Trying to have fun in an electric car

Never mind the fun. They can't even get the basics right. :facepalm:

One in five new cars bought in the UK is by Motability. However, if you're disabled and want to use an electric car, you'll be disappointed because 'There is not a single public charging point for electric vehicles across the whole of the UK that meets the government’s own accessibility standard' say a committee of MPs: Source
 
Sky said:
Never mind the fun. They can't even get the basics right. :facepalm:

One in five new cars bought in the UK is by Motability. However, if you're disabled and want to use an electric car, you'll be disappointed because 'There is not a single public charging point for electric vehicles across the whole of the UK that meets the government’s own accessibility standard' say a committee of MPs: Source
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Not quite right, many people don't need to use a public charger. And just because you are disabled does not mean you can't park in a space and charge it. Appreciate that some may find it tricky especially if they need to get out with wheelchair and it's a tight space. I can also think of some chargers I have used which I really can't see people having an issue with, not everyone is in a wheelchair. And as for the weight of the cable, am not sure much could be done about that - it needs to be like that to be safe and to deliver reasonable charge. They could use a normal plug and charger (same as your domestic extension reel) but thats only around 3 miles an hour. No good for public
 
2 friends of ours both have electric cars on motability they manage fine
One has a charger at home the other uses public charger nearby
 
QED

I know there are many people with Motability cars who seem to just have 'a bit of a limp', but for the seriously disabled, lack of accessibility is a very real problem.

I use electric and manual wheelchairs, and consider myself very lucky because I can stand if I use sticks. However, for those that are paralysed, it's just another kick in the teeth.

I don't have a Motability car BTW and I'll never have an electric car.
 
cambsno said:
And in the real world... having loads more fun in my EV than I have in any of my ICE cars!

Not many people buy cars for a track day
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And not many tracks allow EV's on them either.
 
@Marc had an electric motability car IIRC. Not sure if it was BEV or PHEV though.

Have to say that track day suitability has never been a consideration in our car (or bike!) purchases.
 
Sky said:
QED

I know there are many people with Motability cars who seem to just have 'a bit of a limp', but for the seriously disabled, lack of accessibility is a very real problem.

I use electric and manual wheelchairs, and consider myself very lucky because I can stand if I use sticks. However, for those that are paralysed, it's just another kick in the teeth.

I don't have a Motability car BTW and I'll never have an electric car.
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Genuine question: (I've never thought about this) in general, are petrol pumps counted as "accessible"? I would imagine it's possible to use them from wheelchairs but there tends to be little space and steep curbs next to them. Would a person using a wheelchair choose certain petrol stations because they are more accessible than others?

BTW I agree EV chargers are a massive design failure. It doesn't seem like it would be hard to have a robotic coupling mechanism - especially on Tesla Superchargers where they were designed for one specific make.
 
Not watched much of the video but I bet the answer is "it depends". My Tesla is more fun driving through gridlocked London than my TVR ever was and from a standing start, significantly faster.

As for tracks....I went on a track day once and got a lift from a chap with some sort of souped up saloon car. It was....awful. It was a factory build where they had enhanced everything apart from the suspension so it did all kinds of alarming wallowing on bends. At one point he hit a sharp curve on a wet surface and the traction control pretty much brought the car to a stop. The I gave him a lift in the TVR and we did the same bend sideways :) I think I could enjoy a drive on a track with 500 hp in a 4 wheel drive Tesla.
 
JonathanRyan said:
Genuine question: (I've never thought about this) in general, are petrol pumps counted as "accessible"? I would imagine it's possible to use them from wheelchairs but there tends to be little space and steep curbs next to them. Would a person using a wheelchair choose certain petrol stations because they are more accessible than others?
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Most petrol stations (if not all) will help a disabled customer by coming out and filling their car. There's an app to help with this although I've never used i t.
 
I owned a full electric Nissan Leaf for about 3 years , I thought it was great , Only ever charged at home as I parked my car in the front garden , Pop open the fanlight window feed the cable through, Plug it into a normal 13 amp 3 pin plug socket , I could do 3 trips into work and back before needing a re charge , Also at weekends I could do 57 mile round trip to the boat club where I was a member , No problems at all , With EV's you either get it or you don't , If you don't just move on .
 
Marc said:
Most petrol stations (if not all) will help a disabled customer by coming out and filling their car. There's an app to help with this although I've never used i t.
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More and more petrol stations also have EV chargers now so the same assistance should be available for charging as well.
 
Sky said:
Never mind the fun. They can't even get the basics right. :facepalm:

One in five new cars bought in the UK is by Motability. However, if you're disabled and want to use an electric car, you'll be disappointed because 'There is not a single public charging point for electric vehicles across the whole of the UK that meets the government’s own accessibility standard' say a committee of MPs: Source
Click to expand...

Same answer I gave to Marc above, more and more petrol stations also have EV chargers now so the same assistance that petrol car drivers can get should be available for charging as well.
 
You're completely missing the point. :facepalm:
 
Sky said:
However, for those that are paralysed, it's just another kick in the teeth.
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How many paralysed drivers are there?
 
cambsno said:
And as for the weight of the cable, am not sure much could be done about that - it needs to be like that to be safe and to deliver reasonable charge.
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Cable could potentially be suspended from above rather than dragged along the ground
 
Steep said:
Same answer I gave to Marc above, more and more petrol stations also have EV chargers now so the same assistance that petrol car drivers can get should be available for charging as well.
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Fair point but . . .
ICE cars are filled in a couple of minutes or so, so can be done by a staff member in one visit, electric cars would need two visits, one to start the process and the other to end it, so not as easy or convenient.
 
