[Help] EV user advice, please

[bhanutz]

Not having to go in to Warwick services for something to eat, not having to plug it in when you get home or unplug it in the morning. I'm not saying you've made a bad choice or anything like that, I'm just saying your claim that it is 'so much easier' doesn't stand up to any scrutiny.

I have had both. in my opinion it is much easier. If you don't like my opinion, that's fine. You obviously know better.

 

[dazzer6666]

Not having to go in to Warwick services for something to eat, not having to plug it in when you get home or unplug it in the morning. I'm not saying you've made a bad choice or anything like that, I'm just saying your claim that it is 'so much easier' doesn't stand up to any scrutiny.

Kind of with you at the moment. I’d like to go EV but finding it difficult to rationalise at the moment. The range of an EV simply isn’t enough for a lot of the day trips I do in our ‘big’ car, and I’ve been taking a bit of an interest in service stations on my longer trips - there often seem to be queues for the non-Tesla charging points at least. Most of my trips usually include a very short loo stop once or twice, not an ‘enforced’ longer stop. So……keeping the petrol motor for the longer trips and replacing Mrs D’s old Hyundai with an EV could be option 2, where we both then use it for shorter journeys and have a charging point at home which would be easy - problem then is the cost of an EV relative to a car that currently does 3k per annum and costs pennies to run. There’s nothing decent on the market under about £32k, so I can’t justify that either.

For me, range needs to go up, car prices need to come down and infrastructure needs improvement before I’ll switch - sure it’ll happen, just don’t know when.

 

[Justice]

personally I'd take a 301 mile long extension cable, just to be sure like.

That would be some volt drop

 

[227 BHA]

Not having to go in to Warwick services for something to eat, not having to plug it in when you get home or unplug it in the morning. I'm not saying you've made a bad choice or anything like that, I'm just saying your claim that it is 'so much easier' doesn't stand up to any scrutiny.

I’m seriously considering one - we don’t ever drive over £200 miles in a day so a charger next to my garage would be the only charger I’d need. I’d say the 20seconds it would take to plug in or remove would be considerably less effort than driving to a petrol station, queuing, filling up and then paying
(Not to mention costing aprox £18 in electric rather than £100 for petrol which will make that tiresome 20seconds all the sweeter)

 

[Driver8]

I’m seriously considering one - we don’t ever drive over £200 miles in a day so a charger next to my garage would be the only charger I’d need. I’d say the 20seconds it would take to plug in or remove would be considerably less effort than driving to a petrol station, queuing, filling up and then paying
(Not to mention costing aprox £18 in electric rather than £100 for petrol which will make that tiresome 20seconds all the sweeter[emoji106])

In reality it takes about 3 seconds so doesn’t take too much out of your day.

 

[Deleted member 37369]

One of my mates has bought an ID.4 and will soon have the roof of his house covered in solar panels ... with a big backup battery to go with it. He went full on vegan a few years or so ago! He's a very different person to the one I went to school with 45 years ago!!

Another one of our old school mates is big on cars ... he's also pro doing whatever we can to help the environment. BUT ... he has reservations about EVs at the moment. Here's what he recently had published in Car Magazine ...

"Don't rush ...
At the risk of boring (another reader's name) further (June letters), he needs to appreciate that EVs are not for everyone, not yet anyway. Yes, governments are pushing the shift to zero emissions, but for the foreseeable that's only at the tail pipe. It will be quite a while until there is enough renewable energy to meet the demand for just home and business use, and only then will EVs in reality start using any renewable energy.

I have nothing against EVs, and if one suited my circumstances now I would consider one. However, this would not be in the mistaken belief that I would be helping the planet. If that was my aim I would definitely wait a few years (at least until there was some 'spare' renewable energy for cars) by which time new EVs should be significantly more efficient, with the current ones verging on obsolescence.

I would also be cautious buying an EV based on current costings. The government will be suffering a huge shortfall in tax from motorists as more and more people switch to EVs and there will surely be a tipping point at which time EVs themselves are targeted."

Food for thought ...

