| Electric cars again 15:13 - Dec 30 with 7154 views | thame_hoops |
Tried to comment on the existing electric car post from the summer, but it’s disappeared?
Thinking of biting the bullet and getting an EV. However, I live in a flat/apartment. I won’t be able to charge at home very easily.
Is it feasible to get an electric vehicle and rely on charging points? We will have a charging point at my office where I go once a week. But this is 70 miles away. Appears to be several charging points around me where I could drop the car off and grab a coffee or work from the café for a few hours while it’s charging, that’s not a problem. I know charging points offer different costs/speeds. I drive around 400 miles a week max and my idea is to integrate charging when I go about my daily travels. For instance, the gym, supermarket, driving into London. all should have charging points readily available, I would assume.
Just wondered what any of you all have done.
Any advice is appreciated. |  | | |  |
| Electric cars again on 17:41 - Dec 31 with 1239 views | Juzzie |
| Electric cars again on 15:29 - Dec 31 by kensalriser |
There's no compelling argument for hydrogen from any angle except for HGVs. If there was, it would be happening. Businesses just want to make money, they don't care how. |
I think one of the positives about hydrogen is you fill the car up like petrol. Takes a little longer but should be around 5 mins max. Having to charge your car at a motorway service station is great business for them as you then spend more £££££ on coffee, sandwiches, sticky buns etc while you wait. Very convenient for them but not for you.
The main problem, like all this at the moment, is lack of hydrogen filling stations. There’s one a mile from me and a few others around London and that’s it as the next one is Sheffield.
I personally think hydrogen should have been focused on because you can just fill up like petrol and it means you can own one if you live in a flat and if you do have a driveway you don’t have to have another ugly box attached to your house.
This won’t happen as, donning my conspiracy hat, charging at public charging stations makes more money on both the charging cost and what you end up spending on said sticky buns etc (even more expense if you’re with the kids) while you’re waiting.
[Post edited 31 Dec 2023 18:04]
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| Electric cars again on 11:23 - Jan 1 with 1006 views | CamberleyR |
| Electric cars again on 14:13 - Dec 31 by Juzzie |
I average only a couple of thousand miles a year in the car as it’s just local weekend useage.
I know short runs aren’t good for ICE cars (needed new middle and rear exhaust last year) but are EV’s affected by this? Charging at home is not a problem.
My heart wants a big fk-off 4x4 simply because I do so little mileage it would actually have less impact on the environment than someone in a Toyota Yaris who does 15,000 miles a year, like my flat mate from years ago yet I got the paddington bear stares from people because I had a Pajero 4x4 that I did 2-3k a year. Which of us had the bigger impact on the environment? [Post edited 31 Dec 2023 14:14]
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An EV would be absolutely fine if you're just doing short, stop-start journeys, range is not affected by this. In fact EVs tend to be like an ICE car in reverse, they quite like town usage but aren't quite so effective on dual carriageway/motorway usage. |  |
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| Electric cars again on 11:31 - Jan 1 with 990 views | MelakaRanger |
One other major bonus if you have your own home and a drive.
More and more homes now have solar panels on the roof. This is sure to accelerate over the next few years. Indeed I saw an advert yesterday for a 4kw home solar installation plus a Tesla power wall for just under £11k
Such an installation would not only add real value to the home but would pay for itself in most likely less than 10 years. And if you have an EV it might even pay for itself in around 5 years.
With a home solar system you could charge you car for free. With a solar system and a decent size home battery/powerwall you could run your home / charge your car some of the time for free and for the rest of the day and night pay no more than 7.5p per kw for all the power the home uses. If you are particularly energy hungry you might have to pay for a few kws at full tariff rate
Fuel your car for free…. |  | | |
| Electric cars again on 11:31 - Jan 1 with 986 views | dmm |
There's a good electric car mythbusters series here: https://www.theguardian.com/business/series/ev-mythbusters It is, of course, pro electric cars but the arguments are laid out well.
I have had an electric Kia Soul for 2.5 years and have a Pod Point home charger. Happy with both. [Post edited 1 Jan 11:32]
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| Electric cars again on 11:49 - Jan 1 with 973 views | westberksr |
20k per year without home charging is going to be a bit tricky and as others have stated, potentially costly.
I've driven an EV for 2 years and covered 50k but have the home charger and Octopus tariff.
if you know you can definitely charge at work and plan to arrive almost empty then it might work. you also have to watch out for public charges that charge for the time you are connected and not charging. Got hit for this when I left the car on a charger for a few hours after it was full and got the bill!
but I have saved a fortune in Ulez & congestion charge as well a parking in Westminster, where you only pay for the first 10 minutes. |  | | |
| Electric cars again on 12:21 - Jan 1 with 948 views | Paddyhoops |
| Electric cars again on 11:49 - Jan 1 by westberksr |
20k per year without home charging is going to be a bit tricky and as others have stated, potentially costly.
