Electric car advice

[trueblue84]

Mining the minerals for the batteries for the cars is to

And the 1% of each cell that can't be recycled is highly toxic. A Tesla model s has about 7000 cells.

Feels like the next "leaded petrol" scandal.

My view is that the proper solution will be hydrogen fuel cell or synthetic petrol. Just needs the industry to pull it's finger out, but we are consumers, so they'll peddle as much crap as possible before finally switching to a real solution.

 

[Brennan]

Wife and I have had EVs for a few years now. We probably save £2000 a year in fuel costs.

In that time we’ve driven circa 50,000 miles across three vehicles and had no repair costs aside from an annual service. The car I drive doesn’t even require a service for the warranty to be maintained.

We’ve driven to France twice in that time and do 3-4 trips from the South East to North West per year with no issues using the public charging networks.

I wouldn’t recommend if you can’t charge at home personally, as the convenience of never having to visit petrol stations etc is a big part of the appeal. That and the massive fuel savings.

 

[Brennan]

And the 1% of each cell that can't be recycled is highly toxic. A Tesla model s has about 7000 cells.

Feels like the next "leaded petrol" scandal.

My view is that the proper solution will be hydrogen fuel cell or synthetic petrol. Just needs the industry to pull it's finger out, but we are consumers, so they'll peddle as much crap as possible before finally switching to a real solution.

Hydrogen

 

[Joey66]

Well yeh, but co2 is literally killing our planet - evs are reducing co2

We bare 2 % of CO2 - China - America - Russia etc - burn the rest - EG the new Green COPSE conference in the future will be in Brazil - they are devastating many many miles of evergreen forest growth to build an airport, & motorway so countries can attend it in private jets etc etc - its a big con -

Keeping the steel works open in the UK a necessity but buying the the coke from 1000s of miles away - when the open cast Whitehaven open cast mine was ditched = madness...

Not many countries have sold their main industries off like we have - Germany open a coal mine every week ......

The net Zero targets will be the death of economies ....

 

[Rita_Poon]

We born 2 % of CO2 China America Russia etc - burn the rest - EG the new Green conference in the future will be in Brazil - they are devastating many many miles of Forest growth to Build an airport & motorway so countries can attend it in private jets etc etc - its a big con -

keeping the steel works open in the UK a necessity but buying the the coke from 1000s of miles away - when the open cast Whitehaven open cast mine was ditched = madness...

Not many countries have sold their main industries off like we have - Germany open a coal mine every week ......

Pardon my asking Jim, was it a good idea that Britain abolished slavery when it did before everyone else? Set an example, lead the way, similar with universal suffrage?

 

[Joey66]

Pardon my asking Jim, was it a good idea that Britain abolished slavery when it did before everyone else? Set an example, lead the way, similar with universal suffrage?

Nothing to do with green energy ......

 

[Rita_Poon]

Nothing to do with green energy ......

There's an argument about slave labour, poisoning water table, ethnocentrism, and corporate greed costing indigenous cultures.

 

[Bedfordblue]

Had an EV for 4 years and am on my 2nd one now.
Initially got one for the tax breaks as I have a ltd company, but even if I didn’t, I’d find it very hard to go back to a ICE car now.
If you have a drive way and can fit a charger you will be laughing.
I wouldn’t buy a new one (currently lease) due to the residuals, but for a used buyer there’s some tremendous value at all levels.
If you regularly make round trip journeys of more than 300mi and don’t have drive way / charger then arguably they aren’t for you, but if like most people you do less than 100mi day they’re hard to beat.

When I occasionally have to take the wife’s car to the petrol station it does my head in now, feels like a real chore.
The driving is way more relaxing / enjoyable due to power delivery and they all seem to be pretty well loaded with luxury features.
Then there’s little things like pre heating the car in the winter so no more scraping the windows in the cold etc.
Can’t in all honestly think of any negatives.
Went to Cornwall last year and the charging stops were no great hardship, timed well with piss stops for the dog or just breaks from driving. No issues with the public chargers.
If you get a used one but ultimately don’t like it, most of the depreciation hit will have already gone so you won’t lose much if anything flogging it on in a year.

