EV's and battery damage & other woes means I wont buy one

[gusferlizi]

I can't fault any of your arguments and all the downsides that you mentioned, however by my nature I am always skeptical when someone has a one-sided view. Do EVs have no benefits whatsoever? It would have been easier for me to agree with you if the conclusion was made on balance and after weighing all the pros and cons. If you cannot find a single benefit - to the owner, or to society, or both - then either EVs are one of the worst ideas ever conceived by humans, or your view on the matter is biased. Personal opinion.

Yes you are correct. An EV has 0 advantage over a modern ICE vehicle; and many (and counting) downsides.

 

[MSG2004]

Thank you, Markjay. For some reason the quote is not allowed

I agree with you and the benefit I see is indeed cleaner air. However, I'm not a scientist or expert in the exact nature of what it takes to produce these batteries, the cost/nature of of powering them but I believe we dont have any coal-fired power stations, and I'm not sure re impact of disposing of these batteries.

We are going to India again and hoping to stay in New Delhi and the air pollution there is massive because of traffic and farmers setting fire to certain fields late in the year something to do with rotation. Then there are the brick makers and farmers in neighbour states but the introduction of hybrids and battery-operated cars and I think even those 3-wheeled scooter taxies is making a difference


During the last 5 years or so, older and more caring to the environment i guess was one of the reasons I was looking on the net for a large sUV, mid-range - but as posted earlier the touch screens and the price and performance and repairs to battery worries me. If we get a harsh winter week or more, I bet there will be a lot of EV owners crying about reduced miles per kilowat or whatever it is

We are lucky I guess we live in greater London way from most of the traffic fumes and not on a main road but something has to be done.
The ULEZ along with some councils charges a lot more for parking for higher-emission vehicles sounds good, but it impacts more heavily on those on the lower end of the pay scales


Call me skeptical, but IMO, in every government and almost every jester in it, when they set out a new policy/law, it is not in the interest of the general public but trying to ensure they/he/she remains in office for the great ride on the gravy train funded by us taxpayers. It was BUY diesels as disel was lower ( and i think some clowns even said it was cleaner) at the pumps, now its EV's

 

[gusferlizi]

Thank you, Markjay. For some reason the quote is not allowed

I agree with you and the benefit I see is indeed cleaner air. However, I'm not a scientist or expert in the exact nature of what it takes to produce these batteries, the cost/nature of of powering them but I believe we dont have any coal-fired power stations, and I'm not sure re impact of disposing of these batteries.

We are going to India again and hoping to stay in New Delhi and the air pollution there is massive because of traffic and farmers setting fire to certain fields late in the year something to do with rotation. Then there are the brick makers and farmers in neighbour states but the introduction of hybrids and battery-operated cars and I think even those 3-wheeled scooter taxies is making a difference


During the last 5 years or so, older and more caring to the environment i guess was one of the reasons I was looking on the net for a large sUV, mid-range - but as posted earlier the touch screens and the price and performance and repairs to battery worries me. If we get a harsh winter week or more, I bet there will be a lot of EV owners crying about reduced miles per kilowat or whatever it is

We are lucky I guess we live in greater London way from most of the traffic fumes and not on a main road but something has to be done.
The ULEZ along with some councils charges a lot more for parking for higher-emission vehicles sounds good, but it impacts more heavily on those on the lower end of the pay scales


Call me skeptical, but IMO, in every government and almost every jester in it, when they set out a new policy/law, it is not in the interest of the general public but trying to ensure they/he/she remains in office for the great ride on the gravy train funded by us taxpayers. It was BUY diesels as disel was lower ( and i think some clowns even said it was cleaner) at the pumps, now its EV's

Diesel is cleaner.

 

[MSG2004]

Cheers MeQ - its 5 years, I thought it was three. I think I bought the new gle a year or two before this tax on tax. As far as taxes go, we do need them but it needs to be fai EG, no gimmick get outs by seriously rich people - the additional car tax I can live with as it will be a choice if our next car was over 40k rrp and if its less than 5 years old.

 

[BTB 500]

EVs £40k plus registered 2025 on will be hit with the expensive car supplement for the first 5 years.

AFAIK a large majority of EVs are leased though, so there wouldn't be a direct impact on those drivers?

I'm still paying the supplement on my 2019 C Class (bought at 1 year old)

 

[philnewmerc]

The 40k tax supplement sounds very 1960s socialist, who on earth introduced it and for what reason?

