EV charging

One thing people overlook with petrol cars is they are dangerous ie they output harmful gases contrantly.Imagine folk having to stand behind one or living near a busy road and inhaling all those fumes.Long journeys having to piss about having to put flammable liquid into it before you can get home.
Sorry but you will never convince me to get one

 

You should do. Ultimately its in their interests to provide better customer service than that because when people who have never used an EV before have a stressful first experience, all for the sake of a bit of advice and good customer service, next time they will make sure they don't accept the EV and all their stock goes unused. It's just good business sense.

It really doesn't. This idea of range anxiety is something that is often referred to in the mainstream media but when you get used to your car, it doesn't exist. You soon get to know it's range capabilities, what difference the weather, or your speed etc makes and learn to trust the accuracy of the range indicator on the dash (the GOM - guessometer, as its known). Some GOMs are better than others but for example, Hyundai's and Kia's are very accurate.

The other thing that tends to be good practise is to forget what you did with a petrol car, which is to run it to the fumes and then start looking for a garage. Instead, you do a little planning before a long journey to decide in advance where you might stop, because apart from anything else, you want it to be somewhere you want to stop, such as good amenities. Aim to stop when you are going to be around 25% charge so it is low enough to get a decent charging speed but not too low that your options are limited if it fails or they are all busy.

And that's it.

I have been to every corner of the country in mine and never once been anxious of running out of charge or finding a charger. But people who don't change their mindset and run it to the 'fumes' like they would in a petrol car are the ones that find themselves in trouble and then complain that it's ****.

 

1. At low speeds they make a synthesised noise - mandatory requirement. At higher speeds, you wouldn't generally hear an engine either, what you are hearing is the road noise, which you'd hear with an EV as well.

2. On long journeys most people would stop anyway. The cars range is much longer than my bladder's.

 

So we are all going to live longer when they get rid of petroleum engine cars what a load of ******

 

Mine does this blah blah blah I,ve been here there and everywhere in mine blah blah blah it’s never happened I will stick to my cat with an engine thanks.

 

I'd love to have a cat with an engine - would save me feeding her twice a day.

I can only presume that EV's are just a little bit too woke for the usual suspects?

 

Fair enough. No one is forcing you.

 

I completely understand why some people wouldn't want to own one as they don't suit them, I don't have one mysel.
What I don't understand is why people get really angry at the idea of them, it's actually funny

 

Sorry but that response peed me off. Someone pointed out a legitimate danger for blind people (volunteering for guide dogs means I hear about this problem a lot both directly from service users and from the charity) and you just completely ignored the issue and replied sarcastically. Why not sympathise or say you wish they were slightly louder, or that you hadn’t realised that about them or anything other than being dismissive and rude? @DSLRed defended EV’s by at least addressing the point.

 

We've been pondering this issue for a couple of years. After reading this thread, I reckon it's time to get one. There are always going to be people who are resistant to change and against anything new, but I just can't see any disadvantages of EVs. Not a clue why some people don't like them.

 

It’s so polarised it’s funny. There’s people angry at them existing and there’s people defending them like they’re part of a cult. I am enjoying the posts that share information about them though, that’s the kind of thing that will get me to switch one day. Slagging off petrol cars that I already own and like isn’t going to change my mind in the slightest, I already know their foibles and got over them 15 years ago when I learned to drive and got my first car. Learning the merits of EVs is more persuasive.

 

Had one for a couple of months now. Absolutely love it. Again you need to have a home charger to make it much easier to manage.

 

Yeah, that's the bizarre thing. I can't think of any other 'product' that results in such polarised views.

 

Try being veggie or vegan... the abuse is wild.

 

The main reasons I won’t get one yet:

They’re expensive to buy. I don’t do finance or leasing and I wouldn’t be able to get a cheaper one through my job. I’m not paying cash for one until prices fall significantly.

The charging situation. I could probably get by with just home charging which is more tempting but I hate the idea of being trapped somewhere whilst it charges (or having to pay rapid rates). I know everyone says they just go for a coffee or something but I don’t do that alone anyway. I genuinely don’t know which is worse, being stuck inside somewhere where people try and rescue me from being alone or sat in my car. Not so bad now charging stations are in more public places but I still don’t feel comfortable enough yet.

They’re still relatively new and I think they’ll keep rapidly improving for years yet. I can see how if you change your car every few years if leasing then that doesn’t matter but I run mine into the ground (our current cars are 16 and 21 years old). Once we replace our cars they’re getting scrapped presumably at their age but they still run really well so I’m not giving them up yet.

 

I guarantee that the majority of folk who are raving about them are fortunate enough to have them as a company car though - like me - and can afford the up front costs for home charging.

I've got a really nice car with no tax penalties & getting about 200 miles for a tenner of 'fuel'. Of course I'm gonna like it. But I wouldn't be buying one second hand or with my own cash.

 

What’s funny is that I almost said ‘some EV owners are like vegans’ because of their aggressive attitudes towards petrol drivers. I can see how it works the other way too due to the polarisation.

 

Haha, that's probably me. Guilty as charged

To be fair, it's been a good couple of years since we had a good EV thread, so I gotta take my chances whilst I can!

 

As usual we get into a "debate" where, at least for the present time, the best solution lies somewhere in the middle.

I am proud to be a happy hybrid.

 

All good reasons, to be fair. The only points I would make are

On cost, its true that they are depreciating a bit heavier than ICE cars at present. I blame the constant fear mongering in the press and the government's back track on the 2030 date which made people suddenly think it could be kicked down the road for a few years. But it means there are some proper bargains out there and I am not sure that the situation will last. Ultimately, I expect used prices to be in line with ICE cars.

I fully get your reservations about public charging but if you can charge at home, its remarkable just how few times you actually need to do it. There are many people who cite the 'lack of infrastructure' as a reason for not going EV, when they never drive further than the local town and their driving profile means they will literally never use the public infrastructure so what state it is in couldn't be less relevant.

They will keep improving but potentially the changes will be small incremental changes. The one 'promised land' that Toyota for example has been promising is solid state batteries. They have been promising it for 10 years and have come to be recognised as a company that just throws out promises about jam tomorrow because they are so far behind and need to delay people until they catch up. It probably will happen but will be expensive and restricted to top models. Eventually the tech will trickle down, as it always does, but solid state in the average Joe car is a long time away.