1st Experience with Electric Car

kiwi pom · Oct 7, 2023

Are the alternatives for pick ups and towing vehicles anywhere close to ready yet? There’s a lot of EV fans on here but most use them alongside ICE vehicles. Will they be such fans of government policy when they are forced down the EV route for all vehicles.
It’s getting harder to find a straight petrol car, diesels will be gone soon, if not through an engine ban, cities will ban them.
Add in replacements for the fuel tax and things might not look so good

Lakesdigger · Oct 7, 2023

Highland Mule said:
Haven’t looked in detail. There will be some that are and some that aren’t. No point comparing a 1.6 diesel to a 400hp EV though, as many seem to do.

£25k for a brand new 5 door is possible if you look.

EV works differently though. They are all capable of being extremely quick it's whether they have a battery big enough that's key. I don't doubt there are leccy cars at the cheaper end of the market which would suit many people 90% of the time. But what if they can't afford to buy the one with enough range for that other 10% and can't afford to run an ICE vehicle as well?

Highland Mule · Oct 7, 2023

Lakesdigger said:
EV works differently though. They are all capable of being extremely quick it's whether they have a battery big enough that's key. I don't doubt there are leccy cars at the cheaper end of the market which would suit many people 90% of the time. But what if they can't afford to buy the one with enough range for that other 10% and can't afford to run an ICE vehicle as well?

Nope, it’s too late in the day to regurgitate all the previous discussion on this. Go back 100 pages if you’re really interested as it’s all been said before.

Lincsman · Oct 7, 2023

Lakesdigger said:
It's ok govt giving notice of no more ICE vehicles but if manufacturers can't/ don't want to provide the alternative vehicles in that time frame It's never going to happen which it hasn't.

You think? Try buying a new ford car with a diesel engine tonight let alone in 8 years time.

kiwi pom · Oct 7, 2023

Lincsman said:
You think? Try buying a new ford car with a diesel engine tonight let alone in 8 years time.

Diesel cars have always been harder to find here until you get into the bigger stuff, straight petrols are getting hard to find now though it’s all hybrid stuff. I much prefer petrol but if I change it will be full EV unless I go nuts and buy a pickup or 7 seater.
I suspect your diesel will be heavily penalised when it drives into towns before long.

Highland Mule · Oct 7, 2023

Lincsman said:
You think? Try buying a new ford car with a diesel engine tonight let alone in 8 years time.

Ford cars stopped making diesels for the UK market because nobody was buying them. They don’t make steam engines either, these days - similar reasons.

sjt01 · Oct 8, 2023

Highland Mule said:
Ford cars stopped making diesels for the UK market because nobody was buying them. They don’t make steam engines either, these days - similar reasons.

And Ford were making some noise about the change from 2030 to 2035 as they had invested heavily for 2030, and were very unhappy about 2035

Lincsman · Oct 8, 2023

Highland Mule said:
Ford cars stopped making diesels for the UK market because nobody was buying them. They don’t make steam engines either, these days - similar reasons.

I did, had to get in quick last March ( before my planned change date) when there was only 3 kugas left, bought daughter a used diesel Ka+ last week, very rare car. If I could order another kuga for 3 years time I would. Although fiesta production has ended there are loads for sale, not a single diesel otherwise daughter would have had it.

Lincsman · Oct 8, 2023

kiwi pom said:
Diesel cars have always been harder to find here until you get into the bigger stuff, straight petrols are getting hard to find now though it’s all hybrid stuff. I much prefer petrol but if I change it will be full EV unless I go nuts and buy a pickup or 7 seater.
I suspect your diesel will be heavily penalised when it drives into towns before long.

Euro six and second only to full ev when driving in france so no pollution charges. Interestingly the Ka+ is only euro six because it has button start and auto stop... which I disable on startup!

Robt · Oct 8, 2023

Lincsman said:
I did, had to get in quick last March ( before my planned change date) when there was only 3 kugas left, bought daughter a used diesel Ka+ last week, very rare car. If I could order another kuga for 3 years time I would. Although fiesta production has ended there are loads for sale, not a single diesel otherwise daughter would have had it.

May I ask why you wanted diesel small car?

Lincsman · Oct 8, 2023

Robt said:
May I ask why you wanted diesel small car?

Perfect for learning to drive, on these the engines revs go up by about 300rpm as you lift off the clutch, so you can maneuver without touching throttle. If you drop speed to tick over in 3rd it still pulls away without issue. They are also like a baby suv with high seating position

Woolless · Oct 8, 2023

Had an experience yesterday which has shaken my confidence in electric cars. We drove up to Aberdeen so my daughter could attend the uni open day in my wife's MG4. Distance 180 miles. Car 100% charged, range 260 miles. By the time we got to Dundee, we were on about 15 miles less range than the remaining distance, despite me trying to moderate my driving style. So we stopped for a quick 20 minute boost up. Arriving in Aberdeen, we had a go at finding an available charger but failed, so I just parked up and we went to the university. Once my daughter was sorted, I went back to the car. After several red herrings, I finally pulled into an available charger with one mile of range left and 1% battery charge

. This charger would only put in 80% charge which gave me 125 miles of range rather than the 200 I would expect

. We had to stop at Kinross services on the way home for another boost up.

