Battery cars on holiday

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Fastcar155

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Hi , on holiday in you brand new Mercedes PMF model electric car.

It's now 2027 and 15% off cars on the road the road are battery powered.

On M5 , need to charge battery at Taunton Dean but a queue over a mile long swing to get on the service area.

You drive on and see hundreds of car on the hard shoulder.

Next service area is full.

Kids screaming in back , wife going potty and your car is stuffed.

Global governments are forcing car manufactures to sell technology / inferstructure that that is not fit for purpose.

I tried the following exercise !

I pretended that my petrol car battery powered :. On my regular trip to Newcastle from Worcester I planned my route.

I chose to have two top ups / coffees etc and my trip started.

First stop and no issues on the surface / plenty of free electric charge points , however most no working and the only real electric car on the stand was having trouble paying for his electricity.He told me common issue but his company was going back to petrol powered cars.

He was a sales rep.

I travelled on to my next charge point and had a similar issue.

I then decided battery cars are no good for my driving profile.

I am not a ludite and cars doing local runs most probably will benefit from battery power.( If you can charge them )

That all folks
 
So by 2027 there will be much more than 15% EV on the road. Also circa 90% of charging takes place at home overnight . The next generation of EV, inc the new BMW offer > 400 + miles range, with lots more of similar on the way. So, going on holiday for many means charge at home, then at destination, leaving ICE cars to crowd out the dwindling fossil fuel stations.

For super sales people and others the latest 150kw super fast chargers will let you recharge in 10 minutes. The BIC benefits already mean most large companies are far along with transfer to EV.

Dont be caught out like the oldie horse and carties who insisted that cars would never catch on.
And as for the traffic light starts, even the slowest EV wups ICE every time👀🙃
 
At the moment, the biggest risk of being caught out is in not having enough generating capacity. Imagine the screams as the populus is told "Sorry, you can't charge your cars tonight, we're load shedding".
 
Insufficient generating capacity would be a problem, though National Grid have already said it won’t be. The bigger challenge imho is making sure all people are able to charge at their home address, with solutions on the way but many gaps still to fill.

“As the journey towards mass adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) speeds up, it’s vital that there’s enough clean energy to power this transport revolution. Transport Decarbonisation Director Graeme Cooper has long championed the adoption of EVs and is confident the grid can support the extra demand for electricity this transition will create.

"There is definitely enough energy and the grid can cope easily,” he explains. “The growth in renewable energy means this is not static and smart metering will make this more efficient. For example, the growth in wind power from the extra offshore wind farms being developed will adequately meet the future demand for electrifying transport – an extra 100 terrawatt hours from our current 300 terrawatt hours consume.”
 
Who gives a Monkey’s about “Traffic light starts?” Look at the usage on the roads around you. Teslas etc aren’t being driven fast, they’re simply being driven smug, in areas that are 20, 30 and 50mph regulated.
 
Who gives a Monkey’s about “Traffic light starts?” Look at the usage on the roads around you. Teslas etc aren’t being driven fast, they’re simply being driven smug, in areas that are 20, 30 and 50mph regulated.
v true, it was just a humorous end, but how do you drive smug? I really don’t understand..
 
v true, it was just a humorous end, but how do you drive smug? I really don’t understand..
It’s a thing EV owners do as they think to themselves that their two tonne new car is saving the planet, by being driven four thousand miles a year, while depreciating at over one pound a mile.

Why is their mileage so low? Because they fly for business and leisure, and get their shopping delivered by Amazon, Royal Mail, and Tesco.
 
Insufficient generating capacity would be a problem, though National Grid have already said it won’t be. The bigger challenge imho is making sure all people are able to charge at their home address, with solutions on the way but many gaps still to fill.

“As the journey towards mass adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) speeds up, it’s vital that there’s enough clean energy to power this transport revolution. Transport Decarbonisation Director Graeme Cooper has long championed the adoption of EVs and is confident the grid can support the extra demand for electricity this transition will create.

"There is definitely enough energy and the grid can cope easily,” he explains. “The growth in renewable energy means this is not static and smart metering will make this more efficient. For example, the growth in wind power from the extra offshore wind farms being developed will adequately meet the future demand for electrifying transport – an extra 100 terrawatt hours from our current 300 terrawatt hours consume.”
Clean energy and transport revolution? What about the resources that are being squandered and the damage being done in trying to get everyone to go and buy a new EV?
 
I'd find the National Grid's statement more believable if we weren't already importing up to 10% of our energy from overseas.

Doubtless they include the cross channel interconnects into the "grid", at which point of course everything looks peachy.
 
