|
Title: Pure electric car - initial experience Post by: grahame on February 23, 2019, 08:29:01 ... also I am aware of several people who are seriously considering an electric car, but are still a bit nervous of being an early adopter, they are therefore waiting to see how other people get on with electric cars. Meanwhile of course they are not buying a new petrol car. Breaking cover ... as part of our life re-organisation, Lisa and I have become early adaptors and 3 months ago took delivery of a pure electric car. We are at the age where insurance and running costs of vehicle(s) totally paid for are low (neither being young nor so old we are considered dangerous) so we have retained the people / dog / luggage mover and that's our "natural" for longer trips. Initial re-action? We were worried / concerned at the need to find somewhere / somehow to charge the car, but with a range of 150 miles we find the 'opposite' - suggestion is that you don't charge if you still have 80% battery and it's occasional rather than routine to need to recharge. We've had a charger point installed where the car is parked on our own property. And there are opportunities (not yet explored / having to be used) to charge away from home - ranging from plugging in to 13 amp outlets which charge at 10 m.p.h. through rapid charge units at 80 m.p.h. ... Title: Re: Pure electric car - initial experience Post by: Red Squirrel on February 23, 2019, 11:55:57 We have a plug-in hybrid car. Left to my own devices I would have gone for a pure electric (probably a Nissan Leaf) but I was unable to overcome Mrs Squirrel's range anxiety, so we ended up with a Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV.
We have a 7kW home charger, which recharges the car's 12.5kWh battery quickly enough for this not to be an issue - we always leave home with a full battery. We have used Ecotricity's DC chargers at motorway service stations - they give an 80% charge in about 40 minutes, but in a hybrid it's really not worth bothering with that for what amounts to 15 miles of range at motorway speeds. I am not a fan of this technology; it is way too complex for my liking. The car can run as a pure electric, or it can use the petrol engine to charge the battery. It can drive the front wheels directly via a CVT, and sometimes this is boosted by the front electric motor. You can also get it to charge the battery from the petrol engine so that you have some electric range when you enter a town. There is also a rear electric motor which comes and goes as it sees fit, and there's a 4WD mode which does make life a bit easier on that one day of the year when you end up driving on something slippery. Arguably this kind of vehicle should meet both grahame's requirements - it's an electric car round town, and a petrol car for longer trips. It doesn't half smell of dog. Would I recommend it? Halfheartedly. If we were looking to buy now, I'd be leaning very heavily towards a Kia e-Niro (the fully electric version). Title: Re: Pure electric car - initial experience Post by: ChrisB on February 23, 2019, 12:12:47 Can someone with experience advise how the various options cope driving in the snow? Can they cope with enough torque etc?
Title: Re: Pure electric car - initial experience Post by: Red Squirrel on February 23, 2019, 13:47:05 Can someone with experience advise how the various options cope driving in the snow? Can they cope with enough torque etc? EVs are much easier to drive in the snow (or in any other conditions) because they deliver maximum torque from a standstill in a highly controllable way. Title: Re: Pure electric car - initial experience Post by: grahame on June 30, 2019, 15:31:10 From The BBC (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-48815968)
Quote New electric vehicles will have to feature a noise-emitting device, under an EU rule coming into force on Monday. It follows concerns that low-emission cars and vans are too quiet, putting pedestrians at risk because they cannot be heard as they approach. I have grown used to being very much more aware of unsuspecting pedestrians around me when I have our car in a car park of similar with lots of pedestrians around ... and a 'frustration' at driving behind school pupils walking to or from school in the middle of a light-trafficked local road near the secondary school for Melksham. But I'm not convinced that the solution is to turn up the noise; the pupils could just turn up the volume on their headphones. Title: Re: Pure electric car - initial experience Post by: broadgage on June 30, 2019, 16:09:21 Can someone with experience advise how the various options cope driving in the snow? Can they cope with enough torque etc? EVs are much easier to drive in the snow (or in any other conditions) because they deliver maximum torque from a standstill in a highly controllable way. Agree. I do not drive a car but have heard most favourable reports as to the handling on snow of an electric car, a Nissan leaf. I have driven an electric quad bike on snow and found it easier to handle than a petrol one, the gentle starting without any "snatching" that tends to start a spin or slide was noticeable. Title: Re: Pure electric car - initial experience Post by: grahame on July 05, 2019, 08:11:10 Electric cars 'will not solve transport problem,' report warns
From The BBC (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-48875361) Quote Car use will still need to be curbed even when all vehicles are powered by clean electricity, a report has said. It warns that electrifying cars will not address traffic jams, urban sprawl and wasted space for parking. The Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions (CREDS) report calls on the government to devise a strategy allowing people to have a good standard of living without needing a car. The government said it was spending £2bn to promote walking and cycling. It also says it plans to spend £50bn on improving roads. However, critics accuse the government of not having a serious plan to deal with the social problems associated with mass car ownership. CREDS is an academic consortium of more than 80 academics across the UK. "Car use is a massive blind spot on government policy," Prof Jillian Anable, one of the authors of the report, said. She added: “For many years ministers have adopted the principle of trying to meet demand by increasing road space. "They need to reduce demand instead.” Title: Re: Pure electric car - initial experience Post by: Bmblbzzz on July 05, 2019, 16:13:11 I think that's pretty clear really. Cars are incredibly useful machines which can transform lives but we use them in ways that are not useful. As a consequence we use them too much and have too many of them and overall suffer their ill effects at least as much as we benefit from their good ones. Changing the mechanics of the cars won't change that.
This page is printed from the "Coffee Shop" forum at http://gwr.passenger.chat which is provided by a customer of Great Western Railway. Views expressed are those of the individual posters concerned. Visit www.gwr.com for the official Great Western Railway website. Please contact the administrators of this site if you feel that content provided contravenes our posting rules ( see http://railcustomer.info/1761 ). The forum is hosted by Well House Consultants - http://www.wellho.net |