 

[BTB 500]

Someone recently posted here about a side impact to their EQA that disabled the car:

EQA side impact damage | Electric Mercedes models

Hi, unfortunately our EQA was hit side on by a van a few weeks ago, quite a bit of damage to passenger side, both air bags deployed, glass shattered. Car was inoperable and had to be removed by recovery vehicle. Just waiting for estimate from insurance company. What do we think, repairable? A...

forums.mbclub.co.uk

Currently waiting to hear whether it's repairable.

 

[Will]

Yes you are correct. An EV has 0 advantage over a modern ICE vehicle; and many (and counting) downsides.

Diesel is cleaner.

 

[BTB 500]

My guess is that there will be a whole new business repairing EV batteries cost effectively once they are out of the manufacturer 5-8 year warranty. I would expect the failure mode to require one or two cells to be replaced - not a whole battery.

There are a few companies that do this for Teslas in the US (the biggest has had their premises burn down twice, taking out 25 cars last time IIRC), but they don't provide any warranty on repaired packs. The issue is that all the cells in a pack will almost certainly have come from the same manufacturer/plant/batch ... so once one or two start to fail it's very likely that others will be close behind. Replacing cells is relatively simple but there's a huge overhead in simply removing and handling a battery (likely to weigh half a tonne or more), taking it apart, sealing it up again, re-installing, re-connecting and testing it. And obviously you're dealing with lethal voltages the whole time.

 

[gusferlizi]

Yes, diesel is cleaner. Euro 6 by far, but even a healthy Euro 4 like mine puts out mostly clean CO2 and water.

I would dare even say that diesel is renewable, but few people can think that far ahead.

 

[gusferlizi]

There are a few companies that do this for Teslas in the US (the biggest has had their premises burn down twice, taking out 25 cars last time IIRC), but they don't provide any warranty on repaired packs. The issue is that all the cells in a pack will almost certainly have come from the same manufacturer/plant/batch ... so once one or two start to fail it's very likely that others will be close behind. Replacing cells is relatively simple but there's a huge overhead in simply removing and handling a battery (likely to weigh half a tonne or more), taking it apart, sealing it up again, re-installing, re-connecting and testing it. And obviously you're dealing with lethal voltages the whole time.

Exactly. I don't think any insurer willing to stay in business would touch that.

 

[markjay]

Diesel is cleaner.

True. As long as you don't burn it, though...

 

[markjay]

Exactly. I don't think any insurer willing to stay in business would touch that.

I had no issues with insuring my IONIQ 5 so far (I am on my third year), but there's always next year... I guess we'll just need to wait and see how things pan out.

 

[gusferlizi]

I had no issues with insuring my IONIQ 5 so far (I am on my third year), but there's always next year... I guess we'll just need to wait and see how things pan out.

You had your battery pack tampered with?

Best not disclosed either way......

 

[Londonscottish]

My bet is on EVs being banned and the government going back round saying that Diesel is the future.

I haven't moved on from the point when petrol was the future.

 

[markjay]

You had your battery pack tampered with?

Best not disclosed either way......

No. Why would I do that?

Firstly, it's a lease car, so it's not mine to temper with. Then - again - why would I want to do that in the first place?

In any event, there's a 5 years warranty on the car, and an 8 years warranty on the battery pack... you'd have to be mad to deliberately void these warranties.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

I would dare even say that diesel is renewable, but few people can think that far ahead.

I dare say it is, but it’s quite a long term strategy. waiting for new reservoirs of crude oil to form

 

[markjay]

AFAIK a large majority of EVs are leased though, so there wouldn't be a direct impact on those drivers?

I'm still paying the supplement on my 2019 C Class (bought at 1 year old)

Since all our company cars at work are EVs, there's nil VED to pay and so I can't be sure who's meant to be paying the VED on a lease car.

But I am guessing that it's the person or entity leasing the car, not the finance provider? I.e., when the government start charging VED on EVs, I expect that I will have to pay it (through the company), and not the finance provider.

 

[markjay]

I dare say it is, but it’s quite a long term strategy. waiting for new reservoirs of crude oil to form

I think he meant biodiesel....

 

[markjay]

Yes, diesel is cleaner. Euro 6 by far...

Cleaner than what? Cleaner than sticking your head into the chimney in Victorian times, yes.....