The EV fact thread

[Mactech]

Once upon a time…………

In a land, far far away………..

This thread was about EVs!

Ahhh!....But that's an EV enough mistake to make

 

[BIGDOG]

Ahhh!....But that's an EV enough mistake to make

Bit early for the Christmas crackers to be open?

 

[Mactech]

Bit early for the Christmas crackers to be open?

...but I spend all year writing them. Most of them are rejected for not being down to standard

 

[Petrol Pete]

I read an article recently that said that in the Netherlands and (I think) Germany farmers are using Chinese solar panels as fencing because they are cheaper to buy than ...err..fencing due to the fact that China is flooding the EU with cheap panels to keep their factories running.

In the same article it mentioned that they were running low on power in the region where they are being mass produced so the Chinese built a coal fired power station close to the factory.

I am sure Ed Sillyband is aware.

 

[Petrol Pete]

My (now sold) W203 was built in the Mercedes Benz East London factory in South Africa.

Mine , on the other hand , still sitting on the drive, was built in Bremen Germany , I would imagine back then building 'cooking' RHD drive models in SA made perfect sense for the UK , Australian and South African market.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Another day with lots of driving, albeit our FIAT 500e EV was weapon of choice for much of it. Lots of relatively short journeys are perfect for an EV. I hate the thought of starting and stopping a cold ICE engine, and I shudder at doing it several times.

 

[pioneercollector]

I am out and about in my Townstar, I might even press the self park button ( Which i have avoided for the last few months when it arrived!)

 

[BIGDOG]

Another day with lots of driving, albeit our FIAT 500e EV was weapon of choice for much of it. Lots of relatively short journeys are perfect for an EV. I hate the thought of starting and stopping a cold ICE engine, and I shudder at doing it several times.

I’ve a 2 mile round trip to make shortly, I think I’ll fire up the biggest car on the drive, after all I am picking up a mate so it must be justified.

 

[Will]

Another day with lots of driving, albeit our FIAT 500e EV was weapon of choice for much of it. Lots of relatively short journeys are perfect for an EV. I hate the thought of starting and stopping a cold ICE engine, and I shudder at doing it several times.

I have to say I find myself jumping into my little B250e surprisingly often for these sorts of trips and it was in use most of yesterday for the same sort of of trips no doubt!

It’s perfect for town and city work, shopping trips and you can use it guilt/worry free etc

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Up and out very early this morning in our FIAT 500e, with the lights, heating and A/C on it still achieved 4.0 mi/kWh over the course of 23 miles at dual carriageway speeds.

It has a dinky little 24 kWh battery, but even so, the 100-10% range would be 86 miles, or 100-0% range would be 96 miles, which that equates to 81% of it’s WLtP range of 118 miles.

Considering that’s in the dark in winter (albeit not particularly cold) then that’s pretty good I’d say. My day has not gone to plan and I’ll now do more miles than planned, so topping up now.

Even though it’s a small battery in a city car, it charges quickly - in the time it has taken to have a pitstop, eat a sausage sandwich, it’s charged from 33% to 100% and I’m only my way again.

Now if only my ICE car had started this morning, I wouldn’t have even had to charge this one away from home. More on that later

 

[SpikyMikey]

Now if only my ICE car had started this morning, I wouldn’t have even had to charge this one away from home. More on that later

 

[poormansporsche]

My Leaf is basically a 15 year old design and you press a button on the app and it's lovely and toasty with it's electric heater when you get in it.

We have now discovered that SWMMMBO Hybrid Sportage does not have a electric heater in any shape or form. So you can do a 5 mile round trip without the petrol engine kicking in whatsoever which equates to zero cabin heat

Quality !

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

I think there's a bit more to it than that.

Some EVs have batteries that can be removed from under the car, but others (typically conversions of ICE models) have 'built in' packs that can only be accessed from inside. Simply moving/handling packs that weigh half a tonne or more isn't trivial. Particularly when impact damage is a known trigger for thermal runaway ...

Replacing individual cells may not be a great idea. The battery would almost certainly have been constructed using identical cells from the same manufacturer and batch. So if some have started failing then it's likely that others won't be far behind, in which case you could be back to square one pretty soon (which is presumably why the Tesla battery 'repair' companies in the US don't appear to give any warranty on their work). Apart from that any new replacement cells would have different characteristics (internal resistance and usable capacity) to the aged ones in the pack. From what I've seen it's generally whole 'modules' (banks of cells complete with management circuitry) that get replaced rather than single cells, but of course that doesn't address the issue that other original modules may need replacing soon.

