EV Thread

[mik]

Looks like they’ve done the usual government thing of finding a metric that looks good in their favour

I’d have to say : that.

As noted - our use means we rarely need to delve into the public charging network. We went to a hotel up North for a few days recently. In theory we could have made it there and back with 10miles range remaining, but that’s just an unnecessary stress, and hey - the hotel has an 11kw charger. Perfect for an overnight top up.

The hotel actually had 4 chargers, one of which was free when we arrived mid-afternoon. But it was yet another provider, with yet another app. Mrs mik went to check in and I downloaded the app, created an account, and…. Nope. I then spent 18mins (talk time, not wait time) on the phone to their rep who had to reset my account password 3 times. When we finally got me logged in the car and charger wouldn’t handshake. Eventually he had to reset and force the charger to start from his end. Had the car beside use (2 plug charger) not finished charging already - this action would have halted their charging

We were fully topped up by around 10:30pm (for £free) and I moved the car to a std space.

When I walked the dog at (fucking) 05:00 the following morning, the Tesla that was already fully charged at mid-afternoon the previous day was still plugged in. The other 3 slots were occupied by IC engined vehicles….

[jamcg]

When I walked the dog at (fucking) 05:00 the following morning, the Tesla that was already fully charged at mid-afternoon the previous day was still plugged in. The other 3 slots were occupied by IC engined vehicles….

Bet that gets really old really quickly

[Jobbo]

Have you sold it and bought an IC car again yet, Mik?

Most of the time I'd rather rent a house for the week than stay in a hotel. That means you're either not able to charge at all, or only with a long extension lead, and holiday lettings places are getting wise to the cost of electricity being used by holidaymakers to charge their cars (I don't expect the house owner to pay for my diesel to get there and back; they seem to be pretty keen not to pay for people's electricity too).

It feels a bit like we've already reached the point where people for whom an EV works already have them, and others won't until forced.

[mik]

Have you sold it and bought an IC car again yet, Mik?

No. Most of the time it works great. Any use outside of "normal" use does however now force me to consider not only where the charger is that I want to use, but also where the charger that I don't really want to use is. Which is a bit shit eh?

Also - I was chatting last night to @scotta who is about to tow a race car down to Race Of Remembrance utilising his ideally-suited large 4x4 vehicle. Our large 4x4 vehicle would be a very poor choice for that trip.

[Jobbo]

I saw this and thought of you, @mik:

[Simon]

But you'd have stopped for a pee anyway, so....

[DeskJockey]

I've only charged away from home once, using the facilities provided by my employer. For whatever reason the Zoe wouldn't connect to any of the four chargers available until both charging ports were free. Luckily I was staying overnight, so left the car at the office and got a lift with a colleague who was also staying over.

Anecdotally I'm wondering if the issue was that it was Teslas on the other plugs on the chargers I tried. Don't know if they're particularly greedy/disruptive, but that wasn't a great experience.

I wouldn't have taken the Zoe if I only had to go for the day as there aren't enough chargers/enforcement of the rules to ensure I'd get a slot before having to leave.

[dinny_g]

When I walked the dog at (fucking) 05:00 the following morning, the Tesla that was already fully charged at mid-afternoon the previous day was still plugged in. The other 3 slots were occupied by IC engined vehicles….

Don't you get charged for that ? - not just the Leccy you use to fully charge but also, the duration you stay plugged in ??

[mik]

When I walked the dog at (fucking) 05:00 the following morning, the Tesla that was already fully charged at mid-afternoon the previous day was still plugged in. The other 3 slots were occupied by IC engined vehicles….

Don't you get charged for that ? - not just the Leccy you use to fully charge but also, the duration you stay plugged in ??

Not on all chargers. But they all should.

[tim]

If the cable was car based (i.e. you had to use your own) and not attached to the charger, they could force-eject the cabe, so at least someone could use if if they could reach the cable.

Or have a pit of sharks with frickin' laser beams on their heads that swallows the car after an hour.

[mik]

And that’s why I voted @tim for President.

[V8Granite]

It will never happen, people are twunts.

Dave!

[IanF]

I had a look around a Lucid in New York yesterday.. always liked the idea of a 1000hp+ car

They’ve got a 1200hp+ version now

[simon_g]

I keep a service cabinet key in the car just in case, lots of public 7kw chargers have an emergency release inside.

The joys of a longer range car though is that you can limit public charging to places with plenty of rapid chargers, and it massively reduces the risk of something broken, blocked or needing to wait.

[mik]

New flagship Volvo EX90

Big claimed range (360miles)
Big tech
Big monies
510bhp, but 2818kg unladen. Big heavy.

[Simon]

Wow, 2.8t. Fully laden some people might be at risk of exceeding their 3.5t driving license limit.

[mik]

Wow, 2.8t. Fully laden some people might be at risk of exceeding their 3.5t driving license limit.

Yeah I saw some debate on that on the twitters.

"The Government in 2018 acted to make changes to the licence weight restrictions for electric vans driven by those with Category B permits, upping the maximum weight limit from 3.5 tonnes to 4.25 tonnes - though drivers need to sit an additional five hours of training in order to qualify"

This doesn't apply to cars of course, but I guess it could in the future (?) - not sure what they would do about the additional training element though.

[Mito Man]

Considering they let you tow 3.5 tonnes again overnight I’d say it would be a similar rule change.

[Carlos]

I don't understand why car manufacturers aren't building small light 200 mile range EV's but think this is a good idea !

Even so its similar in weight to any other massive SUV !

[V8Granite]

2.8 tons of suv is the opposite of progress.

What a strange strange piece of environmental progress.

Dave!