 

[mikeyjh]

Kind of with you at the moment. I’d like to go EV but finding it difficult to rationalise at the moment. The range of an EV simply isn’t enough for a lot of the day trips I do in our ‘big’ car, and I’ve been taking a bit of an interest in service stations on my longer trips - there often seem to be queues for the non-Tesla charging points at least. Most of my trips usually include a very short loo stop once or twice, not an ‘enforced’ longer stop. So……keeping the petrol motor for the longer trips and replacing Mrs D’s old Hyundai with an EV could be option 2, where we both then use it for shorter journeys and have a charging point at home which would be easy - problem then is the cost of an EV relative to a car that currently does 3k per annum and costs pennies to run. There’s nothing decent on the market under about £32k, so I can’t justify that either.

For me, range needs to go up, car prices need to come down and infrastructure needs improvement before I’ll switch - sure it’ll happen, just don’t know when.

Yeah, we're about on the same page - You're last paragraph is absolutely bob on, it would be way too stressful for us right now getting from A to B. We have a pickup which is basically essential for where we live (and there aren't any electric ones yet). and a little S3 that we've had since new and are loathed to replace it (and you can imagine the price of an Audi electric version). The infrastructure is especially important as we couldn't have a super fast charger at home. In short, like you, would like to switch but.....

 

[Barrow Boy]

My problems preclude me from changing to an EV, we live in a pedestrian cul de sac of 8 terraced houses, 4 on each side. All our garages plus 2 more (10 in total) are in a compound at the rear of our properties, none of the garages have power to them. There is a parking lay-by on the street at the entrance to our cul de sac for 3 cars and room for another 5 cars by the kerbs, the 8 houses in our cul de sac own 10 cars between them. So you can see where I'm going with this, how on earth are we all going to be able to charge an EV and how would we do it?
I always garage my car and hardly ever park outside in the bay or road, quite simply I can't. So until a solution is found I really have no option other than to keep my ICE car.

 

[Bodian]

What car is it? I have a Tesla and it automatically routes you to a charger if needed.

That's quite scary. My mate has one of those vacuum cleaners that you let free on the floors. As the battery charge drops, it scuttles for 'home' to get a boost. I just envisage you trying to turn right, and your Tesla fighting you to turn left as that's where the charger is!

 

[Bodian]

My problems preclude me from changing to an EV, we live in a pedestrian cul de sac of 8 terraced houses, 4 on each side. All our garages plus 2 more (10 in total) are in a compound at the rear of our properties, none of the garages have power to them. There is a parking lay-by on the street at the entrance to our cul de sac for 3 cars and room for another 5 cars by the kerbs, the 8 houses in our cul de sac own 10 cars between them. So you can see where I'm going with this, how on earth are we all going to be able to charge an EV and how would we do it?
I always garage my car and hardly ever park outside in the bay or road, quite simply I can't. So until a solution is found I really have no option other than to keep my ICE car.

We have something similar - a steep little avenue of 14 houses. The bottom four have no space outside the front (it's garden), and in reality, you can only get a maximum of seven cars in, as it's a tight narrow wiggle and it just takes one person to park poorly and we're all scuppered. So - that's a max of seven cars for 10 houses, on a good day - and it's a sort of first-come, first-served. We have an unwritten understanding that we'll never park more than one car in the Avenue, so anyone with a second car, along with the three that didn't get home in time, have to find spaces out in the wider streets - sometimes a good few minutes walk away.

Even with the best neighbourly relationships in the world, and fabulous co-operation - it would be really difficult for it to work out. If all we had were electric cars, I suspect we'd sort something - but it took three years to get tarmac put down; so I can see the issues.

I suppose with your example, getting power to the garages is much of the answer - at least that is do-able!

 

[dazzer6666]

One of my mates has bought an ID.4 and will soon have the roof of his house covered in solar panels ... with a big backup battery to go with it. He went full on vegan a few years or so ago! He's a very different person to the one I went to school with 45 years ago!!

Another one of our old school mates is big on cars ... he's also pro doing whatever we can to help the environment. BUT ... he has reservations about EVs at the moment. Here's what he recently had published in Car Magazine ...