I've driven an EV for 2 years and covered 50k but have the home charger and Octopus tariff.
if you know you can definitely charge at work and plan to arrive almost empty then it might work. you also have to watch out for public charges that charge for the time you are connected and not charging. Got hit for this when I left the car on a charger for a few hours after it was full and got the bill!
but I have saved a fortune in Ulez & congestion charge as well a parking in Westminster, where you only pay for the first 10 minutes. |
Fair play if you can get an exemption with Westminster for parking. Can’t do that with my van .
Perhaps as the van is registered with my company who are based in Clacton?
If I work in say Farringdon . It’s just £1 an hour . Where as previously they charged £17 an hour for my diesel.
On a previous post on this subject I had a pop at some cyclists and pedestrians.
I’d like to point out it wasn’t all of them . Just a small majority.
Happy driving. |  | | |
| Electric cars again on 06:44 - Jan 2 with 823 views | westberksr |
| Electric cars again on 12:21 - Jan 1 by Paddyhoops |
Fair play if you can get an exemption with Westminster for parking. Can’t do that with my van .
Perhaps as the van is registered with my company who are based in Clacton?
If I work in say Farringdon . It’s just £1 an hour . Where as previously they charged £17 an hour for my diesel.
On a previous post on this subject I had a pop at some cyclists and pedestrians.
I’d like to point out it wasn’t all of them . Just a small majority.
Happy driving. |
I didn't need to apply for the Westminster exemption; its just part of their parking rules. Possibly exempt for commercial vehicles but I'm non the wiser. just spotted it on the pay & display sign and enjoyed 2 years of cheap parking.
as for the C&P, well I've had near misses with pedestrians twice over the past few days; some of them are absolute cretins. 1 group decided to walk/run straight in front of me and if I'd not been alert I'd have hit them. Next 1 was 95% across a road and then did a U-turn into my driving line without looking and again if id been speeding or not paying attention I'd have defo hit the silly bitch. | | | |
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| Electric cars again on 09:45 - Jan 2 with 751 views | Paddyhoops |
| Electric cars again on 06:44 - Jan 2 by westberksr |
I didn't need to apply for the Westminster exemption; its just part of their parking rules. Possibly exempt for commercial vehicles but I'm non the wiser. just spotted it on the pay & display sign and enjoyed 2 years of cheap parking.
as for the C&P, well I've had near misses with pedestrians twice over the past few days; some of them are absolute cretins. 1 group decided to walk/run straight in front of me and if I'd not been alert I'd have hit them. Next 1 was 95% across a road and then did a U-turn into my driving line without looking and again if id been speeding or not paying attention I'd have defo hit the silly bitch. |
Thanks for that west. There’s a culture now among pedestrians who really couldn’t care less about walking out of front of vehicles and really not caring anymore. Soho is the worst area.
In fairness there are more bellends working in that particular part of London than anywhere else. | | | |
| Electric cars again on 10:21 - Jan 2 with 720 views | Juzzie |
| Electric cars again on 09:45 - Jan 2 by Paddyhoops |
Thanks for that west. There’s a culture now among pedestrians who really couldn’t care less about walking out of front of vehicles and really not caring anymore. Soho is the worst area.
In fairness there are more bellends working in that particular part of London than anywhere else. |
Don't want to go-off topic from EV's (but I'm going to!) but yes, I really don't get this. I know the laws now state that the vehicle driver has responsibility over the pedestrian but are people really that stupid to just blindly put their own life in the hands of someone else?
Sure, you may be in the 'right' as a pedestrian but that's little consolation if you're in an ambulance or worse, on a slab.
Any notion of self preservation has seemed to have disappeared as people take the approach that "it's someone else's responsibility". Fk that.... I look out for myself whether walking, on my motorbike or in my car. I'm not going to trust my life to anyone else.
Riding on my motorbike through Camden a couple of weeks ago a young lad on a Lime bike was cycling on the pavement and he dismounted onto the road and cut right across me on his way to the other side of the road. Didn't even look and was wearing those big-can headphones. I had to swerve to avoid him and he certainly heard the torrent of abuse I gave him. [Post edited 2 Jan 10:39]
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| Electric cars again on 11:03 - Jan 2 with 702 views | Bluce_Ree |
Been seeing reports of batteries getting damaged by either bad roads or sometimes standing water and the manufacturers not covering it. A guy I work with knows a guy who was quoted 51 grand to replace a battery that got damaged. |  |
| Stefan Moore, Stefan Moore running down the wing. Stefan Moore, Stefan Moore running down the wing. He runs like a cheetah, his crosses couldn't be sweeter. Stefan Moore. Stefan Moore. Stefan Moore. |
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