Y Fan Wen
Member
- Location
- N W Snowdonia
Does anybody have an electric quad yet?
Electric or hybrid cars
- Thread starter Princess Pooper
- Start date
- Location
- Lincolnshire
They are not lead acid, I think they are all lithium-ion, not so easy to recycle..yet
- Location
- South West
What a great garage you use. A large second hand Land Rover and trailer dealer got a mate of mine to spend over 2k on his Discovery a few years back on head gasket and other issues and then when it went for an mot around a month later told him the chassis was completely rotten and to scrap itI use an small but v competent (MOT centre) independent garage that I have been with for 20 years and they have done a brilliant job of balancing my desire to run a car into the ground with practical advice about what is worth doing. I trust their advice and would recommend them to anyone. They spent half a day tinkering with it for no charge. It is close to the edge for 2 new tyres but they didn't fit them (to save my money) until they had come to a conclusion about the reason for sluggish start (and as the tyres are still just legal, I won't bother to change now). Basically v slow to pick up when starting, esp when cold, smoky, and runs unevenly for first couple of minutes. Have ruled out injectors, glow plugs and anything else they could think of and think it is a compression issue. Although it has only done 130k which is not much for a diesel it is not doing long journeys like I used to which is probably taking its toll. So it's drivable but I will look to change it before MOT in the autumn (and before spending on new tyres!) It is only worth scrap as a lot of the bodywork was scratched when a shed roof fell in on it after heavy snow a few years ago. It's 13 years old.
Thanks for the advice re: alternatives
Princess Pooper
Member
- Location
- East Mids
I'm NOT getting a tesla. I'm a dairy farmer and times are hard
Scrambler
Member
- Location
- Leicestershire
We've had a BMW i3 for nearly 3 years now and we love it!
Even if it wasn't cheap to run we'd still love it. You feel like you're driving something from the future and the effortless super fast excelleration never gets boring.
Even if it wasn't cheap to run we'd still love it. You feel like you're driving something from the future and the effortless super fast excelleration never gets boring.
I bought a second hand Leaf a couple of years ago for running into town which is a couple of miles away. I have a 50kw solar pv system, so as long as I charge it during the day its free fuel. Love it. No tax, £120 annual service. Nissan garage says 6 year old battery is still fine. Do get a bit of range anxiety if round trip is over 40 miles, especially in winter, so wouldn't do as only car. Just know what you want it for.
Tractorstant
Member
- Location
- Monaco.
If you buy a Lexus CT200H I will come and find you.......
I have had one as a company car for 3 years now. Dreadful. Someone should really start legal action against the claims of fuel efficiency.
Never reset the gauge, 15.9KM/L is the average 37.9MPG I get 28 out of my Landy! Has a vario gearbox which rev's its nuts off to go anywhere. No room in the back and don't break hard because it's like you have a 20t trailer on a Dexter, the battery pushes you down the road. But it was cheap and we get a ton of money back for being "green" so there you go.
Buy an efficient petrol engine.
I have had one as a company car for 3 years now. Dreadful. Someone should really start legal action against the claims of fuel efficiency.
Never reset the gauge, 15.9KM/L is the average 37.9MPG I get 28 out of my Landy! Has a vario gearbox which rev's its nuts off to go anywhere. No room in the back and don't break hard because it's like you have a 20t trailer on a Dexter, the battery pushes you down the road. But it was cheap and we get a ton of money back for being "green" so there you go.
Buy an efficient petrol engine.
Pheasant Surprise
Member
- Location
- Woodbridge, Suffolk
Tractorstant
Member
- Location
- Monaco.
Seriously it's a bad car, well in truth it is a Puris with a body shell on it.
- Location
- South West
My wife has a 70 mile round trip for work on almost all A roads and motorway so that's beyond a Nissan Leaf without charging in work time?
Finn farmer
Member
Atleast you got choice. If you go to a dealer here they will only sell you the P90D or whatever the most powerful was, costs a hefty 110k€. I'd still love one though, but we play with cards that are dealt to us and i only have a Mercedes.
Pheasant Surprise
Member
- Location
- Woodbridge, Suffolk
What about a Renault Zoe with the bigger 41kwh battery?
- Location
- Hampshire
Out of interest how does the cabin heater work on these? Do they have Webasco type night heaters? I would think that if you wanted to get the car defrosted and warm on a winter's morning on battery it would crucify your range.
Daniel
Member
- Location
- Mildenhall, Suffolk
By absolutely nailing the battery! As far as I can tell our GTE uses a kettle element in the water jacket to heat the cabin. I have it set so it preheats the car from the mains before my wife sets off for work.
If I drive it I'll put the engine on for a couple of miles to warm the car before switching back to electric.
My wife takes the view that if the car doesn't do it automatically then she isn't going to do it for it, so her electric mileage in the winter is about half what it is in the summer, due to the heater drawing all the amps and also I suspect the battery isn't as efficient when it's cold.
Pheasant Surprise
Member
- Location
- Woodbridge, Suffolk
I was reading about that Renault Zoe this morning, and it has a phone app that can automatically set the cabin temp up, as Daniel says before you set off, while its still attached to the mains. Clever idea.
Greenbeast
Member
- Location
- East Sussex
indeed some have a battery pre-heat function, when on mains, to make the drive as efficient as possible.
Infact the fastest mode on the Teslas has a 45 minute wait before it's available to bring the batteries up to something like 50C
Pheasant Surprise
Member
- Location
- Woodbridge, Suffolk
Completely different set of 'challenges' that we will need to get our heads around as electric cars become more predominant.
Who would have thought that you'd need to preheat the batteries. Makes sense I suppose though as lithium chemistry (well most batteries really) efficiency drops off as temps drop. Probably more of a problem in the depths of Canada in the winter rather than Blighty perhaps.
These batteries are very sophisticated. You only need to look at the lithium batteries on tools, they are actively cooled, and have their own microprocessor to regulate charge/discharge/overcharge etc.
I do like the idea of remotely setting up the cabin temps, etc through a (self learning?) phone app, that is really neat.
Greenbeast
Member
- Location
- East Sussex
we've pretty much decided our next car will be hybrid/electric, although ironically, our 'need' becomes less and less all the time as we run two 4x4s for the farm and are looking at a refrigerated van for deliveries, so the car rarely leaves the place...