All in all, a bloody nightmare in terms of limited infrastructure and the car's range not delivering as promised. This morning, with the car charged at home up to 100%, the range is 170 miles instead of 260 yesterday. Does anyone know what is going on?

holwellcourtfarm · Oct 8, 2023

Woolless said:
Had an experience yesterday which has shaken my confidence in electric cars. We drove up to Aberdeen so my daughter could attend the uni open day in my wife's MG4. Distance 180 miles. Car 100% charged, range 260 miles. By the time we got to Dundee, we were on about 15 miles less range than the remaining distance, despite me trying to moderate my driving style. So we stopped for a quick 20 minute boost up. Arriving in Aberdeen, we had a go at finding an available charger but failed, so I just parked up and we went to the university. Once my daughter was sorted, I went back to the car. After several red herrings, I finally pulled into an available charger with one mile of range left and 1% battery charge . This charger would only put in 80% charge which gave me 125 miles of range rather than the 200 I would expect . We had to stop at Kinross services on the way home for another boost up.

All in all, a bloody nightmare in terms of limited infrastructure and the car's range not delivering as promised. This morning, with the car charged at home up to 100%, the range is 170 miles instead of 260 yesterday. Does anyone know what is going on?

I've no idea what your cause is but if you need it on that journey again there are a couple of PodPoints at Tesco Forfar that I've yet to see both in use and aren't far off the A90.

Fogg · Oct 8, 2023

My guess: The range on the motorway is a long way off the range you achieve pootling about at 40. Petrol cars are no different, really. The 170 mile range you're seeing now is based on recent driving history, if you bimble about on local roads in coming days your car will start predicting more miles on a full charge.

I had a similar experience with the Tesla, not quite as dicey, admittedly, we got home with about 5% charge, but I burnt thru' the charge quicker than I expected to with the M11 pretty much to myself.

Clive · Oct 8, 2023

Fogg said:
My guess: The range on the motorway is a long way off the range you achieve pootling about at 40. Petrol cars are no different, really. The 170 mile range you're seeing now is based on recent driving history, if you bimble about on local roads in coming days your car will start predicting more miles on a full charge.

I had a similar experience with the Tesla, not quite as dicey, admittedly, we got home with about 5% charge, but I burnt thru' the charge quicker than I expected to with the M11 pretty much to myself.

yep - “range” is usually calculated based on historical average don’t you suddenly start doing a lot on no regen / higher speed miles range will drop

equally if you were usually doing motorway miles and started driving on towns or b roads range increase

some cars are smart enough to work out true range based on sat nav set route and can even take elevation into account - most don’t though make basic assumption

i suspect it will creep back up if your back on your normal use

MF CI · Oct 8, 2023

Lincsman said:
Perfect for learning to drive, on these the engines revs go up by about 300rpm as you lift off the clutch, so you can maneuver without touching throttle. If you drop speed to tick over in 3rd it still pulls away without issue. They are also like a baby suv with high seating position

And they drink fuel like a zippo lighter.

Lincsman · Oct 8, 2023

Clive said:
yep - “range” is usually calculated based on historical average don’t you suddenly start doing a lot on no regen / higher speed miles range will drop

equally if you were usually doing motorway miles and started driving on towns or b roads range increase

some cars are smart enough to work out true range based on sat nav set route and can even take elevation into account - most don’t though make basic assumption

i suspect it will creep back up if your back on your normal use

You would have thought range would be advertised like mpg... City.. 50mpg ..etc

Lincsman · Oct 8, 2023

MF CI said:
And they drink fuel like a zippo lighter.

It's long average when picked up is 57mpg, actually goes like stink being 95hp.. daughters key is a mykey to hold it back!

Clive · Oct 8, 2023

Lincsman said:
You would have thought range would be advertised like mpg... City.. 50mpg ..etc

it is - there are various standards but like ICE they are rarely what you really get

the unusual thing about ev is that urban driving is usually more efficient then motorway as less aero losses at lower speed and more brake regeneration

sjt01 · Oct 8, 2023

Water on roads will significantly reduce range, especially at motorway speeds. You are moving a lot of water up into the air, and cooling the tyres at the same time. Headwinds will have an effect also. They have the same effect on ICE cars but not so noticeable as so much energy is dissipated in heat

1st Experience with Electric Car

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Staff Member

Member

Member

Member

Staff Member

Member

0 %

Up to 25%

25-50%

50-75%

75-100%

100% I’ve had enough of farming!

Share this page