(electric cars) aibu to think that this won't work?

[greenacrylicpaint]

currently stuck at a motorways service station.
there is a long queue for the chargers of which a few are not working.

imagine summer holidays. how is that going to work? train long distance and then cars/bikes locally?

Sorry that was to @Cherrysoup
and no it’s not really a thing to swap out batteries every few years in a modern EV.
sort of a thing for the early models.

As I posted, EDF Energy say every 10 years. This does not negate the fact that there are very few places that can store worn out batteries and that they can’t yet be recycled.

EDF are talking rubbish. Not sure why they're wading into EV advice but it's more nonsense.

Besides, EV batteries that have been upgraded on early Nissan Leafs are doing very well in domestic settings where any reduced capacity is not an issue.

Second life usage for EV batteries is set to be the next big industry as we move to solar.

@Cherrysoup
i think I have found the edf energy article you refer to
the actual words are
“However, the current prediction is that an electric car battery will last from 10 – 20 years before they need to be replaced.”
20 years is a lot longer than 10 and there is every indication that this will become a viable solution in a few years time when/if today’s EVs meet that threshold.

however I can honestly tell you that our car in its 5 years (we have had it for four) has lost a negligible amount, if any, of its battery power. We have looked after it though (don’t power down the motorway at 75+)

I do go at a decent speed on the motorway, it’s about 5 hours to my mum’s, up the M1. If I get an ev (which we’ll all have to do eventually) should I moderate to below 70? (Yes, I know it’s the limit!) It would take forever to get home!

@Cherrysoup
Yes- your battery will last longer and your range will be better if you moderate your speed. 65ish on the motorway is very efficient. Faster is fine but you will need to stop earlier to recharge.
it’s just one of those things EV drivers have to get used to. That and plugging your car in at home to charge overnight. Which is infinitely easier and less faff than going to petrol stations.

best bit more me personally is when stuck in urban traffic I can be smug about the fact that I’m shedding zero dodgy chemicals that harm the kids walking up the side of the road.

We've recently switched to an EV and had a bit of a nightmare with Christmas travel tbh.

Range is supposed to be approx 280 miles and journey was 120 miles one way so we'd hoped to be ok for the whole return journey. Instead the cold instantly reduced our range to 190 miles then we got rerouted due to a crash. Arrived with 30 miles left which was scary.

Then, hunting for a charger we found 2 broken, another where the app to pay just wouldn't work, and finally found a quickish one at a KFC that got us back to 80% after a couple of hours. Not really how we'd hoped to spend our Christmas break!

Hopefully next time we visit my parents the weather will be warmer and the chargers will be fixed. It's made me wary though and I really wanted to be a convert.

This has always appalled me: people crossing behind me with pushchairs, the child’s head is so close to the exhaust! Horrific. The amount of physical emissions that end up on the road is terrifying, I was watching a documentary about cleaning roads and they were talking about how what they were sweeping up was particles from exhausts. 😱

Can't plug our car in at home -terraced house, lucky to park on our own street.

Most long distance driving is not on motorways.

Can't afford the expensive models and need an estate.

Only have one car.

EV infrastructure will have to improve hugely before we get an electric car.

@MoltenLasagne
sorry to hear, hang in there
i would suggest when staying with family or Airbnb etc take a “granny charger”
cable that can go into a three pin plug. I have often plugged into peoples’s garages/put a cable through the window etc. not ideal in winter I know but the car will charge fine if left for 12 or so hours (eg overnight).

@Cherrysoup
yes I know but the emissions are almost as bad for the kid sittings in the back seats.
imagine how much better the air quality will be when all of us are driving EVs. Perhaps a few hydrogens in there too.

Plug in hybrids are a great middle ground. Use full electric for local journeys and then you still have the reliability of petrol for the longer ones.

Do you pay them for that? I woldnt want someone charging their car up on my electric.

I will be very keen to get an electric car but only when the charging takes the same time as petrol and the range is the same as petrol or diesel. That way, each petrol station can have chargers like they have pumps and no one needs to worry about trailing leads across pavements if they dont have a driveway

@bellac11
I always offer.

“I will be very keen to get an electric car but only when the charging takes the same time as petrol and the range is the same as petrol or diesel.”
I doubt that will happen tbh. But is it really a bind to charge your car, overnight, wherever you are staying? It takes 10 seconds to plug in and just leave it. I have saved HOURS not going to petrol stations over the years.

I’ve had a EV 2 1/2 yrs 95% plus of charging has been at home, maybe I’ve been lucky I’ve only had to wait once but you do have to plan your charging stops.
If you do regular long journeys EVs are not for you but a 30min stop a couple of times a year shouldn’t be a problem, charging infrastructure is improving all the time. Private owners don’t get the tax incentives that businesses get so unless you have cash to spare they are expensive to buy.

We would still have to find somewhere to plug in the hybrid, or there's no point in having one. We don't do a large weekly supermarket shop (and don't want to) and indeed rarely if ever go to a destination where there might be a charger. There are public chargers near us, but only 7 in a very densely populated area.

We rarely do local journeys in the car, for that matter - we walk or take public transport.

Of course lugging the heavy battery around means the fuel economy on a PHEV is considerably worse than a conventional ICE.

And of the PHEV estates I've looked at, all have less boot space than the equivalent ICE models.

So a plug in doesn't suit us either.

I have often plugged into peoples’s garages/put a cable through the window etc. not ideal in winter I know but the car will charge fine if left for 12 or so hours (eg overnight).

Who pays for the electricity?

If there is somewhere to charge it, no of course its not a bind. But quite often our journeys wouldnt be able to be done on one charge, hence the problem with needing quick charging in the same way you fill up with petrol

And thats assuming there is somewhere to charge it.

I grew up in the 70s and 80s, my dad worked in 'computers' but they are unrecognisable to computers these days, taking up whole rooms. So my view is that there will be a time when cars charge very quickly and have huge range. It will come.

I always offer. If it’s family they don’t mind. Unlikely to actually cost more than £7/8 for our car.
when it’s an air bnb I ask in advance and usually send an extra tenner.
no one has ever said no.

I must admit that the move towards EVs concerns me at the moment. We are not connected to the mains grid and have no means the charge an EV other than running a generator, which seems rather pointless, and we need to tow. Towing means drastically reduced range, and more charging.

Currently, the nearest public charger is nearly ten miles away.

Fair enough, the problem is that when asked, people are not likely to say no, even if they dont want to pay for you. Airbnb is different as the landlord is likely to agree to taking the money

I think its unfair to even ask that question of family and also presumably thats one charge, when we're on holiday we can drive around 1000 miles in a week so that would be 3 or 4 charges, so thats quite a lot of money

Those that charge the car at home, do you have a charging port or do you have to trail extension leads out of the window?

@Newwardrobe - charging point. It was basically free installation with car purchase. Car charges pretty quick with wall charger it’s a 11kw charger

@Caspianberg thank you, just wondering how I could work it , my drive is lower than my house and looks like a parking bay not a private driveway, so would be worried that some idiot would unplug my car in the middle of the night.

If you are off grid and power your home using a generator, assuming it's reasonable efficient, using it to charge an EV is probably going to give you better mpg then burning the fuel in an ICE car. Generators run at optimum efficiency.