Garry Edwards said:
Fair point but . . .
ICE cars are filled in a couple of minutes or so, so can be done by a staff member in one visit, electric cars would need two visits, one to start the process and the other to end it, so not as easy or convenient.
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But disability varies massively. How many disabled couldn’t physically charge (as opposed to being awkward for them to do it)

I know my local Tesco has chargers and while spaces are not much bigger than normal, the end ones are fine.

My question is while on the face of it it could be an issue, how many does this actually affect? Many will only charge at home, often would have someone with them. As an example, if I was totally unable to do it myself, when I have used public I always had someone with me anyway.
 
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JonathanRyan said:
Genuine question: (I've never thought about this) in general, are petrol pumps counted as "accessible"? I would imagine it's possible to use them from wheelchairs but there tends to be little space and steep curbs next to them. Would a person using a wheelchair choose certain petrol stations because they are more accessible than others?

BTW I agree EV chargers are a massive design failure. It doesn't seem like it would be hard to have a robotic coupling mechanism - especially on Tesla Superchargers where they were designed for one specific make.
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Many petrol stations have a phone number on the pump and a member of staff will fuel up your car for you if your disabled. From an access point, I doubt theres much difference between a petrol station and a charging point from wheelchair point of view, both mean reaching and moving a cable or pipe.
 
Disability access is why wireless charging needs to be a thing for EVs.
 
cambsno said:
My question is while on the face of it it could be an issue, how many does this actually affect? Many will only charge at home, often would have someone with them. As an example, if I was totally unable to do it myself, when I have used public I always had someone with me anyway.
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Only an issue for those looking for it to be an issue or to argue for the sake ot it..
 
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swanseamale47 said:
Many petrol stations have a phone number on the pump
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And just below the sticker with the number on is a "DO NOT USE MOBILE PHONES" sticker...
 
Garry Edwards said:
Fair point but . . .
ICE cars are filled in a couple of minutes or so, so can be done by a staff member in one visit, electric cars would need two visits, one to start the process and the other to end it, so not as easy or convenient.
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I mean, not really.

On the extremely rare occasions I public charge I usually just recline my comfy seat and put Netflix on the big screen. Warm or cool as appropriate. It takes less time than Brooklyn 99.
 
Marc said:
Most petrol stations (if not all) will help a disabled customer by coming out and filling their car. There's an app to help with this although I've never used i t.
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So if the government were to pass a law that chargers should be accessible (and I think they should) then one easy if expensive way to comply would be to staff them 24/7.
 
JonathanRyan said:
So if the government were to pass a law that chargers should be accessible (and I think they should) then one easy if expensive way to comply would be to staff them 24/7.
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Pretty much impossible, 'most' public EVs are in unattended car parks. Come to think of it, not all petrol stations are attended either.
 
Steep said:
Pretty much impossible, 'most' public EVs are in unattended car parks. Come to think of it, not all petrol stations are attended either.
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Such a law doesn't need to be proscriptive on _how_ the chargers are made accessible. So wireless charging would be great. Or robotic charge arms or any kind of tech solution. I bet there's something clever they could do with magnets if the desire were there.

But when companies say "no, it can't be done" or it "costs too much" you can point out that it *can* be done for £293.04 and a folding stool per site per day
 
most people don't buy a car to have fun they use it travel form A to B
I certainly don't I have a motorbike for a bit of that, although that will be sold soon.
I will buy another one in GC though but I need to get my permits first.
 
Mr Bump said:
most people don't buy a car to have fun they use it travel form A to B
I certainly don't I have a motorbike for a bit of that, although that will be sold soon.
I will buy another one in GC though but I need to get my permits first.
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When I cease to have "fun" whilst driving I will give up driving. 200+ miles yesterday to watch "idiots" having fun racing cars around a track. In a fortnights time I will be doing a similar distance going to the Isle of Man to see more "idiots" having fun rallying around the roads.

Clearly your idea of fun is different to mine. Even when I was at work doing 1500+ mile a month I used to love my journeys around the countryside.
 
Raincloud said:
It would need to have a pole sticking out of the back up into the air!
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Never let facts gets in the way of a discussion!!

If anyone here had driven a decent ev (don’t mean a Nissan leaf) and think they are not fun to drive it would be great to understand.

Instant acceleration and overtaking so easy! Not to mention the perk of warming or cooling a car prior to entry
 
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cambsno said:
Never let facts gets in the way of a discussion!!

If anyone here had driven a decent ev (don’t mean a Nissan leaf) and think they are not fun to drive it would be great to understand.

Instant acceleration and overtaking so easy! Not to mention the perk of warming or cooling a car prior to entry
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Fair comment, and I've never driven an electric car. But I've been a passenger in a few, mostly Teslas. I accept that, rear passenger space excepted, I have no reason to complain, performance is excellent and they have some great gadgets but . . .

Basically just a very big computer monitor with a very bland car built around it. No sense of it actually being a car. My idea of fun is driving something that I'm involved with, for example the very old Austin Healey 3 litre, with no comforts, poor performance compared to any modern ICE car let alone an electric one, very poor in the way of safety equipment, but it feels like a real car because it is, there's a sense of belonging that just isn't there with any of the electric cars that I've been in.

A friend has a Porsche electric, don't know the model but about £180K. He mentioned that it has a simulated engine noise, he turns it on to give himself a sense of actually driving a car . . .

So, maybe the answer to the question depends on our understanding of the word "fun" :)
 
munch said:
When I cease to have "fun" whilst driving I will give up driving. 200+ miles yesterday to watch "idiots" having fun racing cars around a track. In a fortnights time I will be doing a similar distance going to the Isle of Man to see more "idiots" having fun rallying around the roads.

Clearly your idea of fun is different to mine. Even when I was at work doing 1500+ mile a month I used to love my journeys around the countryside.
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good for you, fill your boots
 
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