Electric vehicles

[6EQUJ5]

I do not have an electric vehicle, so this is based on logical ignorance.

At the moment there are some places where electric vehicles can be charged
up for free, typically your place of work. But as with all the petrol / diesel
based fueled vehicles there are reasonably priced sources of electricity but you
will get comprehensively ripped off at motorway service stations.

Of course you can get your own charger installed, ideally in your garage.
There are fast chargers and slow (trickle) chargers. The fast charging of
any battery shortens the life of that battery. It seems that the best
setup is to have a slow charger installed in your garage. Then get your
electricity changed to the special tariff that makes the use of electricity
overnight cheap. This sort of tariff is offered by all electricity companies
but it is little advertised, so a lot of people will not be aware of it.
Charge the battery of your electric vehicle overnight using the cheap
electricity tariff and a trickle charger, which is better for your battery than
a fast charger.

There may be occasions when you are at home and you need to do a long journey,
beginning in half an hour, when your vehicle is almost out of charge. Thus also
having a fast charger may be useful for such time-critical situations but it would
not be wise to do frequent fast charging.

At the moment the 'powers that be' are trying to make people buy electric vehicles
by making some attractive financial / tax / cost of entering cities concessions but
when a critical mass is reached these financial incentives will all cease.

Batteries do not work well in cold weather. They easily lose charge even without any use.
So in mid-winter are you confident of doing a long journey at night in your electric vehicle
with the lights, heater and radio on all the time?

In television and radio call-in programs the subject of electric vehicles is often
raised. These owners do not want to be thought of as mugs. They talk of electric power
being cheaper than petrol and diesel power. They rarely mention that the cost of their
vehicle was more than twice that of the equivalent petrol / diesel vehicle. They rarely
mention that meticulous planning has to be made for a long journey because of range
limitation. The locations of charging points need to be known and even then some of these
charging points are not working. Charging points at motorway service stations, if they are
working, will comprehensively rip you off.

Is anyone seriously enthusiastic about the current (so to speak) generation of electric vehicles?
Is anyone seriously against them? Is anyone of a balanced opinion?

[griff]

Not for me though I’d consider a hybrid because of the improved MPG. Too expensive and too many stories of batteries packing in after 8 years. I have loads of family 300 or more miles from where I live so not too practical either. No way can or should they stop making petrol-engined vehicles in 2030, the country will slowly grind to a halt.

[Crocodile_Perth]

Not for me though I’d consider a hybrid because of the improved MPG. Too expensive and too many stories of batteries packing in after 8 years. I have loads of family 300 or more miles from where I live so not too practical either. No way can or should they stop making petrol-engined vehicles in 2030, the country will slowly grind to a halt.

There is recent news of a soon-to-be-viable alternative to the current petrol / diesel fuel which is carbon neutral and runs similar
engines to the current internal combustion engines. There is little work to be done in terms of making slightly different engines to the current ones, so prices should not be altered at all.

This seems to be the future, but obstinate government is determined to put the average citizen in a position of having to fork out obscene amounts of money on technology, infrastructure and running costs.

[Blackdogblue]

I have a PHEV Land Rover Discovery

After the long wait of ordering it in February & getting it delivered in November I must admit…

Have plugged it in twice at home since.. why….
Answer.. it goes 36 miles when fully charged 🤷*♂️.. WTF.., 🤬

Would I have one of those EV chargers fitted to my house?

Answer.. Nope, the Govt subsidiary was withdrawn.. I am not paying circa a grand for one now…

Saw rumours last week the EU was thinking of extending the date to be all electric… UK to follow ? Hopefully..

My car… Zero Road Tax (posh tax aside).. goes like sh1t3 off a shovel… love it

[Chauncey]

Who remembers when driving a diesel engined car was the right think to do,I can remember the government giving cheaper tax and diesel to encourage the public to buy them and car companies spent billions on refining the engines,I will stick with petrol thank you

[Blackdogblue]

With a dodgy MOT 😀👍

[Chauncey]

With a dodgy MOT 😀👍

I was hugely pleased with yesterday's developments,got her good n proper and she was flapping around like a good un going by the "chat" that we had later last night 😆