Why are people buying electric cars?

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Interesting situation re charging of e cars . Many people in inner city areas have to park their car in the street outside their home .In order to charge the car they run an extension lead from the house over the footpath to the car. The obvious problem is of course is liability if some trips and falls .
 
luthy said:
I think Ive solved the problem. No need to charge, no worries about battery life cheaper car construction costs, will go whatever distance you like from trip to the local shop to 600, 700mile trip only stop for the loo or coffee. Its easy all we need to do is fit a pantograph to the top of each car and put cables over the roads to suppy the current like the old trolly buses. Micro chip to register use and billed through the post each month.

Opps forgot the post dont work ah well "say lavy"
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I've got another idea. You could develop your pantograph and cables idea so that one vehicle attached to the power supply has a really powerful motor in it, and then you could attach a series of unpowered vehicles to the rear of it in which people could sit, read the paper, drink coffee, work on their laptops etc. until they arrive at their destination!
 
And if they say lavy, someone will point them to the end of the carriage, where it is.
 
Lol now we are cooking with electric. The system would require someone at every corner with a pole to switch the pantograph to a new line too assuming an 8 hour shift that means 3 jobs per corner unemployment solved yippeee
 
Then, in a few years time, someone will realise that flexibility of travel could be provided by detatching each of the cars and attaching them to a suitable animal, which can tow the car to a destination not served by the power lines...

Donkeys Crediton Devon Praktica Nova 1977_01_21.jpg
 
When you own an EV you do your travelling slightly differently and you learn to adapt to it (you read more books during charging stops). The fuel is cheaper (especially if you have a lower overnight levy tariff) and even free if you have the right combination of solar panels.

My view - in future we’ll have hydrogen cars for longer journeys (making it easier for government’s to tax fuel at the pump again) and EVs for small local mileage (what’s wrong with a 60 mile range if you are just pootling around locally?).

Agreed charger roll out has been a total mess and the government is to blame!
 
A "relative of mine" is on his third electric car already. To be fair, I believe the first two were hybrids but to replace one car with another so quickly - no matter what sort of cars they are - really defeats the idea of electric cars as far as I can see.
 
jerry12953 said:
A "relative of mine" is on his third electric car already. To be fair, I believe the first two were hybrids but to replace one car with another so quickly - no matter what sort of cars they are - really defeats the idea of electric cars as far as I can see.
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I suppose if you can afford an electric car in the first place, then changing them as the mood strikes is not going to be uncommon. It's a bit like folk here on this very forum, changing cameras because the latest one has come along, even though there is nothing wrong with the one they've got (guilty of this, at least once, plus especially with lenses); while there is disposable income, there will be personally-disposable items, no matter the cost of them. This is the way of things though as there is always someone, who doesn't have quite as much money, to buy the cast-offs of someone who has more of it. I have never bought a second-hand camera or lens but people have bought the ones I no longer want. When it comes to cars, however, I've only once bought a brand-new car (a Daewoo Matiz for six grand, years ago); both before and since, my cars have always been pre-owned so someone else can pay the initial, huge depreciation.

Following on from the EV cost: I saw a video item on the BBC a few days ago talking about the increased cost of insurance for EV owners due to the extra weight of the batteries causing more damage in accidents and the price of spare parts being much greater -- if they are even available as apparently some of them are hard to obtain, according to a garage mechanic interviewed for the same video.
 
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jerry12953 said:
A "relative of mine" is on his third electric car already. To be fair, I believe the first two were hybrids but to replace one car with another so quickly - no matter what sort of cars they are - really defeats the idea of electric cars as far as I can see.
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Given the amount of cars purchased via PCP, I'm not surprised. When I was working I would change cars every 2 years, usually during a 3 year PCP contract. One car only lasted 20 months, but that was because I got bored with it. My current car was on PCP but I paid it off and kept the car when I sold my last house, it's over 7 years old now, but I wouldn't be surprised if I replaced it with an EV next year.
 
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Paul Morgan said:
When you own an EV you do your travelling slightly differently and you learn to adapt to it (you read more books during charging stops). The fuel is cheaper (especially if you have a lower overnight levy tariff) and even free if you have the right combination of solar panels.

My view - in future we’ll have hydrogen cars for longer journeys (making it easier for government’s to tax fuel at the pump again) and EVs for small local mileage (what’s wrong with a 60 mile range if you are just pootling around locally?).

Agreed charger roll out has been a total mess and the government is to blame!
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Were/are the government responsible for the rollout and location of petrol stations? If not why should they be in charge of electric ‘fuel’ stations.
 
mj4456 said:
Were/are the government responsible for the rollout and location of petrol stations? If not why should they be in charge of electric ‘fuel’ stations.
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I suppose there is a responsibility implied since it is the government who are supposedly causing the phasing out of ICEs (can't see that happening, they've already put it off once and that won't be the last time) so they really ought to have a hand in dealing with ways to replace them.
 
