Are we being forced to go electric?

[Scottish Scrutineer]

As a now-non-driver (for a range of reasons) looking from the outside into the world of electric vehicles, I wonder if reviving the old motorail services might be a consideration - useful for those who will be buying 2nd hand cars with reduced range, and those buying the smaller, lighter e-cars with reduced range which will suitable for many people's normal everyday usage and will surely be available at lower prices in the next 5 - 10 years.

Put your car on the train in Birmingham and get off with it in Lyons, Verona or Warsaw ... Closer to home, put your car on the train in London, get off in Dundee. Car on train on Carlisle, get off in Cornwall ...
Once you are in the area of your destination, you can 'top up' in your normal way. Of course it wouldn't work for a touring holiday, but for a destination holiday, it would seem ideal.

Have you tried travelling by rail in UK recently? It is almost impossible to get a seat on the train you intended to travel on, usually because it isn't running, doesn't have enough carriages/seats, doesn't bother to stop at your station because it is already full, and for longer (domestic) journeys, is more expensive than flying or even driving, or takes longer than other options..

I've twice considered rail for longer journeys to an attempt to avoid flying. One trip from near Edinburgh to NEC Birmingham to attend a trade show (which I used to be able to do n a day by flying); 5+hrs each way, inconvenient times, very costly and would involve an overnight stay.
The other was to Girona in Spain for a holiday; the longest and most expensive section was travel to London to catch the the Eurostar. The time, costs and distances from there on were quite manageable

 

[KnittyNorah]

Have you tried travelling by rail in UK recently? It is almost impossible to get a seat on the train you intended to travel on, usually because it isn't running, doesn't have enough carriages/seats, doesn't bother to stop at your station because it is already full, and for longer (domestic) journeys, is more expensive than flying or even driving, or takes longer than other options..

I've twice considered rail for longer journeys to an attempt to avoid flying. One trip from near Edinburgh to NEC Birmingham to attend a trade show (which I used to be able to do n a day by flying); 5+hrs each way, inconvenient times, very costly and would involve an overnight stay.
The other was to Girona in Spain for a holiday; the longest and most expensive section was travel to London to catch the the Eurostar. The time, costs and distances from there on were quite manageable

Motorrail is (or rather, was, in the main) a very different service 'normal' rail services. International and long-distance. Maybe you don't remember it? the last motorrail services ran in the UK in 1995. See here for a brief explanation and description of remaining and former routes
Obviously I don't expect any rail service in the UK to be reliable at this point in time, but it is certain that big changes must come in the way that we travel - IF we are to continue travelling.
There are still (a very few) motorrail services in Europe and it seems to me it is something that could/should be looked into expanding rather than contracting - motorrail services would be a great boon to those who have evs with a shorter 'commuting' type of range.

 

[matticus]

The other was to Girona in Spain for a holiday; the longest and most expensive section was travel to London to catch the the Eurostar. The time, costs and distances from there on were quite manageable

So that shows these things are possible.

(I've never used the service - or even seen it! - but didn't the French run a motorail-type service from Paris-to-Med quite recently?

 

[KnittyNorah]

So that shows these things are possible.

(I've never used the service - or even seen it! - but didn't the French run a motorail-type service from Paris-to-Med quite recently?

SNCF (French Railways) used to offer an all-year-round Auto-train service from Paris to Avignon, Marseille, Toulon, St Raphael, Nice. However, Auto-Train was discontinued completely from December 2019. From The man in seat 61
.

 

[Alex321]

So that shows these things are possible.

(I've never used the service - or even seen it! - but didn't the French run a motorail-type service from Paris-to-Med quite recently?

Depends what you mean by quite recently, but yes, I remember looking into it as a possibility when we were thinking of going to Italy for a holiday one year. That holiday never actually happened, so I didn't use it, but they were definitely running it then, about 20 years ago.

 

[matticus]

Depends what you mean by quite recently

I'll take "December 2019" as corroborating my anecdote! :P

 

[icowden]

Interesting that you think Coren AND Adam Kay are ****-holes. I hope to meet your friends one day, they must be all saints!

I was paraphrasing @BrumJim. I think Giles Coren is a bit of a nobber and Adam Kay is quite funny. I think both of them are idiots for choosing the i-pace out of all the cars they could have had. Quite why anyone would choose it over a Tesla, Polestar, Ioniq, or ID4/5 is beyond me.

 

[MrGrumpy]

think we will be waiting a while before we move to an EV. Probably go hybrid route next. Should allow more choice in the second hand market eventually .

 

[Rusty Nails]

think we will be waiting a while before we move to an EV. Probably go hybrid route next. Should allow more choice in the second hand market eventually .

I will be taking delivery of my new ICE Karoq this week. I seriously thought about and looked into, buying an electric car, and I will one day, but I want my driving to be as hassle free as possible; short holiday breaks around the country, frequent trips to London, without the need for planning journey breaks and lengths of stops or looking for convenient charging points in cities. I am not at all a lover of cars for anything other than safe, hassle free motoring, and am quite happy to wait until the number of early adopters have led to the inevitable improvements in the charging infrastructure, plus further improvement in the range supplied by batteries...and until the prices come down further.
If my new car is anything like my old Yeti I should be able to get around 500 miles between refills which covers most of my trips without a refill, or at the most one ten minute stop.

 

[Arrowfoot]

The same comments were made when internal combustion engine cars started to increase in the early 1900's. Infrastructures will improve, but with electricity at every home, the network is already in place mostly

Any documented source to this early 1900s claim as none of us were born then? I would have thought that most could not afford it then.

Charging infrastructure as in network across travel routes and the availability of superchargers similar to refuelling at a garage in quick time. Currently there is no reasonable comparison to ICE when it comes to convenience and peace of mind. Range anxiety is not an issue and you do not work around the car but the car works for you.

EV is certainly the future and I explained in my post the mantra is well understood.

 

[cougie uk]

The first Porsche was electric.
They've gone full circle.

 

[icowden]

Range anxiety is not an issue and you do not work around the car but the car works for you.

You are describing an EV there once you have owned it for a few months.

 

[Jameshow]

Any documented source to this early 1900s claim as none of us were born then? I would have thought that most could not afford it then.

Charging infrastructure as in network across travel routes and the availability of superchargers similar to refuelling at a garage in quick time. Currently there is no reasonable comparison to ICE when it comes to convenience and peace of mind. Range anxiety is not an issue and you do not work around the car but the car works for you.

EV is certainly the future and I explained in my post the mantra is well understood.

Inn 1900 they had rutted roads

Buy 1960 they had the M1???

 

[fossyant]

Have you tried travelling by rail in UK recently?

I've given up even trying to use rail locally, binned off the idea of an evening out with a nice Meal and entertainment a few times the last few months. I'll just ride to work and stay home !

 

[nickyboy]

Bit of an update...took delivery of the PHEV a couple of months ago. Does all the things you expect a new car to do and we have got into the habit of sticking it on charge when we get home unless it is more than 3/4 charged. Electric range is about 35 miles which covers almost all our day to day driving. I think the only time it went onto full petrol was a day over Xmas when I had to go to Manchester and back twice and didn't have enough time between to recharge
Interesting that when on automatic hybrid engine management it uses a reasonable amount of petrol which presumably is when accelerating

It has a calculator which estimates the mpg obtained based on charging history, driving style etc. Having done about 1000 miles it is 90mpg. Regularly on electric only, smooth drives it will record 160mpg and this is quite a large car