With underslung packs sealing (to prevent water ingress) is critical. IIRC some manufacturers have got this wrong on their factory assembled units, so there would definitely be equipment & training challenges for aftermarket repairers.

If it was that easy to return failed/damaged battery packs to fully serviceable condition (along with a warranty) then I'm pretty sure car manufacturers would do this (perhaps via an external specialist) rather than replacing the entire pack with a new one ... which AFAIK is what they all do.

Good point! Why isn’t it simple to unplug a diesel engine and just fix broken bits in a home garage?

Would this result in cars lasting longer rather than being broken up for bits after just a few years?

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

My Leaf is basically a 15 year old design and you press a button on the app and it's lovely and toasty with it's electric heater when you get in it.

We have now discovered that SWMMMBO Hybrid Sportage does not have a electric heater in any shape or form. So you can do a 5 mile round trip without the petrol engine kicking in whatsoever which equates to zero cabin heat

Quality !

Almost as bad as the typical school run diesel. Hopeless

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

I’m a bit more open minded.

I currently have 3 petrol cars on the drive, each for different purposes, clearly at least 1 of them could be electric and almost certainly will be in the future. I’m waiting for prices to settle first.
Having said that, one vehicle isn’t quite doing 8MPG on the journeys that I use it’s for so maybe I should worry less about purchase price!

depends on the mileage, of course.

My MX5’s do 2,000 miles a year, so their £400 a year fuel cost is irrelevant.

As is their depreciation because, after two years, they always sell for slightly more than I bought them.

 

[pioneercollector]

I sometimes regret swapping in my very trusty MX-5 Roadster for the SL, But then i hit a pot hole and my back wasn't shattered ( Or that was part of the sales pitch to get Mrs PC on board with a 5.0L two seat car!! )

MX-5 is such a great car, does everything it should and so much more, I have owned several over the years and loved them all. The last one ( 2.0L Roadster ) cost me £120 for a couple of track rod ends and a new battery in 7 years ....... The SL story is vastly different story

 

[Connoisseur]

Boxing Day trip out to visit Daughter and SiL. Full charge over night. Pre-conditioned the car 15 minutes before so nice and toasty when we set off, heater/steering wheel heating/bum warmers on full. Drove 70 miles there, mix of M way and A roads, beat up a few middle-age boy racers on the twisty bits and M way. Arrived, had a lovely lunch and catch up. Pre-conditioned the car 15 minutes before setting off to return so nice and toasty as we waved goodbye. Drove 70 miles back, heater/wheel steering heating/bum warmers on full. Beat up a few middle-age boy racers on the twisty bits and M way.

Got home, plugged the car in, went inside and had a lovely evening.

These ev cars are tough to live with, but we are determined to make the effort…..

 

[poormansporsche]

Almost as bad as the typical school run diesel. Hopeless

Well least you could leave the engine running for 10 minutes with the deseasel on the drive. The hybrid, zilcho, NADA, bugger all.

 

[markjay]

Boxing Day trip out to visit Daughter and SiL. Full charge over night. Pre-conditioned the car 15 minutes before so nice and toasty when we set off, heater/steering wheel heating/bum warmers on full. Drove 70 miles there, mix of M way and A roads, beat up a few middle-age boy racers on the twisty bits and M way. Arrived, had a lovely lunch and catch up. Pre-conditioned the car 15 minutes before setting off to return so nice and toasty as we waved goodbye. Drove 70 miles back, heater/wheel steering heating/bum warmers on full. Beat up a few middle-age boy racers on the twisty bits and M way.

Got home, plugged the car in, went inside and had a lovely evening.

These ev cars are tough to live with, but we are determined to make the effort…..

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[clk320x]

Boxing Day trip out to visit Daughter and SiL. Full charge over night. Pre-conditioned the car 15 minutes before so nice and toasty when we set off, heater/steering wheel heating/bum warmers on full. Drove 70 miles there, mix of M way and A roads, beat up a few middle-age boy racers on the twisty bits and M way. Arrived, had a lovely lunch and catch up. Pre-conditioned the car 15 minutes before setting off to return so nice and toasty as we waved goodbye. Drove 70 miles back, heater/wheel steering heating/bum warmers on full. Beat up a few middle-age boy racers on the twisty bits and M way.

Got home, plugged the car in, went inside and had a lovely evening.

These ev cars are tough to live with, but we are determined to make the effort…..

Sounds a bit like my day… the Model S gave a DB12 a run for its money.