Electric cars.

I agree, if you do lots of long trips then EVs might not be for you. It would of been a pain in the arse for me a few years ago with my needs back then. It was something that made me think if could live with an EV when buying, but felt that an EV now covered the vast majority of my driving and could put up with a few extra stops on my occasional long trips. The way I look at is, my diesel had a range of about 700km, my EV is half that but I rarely go further than that now without stopping somewhere. I do a 500km round trip every couple of months that I would previously do without stopping. It now involves a 20-30 min stop to charge which I use for a wee and a coffee which I am used to now. Twice a year I drive from the bottom of Ireland to Scotland. Previously this involved one stop, now it involves 2 stops to charge so not a huge inconvenience for me. I will admit the first time I did this journey I was nervous about charger availability, the extra stopping adding time which may lead to missing the ferry, charging once in Scotland etc. thankfully none of that has been an issue and is becoming second nature to me now. Again, for me, I am happy to put up with this extra stopping for the benefit/cost saving the rest of the time.

 

@Emptyheadtime The main concern for many people is still that of being low on battery and the place you stop at either has all the chargers in use or they aren't working. With ICE you will always find fuel within a few miles. Once that issue is addressed, if it's ever effectively addressed, that will be one less stumbling block to EV ownership. Price is still a major one for many people. I would happily buy a 10 year old ICE vehicle but wouldn't currently touch a 10 year old EV due to battery life concern.

 

To be honest, for those of us with EV's, because of the huge increase in both battery range and charger availability in the last few years, it's nothing like the practical issue it used to be - it's more a theoretical fear for those considering the change, and a cultural hangover from more difficult previous times...

 

In terms of grunt, you can look at the power output, the acceleration times and the reviews in the motoring press...
...or just the grin on the face of an EV driver as they take off from the lights...

 

An EV would probably suit me these days but I dont have the cash for a new one and second hand seems a nightmare, they are improving the batteries all the time so why buy 5 yrs old technology.

I'm sure at some point the powers that "own us" will start closing down petrol stations and not allow anymore to be built, at the same time turning them into EV charging, (if they can find enough electricity), and create large queues at petrol stations.

 

Most EV drivers dont actually "take off from the lights", it drains the batteries.
I've noticed on motorways that most EVs are getting in the way of the lorries in lane one doing 50mph.

 

Well I thought it was some hoot when i heard about a Tesla car locking itself inside a car wash, they said the driver did not turn on the Car Wash Mode thing. Well here it is, SMH.

 

Yes, I do try to refrain from doing it (but it's nice to know that I can!)

 

They reckon roughly 6,300 cars were destroyed in the fires with an estimate of 600 of them being fully electric. But with many other cars being hybrid's, then each vehicle needed to be checked as information from the car manufacturers and solar panel suppliers estimated there was as many as 5,000 batteries within the burn zone. So, not only are fully electric cars a hazard, so can the hybrids depending on the size of the battery. Plus you have to factor in, how many homes had solar panels with a battery storage unit, they reckon of all the dwellings in California that have solar panels between 25-50% will have a battery storage system. They say, up to date they have recovered 430 tonnes of batteries from the burn zone.

How L.A. removed 1 million pounds of flammable lithium-ion batteries from its burn zones - Los Angeles Times

The article also points out that lithium-ion battery fires was the main cause of fire deaths in NYC last year.

In the UK, numerous fire brigades are warning that lithium batteries are the fastest growing risk of fires.

 

£700 a month! How many miles are you doing? At 0.35 a kw that’s 2,000kw with a car doing about 5km per kWh, so 10,000km a month!
My rough maths worked out that electricity prices need to be about 60/70p per kw to match petrol/diesel prices. This is what you will often pay at public charging stations, hence why if you can’t home charge an EV probably won’t work for you. I only ever really charge at home on the cheap EV night rates, last YEAR I paid €282 and got 2,600kwh or 13,000km.
I don’t see how the government will find the missing tax revenue by increasing tax on home electricity, it is more likely to be a cost per mile IMO or some form of increased road tax that will recoup the money. We will ALL pay the cost of motoring, but for now I will happily take the savings.