Questions about electric cars.

MOnica - was surprised to see your comment about time of charging. Further up in this thread I did say that on a recent journey in my Sil's EV - he needed to top up and it was all carried out at a Motorway Service Station in half an hour, cost £7 whilst we went inside and had a cup of coffee.

He has had this vehicle nearly a year now and it is only the third time he has needed to top up away from home. Each time he has used the express charge up, as it is so quick.

Normally this vehicle is charged at home where it costs very little due to cheap electricity from their roof panels. He reckons he has saved well over a thousand pounds in fuel costs as well as a lot of time as no queueing etc at petrol stations.

Esspee
Thankyou for this, I’ve just ordered an electric car, and you’ve answered some of the questions I forgot to ask!
For the first time I will have a company car.

I think it will be some time before we transfer to electric cars because tof the cost and because we tend to buy second hand cars and run them until they die, which is actually environmentally friendly.

My car was written off after an accident a few weeks ago. It was 20 years old and I had owned it for 14 years and may well have run it for many years more had it not been for the accident. My budget for its replacement is £5,000 max. It will be a long time before EVs fall to that kind of price on the secondhand market.

Thank you for the information about towing.
Indeed Tesla chargers can only be used by Tesla cars, and that was my point! It is very inefficient to have different systems.

The latest EVs have 300miles range and charge in about 40 mins with a high power charge, in reality that’s a few times a year for most drivers, 95% + of charging is going to be at home.
Filling up with petrol week by week is going to take you longer than the occasional enroute charge you make.

If you need to make long journeys that need enroute charging several times a week then EVs are not for you,

My other worry would be how reliable the electric charging system would be.

We have just returned from a holiday in a boat on the Norfolk Broads. During the week we needed to top up water and pump out sewage twice. We were assured that there were pump out stations at regular intervals, in many cases we couldn't find them, they were out of action, or otherwise non-operational. What happens if you cannot find operational chargers - and what about how long the charge takes. If we head north to visit DS and family, currently a three and a half to four and a half journey. Are we going to have to add in another 2-3 hours to allow us to charge up midway.

I cannot see us getting an elctric car until it can lug the equivalent of a heavily loaded estate car for the same distance a tank of petrol will.

Thanks Katie59. Not sure when we will venture to the UK again, but useful to know. It is actually only 130 miles from here to our daughter's so we should make it on one charge. ?

Mamie

What apps do people use for locating chargers? We have been advised to use Chargemap here in France, what do people use in the UK?

Zap-Map is very popular and usually up to date on a day to day basis, chargers that are not working are usually indicated.

What apps do people use for locating chargers? We have been advised to use Chargemap here in France, what do people use in the UK?

Generally hybrids have very limited towing capacity, some EVs can tow caravans but with reduced range. Some others can use Tesla chargers but that will probably increase.

If Tesla chargers are really 60p/kWh that’s why Teslas are charging at others that range from 30 - 50p/kWh but we charge at home for 5p/kWh off peak, which gets us 240 miles and 95% of charging is at home. I have hybrid because I didn’t want to pay so much extra for an EV.

Forget hydrogen, it may come in a few decades, remember electricity has to be used to produce it, then it has to be cooled and compressed before it can be used in transport.

Nanarose I thought that only Tesla cars could use Tesla charges. I could be wrong but that may explain why the charger is often empty.

thanks, this is very interesting. I think that all electric cars should be able to use all charging points, and unless that is sorted out, it will become an even bigger issue. We visit a pub that has 2 electric car charging points (thank you!) but as one is Tesla it is usually empty whilst people get called for their turn at the other one!
Karmalady - I have a feeling that Tesla points are targeted because some idiots think they're 'sticking it' to Elon Musk (although of course there are idiots who'll vandalise anything!).
I'd be interested to know if anyone tows a caravan / trailer tent with an electric or hybrid car.

It’s interesting though shrub worth another mention!

Sorry, I didn't read the thread through it's already been mentioned.

There was a very interesting programme on Radio 4 recently on electric vehicles - worth a listen
Sliced Bread - Electric cars on BBC Sounds
I have decided listening to this that it would not be worth my while as I don't do many miles.

karmalady the battery on the car we are getting is 34kg. Doesn't seem enormous down between the axels? That seems to be about the average.

very good points monica and tizliz. Take hydrogen gas, it is very light, wheas a battery is extremely heavy, that alone will affect range. I very much agree with you tizliz, council tax should not be paying for charging points

We have a Peugeot 2008 on order for July. We were strongly advised to lease the car as battery range will increase in the next few years and the car will lose value. The entire lease cost including insurance will be 370€ a month and there are no maintenance charges. Cost of charging at home about 4€ using a charging point on cheap rate.
MOnica the battery on the Peugeot is between the axles.
We know long journeys will need careful planning, but the French electricity network has already installed four times as many charging points as there are petrol stations. I wouldn't want to travel at the start and end of the holiday season, but we tend to avoid that anyway.

Putting my tin hat on - charging points that are free to the user are paid for via our council tax. I, for one, am glad that Highlands council are rethinking this policy.

How does the load you are carrying affect range? How much space do the battery and engine take up compared with a petrol or diesel car?

We run a large estate car because one of our hobbies is antiques trading and the car needs to have a really big boot to get all our stock and paraphenalia in and transport us all to a location up to 100 miles away and back. We also have several other journeys we do of a similar kind?

We currently run a big square -rofiled SAAB estate. We have considered a smaller car and a trailer, but have nowhere to park the trailer.

I'm surprised that the Tesla battery has degraded by so much .Our experience is DH has had his 3 years and did a trip at the weekend and setting off he had 300 miles and that's pretty much what he got.He was advised when he got it to charge up to 80 % the majority of the time. Thats better for the battery than fully charging everytime apparently .Don't know why !So sets its to charge 80% unless were going on holiday eg. and that provides ample mileage for his general use daily.
I had an electric van for my business until I retired and was a bit of a pioneer I guess because not many on the roads then.I absolutely loved it and the battery capacity was slightly less when I sold it after 5 years but not by much.We have solar panels so that helps.And I also don't miss using smelly petrol pumps.

Esspee

karmalady We didn’t choose a Tesla because of their small battery (being dual fuel) and because Tesla chargers are 60p/kilowatt hour plus they fine you if you stay on the charger once the battery is full. We have met two fellow motorists one was fined £30, another £100.
Electric charging points are social centres. Drivers chat to each other and pass on hints.

incorrect this particular tesla is purely EV and certainly not dual fuel. I will most definitely not be getting an EV (physicist) and neither will my siblings, brother is expert witness for motor problems. We know enough about batteries, what they are made from, their capacitance and how long they hold their charge after degrading over time.

There will be other methods of propulsion developed in due course

We have two cars, one is more comfortable for longer journeys and the other is a petrol corsa, which we call the dog car as we just use it for local journeys for dog walking or going to the supermarket etc. We are going to keep the corsa going until it falls to bits and then replace with an electric car. Hopefully the price will have dropped a bit by then, however, we're currently reluctant to buy a replacement for the other car as recharging can still be an issue on long journeys

jane we did exactly the same. You could buy the battery but they didn’t really know how long it would last.
I drive a 12 year old mini and do about 4,000 miles /year.
I am, according to a programme called sliced bread on R4, doing the world a favour by keeping it till it falls to bits.