advertisement


I think Giles Coren is hacked off with his iPace

We're picking up a PHEV tomorrow and while the plan was to rarely/never use public charging stations (one of the reasons for going for a PHEV instead of an EV) I have noticed that there are still some free ones around (and ones where the per unit price is cheaper than domestic electricity costs) so we may use those - especially the one close to my cottage in the Cairngorms that appears to be free.
 
If you estimate that it takes 5 minutes to fill a car with petrol or diesel, and 30 minutes to do the same for an electric car, which have half the range so need to 'refuel' twice as often, then changing the fleet from fossil fuel to electric might require on the order of ten times as many chargers as pumps. But then factor in that, say, half of the cars will recharge at home overnight, and maybe you need only four or five times as many.

It's do-able, especially as you don't need dedicated forecourts. Every car park, supermarket, hotel, restaurant, pub, public library, should install a modest bank of chargers. Planning law might be a useful lever here. And not to mention the on-street solutions in lamp posts, etc. What it needs is investment to ramp up the rate of installation, and also to increase the reliability so people can have confidence that their planned top up will actually be working when they arrive.
 
Sue Pertwee-Tyr said:
If you estimate that it takes 5 minutes to fill a car with petrol or diesel, and 30 minutes to do the same for an electric car, which have half the range so need to 'refuel' twice as often, then changing the fleet from fossil fuel to electric might require on the order of ten times as many chargers as pumps. But then factor in that, say, half of the cars will recharge at home overnight, and maybe you need only four or five times as many.

It's do-able, especially as you don't need dedicated forecourts. Every car park, supermarket, hotel, restaurant, pub, public library, should install a modest bank of chargers. Planning law might be a useful lever here. And not to mention the on-street solutions in lamp posts, etc. What it needs is investment to ramp up the rate of installation, and also to increase the reliability so people can have confidence that their planned top up will actually be working when they arrive.
Click to expand...
This is the big question, will the infrastructure be ready when the tipping point of ICE to EV happens (or not!) As I said before I know someone in the industry (in the EV part) who is convinced that the government will have to renage on it's timings.
The ability to travel freely is an essential part of many jobs and working from home is not the panacea many think it is. I know a couple of colleagues who suffered mental health issues during lockdowns due to not having daily interaction with another person. I agree there needs to be a change and hybrid working is a solution but the ability to travel is still going to be there and public transport and a patchy EV infrastructure just won't cut it.
Wait until car tax comes in in 2025 and the possibility of BIK tax if work provides a charger for you!
 
Take away the BIK bribes and sales would collapse. Meanwhile, ordinary taxpayers are funding rich people to drive expensive EV’s. A minor point, but if the UK car fleet is replaced by electric, where is all the power coming from?
 
Ponty said:
Take away the BIK bribes and sales would collapse. Meanwhile, ordinary taxpayers are funding rich people to drive expensive EV’s. A minor point, but if the UK car fleet is replaced by electric, where is all the power coming from?
Click to expand...
National Grid has the power, it's the infrastructure that's not going to be ready in time.
 
Richard Lines said:
I’m still seeing a lot of posting here on the premise that people HAVE to be able to travel 500 miles in one go.
Click to expand...

Not quite, I am working on the presumption that I want to travel at least 4-500 miles away from home without having to trog around half of the country to find a place to 're-fuel' that is working, doesn't require me to queue up for half an hour for my slot, sit around for a further half an hour on a cold miserable winter night to get 4/5 full and pay more per mile than I do for petrol.

Whilst it remains less convenient and more expensive than my current arrangement, it's not for me. It will change, but I will not be an early adopter to avoid buying Betamax / or a minidisc player again. :)
 
Tony Lockhart said:
It’s not my attitude, just my observations and estimations. I’d love for it to happen, but there’ll be nothing like it in my lifetime.
Click to expand...
Let’s hope you are wrong on the future. Time to vote people in to office to get it done, and also reverse the trend of cutting bus services to remote villages.
 
Seeker_UK said:
Not quite, I am working on the presumption that I want to travel at least 4-500 miles away from home without having to trog around half of the country to find a place to 're-fuel' that is working, doesn't require me to queue up for half an hour for my slot, sit around for a further half an hour on a cold miserable winter night to get 4/5 full and pay more per mile than I do for petrol.

Whilst it remains less convenient and more expensive than my current arrangement, it's not for me. It will change, but I will not be an early adopter to avoid buying Betamax / or a minidisc player again. :)
Click to expand...
I don’t know your situation but for a lot of people the need to travel over 300 miles is very rare (a few times a year) and they can plan accordingly - factor it into a lunch stop, rent a car, or take the train. For the remaining 99% of the time they are drastically reducing their carbon footprint, saving on oil changes, producing no harmful particulates as the drive.

The thinking reminds me of the retired couple on Escape to the Country the must have a six bedroom home because they want to accommodate everyone for one Christmas dinner.
 
dan m said:
I don’t know your situation but for a lot of people the need to travel over 300 miles is very rare (a few times a year) and they can plan accordingly - factor it into a lunch stop, rent a car, or take the train.
Click to expand...

