EV Owners Thread

[CXRAndy]

Check out PetrolPed on YouTube. He has an EV and posts some useful and informative vidoes on the pros & cons of owning an EV.
His biggest minus is the paucity of charging points around the country and the number of apps; he has 10 on his cellphone, you may need to be able to have a reasonable flexibility to charge when you need to on journeys beyond the range of your particular EV. Then of course for each app, you need to register, supply personal & bank details etc., etc..
Just don't mislay your 'phone - !

Most charging networks are moving over to contactless payment, legislated by government. Precisely to eliminate the silly situation of having 10 apps.

Rarely do I venture off Tesla Supercharger network, but when I do I tend to use Ionity for the reason it works, its contactless, painless. Just one step behind Tesla for ease of use.

 

[Jameshow]

That's true. But it might reduce much faster than you expect. When you can't take your petrol car into places without being charged, when the cost of that petrol starts to increase much more as demand decreases, you start to build a spiral. A very very quick spiral as people ditch their diesels / petrol cars in favour of cars that don't get charged extra, that are cheaper and more convenient to fuel and better for the environment.

Kodak is a good example of a company that had everything, but in the space of a few years, had nothing. There was a huge business in cameras using film. Then suddenly the digital camera was invented. Within 20 years film has almost been eradicated. Kodak invented the digital camera in 1975. In 1988 the first commercial digital camera was released by Nikon. 12 years later we had mobile phones with cameras in. Now film is hardly needed, much harder to get hold of and more expensive. There are few processing centres. That's how the world works.

I had a freind who in mid 90's was showing me the Kodak APS camera system, a small cartridge film system.... The rest is history!!

 

[MrGrumpy]

I asked the question in the other thread but maybe should have asked here . Is there any EV owner posting on here whom only uses public charging points ?

 

[Jameshow]

I asked the question in the other thread but maybe should have asked here . Is there any EV owner posting on here whom only uses public charging points ?

I have a client who does. I could ask him what he pays in the local Lidl.

 

[cougie uk]

A petrol station (what will they be called soon?) close to me has just added a 5-6 stand bank of fast EV chargers. Massive transformer added too. So it seems that petrol? chains are going to start offering another choice to the range of fuels.

What caught my eye was a transit type van being plugged in which raises the question about who pays for the unproductive time spent waiting for EV's to charge? Seems that what you save on direct cost of 'filling up' is more than lost in waiting for the EV to recharge.

As someone said, EV's are not about saving the planet, it's about saving the car industry. So true.

Don't drivers need breaks by law ? Charging and break time at the same time. It doesn't take long to charge on a fast charger.

 

[MrGrumpy]

I have a client who does. I could ask him what he pays in the local Lidl.

From what I’m reading if no charge facilities at home , it’s rather expensive otherwise is the gist ? It’s quite evangelical on here regarding EVs being the best thing since sliced bread but if no way to charge at home , then it must cost quite a bit ?

 

[CXRAndy]

I hadn't looked recently at the new layout for energy usage. Much better. First leg of my morning

3.67 miles per kW of battery. Not bad when most of the journey was at national speed limits, maybe a bit more in places

 

[icowden]

From what I’m reading if no charge facilities at home , it’s rather expensive otherwise is the gist ? It’s quite evangelical on here regarding EVs being the best thing since sliced bread but if no way to charge at home , then it must cost quite a bit ?

There are three levels of charging cost really:

• Home charging on an EV Tariff (9p to 12p per kwh) - this is the cheapest option.
• Home charging on an ordinary tariff or using a public slow charger (5 to 11kwh or less) - these cost roughly the same price (35p to 45p) but require several hours of charging.
• Using a public rapid or ultra-rapid charging (50kwh or more) - these are the most expensive option but restore most of the range within about 15 - 30 minutes. These cost 70p per kwh or more.

Obviously if the price of Electricity drops, then we would also expect the charging cost to drop. In May 2022 a rapid charger cost about 45p per Kwh for example.