"Don't rush ...
At the risk of boring (another reader's name) further (June letters), he needs to appreciate that EVs are not for everyone, not yet anyway. Yes, governments are pushing the shift to zero emissions, but for the foreseeable that's only at the tail pipe. It will be quite a while until there is enough renewable energy to meet the demand for just home and business use, and only then will EVs in reality start using any renewable energy.

I have nothing against EVs, and if one suited my circumstances now I would consider one. However, this would not be in the mistaken belief that I would be helping the planet. If that was my aim I would definitely wait a few years (at least until there was some 'spare' renewable energy for cars) by which time new EVs should be significantly more efficient, with the current ones verging on obsolescence.

I would also be cautious buying an EV based on current costings. The government will be suffering a huge shortfall in tax from motorists as more and more people switch to EVs and there will surely be a tipping point at which time EVs themselves are targeted."

Food for thought ...

Some good points there - particularly the taxation. When we're all EV they'll be taxed to the hilt

 

[bhanutz]

That's quite scary. My mate has one of those vacuum cleaners that you let free on the floors. As the battery charge drops, it scuttles for 'home' to get a boost. I just envisage you trying to turn right, and your Tesla fighting you to turn left as that's where the charger is!

You're thinking far too deep my friend

 

[Audax]

Not having to go in to Warwick services for something to eat, not having to plug it in when you get home or unplug it in the morning. I'm not saying you've made a bad choice or anything like that, I'm just saying your claim that it is 'so much easier' doesn't stand up to any scrutiny.

It doesn't need to "stand up to scrutiny". It's his personal experience, and thus entirely valid.

I've had an EV nearly two years now, and it is easier (for me). In my case, it helps that I have solar on my roof as well - so I'm that smug fecker driving around grinning because the miles I'm doing at the moment are entirely free at the point of usage. It takes maybe 1 minute extra when I park up in a Tesco to do the grocery shop to plug in on arrival and unplug on departure (a minute total - 30s at each end) and that's a free top up as well. I don't have to faff around with fuel caps, petrol drips down the side of the car, etc etc.

Oh ... and maintenance is a whole lot simpler too.

Might not be the same for you, but my lived experience with an EV is that it is easier - and, to be honest, I feel better about it too.

Having said that ... we are a few years too soon, and when I go on holiday to Wales in a couple of weeks we'll be taking the hybrid Prius. But I stand by my earlier post: I expect that within 5 years I'd be perfectly happy to do the same trip by EV. And probably would this year too if I had a bigger EV (Zoe isn't big enough for a family holiday!)

 

[Springal]

Some good points there - particularly the taxation. When we're all EV they'll be taxed to the hilt

And how much saving will be made between now and whatever decade is in ?

Quite funny seeing some reactions on here - not sure why everyone needs to give a reason why they can’t. No one has to, it’s not forced on anyone.

The same way you used to get on the internet by dialling up on your phone line and now having fibre optic being run into your house - infrastructure changes and improves, just a matter of when

 

[dazzer6666]

And how much saving will be made between now and whatever decade is in ?

Quite funny seeing some reactions on here - not sure why everyone needs to give a reason why they can’t. No one has to, it’s not forced on anyone.

The same way you used to get on the internet by dialling up on your phone line and now having fibre optic being run into your house - infrastructure changes and improves, just a matter of when

Odd post - it's a discussion isn't it ? I'm certainly not arguing against EVs generally and can see for many it would work (for example if I was on a company car doing a lot of miles in company time it would 100% make sense), but I genuinely don't know when it might work for me - I do know splashing out £30k+ on a car now to do 2-3,000 miles a year (replacing a very cheap-to-run car) doesn't make any sense (and given what I've read about battery life,car will need replacing several times in 'decades'). Agree it's a question of when (as I put in my earlier post), but it doesn't suit me and isn't economically viable right now. I'll be looking again when the Mrs' car eventually dies

 

[beorhthelm]

so far today i've learnt that EV are easier and simpler if you have your own drive way to plugin, or dont mind plugging in every time at the shops or passing services, and have a second vehicle.

