EV Owners Thread

[chris-suffolk]

New or second hand?
What is the ICE car you currently drive?

Currently drive a VW Passat

2nd hand is fine. Estate car, seat 5 with 1800+ litres with seats down

 

[chris-suffolk]

That's a valid point but it *is* getting better, and more lower priced EVs are coming out.


It isn't. Mild hybrids are there to meet targets, not to work well. My daughter's Fiat 500 is a "hybrid". They bunged a small battery under the driver seat which means the engine switches off at traffic lights if there is enough energy.

My car does that with a stop start battery - never been classed as any type of electirc vehicle though.

If we are pushing electic cars to cut emissions and reduce climate change, then surely any electric car needs to be more environmentally friendly than the car it replaces? The Hybrid version of my car, in average real world conditions, is approx 15% worse in terms of fuel usage.

 

[icowden]

Find me something with a boot capacity - seats down - in excess of 1800 litres, and under £15k with a range of 300 miles and I might be interested.

Closest I can get is a second hand Tesla X at £20k with 82,000 miles on the clock. 2200litre boot capacity with 300 miles range on a good day.
If you can reduce the expectations a little there are plenty of Peugeot e2008s , MG5s etc under the £15k mark. Only around 1300 to 1400 litres of boot space and over 200 miles range.

Why do you drive such long distances in winter without stopping? Even on a motorway non stop at 70mph that would be over 4 hours of travel. The recommendation is that you stop at least every 2.5 hours for a decent rest break.

 

[icowden]

If we are pushing electic cars to cut emissions and reduce climate change, then surely any electric car needs to be more environmentally friendly than the car it replaces? The Hybrid version of my car, in average real world conditions, is approx 15% worse in terms of fuel usage.

Manufacturers follow rules. If the rules are that they have to produce hybrids to meet targets they will find the cheapest and most effective way to do so, not the most useful or the most environmentally friendly. Hence crap hybrids that are prone to catching fire.

 

[chris-suffolk]

Manufacturers follow rules. If the rules are that they have to produce hybrids to meet targets they will find the cheapest and most effective way to do so, not the most useful or the most environmentally friendly. Hence crap hybrids that are prone to catching fire.

Clearly the 'rules' need to be tightened up then!!

 

[chris-suffolk]

Closest I can get is a second hand Tesla X at £20k with 82,000 miles on the clock. 2200litre boot capacity with 300 miles range on a good day.
If you can reduce the expectations a little there are plenty of Peugeot e2008s , MG5s etc under the £15k mark. Only around 1300 to 1400 litres of boot space and over 200 miles range.

Why do you drive such long distances in winter without stopping? Even on a motorway non stop at 70mph that would be over 4 hours of travel. The recommendation is that you stop at least every 2.5 hours for a decent rest break.

It's not for you to question what I want. I've given my criteria - for which there are plenty of ICE vehicles that fit the bill. My point is that there aren't any comparable electric vehicles.

With more than one driver, each doing 2.5 hours, that's 5 hours with just 2 drivers - so 350 miles at 70mph on a motorway.

 

[icowden]

It's not for you to question what I want. I've given my criteria - for which there are plenty of ICE vehicles that fit the bill. My point is that there aren't any comparable electric vehicles.

That's like saying "I'm used to having a mobile phone that lasts for a week on one charge. When will I be able to get a comparable smart phone?"

Electric cars are different. You use them differently. The way that you fuel them and the way that you drive them is different.

With more than one driver, each doing 2.5 hours, that's 5 hours with just 2 drivers - so 350 miles at 70mph on a motorway.

Clearly you both have bladders of steel, or are you pi$$ing in bottles? The longest motorway in the UK is only 231 miles. The longest route possible in the UK is only 700 miles. 350 miles doesn't seem like a reasonable regular use case.

 

[Legs]

It's not for you to question what I want. I've given my criteria - for which there are plenty of ICE vehicles that fit the bill. My point is that there aren't any comparable electric vehicles.

With more than one driver, each doing 2.5 hours, that's 5 hours with just 2 drivers - so 350 miles at 70mph on a motorway.

