EV Owners Thread

[MrGrumpy]

Anyone on here been campaigning

 

[albion]

More of that and Viz will lose their customers. Are they party members and affiliated to the Drivers Alliance?

 

[MrGrumpy]

Been reading about more Tesla Suoerchargers being unlocked for all . Could be the start of a price war I guess ? Would be good to shake up the charging network !?

 

[icowden]

Been reading about more Tesla Suoerchargers being unlocked for all . Could be the start of a price war I guess ? Would be good to shake up the charging network !?

Could be but it's a bit complicated. Firstly Tesla Supercharger prices are pretty similar to other superchargers, although you can buy a monthly or annual membership which substantially reduces the cost per kwh.

The biggest issue is this sort of thing:-

Tesla superchargers are designed for Teslas all of which have the charging port on the rear left hand side of the car. This means that when you reverse up to a Tesla Supercharger, the cable is just long enough to reach a Tesla charge port. If your port is on the other side (e.g. my ID4) - it won't reach and you can't use your own cable. Of course you can park in the next bay along, but then you are effectively blocking two EV charging bays.

The new V4 chargers will have longer cables and Tesla are selling an extension cable.

 

[markemark]

Could be but it's a bit complicated. Firstly Tesla Supercharger prices are pretty similar to other superchargers, although you can buy a monthly or annual membership which substantially reduces the cost per kwh.

The biggest issue is this sort of thing:-
View attachment 729274
Tesla superchargers are designed for Teslas all of which have the charging port on the rear left hand side of the car. This means that when you reverse up to a Tesla Supercharger, the cable is just long enough to reach a Tesla charge port. If your port is on the other side (e.g. my ID4) - it won't reach and you can't use your own cable. Of course you can park in the next bay along, but then you are effectively blocking two EV charging bays.

The new V4 chargers will have longer cables and Tesla are selling an extension cable.

But those chargers look like they're in the middle of the dividing line and so don't belong to either side?

 

[icowden]

In other news, I've been getting to grips with a Nissan Leaf this week, thanks to a London Bus Driver who decided it would be fun to try and drive *through* my ID4 (good news is that it stood up to being collected by a bus without damaging me unduly, although no airbags deployed which was surprising).

So far I'm enjoying it and it has an interesting mix of things that are better and things that are worse.

• The ID4s headlights are better and I prefer the drive selector to the weird gear stick thing which to me, is backwards (you push forwards to select reverse and backwards to select drive).
• The Leaf's e-pedal is excellent and gives true single pedal driving. The cruise control follow isn't as good, but is pretty similar.
• The door unlock system is annoying as you have to wait for a few seconds after pressing the unlock button on the door handle for anything to happen.
• The car has to be manually switched on and off - you can't just walk away like you can in the ID4.
• It's comfy and my passengers are enjoying the heated rear seats.
• The boot is very deep which makes it tricky to load my keyboard.
• Range is shorter but plenty manageable.
• You have to unlock the charging port from inside the car which is annoying.
• No OTA Android Auto but the touch screen is miles better than the ID4s (literally every car you go in with a touch screen is better than the dire offering from Volkswagen)
• It's *very* buttony.

 

[icowden]

But those chargers look like they're in the middle of the dividing line and so don't belong to either side?

They do, but if a Tesla is in bays 1 and 3 the bay 2 charge will only reach the left side. Conversely if you park in bay 2 and use the charger on the right hand side then only cars with right handed ports will be able to plug in in the bay next to you.

 

[markemark]

They do, but if a Tesla is in bays 1 and 3 the bay 2 charge will only reach the left side. Conversely if you park in bay 2 and use the charger on the right hand side then only cars with right handed ports will be able to plug in in the bay next to you.

Yes, but that's for Tesla's. Once it's opened then they first bays taken will determine the left/right siding on a rolling basis depending on the ratio of the split. So if a couple of BMWs turn up then it will end up going one way until a couple of Audis turn up and it goes the other way.

 

[CXRAndy]

Tesla could make some extra cash by refusing to allow access to their network to vehicles with awkwardly placed charge ports without buying an extension lead

 

[icowden]

Yes, but that's for Tesla's. Once it's opened then they first bays taken will determine the left/right siding on a rolling basis depending on the ratio of the split. So if a couple of BMWs turn up then it will end up going one way until a couple of Audis turn up and it goes the other way.

But wherever the split meets, you lose the use of a supercharger. Thus you reduce the potential capacity of the site.

 

[markemark]

But wherever the split meets, you lose the use of a supercharger. Thus you reduce the potential capacity of the site.

Yep. Capacity will be lost. But nobody needs to park across 3 bays like the photo. And if people are smart () then the lefties and righties will park next to each other minimising the splits.

 

[potsy]

I thought it was just the quieter sites that were being opened up to none Tesla cars anyway?
The busier sites remain Tesla only?

 

[MrGrumpy]

I thought it was just the quieter sites that were being opened up to none Tesla cars anyway?
The busier sites remain Tesla only?

Possibly I dunno , just read something about it , in similar news apparently Musk has fired the supercharger team as part of a cost cutting exercise! ?

 

[Electric_Andy]

I was passenger in an electric Renault Zoe the other day. I was very impressed. Very spacious inside despite it looking like a very small car.