have extolled their virtues ...

Original poster

jennymanara · 22/10/2019 15:44

In epic traffic jams cars have run out of petrol. It will be the same with electric cars. Difference will be that petrol cars only need a can of petrol brought to them while electric cars will have to be towed. But presumably roadside assistance have considered this?

OP posts:

ErrolTheDragon · 22/10/2019 15:48

Oh the extra fun this could be on smart motorways...

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