My wife has a Seat Mi and we have a podpoint - great fun to drive and is really nippy. The big problem is the limited range and public charging provision, which is absolutely risible. There needs to be one hell of an investment in infrastructure and battery life to make e-cars truly viable.
My next car will definitely be electric however and my wife is sold on them.
This may have been mentioned on here before but how are people who don’t have driveways or live in flats without private parking spaces going to charge EV’s?
My wife has a Mi electric and it’s great fun & surprisingly fast from a standing start. The downside is the range (approx 150 miles) and the current lack of public chargers. Around town it’s mad efficient as the stop start keeps it nicely topped up, however on motorways the battery drains too quickly
She is swapping it in August and keen to get another electric with more range
This may have been mentioned on here before but how are people who don’t have driveways or live in flats without private parking spaces going to charge EV’s?
This may have been mentioned on here before but how are people who don’t have driveways or live in flats without private parking spaces going to charge EV’s?
Some run a lead out of a window and across the pavement assuming they get a spot outside their front door. Other than that it's as above, a stop at the supermarket which I had to do before I had my charger installed.
Swapping out batteries has to be/will be the future.
Either that or a change in battery tech to make it (almost) instantly rechargeable.
I always felt the statement that there were for the first time more electric charging points than petrol stations was a bit disingenuous when you consider a petrol station could see through literally hundreds of cars in the time it takes to charge one EV at a charging point.
Short of banning combustion engines, it's the only way I'll make the change as about 75% of the miles I do each year is a 500-600 mile each way trip. I stop once, for 10 minutes to get diesel in that time as it stands.
If I drove a lot of short trips though... I've been in a Tesla model 3 a few times on Uber, what a beautiful car.
So you buy a new car, with its brand new batteries which cost you a fortune, then on your first battery charge they take your brand new batteries and swap them with god knows what. I can see a flaw.
So you buy a new car, with its brand new batteries which cost you a fortune, then on your first battery charge they take your brand new batteries and swap them with god knows what. I can see a flaw.
You buy the car, but lease the batteries for a monthly fee.
Supposedly ensures you will have updated (improved) batteries if released during car ownership. I assume the contract would stipulate batteries that can achieve a certain level of charge are only used for swapping.
I just just don’t see the issue with current ev’s. Charge at home overnight and you never need to worry about public charging unless you’re going halfway across the country. No monthly battery lease necessary. Kia have long warranties so they must be confident in the long term battery use. When you do need charging in public, 20/30mins gets quite far (100 miles or so) on 50kw+ chargers. Need more on street solutions for slow charging, especially those without drives, but can’t be that difficult to do given electricity is flowing round the streets anyway. Hydrogen sounds like a pain to transport and get to the vehicles. Battery tech has already won that race I think.
I just just don’t see the issue with current ev’s. Charge at home overnight and you never need to worry about public charging unless you’re going halfway across the country. No monthly battery lease necessary. Kia have long warranties so they must be confident in the long term battery use. When you do need charging in public, 20/30mins gets quite far (100 miles or so) on 50kw+ chargers. Need more on street solutions for slow charging, especially those without drives, but can’t be that difficult to do given electricity is flowing round the streets anyway. Hydrogen sounds like a pain to transport and get to the vehicles. Battery tech has already won that race I think.
Agreed - within a few years there will be EVs that have 600+ miles of range and will recharge in 15 mins. The tech exists today (solid state) but needs to be scaled to become commercially viable.
We have a Renault Zoe, 2021 vintage and no home charger, I will go and park up at a local cafe which has a charger, do some work and fill the car up. It does well over 220 miles On a full charge, so have to do it once every 10 days.
Great car, yes not as modern as some recent EVs but has a huge battery for its size and is super efficient with it. Get 4.1 KWpM on the motorway for example.
still if someone wants to get me an ID 3 I’m game to change
Saves on fuel bills, but the cafe bills are £350pa.
Haha, I stick to the filter coffee!
But in all seriousness, I think it would have cost about £160 to keep the old petrol car in fuel a month at the moment, so I should branch out to a few flat whites each month
The sooner the world adopts this approach, the better.
Taiwan's Gogoro is one such firm. In addition to a range of electric motorbikes, it has come up with a solution to the problem of a rider having to stand around while their bikes charge.
Instead of charging points, Gogoro's users in Taiwan simply need to drive to one of more than 2,200 battery stations, and swap their batteries for free. The outdoor stations run 24-hours a day, and are said to be able to withstand the typhoons and searing heat of Taiwanese summers.
Gogoro is now planning to make this battery-swapping hardware and technology available to partner companies across Asia. These include Hero in India, Gojek in Indonesia, and DCJ and Yadea in China. Gogoro is also working on a partnership with Yamaha.
I think battery swapping is a great solution as long as you have two batteries and can fully use the power before you swap it. I just can't see charging, even if waiting times are cut, being what we end up with.
The sooner the world adopts this approach, the better.
Taiwan's Gogoro is one such firm. In addition to a range of electric motorbikes, it has come up with a solution to the problem of a rider having to stand around while their bikes charge.
Instead of charging points, Gogoro's users in Taiwan simply need to drive to one of more than 2,200 battery stations, and swap their batteries for free. The outdoor stations run 24-hours a day, and are said to be able to withstand the typhoons and searing heat of Taiwanese summers.
