Thread: EV general discussion

Ooops.. may have ordered an around town one.

Originally Posted by cjc_td5

A EV when driving is using say 10-20x the amount of electricity that any panels could produce. So you'd drive for say 2 hours, then park and recharge for the next 40 (sunlight) hours?

No not saying only use solar. But there is a lot of roof and boot space facing the sky. Even if you just parked the car for a few hours while having lunch or down at the beach would be better than nothing surely! Some people (like my partner) dont use their car during the week so it could be charging for nothing and not causing the electricity suppliers overloads etc. Or is it as I suspect, a lot of BS and they are not cheap to run and the sun is not the answer. Maybe they should have a windmill on top so it charges as they drive. Or arn't they efficient either? We hear so much about wind and solar being the cheap alternative and it seems you have just destroyed the myth because they are slow and inefficient and are not the long term answer. I wonder what is?

I'll just leave this here...

Why I’ve pulled the plug on my electric car | Comment | The Times

"Why I’ve pulled the plug on my electric car".

As I watch my family strike out on foot across the fields into driving rain and gathering darkness, my wife holding each child’s hand, our new year plans in ruins, while I do what I can to make our dead car safe before abandoning it a mile short of home, full of luggage on a country lane, it occurs to me not for the first time that if we are going to save the planet we will have to find another way. Because electric cars are not the answer.

I can’t even roll it to a safer spot because it can’t be put in neutral. For when an electric car dies, it dies hard. And then lies there as big and grey and not-going-anywhere as the poacher-slain bull elephant I once saw rotting by a roadside in northern Kenya. Just a bit less smelly.

Two out of three roadside chargers are broken or busy at any one time
Not that this is unusual.
Since I bought my eco dream car in late 2020, in a deluded Thunbergian frenzy, it has spent more time off the road than on it, beached at the dealership for months at a time on account of innumerable electrical calamities, while I galumph around in the big diesel “courtesy cars” they send me under the terms of the warranty.
But this time I don’t want one. And I don’t want my own car back either.

I have asked the guys who sold it to me to sell it again, as soon as it is fixed, to the first mug who walks into the shop. Because I am going back to petrol while there is still time.
And if the government really does ban new wet fuel cars after 2030, then we will eventually have to go back to horses. Because the electric vehicle industry is no readier to get a family home from Cornwall at Christmas time (as I was trying to do) than it is to fly us all to Jupiter. The cars are useless, the infrastructure is not there and you’re honestly better off walking.

Even on the really long journeys. In fact, especially on the long journeys. The short ones they can just about manage. It’s no wonder Tesla shares are down 71 per cent. It’s all a huge fraud. And, for me, it’s over.

Yet the new owner of my “preloved” premium electric vehicle, fired with a messianic desire to make a better world for his children, will not know this. He will be delighted with his purchase and overjoyed to find there are still six months of warranty left, little suspecting that once that has expired — and with it the free repairs and replacement cars for those long spells off road — he will be functionally carless.

He will be over the moon to learn that it has “a range of up to 292 miles”. No need to tell him what that really means is “220 miles”. Why electric carmakers are allowed to tell these lies is a mystery to me. As it soon will be to him.

Although for the first few days he won’t worry especially. He’ll think he can just nip into a fuel station and charge it up again. Ho ho ho. No need to tell him that two out of three roadside chargers in this country are broken or busy at any one time. Or that the built-in “find my nearest charge point” function doesn’t work, has never worked, and isn’t meant to work.

Or that apps like Zap-Map don’t work either because the chargers they send you to are always either busy or broken or require a membership card you don’t have or an app you can’t download because there’s no 5G here, in the middle of nowhere, where you will now probably die.
Or that the Society of Motor Manufacturers said this week that only 23 new chargers are being installed nationwide each day, of the 100 per day that were promised (as a proud early adopter, I told myself that charging would become easier as the network grew, but it hasn’t grown, while the number of e-drivers has tripled, so it’s actually harder now than it was two years ago).

There are, of course, plus sides to electric ownership. Such as the camaraderie when we encounter each other, tired and weeping at yet another service station with only two chargers, one of which still has the “this fault has been reported” sign on it from when you were here last August, and the other is of the measly 3kWh variety, which means you will have to spend the night in a Travelodge while your stupid drum lazily inhales enough juice to get home.

Together, in the benighted charging zone, we leccy drivers laugh about what fools we are and drool over the diesel hatchbacks nonchalantly filling up across the way (“imagine getting to a fuel station and knowing for sure you will be able to refuel!”) and talk in the hour-long queue at Exeter services about the petrol car we will buy as soon as we get home.

