Electric car charging point fiasco

[John F]

What about those in flats?

Extremely long cable!

 

[RobF]

What about those in flats?

They can get the (fuel cell powered) bus.

 

[flecc]

Battery life is not a problem if you take up the lease plan.

Range of about 70 miles is plenty for most users, most of the time..

Cost of charging is another consideration.

Battery life and cost is a huge consideration, no matter what the plan. As ever, it's necessary to read the small print.

Range "sufficient most of the time" means owning a second car as well, i.c at that. That makes owning an e-car pointless. As someone posted, a rich man's additional toy.

I didn't bother to include the cost of charging in my post since the case against e-cars is absolute without it.

The green car future will probably be in rechargeable hybrids. The two industry giants are going that way, GM with the Chevrolet Volt and Vauxhall/Opel Ampera, while Toyota have turned the Prius into a rechargeable, making it truly hybrid for the first time. In China the BYD is doing the same thing.

Rechargeable hybrid makes sense, only one car necessary, all shorter journeys to circa 50 miles electric using mains electricity, the i.c. engine cutting in later to provide for the occasional longer journeys. Compared to e-cars the purchase price and battery costs are far, far lower and widely affordable. They could use recharging points and some might do, but most probably won't bother since running out on the road isn't a problem.

 

[flecc]

Extremely long cable!

Or a petrol generator to recharge the e-car.

 

[John F]

It would be interesting to know who exactly are using the charging points. I would be expecting others (eg councils?) to be monitoring the situation carefully.

 

[RobF]

Battery life and cost is a huge consideration, no matter what the plan. As ever, it's necessary to read the small print.

Range "sufficient most of the time" means owning a second car as well, i.c at that. That makes owning an e-car pointless. As someone posted, a rich man's additional toy.

I didn't bother to include the cost of charging in my post since the case against e-cars is absolute without it.

The green car future will probably be in rechargeable hybrids. The two industry giants are going that way, GM with the Chevrolet Volt and Vauxhall/Opel Ampera, while Toyota have turned the Prius into a rechargeable, making it truly hybrid for the first time. In China the BYD is doing the same thing.

Rechargeable hybrid makes sense, only one car necessary, all shorter journeys to circa 50 miles electric using mains electricity, the i.c. engine cutting in later to provide for the occasional longer journeys. Compared to e-cars the purchase price and battery costs are far, far lower and widely affordable. They could use recharging points and some might do, but most probably won't bother since running out on the road isn't a problem.

Most of us rarely do journeys of more than 100 miles, so there is no need for a second car.

Such a journey in an e-car would need some thinking about, but is entirely doable on an occasional basis.

I have about 400 miles of diesel in the car presently parked in my back yard.

That fuel will be used for 20 or 30 separate journeys with regular returns to base, so for weeks at time I wouldn't even need to use an outside charging point.

Plenty of research to show my car use - lots of short journeys and very few long ones - is entirely typical.

Of course, there will be drivers for whom an e-car would not suitable, particularly those who are unwilling to modify their use a bit.

Buying cost kills it for me at present, but that aside, something like a Nissan Leaf could easily meet my motoring needs.

I agree the GM hybrids look a decent bet, although I'm told the Ampera is a pig to drive.

 

[Clockwise]

It would be interesting to know who exactly are using the charging points. I would be expecting others (eg councils?) to be monitoring the situation carefully.

Often the council have got a couple of them cars with cctv cameras on the roof that park illegally and cause danger to other road users to catch motorists doing far less dangerous things like parking between 1 and 2 instead of 11 and 12.

 

[flecc]

I agree the GM hybrids look a decent bet, although I'm told the Ampera is a pig to drive.

GM have gone for a large and heavy option, both to suit the US market and to get 80 miles of electric range. I doubt most this side of the pond need as much as that for their day to day usage, the rechargeable Prius being nearer to our needs.

But I strongly believe that the hybrid option will trounce e-cars, the latter only getting this far due to strong political backing and subsidy.

To me hybrid has to be the favoured interim option for the decade or two until battery or fuel cell technology possibly advance enough for e-cars to become viable. They answer what's needed, reduction in fossil fuel use, reduction in town/city air pollution, minimised use of the scarce resource lithium, affordable widespread ownership.

I just wish our politicians would wake up and switch their subsidy policy to match today's realities.
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