Gogoro is now planning to make this battery-swapping hardware and technology available to partner companies across Asia. These include Hero in India, Gojek in Indonesia, and DCJ and Yadea in China. Gogoro is also working on a partnership with Yamaha.
This is not the viable solution for cars which have multiple batteries.
We have a Renault Zoe, 2021 vintage and no home charger, I will go and park up at a local cafe which has a charger, do some work and fill the car up. It does well over 220 miles On a full charge, so have to do it once every 10 days.
Great car, yes not as modern as some recent EVs but has a huge battery for its size and is super efficient with it. Get 4.1 KWpM on the motorway for example.
still if someone wants to get me an ID 3 I’m game to change
Ah good. A Zoe owner so I can ask you a question if you dont mind.
We've got a speed bump in our road, outside our next door neighbours house. Whenever a Zoe approaches it, it makes a 'spaceship' noise under braking. Is that normal? I've never noticed any other car doing it so I'm assuming its Zoe-specific but christ its annoying.
The sooner the world adopts this approach, the better.
Taiwan's Gogoro is one such firm. In addition to a range of electric motorbikes, it has come up with a solution to the problem of a rider having to stand around while their bikes charge.
Instead of charging points, Gogoro's users in Taiwan simply need to drive to one of more than 2,200 battery stations, and swap their batteries for free. The outdoor stations run 24-hours a day, and are said to be able to withstand the typhoons and searing heat of Taiwanese summers.
Gogoro is now planning to make this battery-swapping hardware and technology available to partner companies across Asia. These include Hero in India, Gojek in Indonesia, and DCJ and Yadea in China. Gogoro is also working on a partnership with Yamaha.
This is not the viable solution for cars which have multiple batteries.
We need to be designing the solution. Like a caravan's multiple cassettes for waste water, clean water etc....
We have a Renault Zoe, 2021 vintage and no home charger, I will go and park up at a local cafe which has a charger, do some work and fill the car up. It does well over 220 miles On a full charge, so have to do it once every 10 days.
Great car, yes not as modern as some recent EVs but has a huge battery for its size and is super efficient with it. Get 4.1 KWpM on the motorway for example.
still if someone wants to get me an ID 3 I’m game to change
Ah good. A Zoe owner so I can ask you a question if you dont mind.
We've got a speed bump in our road, outside our next door neighbours house. Whenever a Zoe approaches it, it makes a 'spaceship' noise under braking. Is that normal? I've never noticed any other car doing it so I'm assuming its Zoe-specific but christ its annoying.
I can't see why batteries can't be mechanically removed and added to cars at specific stations. Surely this would be possible and fast.
I believe this subject has already been discussed further up the thread. I seem to recall it is done by removing the battery from underneath the car and is a quick process.
If you have replaceable batteries, you remove the problem of having a battery that as you use it, it gets less efficient. Sure, this would be the case for seperate batteries but the cost can be absorbed into the changing price rather than you feel your car getting worse.
The sooner the world adopts this approach, the better.
Taiwan's Gogoro is one such firm. In addition to a range of electric motorbikes, it has come up with a solution to the problem of a rider having to stand around while their bikes charge.
Instead of charging points, Gogoro's users in Taiwan simply need to drive to one of more than 2,200 battery stations, and swap their batteries for free. The outdoor stations run 24-hours a day, and are said to be able to withstand the typhoons and searing heat of Taiwanese summers.
Gogoro is now planning to make this battery-swapping hardware and technology available to partner companies across Asia. These include Hero in India, Gojek in Indonesia, and DCJ and Yadea in China. Gogoro is also working on a partnership with Yamaha.
This is not the viable solution for cars which have multiple batteries.
We need to be designing the solution. Like a caravan's multiple cassettes for waste water, clean water etc....
Imperial College is working on stuff like this right now. Not only battery technology for cars but also batteries for sustainable aviation.
Comments
My next car will definitely be electric however and my wife is sold on them.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61310513
She is swapping it in August and keen to get another electric with more range
Either that or a change in battery tech to make it (almost) instantly rechargeable.
I always felt the statement that there were for the first time more electric charging points than petrol stations was a bit disingenuous when you consider a petrol station could see through literally hundreds of cars in the time it takes to charge one EV at a charging point.
Short of banning combustion engines, it's the only way I'll make the change as about 75% of the miles I do each year is a 500-600 mile each way trip. I stop once, for 10 minutes to get diesel in that time as it stands.
If I drove a lot of short trips though... I've been in a Tesla model 3 a few times on Uber, what a beautiful car.
still if someone wants to get me an ID 3 I’m game to change
Taiwan's Gogoro is one such firm. In addition to a range of electric motorbikes, it has come up with a solution to the problem of a rider having to stand around while their bikes charge.
Instead of charging points, Gogoro's users in Taiwan simply need to drive to one of more than 2,200 battery stations, and swap their batteries for free. The outdoor stations run 24-hours a day, and are said to be able to withstand the typhoons and searing heat of Taiwanese summers.
Gogoro is now planning to make this battery-swapping hardware and technology available to partner companies across Asia. These include Hero in India, Gojek in Indonesia, and DCJ and Yadea in China. Gogoro is also working on a partnership with Yamaha.
We've got a speed bump in our road, outside our next door neighbours house. Whenever a Zoe approaches it, it makes a 'spaceship' noise under braking. Is that normal? I've never noticed any other car doing it so I'm assuming its Zoe-specific but christ its annoying.
Like a caravan's multiple cassettes for waste water, clean water etc....