We filled up there last week on the way back from Cornwall, adding two hours to our four-hour journey, by which time Esther wasn’t speaking to me. She’s been telling me to get rid of the iPace since it ruined last summer’s holidays in both Wales and Devon (“If you won’t let us fly any more, at least buy a car that can get us to the places we’re still allowed to go!”).

But I kept begging her to give me one last chance, as if I’d refused to give up a mistress, rather than a dull family car. Until this time, a couple of miles from home, when a message flashed up on the dash: “Assisted braking not available — proceed with caution.” Then: “Steering control unavailable.”

And then, as I inched off the dual carriageway at our turnoff, begging it to make the last mile, children weeping at the scary noises coming from both car and father: “Gearbox fault detected.” CLUNK. WHIRRR. CRACK.

And dead. Nothing.
Poached elephant.
I called Jaguar Assist (there is a button in the roof that does it directly — most useful feature on the car) who told me they could have a mechanic there in four hours (who would laugh and say, “Can’t help you, pal. You’ve got a software issue there. I’m just a car mechanic. And this isn’t a car, it’s a laptop on wheels.”)
So Esther and the kids headed for home across the sleety wastes, a vision of post-apocalyptic misery like something out of Cormac McCarthy, while I saw out 2022 waiting for a tow-truck. Again.

But don’t let that put you off.
I see in the paper that electric car sales are at record levels and production is struggling to keep up with demand. So why not buy mine? It’s clean as a whistle and boasts super-low mileage. After all, it’s hardly been driven . . ."

Originally Posted by Tins

I'll just leave this here...

Why I’ve pulled the plug on my electric car | Comment | The Times

DId you notice the brand?

I still think once the Japs and Koreans start manufacturing them,in huge numbers,if they ever do,their reliability will be way ahead of Tesla and the other pretenders.

The Japs are not stupid,look at Toyota's current dominance in the world new vehicle market,they obviously know the market better than any one else.
Other Japanese and Korean manufacturers are not far behind.

Originally Posted by scarry

DId you notice the brand?

I still think once the Japs and Koreans start manufacturing them,in huge numbers,if they ever do,their reliability will be way ahead of Tesla and the other pretenders.

The Japs are not stupid,look at Toyota's current dominance in the world new vehicle market,they obviously know the market better than any one else.
Other Japanese and Korean manufacturers are not far behind.

Saw that article - Clearly not happy! My one is not able to do its WTPL range - I have never stuffed it and run out of power over 30000km

Just saw KIA ev6 information

"When you purchase you Kia EV, you have the opportunity to purchase the scheduled services in advance through our Kia Service Plan program^[S].

You can purchase 3 years, 5 Years or 7 Years of servicing at the time of the vehicle purchase & control your future spending by paying for all your services in advance.

3 Year

$594
5 Year

$1,089
7 Year

$1,584

"

My Disco costs me the seven year price more than yearly Hand brake squeal about to cost me a bit more


Not sure why that gent mucked up so much? Suspect a number of issues. The Jaguar I saw seems very very nice- Much nicer than my cheap and cheerful daily drive.

A forum I watch with Jaguar owners is not very active here. IF they had problems I suspect it would be very active

Jaguar - AEVA Forums

Originally Posted by scarry

DId you notice the brand?

I did. I also posted here a while back that Toyota don't believe EVs are the future. What do they know that the others don't? They're not in the habit of backing losers. They also have a working hydrogen powered ICE.

Originally Posted by Tins

I did. I also posted here a while back that Toyota don't believe EVs are the future. What do they know that the others don't? They're not in the habit of backing losers. They also have a working hydrogen powered ICE.

I think they are hedging their bets both ways,EV and ICE,and possibly hydrogen.Anyone who thinks they are not working on them,and dont have the tech,are dreaming.
They are just not using the tech at the moment.They have done this with ICE vehicles for many decades,and still do it in todays market.

Europe is not a huge market for them,so they are probably sitting back and watching the market,not following the sheep,just waiting to see what happens.
Once they believe Ev's will sell well,and will continue to sell well,i bet they will be onto it.

A few years ago,they realised Hybrids were a big seller,and quickly became a world leader in their sales.
Over 75% of hybrids sold in Aus are Tojo's.

Originally Posted by Homestar

Apart from a large power cable running to Singapore - I see Sun Cable has gone belly up, so his 15% share has vapourised.

No - he didn't get what he wanted regarding the next investment round for Sun Cable and so wouldn't put in his $60 Million. That left them $60 Million short which made the board decide to put it into voluntary administration, effectively sidelining him.