So it is possible to run an EV without a home charger, but you do need to hunt down places to park which can charge your car overnight or for a good portion of the day. More forward looking Councils such as Brighton have been fitting lamp-post chargers (207 so far i think). That would cover regular charging of 1242 EVs per day. Charging isn't needed every day, so that's probably enough to charge a maximum of 3726 cars in Brighton over 3 days, with each car charging for 4 hours and moving on promptly. Of course we know that isn't going to happen and in the real world it will probably be closer to half of that.

38% of Brighton residents don't have a car. I couldn't find a stat for the number of people without a driveway, but there are lots of properties that do have off street parking (lots of people renting their driveways).

 

[MrGrumpy]

There are three levels of charging cost really:

• Home charging on an EV Tariff (9p to 12p per kwh) - this is the cheapest option.
• Home charging on an ordinary tariff or using a public slow charger (5 to 11kwh or less) - these cost roughly the same price (35p to 45p) but require several hours of charging.
• Using a public rapid or ultra-rapid charging (50kwh or more) - these are the most expensive option but restore most of the range within about 15 - 30 minutes. These cost 70p per kwh or more.

Obviously if the price of Electricity drops, then we would also expect the charging cost to drop. In May 2022 a rapid charger cost about 45p per Kwh for example.

So it is possible to run an EV without a home charger, but you do need to hunt down places to park which can charge your car overnight or for a good portion of the day. More forward looking Councils such as Brighton have been fitting lamp-post chargers (207 so far i think). That would cover regular charging of 1242 EVs per day. Charging isn't needed every day, so that's probably enough to charge a maximum of 3726 cars in Brighton over 3 days, with each car charging for 4 hours and moving on promptly. Of course we know that isn't going to happen and in the real world it will probably be closer to half of that.

38% of Brighton residents don't have a car. I couldn't find a stat for the number of people without a driveway, but there are lots of properties that do have off street parking (lots of people renting their driveways).

Hope things improve then , as I foresee headaches !

 

[cougie uk]

Hope things improve then , as I foresee headaches !

They definitely will. I'm sure the numbers of petrol stations weren't massive when cars started in the UK.

 

[figbat]

They definitely will. I'm sure the numbers of petrol stations weren't massive when cars started in the UK.

It apparently took 25 years of motoring before petrol stations arrived. Before then you bought "...petrol in two-gallon cans from chemists, hardware shops and hotels, as well as from garages."

Imagine having to pop to Boots when you need to charge your car.

[EDIT] - added the hyperlink.

 

[MrGrumpy]

It apparently took 25 years of motoring before petrol stations arrived. Before then you bought "...petrol in two-gallon cans from chemists, hardware shops and hotels, as well as from garages."

Imagine having to pop to Boots when you need to charge your car.

[EDIT] - added the hyperlink.

So where are the Ladies and Gents waving flags at the front of todays EVs !!

 

[All uphill]

They definitely will. I'm sure the numbers of petrol stations weren't massive when cars started in the UK.

Three of our neighbours have each had EVs for 2+ years; all three say they have only rarely used public charging points. One has driven 50k miles in 3 years and only charged at a public point on 6 occasions.

If that currently reflects the national picture at all I can see why the roll out of public points is relatively slow - maybe the demand isn't great at present.

 

[PK99]

Three of our neighbours have each had EVs for 2+ years; all three say they have only rarely used public charging points. One has driven 50k miles in 3 years and only charged at a public point on 6 occasions.

If that currently reflects the national picture at all I can see why the roll out of public points is relatively slow - maybe the demand isn't great at present.

All the people I know with Plug-in EVs do very limited and local-only milage.

People I know who do longer milages have either self-charging hybrids or are sticking with petrol until the charging network meets their neede.

 

[cougie uk]

All the people I know with Plug-in EVs do very limited and local-only milage.

People I know who do longer milages have either self-charging hybrids or are sticking with petrol until the charging network meets their neede.

I know a few people with EVs - and I'd say they use them like normal cars.

I also know some pensioners who went down the hybrid route and their longest trip is only ever 25 miles or so. They could have easily gone electric for their requirements but didn't for some reason.