Clearly you both have bladders of steel, or are you pi$$ing in bottles? The longest motorway in the UK is only 231 miles. The longest route possible in the UK is only 700 miles. 350 miles doesn't seem like a reasonable regular use case.

If you look back a few pages, he tows a boat from Suffolk to Scotland.

 

[chris-suffolk]

That's like saying "I'm used to having a mobile phone that lasts for a week on one charge. When will I be able to get a comparable smart phone?"

Electric cars are different. You use them differently. The way that you fuel them and the way that you drive them is different.


Clearly you both have bladders of steel, or are you pi$$ing in bottles? The longest motorway in the UK is only 231 miles. The longest route possible in the UK is only 700 miles. 350 miles doesn't seem like a reasonable regular use case.

As stated above, it's NOT FOR YOU to question my criteria. So either put up or shut up!

 

[icowden]

If you look back a few pages, he tows a boat from Suffolk to Scotland.

Ah. In that case he has a use case which isn't really support by any EV at the moment. Towing is going to drastically reduce range.

 

[icowden]

As stated above, it's NOT FOR YOU to question my criteria. So either put up or shut up!

Well good luck finding your gold plated Nokia 3210 that can also work as a supercomputer, AI and navigator.

It has nothing to do with your criteria and everything to do with the rule that you can't apply the old way of doing something to the new way of doing something. Change and compromise is required.

We are agreed that there is no EV that can meet your extreme use case, because EVs haven't been designed to meet extreme use cases*.

*although if you are willing to find more cash you can get the boot capacity and range. You'll need a Tesla X long range or something similar.

 

[Electric_Andy]

My point is that there aren't any comparable electric vehicles.

I used to have the same complaint, but as @icowden says, it's more about a new way of driving behaviour rather than finding an exact replica of an ICE car. For example, my partner and I would usually drive from Plymouth to Cumbria once or twice a year and leave at 4am. If it meant not waiting/queuing for a charging point then we would probably leave at 2am to get up there for 10, or at least so we'd be charging half way at 6am where there would be less traffic and less demand for chargers. I guess if someone wants the benefits of cheap mileage and an (arguably) greener way of doing things, it comes at a cost to lifestyle and habits

 

[CXRAndy]

It's not for you to question what I want. I've given my criteria - for which there are plenty of ICE vehicles that fit the bill. My point is that there aren't any comparable electric vehicles.

With more than one driver, each doing 2.5 hours, that's 5 hours with just 2 drivers - so 350 miles at 70mph on a motorway.

Your requirements make you an outlier. Unfortunately you will need to wait a little longer until an EV with humongous boot and 400+ mile range is brought to market for under £30k 🙁

I wish you well on your quest 👍

 

[Electric_Andy]

Closest I can get is a second hand Tesla X at £20k with 82,000 miles on the clock

If we accept that charging the thing is not a problem, and the range is not a problem (which it doesn't seem to be for most people), the other thing I'd be concerned about is spending upwards of 10k on a car with 82,000 miles. If the battery decided to fail or more probably lose capacity over time, you're left with a Tesla sized paperweight, or a bill for between £6k and £10k for a new battery.

But good news - it looks like the batteries are getting cheaper:
According to Statista, the average cost of a lithium-ion electric car battery in 2023 was $139 per kWh. This works out as £109.25 per kWh in the UK. While it is still expensive, it is much lower than in 2013 when the cost per kWh was $780 (£613.04).

So it seems they may be on a downward trend, much like any other form of tech e.g. SD cards!

 

[CXRAndy]

If the battery decided to fail or more probably lose capacity over time, you're left with a Tesla sized paperweight, or a bill for between £6k and £10k for a new battery.

Most brands offer around 8 years and 150k mile warranty on their batteries and drivetrain. So 82k miles is well within the cover.

My wife's model 3 has,(just checking) 106k miles coming up to 6 years old in September. She has around 93% of original range capacity.

Car batteries for EVs have proven to be extremely reliable overall.