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Electric cars.

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussion' started by pete, Apr 7, 2021.

  1. Scrungee

    Scrungee Well known for it

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    And those with not much money, ,who rely on their car, but do very low mileage are never going to recoup the massive outlay required for a new electric vehicle.

    And how long will it take this (+ next?) Goverment to sort that lot out?
     
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    • Fat Controller

      Fat Controller 'Cuddly' Scottish Admin! Staff Member

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    • gks

      gks Total Gardener

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      • gks

        gks Total Gardener

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        France has passed new legislation that requires all car dealers to inform the general public of less polluting forms of travel. The new law will require them to inform potential clients of walking, cycling and using public transport through their ads on TV, radio, tabloids etc etc. By law, they must recommend at least one form of less polluting transport in the advertisement.

        So, what are they going to do with the travel industry, regarding wooing more Chinese tourists to visit France? Tourism industry data has shown that Chinese and Asian tourists visiting Europe tend to spend more per head than most other nationals, which is true. So bearing this in mind, the French tourist industry launched "operation seduction" in late 2018. The sole purpose was to increase Chinese tourists visiting France. The goal was to have as many as 5 million Chinese tourists visiting France annually by 2020.

        So, while your telling your own nationals to use less polluting forms of transport, they still want to encourage more foreign tourists from far and away due to the fact they are more likely to spend more.
         
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        • shiney

          shiney President, Grumpy Old Men's Club Staff Member

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          Maybe in the ads to the Chinese they could suggest that it is more eco friendly if they walked to France. :ideaIPB:
           
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          • JR

            JR Chilled Gardener

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            They've already got them rickshaws with some poor sod running along with it.. Very eco friendly. He'd need a good pair of sandals to pull one to France.
             
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            • Black Dog

              Black Dog Gardener of useful things

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              Finally got our charging station installed. 11 kW with enough reserves to go up to 22 kW if we choose to in the future.

              IMG_20220315_114047.jpg
               
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              • pete

                pete Growing a bit of this and a bit of that....

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                So is 11kw the kind of thing you would need for one car?

                Only I'm just thinking if I turned every appliance on in my house I doubt it would add up to 11kw.

                I'm just wondering if the ancient cables in much of the UK would be able to cope with a couple of dozen of these being switched on when everyone comes home from work.
                 
              • Black Dog

                Black Dog Gardener of useful things

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                11kW is the maximum energy you can get in Germany without having to ask your provider for permission, since most homes and their wiring is built for that kind of load (+ some reserves).

                There has been a lot of talk over the last year's weather the grid will go down of everyone starts charging they EVs at exactly the same time (which somewhat will happen with petrol as well if everyone starts buying at once - as seen a couple of months ago).
                Therefore it is now mandatory to get an intelligent charging station that will throttle down the charging speed if lots of people draw power at the same time.

                Lots of studies have been conducted since. Some of them electrified whole streets giving everyone living there an EV for mandatory use while monitoring the power usage over a month or so. The conclusion was they never even came close to hitting the limit because most people tend to overestimate how much they really need to charge an EV. But I guess better safe than sorry.

                PS: Do you NEED 11kW charging power? Most of the time you don't, because you probably don't ever drive your car down to 0%, put it in your driveway and need it at 100% an hour later. But with a battery capacity of 64kWh (which is a lot of power) you can estimate a charging time of 6 (ideal) to 8 (realistic) hours from zero to full.
                 
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                • Fat Controller

                  Fat Controller 'Cuddly' Scottish Admin! Staff Member

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                  It seems that 7.2kW wall boxes are more common here in the UK for whatever reason.

                  I have been doing research on this recently, purely on the basis that fuel prices continue to spiral and the fact that my car is on a PCP deal so is almost leased - it will soon be at the point where I will have to either change it, or commit to a loan to keep it.

                  I've looked at electric cars and they still do not stack up - mostly this is financially as they are so much more expensive than their combustion engined counterparts. At the moment, the ones that are appearing to stack up are PHEV's - I looked at a used BMW 5 series the other day, similar in terms of cost to my current car, but has a battery sufficient to allow me to charge it on a 3-pin plug overnight, every night, and do my daily commutes purely on electric power. It also uses those electric motors to give improved mpg if not being used in pure electric mode - up to 140mpg quoted, but around 90 in real life apparently, which is still a lot. Current sums, assuming the cost of vehicle purchase/lease are similar, there is an approximate £50 per month saving to be made... BUT, that also assumes electricity prices don't also spiral
                   
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                  • Black Dog

                    Black Dog Gardener of useful things

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                    The answer to that is quite simple:
                    Wanddose_5x16.jpg

                    7,2 kW is the biggest "conventional" power supply people have in their homes. You will also find 3,6 kW quite often as well since the difference is mereley 32A/16A as a maximum amperage.
                    So it makes sense to use the already existing lines instead of rewiring (which in our case was no work at all since we reworked the whole wiring after moving in in 2020 and had already planned for it)
                     
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                    • CanadianLori

                      CanadianLori Total Gardener

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                      I would like an electric car when they get it to the stage where you have the option to charge it directly from solar panels. When they can be fully powered by clean sourced electricity I will be looking seriously at buying one.

                      I know that my province has Zero Coal generated electricity and is clean compared to many places but adding a strain to the electric power grid when the sun is ready and waiting to be used is, in my opinion, a sin.
                       
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                      • Jocko

                        Jocko Guided by my better half.

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                        I am considering the new Vauxhall Grandland X. It is a PHEV with 39 electric miles WLTP which is more than enough for 90% of my driving now I live on the city outskirts. It has a 3.7kW onboard charger. £33,820 or £5,073.00 and 49 payments of £374.70 pm for 10,000 miles per annum.
                         
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                        • gks

                          gks Total Gardener

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                          • pete

                            pete Growing a bit of this and a bit of that....

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                            I probably won't get one until I'm pushed and even then I'm not sure I will be able to afford one.
                            Probably have to buy a second hand worn out one that is out dated and needs new batteries.
                            It's not something I'm looking forward to to be honest.
                             
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