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

I leased a 30kWh Nissan Leaf last year. Persuaded my daughter and son in law to take over the payments and vehicle so I could buy a 40kWh Leaf 2.ZERO. I have had it just over two weeks and it is even better than the old one.

My reasoning for buy it was that I only have one 270 mile journey every year and I do not mind stopping twice each way. My daughters are 110 and 135 miles so the 150 mile realistic range is fine for me. I was with Ecotricity to get the low cost en route charging along with renewably generated electricity. There are Polar rapid chargers within a couple of miles of both daughters so it made sense to shift to Ovo and get the two years Polar subscription. There's even a Polar Rapid about half way on that longer journey meaning I can get to it, have a comfort break, move on and then splash & dash near the end of the journey. Same on the way back.

I have a 4kW solar system and will be getting a Tesla Powerwall 2 next month. Because of the way VAT is being calculated, I will also have another 600W of solar at the same time. Tomorrow an electrician is coming to fit a myenergi Zappi smart charger that will mean I can trickle charge the car with any solar left over after the water is heated and the battery filled.

I predict that in about three years from now many PHEV users today will opt for a full fat electric car when their PCP contracts mature.
My view is that having realised that range anxiety is not a concern because of their own experience, most journeys are for a mileage of less than 15 miles, and the benefits of low personal taxation will make the transition from their BMW PHEV foe example to an electric BMW or Mercedes a no brainer.
Well that’s my view anyway.

I predict that in about three years from now many PHEV users today will opt for a full fat electric car when their PCP contracts mature. And, when it becomes obvious that EV's are taking over, what will be the cost of leasing fossil burners? I think that will only accelerate the uptake of BEVs.

I predict that in about three years from now many PHEV users today will opt for a full fat electric car when their PCP contracts mature. And, when it becomes obvious that EV's are taking over, what will be the cost of leasing fossil burners? I think that will only accelerate the uptake of BEVs.

Who knows?
By then many dealers will be struggling with the idea of losing income from their service departments. The brake discs and pads on my Mercedes C350e are hardly worn after 30 months.
It will be a challenge for fuel service stations as welll. I often wonder how the tank allocation between petrol and diesel must changed over the last year or so. So many people eschewing diesel and opting for petrol. With the increasing adoption of electric cars the challenge is even greater.

By then many dealers will be struggling with the idea of losing income from their service departments.

It will be a challenge for fuel service stations as welll.I think my Nissan dealer has caught on to this already and sound as though they're making plans. That said, I don't think they understand just how few vehicles there will actually be on the roads when Transport as a Service really takes hold.

Fuel service stations will only be found where EVs need to charge in places like market towns and on major roads. They make most of their money from drinks, snacks and etc now and that is unlikely to change.

I've found this thread really interesting as a non-EV owner, though I have some experience of a battery bicycle! The range is limited, but it is useful, especially in hilly areas.

I currently drive a fairly old but economical ICE car, and use a bike for short local journeys where the fuel economy of the car is less good. Over the period of a full year, between services, I can get high 50's mpg. Based on the fuel energy in a litre of fuel, the cost of travelling a mile in energy terms is around 0.8kWh. Obviously on short journeys that figure can easily double.

I was interested to see the figures for miles/kWh posted earlier in this thread, of 3.8 or 4 miles/kWh, so around 0.25kWh per mile. That is about 75% less than my best effort in an ICE. Obviously a lot of the fuel energy in an ICE is lost, just as it is when generating electricity by burning fossil fuels. However if green electricity is used then the environmental benefit and energy efficiency of EV is even clearer.

I'd be interested to hear of EV drivers experiences of driving in hilly areas. How much does that dent the performance or range of the vehicle, and to what extent is energy recovered when going downhill?

Does anyone have, or used, any type of electric moped? I did read somewhere a while back that they had been widely adopted in Taiwan.

