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

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

If I could afford it, it wouldn't be the only family car.

In principle, yes.

Interestingly when I was in Brazil a year ago there were electric cars everywhere. The cheap Chinese ones that are apparently not welcome in the UK.

Electric cars: EU hits China with tariffs in battle for sales

The vote risks sparking a trade war as the EU looks to protect its own car makers.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Mellotron]

I've voted Fence as that's the closest there is to Hybrid, which I think would be my choice.

 

[Sorrel]

We have a car and a van. Would be ok with one as electric. And if money was no object it would be a lot easier!

But last year I moved my son’s possessions from his flat in Northern Ireland. That would not have been an easy journey with an electric vehicle.

 

[Screaming J]

No, but would think about one of those Hybrids you plug in, though. I do too many long journeys and don't want to have to fret about where to charge the damned thing up when I'm x00 miles from home.

Also, why are EVs so UGLY?? Classic example is the Hyundai Ioniq 5 (although I gather it's getting a face lift - needs one). Can't believe a designer was actually paid good money to come up with that.

 

[southstandandy]

No - because the batteries are half the car. Read recently that in China they are developing a battery one fifth of the size currently used and that will be the way forward.

I'm all for EV's being the future but in 20 years time the cars will be run by batteries no bigger than your mobile phone.

EV's currently are the laser discs of the home viewing world. Now we have HD Discs and streaming. Best wait IMO until the tech develops further.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

My concern used to distance but that appears to have been improved. My concern now is how the batteries perform in say 5 or 10 years time - do you ever need to replace them ? If so that could be expensive.

Tesla was punting around an old Model S with about 200k kilometres the other month (I think it was 2014/5 model) and said that the battery degradation was 8%. So it didn't make much difference.

In some cases, no doubt the batteries will need replacing - just like ICE vehicles need new engines. But, in 10 years' time - when the industry has evolved and matured - it won't be as eye-wateringly expensive as people claim it is now.

 

[dejavuatbtn]

I would if you could guarantee an emergency recharge almost anywhere, or batteries were interchangeable and you could just swap them at a garage. Unfortunately they didn’t think about the practicalities of it all when they started on this unjoined up technology. Too many companies thinking they knew best when they should have had a consensus on how all this will work in the future.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

No, but would think about one of those Hybrids you plug in, though. I do too many long journeys and don't want to have to fret about where to charge the damned thing up when I'm x00 miles from home.

Also, why are EVs so UGLY?? Classic example is the Hyundai Ioniq 5 (although I gather it's getting a face lift - needs one). Can't believe a designer was actually paid good money to come up with that.

Design is subjective, though - I know loads of people who have RAVED about Ioniq 5 and have given it design awards. Hyundai - and Kia - went in one direction and dated to be different with EVs. But with the likes of BMW, Renault and Volkswagen, they are based on existing ICE car designs. Horses for courses and all that...

Having run EVs for a few years now, I've never had an issue or stress about charging or where to charge. There are plenty of places to stop - either at my destination, at the services (shout out Gridserve; not so much Ionity) or somewhere else en route - ZapMap never lets me down. If I think the miles left aren't going to get me home, a quick 10-minute stop does the trick.

 

[Coldeanseagull]

We as a sensible retired couple have only one car.

Me and the wife, both retired, both mad as a bag of frogs, three cars

 

[Greg Bobkin]

I would if you could guarantee an emergency recharge almost anywhere, or batteries were interchangeable and you could just swap them at a garage. Unfortunately they didn’t think about the practicalities of it all when they started on this unjoined up technology. Too many companies thinking they knew best when they should have had a consensus on how all this will work in the future.

But you don't have that with ICE cars, so why would you with EVs?

Edit: In fact, thinking about it, you actually do with EVs, if you've got a three-pin plug, because you can just charge it through any mains supply!

 

[Commander]

Why no option for I already have TWO?

 

[Commander]

I would if you could guarantee an emergency recharge almost anywhere, or batteries were interchangeable and you could just swap them at a garage. Unfortunately they didn’t think about the practicalities of it all when they started on this unjoined up technology. Too many companies thinking they knew best when they should have had a consensus on how all this will work in the future.

What like a plug to plug into any household socket you mean?