Paul Morgan said:
When you own an EV you do your travelling slightly differently and you learn to adapt to it (you read more books during charging stops). The fuel is cheaper (especially if you have a lower overnight levy tariff) and even free if you have the right combination of solar panels.

My view - in future we’ll have hydrogen cars for longer journeys (making it easier for government’s to tax fuel at the pump again) and EVs for small local mileage (what’s wrong with a 60 mile range if you are just pootling around locally?).

Agreed charger roll out has been a total mess and the government is to blame!
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Absolutely agree, you change your driving habits to suit, it's quite painless. Re hydrogen, I think more likely hydrogen for trucks and electric for cars. The tank required to get a car range of 300 miles will need to be 3 times the size of a petrol tank and it will be heavy.
It's been a lot of years since an ev had a range as short as 60 miles, even the cheapest will get you 200 plus now, in terms of average daily private mileage in the uk (9 miles) that's enough for almost 3 weeks of driving.
 
Steep said:
Absolutely agree, you change your driving habits to suit, it's quite painless. Re hydrogen, I think more likely hydrogen for trucks and electric for cars. The tank required to get a car range of 300 miles will need to be 3 times the size of a petrol tank and it will be heavy.
It's been a lot of years since an ev had a range as short as 60 miles, even the cheapest will get you 200 plus now, in terms of average daily private mileage in the uk (9 miles) that's enough for almost 3 weeks of driving.
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Can't be as heavy as the mass of batteries required to do the same range though.
 
Jelster said:
Given the amount of cars purchased via PCP, I'm not surprised. When I was working I would change cars every 2 years, usually during a 3 year PCP contract. One car only lasted 20 months, but that was because I got bored with it. My current car was on PCP but I paid it off and kept the car when I sold my last house, it's over 7 years old now, but I wouldn't be surprised if I replaced it with an EV next year.
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What's PCP?
 
Personal Contract Purchase. It's like the old hire/purchase schemes but these roll over so long as you keep buying new cars every so often. Really bad value for money if you decide to pull out and keep the car you currently have, I'm told.

Read this...and weep: PCPs
 
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Topsy said:
What's PCP?
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Personal Contract Plan. You basically lease the vehicle with the option to buy at the end of the agreed period. You can hand back the car & walk away with an agreed valuation, use it as the "down payment" on your next car, or pay off the remainder and keep it (which is what I did, as it was the best car I've ever owned). Most new cars are purchased this way now.
 
Jelster said:
Personal Contract Plan. You basically lease the vehicle with the option to buy at the end of the agreed period. You can hand back the car & walk away with an agreed valuation, use it as the "down payment" on your next car, or pay off the remainder and keep it (which is what I did, as it was the best car I've ever owned). Most new cars are purchased this way now.
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Thanks. (y)
 
ShinySideUp said:
Personal Contract Purchase. It's like the old hire/purchase schemes but these roll over so long as you keep buying new cars every so often. Really bad value for money if you decide to pull out and keep the car you currently have, I'm told.
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Mine wasn't that bad, but my "baloon payment" was higher than you would have expected because it was the 4th car in a row I had on the plan, and the previous 3 were exchanged early. Keeping them for the complete term is advisable, but I just enjoyed getting a new car every couple of years.
 
Jelster said:
Mine wasn't that bad, but my "baloon payment" was higher than you would have expected because it was the 4th car in a row I had on the plan, and the previous 3 were exchanged early. Keeping them for the complete term is advisable, but I just enjoyed getting a new car every couple of years.
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I couldn't do it, I get attached to my cars and it's a wrench to sell them; they're like pairs of old slippers, but like old slippers, they wear out.
 
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ShinySideUp said:
I couldn't do it, I get attached to my cars and it's a wrench to sell them; they're like pairs of old slippers, but like old slippers, they wear out.
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That's how I feel with my Clubby. After selling the house and moving from London to Wiltshire, and no longer earning a big salary, I decided to bite the bullet and just pay it all off. Mind you, my JCW Clubman was valued at about £38k when it was brand new, so I don't think it was too bad...
 
jerry12953 said:
I've got another idea. You could develop your pantograph and cables idea so that one vehicle attached to the power supply has a really powerful motor in it, and then you could attach a series of unpowered vehicles to the rear of it in which people could sit, read the paper, drink coffee, work on their laptops etc. until they arrive at their destination!
Click to expand...

You know we're researching battery operated trains, right?
 
ShinySideUp said:
Really? What would be the point of that, we already have electric trains.
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Lots of reasons. But mostly because we still have very large sections of non electric line. Battery trains could be much cheaper than electrifying hundreds of miles of track.
 