I'd be interested to hear of EV drivers experiences of driving in hilly areas. How much does that dent the performance or range of the vehicle, and to what extent is energy recovered when going downhill?Last year we drove back to Lincolnshire from Teignmouth in Devon. There's a large hill when leaving Teignmouth and I was driving a 30kWh Nissan Leaf with one passenger. To get from Teignmouth to the A380 is 5.4 miles. That took about 10% of the battery. I made Gordano Services (another 79 miles) with just a few miles of range left. Cold and headwinds also affect the range. That Leaf would do about 110 miles of mixed driving in the summer dropping to about 90 in winter with the heating on.

I've found this thread really interesting as a non-EV owner, though I have some experience of a battery bicycle! The range is limited, but it is useful, especially in hilly areas.

I currently drive a fairly old but economical ICE car, and use a bike for short local journeys where the fuel economy of the car is less good. Over the period of a full year, between services, I can get high 50's mpg. Based on the fuel energy in a litre of fuel, the cost of travelling a mile in energy terms is around 0.8kWh. Obviously on short journeys that figure can easily double.

I was interested to see the figures for miles/kWh posted earlier in this thread, of 3.8 or 4 miles/kWh, so around 0.25kWh per mile. That is about 75% less than my best effort in an ICE. Obviously a lot of the fuel energy in an ICE is lost, just as it is when generating electricity by burning fossil fuels. However if green electricity is used then the environmental benefit and energy efficiency of EV is even clearer.

I'd be interested to hear of EV drivers experiences of driving in hilly areas. How much does that dent the performance or range of the vehicle, and to what extent is energy recovered when going downhill?

Does anyone have, or used, any type of electric moped? I did read somewhere a while back that they had been widely adopted in Taiwan.

Remember when you go up an hill often you come back down 😊

View this video to see the effects of going up an hill, dramatic loss of battery resource but all is well in the end.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SEs9I9sptw&sns=em

I've found this thread really interesting as a non-EV owner, though I have some experience of a battery bicycle! The range is limited, but it is useful, especially in hilly areas.

I currently drive a fairly old but economical ICE car, and use a bike for short local journeys where the fuel economy of the car is less good. Over the period of a full year, between services, I can get high 50's mpg. Based on the fuel energy in a litre of fuel, the cost of travelling a mile in energy terms is around 0.8kWh. Obviously on short journeys that figure can easily double.

I was interested to see the figures for miles/kWh posted earlier in this thread, of 3.8 or 4 miles/kWh, so around 0.25kWh per mile. That is about 75% less than my best effort in an ICE. Obviously a lot of the fuel energy in an ICE is lost, just as it is when generating electricity by burning fossil fuels. However if green electricity is used then the environmental benefit and energy efficiency of EV is even clearer.

I'd be interested to hear of EV drivers experiences of driving in hilly areas. How much does that dent the performance or range of the vehicle, and to what extent is energy recovered when going downhill?

Does anyone have, or used, any type of electric moped? I did read somewhere a while back that they had been widely adopted in Taiwan.

Remember when you go up an hill often you come back down 😊

View this video to see the effects of going up an hill, dramatic loss of battery resource but all is well in the end.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SEs9I9sptw&sns=em


Thanks for the link. It certainly looks like things are developing rapidly.

When I retired and no longer needed to drive over 360 miles a week I searched for an EV solution for my next car. Most journeys were local and less than 25 miles with the occasional need for a long distance at holiday times. It was the apparent disarray with multiple EV charging vendors and their payment methods that put me off going for a fully EV solution so I researched a Plug in Hybrid alternative.
To cut a long story short I ended up buying a VW Passat GTE estate which provides acres of load space, comfort and performance. I already had solar panels so it made sense to try and charge the car during the sunniest hours (quite rare at moment). I also find my visits to petrol stations are now very infrequent.
I find I can get purely electric range of 30 miles in summer dropping to about 20 in the recent extreme cold but normally about 26 miles. I appreciate that on longer journeys the 1.4 petrol engine is pulling the extra battery weight but I am getting around 70 mpg.
An unexpected observation is the extra wear on the front tyres which I put down to the impact of regenerative braking on top of front wheel drive.