[Technology] If you could afford it would your next car be an EV?

theboybilly said:

Aren't a lot of manufacturers (Volvo is definitely one) pulling back on developing new EVs?

Personally I think hydrogen is the way to go because on-street charging will end up being an issue if nothing else. I just wish they'd do more research before coming out with stupid assumptions that everybody will be electric by the early 2030s

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Flounce said:

A secondary question. Once EVs are the go to car, which they will be, what does that do to currently desirable ICE car future values?

Do they become even more desirable or do they fall off a cliff value wise? I guess a lot of it will depend on how awkward Government makes it to own them. I think they will bring in draconian measures personally. Fuel and tax prices and then more petrol stations going all electric is a worry too, if you want to drive an ICE car, even as a weekend toy.

I will be running with ICE cars for as long as I can, although a hybrid or full EV for short daily trips may be forced on me in a decade or so, unless they put an age limit on driving, which I can also see being introduced

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Greg Bobkin said:

I'm spending a week with this bad boy at the moment and it's a right laugh - which is surely the point of everything, especially driving. Fake exhaust sounds are actually pretty realistic (and hilarious) and loads of power, although Eco mode calms everything down a lot. The £65k price will put a lot of people off but, performance-wise, it's on par with a load of ICE stuff at our above that price.

I was also at a Nissan gig this week where Vehicle to Grid technology was being unveiled. No, it's not for everyone (and the anti-EV crew will no doubt dismiss it - possibly just at the very mention of it!), but it's another step on a very long path. The guys there also talked about its solid state batteries (coming in 2028) and pretty much dismissed any hydrogen cars for the foreseeable).

Anyway, as you were...
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Flounce said:

A secondary question. Once EVs are the go to car, which they will be, what does that do to currently desirable ICE car future values?

Do they become even more desirable or do they fall off a cliff value wise? I guess a lot of it will depend on how awkward Government makes it to own them. I think they will bring in draconian measures personally. Fuel and tax prices and then more petrol stations going all electric is a worry too, if you want to drive an ICE car, even as a weekend toy.

I will be running with ICE cars for as long as I can, although a hybrid or full EV for short daily trips may be forced on me in a decade or so, unless they put an age limit on driving, which I can also see being introduced

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chickens said:

Firstly, apologies for the essay. Do skip if you CBA. My thoughts as follows:

I honestly think you’re not going to see a lot of difference, at petrol stations round our way I’ve noticed that one or two electric vehicle chargers have been put in at one side. At the moment there’s a lot more combustion engine vehicles than electric, but the ratio is eventually going to tip, because the brutal truth is it has to.

Ten to fifteen years from now, I reckon you’ll see a mixture of pumps and EV chargers on garage forecourts, and we’ll be in a position where new vehicles will be EV, because emissions laws will prohibit or at least make incredibly expensive the sale of vehicles that pump shit into the atmosphere.

Personally, I don’t mind. If there’s a way of moving myself and my family around that doesn’t involve negatively affecting those around me’s air quality then sign me up. Equally I’m not going to negatively judge someone driving a regular combustion engine vehicle.

However, there’ll come a point at which it will be seen as socially unacceptable in city centres outside of classic car events. In the same way that people no longer spark up inside hospitals, it will just be seen to be inherently “a bad thing.”

There are kids growing up now who will have seen Tesla’s from the day they were born, and if you show them a combustion engine vehicle and try to tell them they’re better (whether because they go vroom or not) they’ll wrinkle their nose at the smell, and wonder why you have to pour gallons of heavily flammable liquid into them, which has to be imported from the Middle East, to be burned to make the car go.

They’ll point out that their electric car can be powered directly from any available source of electricity from three pin plug upward, and that there’s no need for all the faff.

There’ll still be classic cars out there, but the supply and storage of petrol will become problematic as demand tails off, just as the supply of coal has begun to prove problematic for heritage railways, and they’re having to look at technology that will enable them to use alternatives.

There’ll still be combustion engine vehicles on the road for decades yet, but once solid state batteries are here and recharging is a ten minute job, then by the time you’ve popped into the garage, bought a Red Bull and a Twix, you’re pretty much ready to go.

If you’re driving an Aston Martin or a Jaguar F-Type around it will retain some value as a classic, but it will eventually become a hobby for the ultra-rich, due to the need to maintain stocks of not just petrol/diesel, but engine oils, lubricants, coolants, things that most garages will no longer stock. A lot will get converted to run on electric, there’s companies out there now who do that for a living and there are some beautiful old cars that have had this work done. (at the customer’s request I hasten to add)

I have mixed feelings about this, I suspect you wouldn’t be a fan.

