Should I buy an EV - real world advice needed.
- Thread starter beammeup
- Start date
Seeker_UK
Feelin' nearly faded as my jeans
I had an A6 with that problem - £2-300 to swap a £5 bulb. The cars were designed around fitting xenon headlight units, with a long life, assuming most customers would tick that options box. Sticking with the yellow bulbs? Then that's on you, cheapskate.
That Rivian video shows how little the new EV-only brands understand car making. Anyone can build a car cheaply. The skill is to build a car cheaply that can also be repaired cheaply. Other car makers avoid such large body panels because it makes repairs harder, which raises insurance costs and affects residuals and thus new sales. (the advantage of big panels? You have less problems with gaps and alignment, something that's notoriously difficult to do well...)
An iPhone gets away with being built the way it is because it's only 200 g of materials getting tossed when it's replaced, and none of the individual parts are actually worth much. But that kind of strategy does not scale up to 2 tonne vehicles.
An iPhone gets away with being built the way it is because it's only 200 g of materials getting tossed when it's replaced, and none of the individual parts are actually worth much. But that kind of strategy does not scale up to 2 tonne vehicles.
My A5 coupe has awful headlights, I think they are the lower spec. They also have a ridiculously over complicated aim corrector for loading. On a heavily loaded estate, I get it, but the coupe is smaller you're not going to buy a car like that to carry heavy loads.
Funk
pfm Member
That's utterly ridiculous.
It's enormously wasteful - an EV typically needs 20-30k miles on it to offset the CO2 used to build it. If 1-2 year old EVs are being written off then it doesn't bode well for the environment.
That's exactly what happens. That's why there is a trade in second hand parts.
Suffolk Tony
Aim low, achieve your goals, avoid disappointment.
Harry Metcalf of the “Harry's Garage” YouTube channel has done a very interesting assessment of electric vs hybrid cars, albeit very expensive ones. Mr Metcalf's a superb, non-gimmicky presenter. Incidentally, his other channel, “Harry's Farm” is well worth watching.
NeilR
pfm Member
He’s almost ready to take the plunge to a full EV. Give him a bit more time and he will do it.
I've seen one of those. How do you know which way to face? Is it like the French Fire Dept 2CVs, where they put a steering wheel at both ends so they could escape a fire without turning round?
dan m
pfm Member
The front has the white lights, the back red. I like that to make the doors interchangeable, one is a “suicide” door.
AnilS
pfm Member
gez
pfm Member
Meaning you best make sure you never go in to the red or else you'll be at risk of your provider remotely switching your meter to a pre-pay meter at a higher than standard tariff.
cutting42
Arrived at B4 Hacker Ergo
Not necessarily, we have an old school economy 7 dual rate and get low rate night time electrickery, but I take the point. I am currently waiting for Scottish power to allow me to have a smart meter installed.
I have an overnight tariff now - Intelligent Octopus - which is 7.5p overnight. It does (positively) lead me to think about scheduling consumption overnight, obviously the car, but also washing machine and dishwater, and minimising, where possible, during the day.
I've had my EV for six or seven weeks now, solely, and painlessly, charged at home until this week. This week saw a trip up to the Lakes, requiring a total charge of ~30-40 mins away from home.
First was at the smart Tebay services, paying approx 60p/kwh for 20 mins whilst nipping inside. Second at Booths in Keswick, paying an extortionate 89p for 15 mins. Approx £20 across the two as only relatively small top-ups, but full charges at 89p would hurt - further reminder that EVs make sense for those with access to cheap home/work charging.
Each of those locations had 4 charging machines, all of which were working. By the second location I was helping two other drivers (who's decided the chargers weren't working) to use them. I do wonder whether all the reports of faulty chargers are accurate, altho I'm sure many are.
The number of chargers is clearly an issue. I stopped my first charge early to allow someone else to use the space. At the second location, all 4 chargers were taken and I had to wait 5 minutes. If EV take-up increases faster than charger installation, this could clearly become frustrating.
At the first location - Tebay - I chatted briefly to a guy in a first gen Leaf driving from Glasgow to Chester. He was happy with the car, but mentioned his plan was three charges through the journey. I didn't comment but that sounds excruciating.
So, all in all, no surprises. Public charging expensive and limited so minimise. And EVs better for some use cases than others. But I was pleased to find my first public charging experience to be straightforward. A tap of a contactless card all that was needed.
Rob
I've had my EV for six or seven weeks now, solely, and painlessly, charged at home until this week. This week saw a trip up to the Lakes, requiring a total charge of ~30-40 mins away from home.
First was at the smart Tebay services, paying approx 60p/kwh for 20 mins whilst nipping inside. Second at Booths in Keswick, paying an extortionate 89p for 15 mins. Approx £20 across the two as only relatively small top-ups, but full charges at 89p would hurt - further reminder that EVs make sense for those with access to cheap home/work charging.
Each of those locations had 4 charging machines, all of which were working. By the second location I was helping two other drivers (who's decided the chargers weren't working) to use them. I do wonder whether all the reports of faulty chargers are accurate, altho I'm sure many are.
The number of chargers is clearly an issue. I stopped my first charge early to allow someone else to use the space. At the second location, all 4 chargers were taken and I had to wait 5 minutes. If EV take-up increases faster than charger installation, this could clearly become frustrating.
At the first location - Tebay - I chatted briefly to a guy in a first gen Leaf driving from Glasgow to Chester. He was happy with the car, but mentioned his plan was three charges through the journey. I didn't comment but that sounds excruciating.
So, all in all, no surprises. Public charging expensive and limited so minimise. And EVs better for some use cases than others. But I was pleased to find my first public charging experience to be straightforward. A tap of a contactless card all that was needed.
Rob
my wife managed to put three deep gouges in the rear passenger door of our ipace after hitting a bollard. Lower plastic trim damaged as well. Took it to a repairer yesterday. Due to the aluminium door he cant fill it or pull out the dents. New door required. Apparently this is an increasing issue with ground up EV cars. Just waiting for the quote but I suspect £1500 min.