I travel 300 miles a week over two days away from home. I go to a place not served by trains and charging points at the hotels I stop at are few and always in use.

Besides, charging away from home is more expensive than petrol.
 
dan m said:
I don’t know your situation but for a lot of people the need to travel over 300 miles is very rare (a few times a year) and they can plan accordingly - factor it into a lunch stop, rent a car, or take the train.

The thinking reminds me of the retired couple on Escape to the Country the must have a six bedroom home because they want to accommodate everyone for one Christmas dinner.
Click to expand...
The current issue of CAR magazine has a test of about ten current EV models, from the new MG up to relative exotica like the Taycan. Most of these cite a range of around 300 miles. In the great majority of cases, the actual, real world, mixed use range was around 150 miles, with only two models (the MG and the Tesla) giving more than 200 mile range.

200 miles isn't a common trip, but nor is it rare. I'll be doing that when I go to the Bristol show in Feb (once there, once back). I'll do it in one hit, no stops. I'll do it again in March when we go to the Lakes for a weekend. I've also got a couple of things coming up where the round-trip mileage is ~200, and I'll not have either the time or opportunity to refuel an EV at any stops.
 
dan m said:
I don’t know your situation but for a lot of people the need to travel over 300 miles is very rare (a few times a year) and they can plan accordingly - factor it into a lunch stop, rent a car, or take the train.

The thinking reminds me of the retired couple on Escape to the Country the must have a six bedroom home because they want to accommodate everyone for one Christmas dinner.
Click to expand...

I have friends with EV's that have managed to do tours round rural Scotland with their cars, which proves it's doable - however the "finding a working charger" thing did seem like somewhat of an adventure at time almost to the point that it was the main thing they were reporting back via social media - rather than the actual holiday stuff they were doing. It didn't sound like fun to me anyway - hence not being ready to do the full EV thing yet, especially as I do trips on a weekly basis might well challenge the real world EV range - especially in the winter.

I'm putting my toe in the water with the PHEV though and I will likely use public chargers from time to time (but without any anxiety if they aren't available) so it'll be interesting to see how I get on.
 
It's the fact that any long trip requires planning, requires a plan B because plan A can't be relied on, and depends on things going to plan. That's the big blocker for many. I know that, pretty much at the drop of a hat, I can get in my car and head for somewhere 400 miles away, knowing either I can make it on existing reserves, or easily and quickly find somewhere to top up, down route.
 
Sue Pertwee-Tyr said:
The current issue of CAR magazine has a test of about ten current EV models, from the new MG up to relative exotica like the Taycan. Most of these cite a range of around 300 miles. In the great majority of cases, the actual, real world, mixed use range was around 150 miles, with only two models (the MG and the Tesla) giving more than 200 mile range.

200 miles isn't a common trip, but nor is it rare. I'll be doing that when I go to the Bristol show in Feb (once there, once back). I'll do it in one hit, no stops. I'll do it again in March when we go to the Lakes for a weekend. I've also got a couple of things coming up where the round-trip mileage is ~200, and I'll not have either the time or opportunity to refuel an EV at any stops.
Click to expand...

I do a 160 mile trip twice a week and that's the main reason I'm not ready to go full EV, especially as that trip is up into the Cairngorms which I think might even challenge that 200 mile range from the best options. Obviously I'm not going to consider a Tesla (not wanting to fund fascism!) but the MG is perhaps the most interesting EV on the market at the moment with its combination of decent range and reasonable price.
 
Exaggeration and over-reading of facts that fit one side or other of the argument doesn’t help here. For all the talk of range anxiety, we recently travelled from Inveraray to home (400 miles) on 2 charges of 40 minutes, one for lunch one for a teatime snack. No wait for chargers as apps can indicate which chargers are free/busy/broken.

Sure, a petrol vehicle would involve less planning ahead, but it’s not a show stopper.
 
SteveG said:
I do a 160 mile trip twice a week and that's the main reason I'm not ready to go full EV, especially as that trip is up into the Cairngorms which I think might even challenge that 200 mile range from the best options. Obviously I'm not going to consider a Tesla (not wanting to fund fascism!) but the MG is perhaps the most interesting EV on the market at the moment with its combination of decent range and reasonable price.
Click to expand...

Polestar?
 
SteveG said:
I do a 160 mile trip twice a week and that's the main reason I'm not ready to go full EV, especially as that trip is up into the Cairngorms which I think might even challenge that 200 mile range from the best options. Obviously I'm not going to consider a Tesla (not wanting to fund fascism!) but the MG is perhaps the most interesting EV on the market at the moment with its combination of decent range and reasonable price.
Click to expand...

Travelling where you are, in the winter particularly, I’d be worried about accidents / bad weather leaving me stuck on a road for hours. I always keep the tank full during winter driving as if I get stuck on the M40 for hours in minus 10 degrees, at least I can stay warm / charge phones etc.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top