 

[Commander]

Absolutely 100% NO under any circumstances.

'Under any circumstances'. Wow.

Why not?

 

[Guinness Boy]

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.

This is exactly me. But Mrs GB likes driving and muggins here pays the insurance and petrol. Therefore I answered no as her opinion is that there needs to be better range and more charge points.

 

[dejavuatbtn]

What like a plug to plug into any household socket you mean?

Not my point and you know it. Getting stuck in some place where the neighbours don’t like having motorists knocking on their doors for a quick one isn’t my idea of a decent infrastructure.

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

Had our I4 for two months now and don’t see myself going back to ICE.

I’ve taken it through Salary Sacrifice at work over a 3 year lease so no ownership depreciation issues, maintenance and insurance all included and only slightly more per month than a Tiguan I was leading that has gone back 3 months early
Also got a free Ohme Pro home charger installed.

Running costs are next to nothing I do 7.9p per KWH on an overnight tariff on an intuitive timed charger. Costs me £6.70 for 340 miles

I have membership of 3 or 4 different charging schemes nationally should I need to use one and haven’t so far.

It’s cost effective and rapid as f***!

I wouldn’t buy a new car of any type but whilst the benefit in kind tax is appealing I’ll stick to EV. BIK is going up 1% per year for the next 3 years so interesting to see what the government do about this. (Will cost me £30 more per
Month per year year, but I’m saving c£120 a month when total cost of Tiguan, insurance and petrol is factored)

 

[Audax]

I'd like to know more details before committing to buying an EV, like will deep sea mining be used to mine for raw minerals required for batteries. A process that could be far worse environmentally than running an ICE vehicle. (also see will forests be chopped down in Canada and elsewhere to provide wood pellets to fire up our power stations? and other processes which are misleadingly deemed green and saving the planet)

The likelihood is that as more and more batteries, etc are needed to power these vehicles, the more likely damaging environmental practices will have to be adopted to keep up with the increasing demand.

It's actually going the other way. New battery R&D discoveries are starting to result in battery tech that no longer needs the rare earth and other nasty materials. Means they are a) cheaper to make, and b) getting less and less of a problem for the environment.

At 7p/kWh, that's 35kWh of charge, so are you saying you're getting nearly 6 miles per kWh?

I'd have thought a huge £3.50 would be more typical.

I can believe 6 miles per kWh is achievable with some vehicles. My relatively simple Zoe was easily hitting 4.5mpkwh in summer, and in optimum conditions with careful driving I was able to get 5.4 to 5.6mpkwh. That was from 5 year old tech. Efficiency etc has improved since then, so I wouldn't be surprised if there's cars available that can hit 6+.

My concern used to distance but that appears to have been improved. My concern now is how the batteries perform in say 5 or 10 years time - do you ever need to replace them ? If so that could be expensive.

They come with 8 year warranties on the batteries, and usable lifespans for batteries are now generally expected to plenty long enough to outlast the car. For eg there's some Tesla's that have been used as taxis near Gatwick that put on 300k miles in 3 years and the batteries were still perfectly good (degraded to 82%).

How long do batteries last in electric cars? | Autocar

Should you be worried about the battery life of an electric car? Not if you pay close attention to our guide

www.autocar.co.uk

 

[Nitram]

Until they have street charging outside my house it’s impractical. I don’t have a drive or garage. House is a Victorian terrace in Brighton.

 

[Professor Plum]

We as a sensible retired couple have only one car.

Same here. We've always had two, and when we retired we carried on having two through habit as much as anything else. But then my wife's car was written off by some idiot when it was parked at a supermarket, and we never bothered to replace it. We've not missed having two cars and it's so much cheaper.

 

[Audax]

I would if you could guarantee an emergency recharge almost anywhere, or batteries were interchangeable and you could just swap them at a garage. Unfortunately they didn’t think about the practicalities of it all when they started on this unjoined up technology. Too many companies thinking they knew best when they should have had a consensus on how all this will work in the future.

There are EV companies that use battery swap tech. NIO are due to launch in the UK next year, and they're currently busy rolling out battery swap stations in the EU.

Tesla trialled it in the US, but they found that US consumers didn't like handing over "their" battery for "someone else's" battery.