 

[mikeyjh]

It doesn't need to "stand up to scrutiny". It's his personal experience, and thus entirely valid.

I've had an EV nearly two years now, and it is easier (for me). In my case, it helps that I have solar on my roof as well - so I'm that smug fecker driving around grinning because the miles I'm doing at the moment are entirely free at the point of usage. It takes maybe 1 minute extra when I park up in a Tesco to do the grocery shop to plug in on arrival and unplug on departure (a minute total - 30s at each end) and that's a free top up as well. I don't have to faff around with fuel caps, petrol drips down the side of the car, etc etc.

Oh ... and maintenance is a whole lot simpler too.

Might not be the same for you, but my lived experience with an EV is that it is easier - and, to be honest, I feel better about it too.

Having said that ... we are a few years too soon, and when I go on holiday to Wales in a couple of weeks we'll be taking the hybrid Prius. But I stand by my earlier post: I expect that within 5 years I'd be perfectly happy to do the same trip by EV. And probably would this year too if I had a bigger EV (Zoe isn't big enough for a family holiday!)

In fairness, that's not what he said, he just said "It is so much easier", not in their experience, just easier. Obviously personally circumstances have a massive impact on one's idea of 'easy' but what I am basically saying as taken on the whole, it's not the case for most people.

Putting that aside, my issue (as it is on about a billion subjects) is when they plant their flag in the ground and there's no debating. I've freely admitted that there a whole host of benefits to owning an electric vehicle, my point is to those who are bit evangelical about it, is that there ARE compromises!

Anyway, have a great time in Wales, where are you going?

 

[Audax]

In fairness, that's not what he said, he just said "It is so much easier", not in their experience, just easier. Obviously personally circumstances have a massive impact on one's idea of 'easy' but what I am basically saying as taken on the whole, it's not the case for most people.

Putting that aside, my issue (as it is on about a billion subjects) is when they plant their flag in the ground and there's no debating. I've freely admitted that there a whole host of benefits to owning an electric vehicle, my point is to those who are bit evangelical about it, is that there ARE compromises!

Anyway, have a great time in Wales, where are you going?

Gower Peninsular area - rather looking forward to it.

And yeah, EVs aren't "there yet" for everyone. People like me, it's a no-brainer: I already had the solar panels in place, I have a personal drive, and when I ran the sums for how I was going to use the car it came out cheaper than doing a like-for-like replacement of the hybrid Prius (which is currently sat on the drive not being used until we do the Wales trip). So when the time came, I got the Zoe, we bought the Prius (it had been company-supplied company car), and ditched my wife's Ford Focus Ecoboom.

For those living in terraces with inadequate on-street parking (if any) ... nope, I wouldn't. Not yet. The time will come, I think within 5 years, but not there yet. And even that 5 years - I think it'll take another 2-3 beyond that before it trickles down into the second hand market properly. But for every person who does take the EV challenge on today, we're one step closer to it being affordable and practical for everyone else in the future. With every new model that comes onto the market, there's a step forward. Competition is starting to develop, R&D budgets are steadily being diverted away from ICE projects to EV projects. The circular economy for EV batteries is developing rapidly. I'm enjoying being part of the change.

 

[METALMICKY]

Reading this thread is proof alone for me that electric cars should be resisted for as long as humanly possible.

Indeed. Who wants car range anxiety thrown into mix with mobile phone charge anxiety

 

[Coxovi]

I will not try and convince those that are not ready for EVs, it is clearly an emotional issue. But for the OP I can only echo the other EV owners on the thread that range anxiety is something that disappears very quickly once you own an EV. The idea that anyone gets in an out of a petrol station in 5 minutes is also not true, especially if it is your first stop in 300 miles... The charging is very quick, and by the time you go to the loo and have some food (or play a video game on your Tesla ) you have enough to get you there. As others have said, as long as you have a place to plug in at night you will wake up with an always full "tank." In fact I had a lot more worries of running out of petrol (my fault mostly, trying to cut it close) then I have with the EV. I admit as I am no longer in the UK I cannot say how many charging stations there are, but with a good app and minimal planning should not be any issue.