JonathanRyan said:
Lots of reasons. But mostly because we still have very large sections of non electric line. Battery trains could be much cheaper than electrifying hundreds of miles of track.
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Or not having disruption due to power line issues
 
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AndrewFlannigan said:
State of the art in battery trains seems to be 300 to 600 kilometres per charge, for a three carriage train or 100 kilometres on a 10 minute charge...

en.wikipedia.org

Battery electric multiple unit - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
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My e-bike battery has a service life of, I think, 1000 charges, I would presume that the batteries in cars and trains would be similar, or perhaps a little better. These charges are full charges (0-100%) and therefore charging from half to full is about half a charge (losses aside). That's fine for an e-bike that I use three times a week (more often in the summer, less often in the winter) but commercial vehicles like trucks and trains would need a large charge every day. Given that, the batteries would need replacing every two to three years and I think the cost would be enormous, probably cheaper than electrifying a train line in the medium term but trains are there for the long haul, so to speak, so I wonder about their long-term cost-effectiveness.
 
ShinySideUp said:
My e-bike battery has a service life of, I think, 1000 charges, I would presume that the batteries in cars and trains would be similar, or perhaps a little better. These charges are full charges (0-100%) and therefore charging from half to full is about half a charge (losses aside). That's fine for an e-bike that I use three times a week (more often in the summer, less often in the winter) but commercial vehicles like trucks and trains would need a large charge every day. Given that, the batteries would need replacing every two to three years and I think the cost would be enormous, probably cheaper than electrifying a train line in the medium term but trains are there for the long haul, so to speak, so I wonder about their long-term cost-effectiveness.
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I wonder if Hitachi are perhaps desiging "better" batteries for their multi million pound trains than you have in your ebike? Either way, they last 8-10 years.

www.hitachirail.com

Intercity Battery Trains

www.hitachirail.com www.hitachirail.com
 
ShinySideUp said:
My e-bike battery has a service life of, I think, 1000 charges, I would presume that the batteries in cars and trains would be similar, or perhaps a little better. These charges are full charges (0-100%) and therefore charging from half to full is about half a charge (losses aside). That's fine for an e-bike that I use three times a week (more often in the summer, less often in the winter) but commercial vehicles like trucks and trains would need a large charge every day. Given that, the batteries would need replacing every two to three years and I think the cost would be enormous, probably cheaper than electrifying a train line in the medium term but trains are there for the long haul, so to speak, so I wonder about their long-term cost-effectiveness.
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EV batteries are far exceeding their projected lifespan. You measure life in % efficiency and e.g. my battery is set to have ~80% capacity left after 20 years, going on its current state of health 98% after 2 years and 60k miles. This will only improve as battery technology improves.
 
ShinySideUp said:
Personal Contract Purchase. It's like the old hire/purchase schemes but these roll over so long as you keep buying new cars every so often. Really bad value for money if you decide to pull out and keep the car you currently have, I'm told.

Read this...and weep: PCP
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I think it depends on the manufacturer. I always found that the amount of equity built up over the term was minimal. We had our last three cars on PCP and I decided to buy them all out at the end of the agreement. In each case the amount paid was quite a bit less than even the private price quoted in the guides. No doubt the prices were set to give the car dealer a profit if I had just returned the cars.
 
JonathanRyan said:
I wonder if Hitachi are perhaps desiging "better" batteries for their multi million pound trains than you have in your ebike? Either way, they last 8-10 years.

www.hitachirail.com

Intercity Battery Trains

www.hitachirail.com www.hitachirail.com
Click to expand...

Shame they can't apply the same longevity to phone batteries. My phone batteries last ages (relatively) when I first get them but battery deterioration is usually the reason I end up changing my phone after about three years, maybe four. The battery isn't completely knackered but once one has to start carting a power bank around, just in case, it's time to move it on. And by move it on, I mean put it in landfill because it is very difficult to find a recycler that does phones around here.
 
ShinySideUp said:
Shame they can't apply the same longevity to phone batteries. My phone batteries last ages (relatively) when I first get them but battery deterioration is usually the reason I end up changing my phone after about three years, maybe four. The battery isn't completely knackered but once one has to start carting a power bank around, just in case, it's time to move it on. And by move it on, I mean put it in landfill because it is very difficult to find a recycler that does phones around here.
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Can get a new battery for the mobile that’s what I have done in the past, not so easy though nowadays as they are built in but still can get them changed
 
LCPete said:
Can get a new battery for the mobile that’s what I have done in the past, not so easy though nowadays as they are built in but still can get them changed
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Yes, in the old days, one of the 'cures' for phone problems was to take the battery out; these days, you'd need a blow torch and a set of sharp knives.
 
I can’t see us changing to an electric car in the near future anyway
even ignoring any range issues, and the way the battery minerals are mined the simple fact that buying one would be out of our budget anyway
our present car that’s now a few years old a Yaris top of the range one we got for 12K new because it was a preregistration one and the model was changing slightly
there just is no way we could afford an equivalent electric car as we are retired on a fixed income
 
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