Electric Vehicles (or EV's) - We'd love to know what you think!

Well you are tempting me @Dan W! (logs onto a well known car selling site....)

Have to find something big enough for my family and the kitchen sink. :)

Darran

Darren,
How do I do that?
meanwhile: BMW i3 (BEV) on lease, formerly owned a Zoe. I Liked the Zoe so much I treated myself to an 13 for my 80th birthday!
Secretary of ElectrAA (Electric Automobile Association). Active promoter of the use and enjoyment of electric cars, with emphasis on enjoyment

Darren,
How do I do that?

Just click on your picture, top right and then click your name. You will be able to add a profile pic and see the profile fields you can fill in. Helps us get to know you and what you are interested in so we can guide you to relevant content. Also helps other users get to know you a bit better!

Wow you really love your EV's! Glad you are enjoying Bev!

Darran

Great job updating your profile pic @Dan W!

Darran

I don't have an EV, but did look at hybrids when I last changed. I wish I could manage with one. Compared to normal cars, their boot space is too small for me. I need to be able to carry a set of golf clubs and an electric trolley, shoes and sundry bits - all out of sight else my insurance is void. I had thought the Mitsubishi PHEV would be ideal, but they didn't fit in.

Potentially, I could charge an EV from my solar panels, but in that case I would want a bigger panel installation. Many of my journeys are under 10 miles, so a pure EV would be ideal. But 90 miles and often more once a week with a lot of stopping and starting, heater on in the winter and air con in the summer for the full 5 hours I'm out, would be pushing it.

My elderly neighbours (both sides) only very rarely go more than 20 miles, so EVs would be perfect for them. But they perceive them as expensive to buy, expensive to maintain and to replace batteries, and worry about the technology - they struggle with the clocks in their cars which need changing twice a year!

For longer journeys there is fast charging. But Fast charging means stopping at a charging point for half an hour every hundred or so miles. Then there have to be enough of those.

I think EV is a great idea, but we need a cultural change and better battery technology for more widespread use.

It's interesting to read that your requirements are not met by the current range of EV and PHEV's.

If you need space to carry large items and the battery has already reduced the size of the boot I can see theres a problem. My PHEV does have a slightly smaller boot but with fold down rear seats I can easily transport all the paraphenalia needed to support a toddler.

I wonder if your elderly neighbours perception of the current range of EVs is maps onto my user experience. Mine was not the cheapest car available but it is litle different in price to its petrol or diesel equivalent. The £2500 governmet grant certainly helped, as does the £70 i save in running costs each month by not visiting a petrol station so often. The battery has a 7 year warranty so that does not bother me and Im not sure why it will be expensive to maintain. As most of my journeys are sub 20 miles and completed using electricity the petrol engine has only been used 2k miles in the last year and the electric motor 5k. Hopefully the engine's life will be extended.

In terms of use all the owner needs to know is how to plug it in and press te start button. Just as with a computer only experts need to know what's under the bonnet, The rest of us just plug in to use. The design and implementation is in my view perfect. In almost a years use it has not blinked once!

I do agree that currently the charging situation for pure EVs is less than perfect. In my view there are too many companies offering too few charging points with contracts and charges at wildly varying prices. Mergers are needed together with standardisation of charging technology. IMHO some of the charging systems are most certainly neither user friendly nor dependable. If you are in Bristol try the ones at Brislington Park and Ride....Then try the ones at Bath Newbridge Park and Ride. One offers a great experience and the other......Whenever I can I charge in Bath! POD points are great.

With the sales of EVs soaring the charging infrastucture needs intelligent planning and rapid implementation. This is especially inportant for users of pure EVs. I have a 4Kw charge point at home so together with a 2000cc engine I never have range anxiety. Not always so for others totally dependant on electricity.

To further cut my costs and reduce my carbon footprint I am considering a rooftop solar installation which charges batteries in my garage. That way I will have greater flexibility over power generation / use and not be forced to sell my surplus power back to the grid. This will also possibly reduce the potential power supply problems arising from simultaniously charging too many EVs in a small geographic location.

To finish, I do understand Everythingneedsausername loves golf. I wonder though have they tried long walks in our wonderful hills and countryside. all they need is a waterproof, a pair of walking boots and a companion. (dont forget the map) Its a great day out and saves the club subscription, expensive golfing kit, buying a car with big boot and the risk of being injured by a stray golf ball. Cheers, Fred

I am considering buying an EV next year after selling our motorhome. The major problem with EV cost is the depreciation in the first 1-2 years so I am considering going for a second-hand one as there are many with less than 20,000 miles on the clock which have lost almost half of their original cost. Also I am in the retired category with an expectation of doing around 5,000 miles per year with mostly short journeys but longer journeys (up to 200 miles) to visit married children or go on holiday trips. I am interested in the BMW i3 with the range extender option to get around the "range anxiety" problem. Also, as I live in North Yorkshire, there is a shortage of charging points although I realise that it is journeys over 80/100 miles where charging is an issue. I was interested to read the opinions of others who have bought/leased BMW i3's as I would expect more pleasure/satisfaction than buying a Nissan Leaf.
Ed

We have an I3 BEV and mostly charge at home. We are high mileage 18,000 pa and find we public charge about every 1500 miles. This is why the Polar subscription is so valuable as months can go by without using it

Funnily enough I worked for a company that made Electric vehicles from 1996-99. It was based near Royston, Herts, and I remembering us testing an electric-bus chassis and an electric LDV van conversion. So 2013 is a bit late! Even then I do not think we were the first!

Personally I would love to have an EV, but I live in a mid-terrace house with only on-street parking. There are no lamp-posts as the pavement Is too narrow for them. I could not run a lead across the pavement as it would be a trip-hazard for the passing public.
Until someone comes up with a charging solution that gets round this sort of problem I don't think EVs are ever going to really take off!

I suppose I could go the hybrid route, but what is the point? The fundamental rules of physics mean that you cannot get more energy out of a gallon of petrol by converting it into electricity before using it to power your vehicle, so you are still going to be producing as much pollution, if not more due to the inbuilt inefficiencies of the conversion and storage system. At least power stations can have proper pollution-capturing built into them!

At the moment the only enviroment-friendly vehicle solution I have is a bicycle, which as a country-dweller is a non-starter. So I'll just have to stick with my diesel-car which I bought when the government were saying that diesel cars were better for the environment than petrol ones.

Welcome to the forum @Jeremy_T! Don't forget to add a profile pic and update your profile. It helps us get to know you! Hopefully you will enjoy being part of our forum. :)

Thanks for your comments, its a really interesting subject and you raise a good point around homes where you don't have your own parking, as I agree this would make charging it at home pretty tricky.

Any of our users that have an EV have this issue? If so how do you get around it? Also on the subject of hybrids, I believe our very own @Fred Rick has one of these, so he might have some more useful insight on owning one of these and if there are savings to be made.

Darran