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Greg Bobkin said:

Is it? Give it has launched EX30 and EX90 this year and is well on the way to replacing the rest of the range with 'EX' models I would seriously doubt it.

And, given the amount of EVs that are due in 2025 and beyond (plus anything else that is coming down the line - Paris Show next week will probably have some more debuts) I seriously doubt any of the OEMs are going to go back to ICE (or to Hydrogen) anytime soon...

And not everyone WILL be 'electric by the early 2030s'. No-one has said they will be. I'm still not convinced the ICE ban won't move again, but that's just new sales...

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Volvo Cars ditches pledge to sell only electric cars by 2030

Demand for battery-powered vehicles has decreased globally over concerns about cost and charging infrastructure

www.ft.com

thedonkeycentrehalf said:

Volvo Cars ditches pledge to sell only electric cars by 2030

Demand for battery-powered vehicles has decreased globally over concerns about cost and charging infrastructure

www.ft.com

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Herr Tubthumper said:

I took my test quite late in life, 29 I think, and owned and drove a car for 2 years. That was enough. I really do not like it, I’m not a “natural” driver and find it mentally tiring. I’m not making any anti-car statement it’s just something I do not enjoy.

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chickens said:

Firstly, apologies for the essay. Do skip if you CBA. My thoughts as follows:

I honestly think you’re not going to see a lot of difference, at petrol stations round our way I’ve noticed that one or two electric vehicle chargers have been put in at one side. At the moment there’s a lot more combustion engine vehicles than electric, but the ratio is eventually going to tip, because the brutal truth is it has to.

Ten to fifteen years from now, I reckon you’ll see a mixture of pumps and EV chargers on garage forecourts, and we’ll be in a position where new vehicles will be EV, because emissions laws will prohibit or at least make incredibly expensive the sale of vehicles that pump shit into the atmosphere.

Personally, I don’t mind. If there’s a way of moving myself and my family around that doesn’t involve negatively affecting those around me’s air quality then sign me up. Equally I’m not going to negatively judge someone driving a regular combustion engine vehicle.

However, there’ll come a point at which it will be seen as socially unacceptable in city centres outside of classic car events. In the same way that people no longer spark up inside hospitals, it will just be seen to be inherently “a bad thing.”

There are kids growing up now who will have seen Tesla’s from the day they were born, and if you show them a combustion engine vehicle and try to tell them they’re better (whether because they go vroom or not) they’ll wrinkle their nose at the smell, and wonder why you have to pour gallons of heavily flammable liquid into them, which has to be imported from the Middle East, to be burned to make the car go.

They’ll point out that their electric car can be powered directly from any available source of electricity from three pin plug upward, and that there’s no need for all the faff.

There’ll still be classic cars out there, but the supply and storage of petrol will become problematic as demand tails off, just as the supply of coal has begun to prove problematic for heritage railways, and they’re having to look at technology that will enable them to use alternatives.

There’ll still be combustion engine vehicles on the road for decades yet, but once solid state batteries are here and recharging is a ten minute job, then by the time you’ve popped into the garage, bought a Red Bull and a Twix, you’re pretty much ready to go.

If you’re driving an Aston Martin or a Jaguar F-Type around it will retain some value as a classic, but it will eventually become a hobby for the ultra-rich, due to the need to maintain stocks of not just petrol/diesel, but engine oils, lubricants, coolants, things that most garages will no longer stock. A lot will get converted to run on electric, there’s companies out there now who do that for a living and there are some beautiful old cars that have had this work done. (at the customer’s request I hasten to add)

I have mixed feelings about this, I suspect you wouldn’t be a fan.

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dsr-burnley said:

If and when electric vehicles become as cheap and as convenient as petrol, then I expect this will be true. Until that day, it won't. The technology still has a fair way to go. I for one have no objections in principle to electric vehicles, as I suspect most people don't - it's the practicalities that are wrong at the moment.

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Flounce said:

I am not a fan but totally accept what you say will happen. Like modern music I am not the target audience so nobody other than me gives a shit what I think.

Not convinced that classic cars will go down the same route of disapproval as fur coats and smoking in busy areas though

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GrizzlingGammon said:

I used to always so 'no. Battery range is crap'. But now, with battery ranges of 300+ miles, that's plenty for my day to day driving, and I expect for the vast majority of motorists. How often do most people drive 300 miles for most journeys?

I'm lucky enough to have a private driveway, so putting in a charging point is no issue. If I had to park on street, I wouldn't consider an EV.

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nicko31 said:

Most people rarely drive more than 300 miles in a day. If it’s needed just hire a car and put the big miles on someone else’s motor

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chickens said:

I’d say they’re already there. Even Autocar thinks so.



And with MG offering solid state batteries from next year on, the technology only improves from here.

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