 

[Bedfordblue]

Battery acid will kill the rivers in Africa as that's where on TV - I saw it being dumped....

The only lead acid battery in an ev is the 12v one same as a ICE car.
The HV battery’s in EVs and hybrids are generally lithium-ion. Within lithium-ion types, there are variations like Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP), Nickel Manganese Cobalt (NMC), and Nickel Cobalt Aluminum (NCA)
A lot of which is recyclable for the ‘rare earth’ metals.

 

[barmcake]

We've had a EV for my wife's car for the last three years and have just ordered another one. If you have a drive and a proper charger and don't do really long journeys then they are great. I love it, fast for a big car, quiet and smooth to drive. We lease ours, not sure I'd want to buy a used one. They continue to get better too, the range on this one is 240 miles but the new one is 340 and it will charge from 10% to 80% in 20 mins on the public fast chargers if you needed to.

 

[Bedfordblue]

Only other thing I’d add, is get the newest car you can afford (after the 30-40% depreciation hit).
The technology has moved on quite fast from the first tranche of mainstream cars that came out around 2018/19.
Efficiency has come on in leaps and bounds, the key indicator you should look for is real world Miles Per Kilowatt/hr. Which you can then multiply by the battery size to get a feel of the real range.
Whatever the manufacturer blurb says on range you can take about 20% off.
For context my 1st one averaged about 2.2m/KWh my latest one does 3.8m/KWh so while they both have about 80kwh batteries one had a range of about 176 miles (advertised at 240) the new one does 330 (advertised at 430 / 87kwh battery)
I expect the new one to go up as I’ve only had it since Jan so most of the driving has been in cold weather and when it’s dark.

 

[Tramps_mate]

A brilliant car to drive ... terrible to operate. Don't even bother with voice control. I gave up on trying to work the stereo and had constant fights with automated high beam or wipers.

My everyday car is a 9 year old diesel mini clubman - i love it. It has switches!! It's even quieter than my tesla was!!

Test drove the Tesla's. Swerved them.. went with BMW iX3 instead. As you say. It has buttons! Basically an X3 but electric.

The brake regeneration is fantastic too!! Plus heat pump means only about 5-6% loss when using Aircon!

 

[Tramps_mate]

And the 1% of each cell that can't be recycled is highly toxic. A Tesla model s has about 7000 cells.

Feels like the next "leaded petrol" scandal.

My view is that the proper solution will be hydrogen fuel cell or synthetic petrol. Just needs the industry to pull it's finger out, but we are consumers, so they'll peddle as much crap as possible before finally switching to a real solution.

Hydrogen is the future! And dirt cheap and clean!

But they'll not let us have it because petrol and electricity makes them too much money!

 

[Daveysgingerlovechild]

Think Joey has a point here. Ever more car manufacturing, accelerated with the push to move to 'halo' green cars is just pillaging the planet whilst making turds like Musk richer. Swapping cars every three years? You're feeding the capitalist consumer beast whilst pretending to be green jesus. Bet you buy Starbucks in a reusable coffee cup too.

We're all the problem ultimately. Face it, own it.

 

[degsy]

Water

Yes it's made from water and it burns and returns to water - but you have to use a shed load of electricity in the electrolysis process to extract the hydrogen

A hydrogen engine, specifically a hydrogen internal combustion engine (ICE), uses hydrogen fuel to power an engine similar to a traditional gasoline engine. Instead of burning gasoline, it burns hydrogen, and the primary exhaust product is water. This technology is distinct from hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs), which use hydrogen to generate electricity to power an electric motor.
A firm in Germany have come close to get the price down , but have lacked any financial backing from government's .....

London have Hydrogen Engine buses.....