Clean energy and transport revolution? What about the resources that are being squandered and the damage being done in trying to get everyone to go and buy a new EV?
We’ve bought two ev in the past four year, neither of them were new, tho’ even a new ev bought is one less new ICE vehicle made and bought, so a swap which is simply a part of the change process.
 
I'd find the National Grid's statement more believable if we weren't already importing up to 10% of our energy from overseas.
It would also help if they indicated what they were doing about the infrastructure upgrades required to deliver enough power to residential areas for home charging because at the moment it could not cope if there was a sudden increase in home charging. I am considering moving to an Air Source Heat Pump and you are required to inform the supply companies about your increase in planned usage - a whole 2.5KW. How is the infrastructure going to cope with multiple 22KW charging points

Then of course there is the issue of cities that only have street parking - trip hazard insurance anyone?
 
By any metric, environmental, financial, my purchase of a new hybrid car was a disaster. Just over 8000 miles in 4 1/2 years, depreciation of about £3 a mile so far. The CO2 embodied in the manufacture and servicing of it. Very, very few of us have the right to claim any moral high ground here....
 
While I feel for the EV's and the issues being encountered,
I can't afford one so I'm not too worried.

But there are some easy answers to the problem.
Wind turbine on the roof.
Trailer full of batteries.
Only go down hill.
 
By any metric, environmental, financial, my purchase of a new hybrid car was a disaster. Just over 8000 miles in 4 1/2 years, depreciation of about £3 a mile so far. The CO2 embodied in the manufacture and servicing of it. Very, very few of us have the right to claim any moral high ground here....
A frank and clearly very honest appraisal for once.
I’m honest enough to admit I couldn’t possibly afford that kind of expenditure, and population wise, wonder how many can.
 
It's worth remembering that half the plug-in "battery" cars currently on the road are hybrids.

And, overall there aren't that many compared to the 35 million cars currently in the UK.

Cars like the C350e and S500Le have short range batteries for routine daily use, and petrol "on hand" for longer runs, so there's no fear of running out of battery, only a fear of running out of petrol.

The fuel saving isn't as dramatic with a PHEV compared to a BEV, but it's still there, and it is cleaner in urban environments.

Want to reduce CO2 emissions? Stop flying.


Screenshot 2021-04-07 at 11.27.16.png
 
Want to reduce CO2 emissions? Stop flying.
And find greener ways of making concrete (927 kg of CO2 are emitted for every 1000 kg of concrete produced - 8% of global emissions) and change out gas boilers (14% of CO2 in the UK). It's just cars are an easy tax target for governments.
 
And find greener ways of making concrete (927 kg of CO2 are emitted for every 1000 kg of concrete produced - 8% of global emissions) and change out gas boilers (14% of CO2 in the UK). It's just cars are an easy tax target for governments.
So true. As soon as I posted my original comment, I regretted all the "other stuff" we needlessly consume that are substantial CO2 sources, from seldom worn clothes to unnecessary heating, from beef to fruit shipped a thousand miles for our pleasure.

Government embraces taxation of vehicles to "reduce CO2," but they grab that slice of cash for their next big CO2 emitting project. (Yes, HS2 and LHR runway three: I'm talking about you)
 
"There is definitely enough energy and the grid can cope easily,”
Of course he is going to say that, its his job. A few years ago I think it was Mr Blair who said we should all be driving diesels, less polluting blah, blah. Aye right, now they are the devils soup. Each to their own, but personally speaking the only change to my fleet is the Diesel Range Rover Sport will be changed to a Full size Range Rover AB 5.0 litre petrol.
 
It would also help if they indicated what they were doing about the infrastructure upgrades required to deliver enough power to residential areas for home charging because at the moment it could not cope if there was a sudden increase in home charging. I am considering moving to an Air Source Heat Pump and you are required to inform the supply companies about your increase in planned usage - a whole 2.5KW. How is the infrastructure going to cope with multiple 22KW charging points

While overall generation capacity may cope you hit the nail on the head with residential infrastructure.

We recently had a power cut which lasted 9 hours. I got so fed up of waiting I walked out to our local substation and had a chat with the guys to find out what was going on. Turned out some prat from BT had dug up the 11kv feeder cable.

I have some previous experience with electrical distribution so It got me thinking, a typical residential substation is 1000 or 1500 KVA and serves several hundred houses. Come 2030 and beyond if every house fed by our local substation was to plug in their EV to a 7KW charger when they got home from work, I can tell you categorically that the sub couldn't meet the demand. As you say the move to heat pumps is not going to help. Bigger substations isn't a likely solution as there are 349,000 pole mounted transformers, 230,000 distribution substations, 4800 primary substations and over 1000 grid supply points in the UK. That's a lot of very expensive infrastructure to upgrade. It's more likely we will have to employ a smart means of ensuring that they are not all charging at the same time.
 

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