Electric vehicles (split from Quentin Willson's hot tips)

[felixkk]

Jay Leno talking to the designer and the engineer of the Tesla truck, touching on the subject:

https://youtu.be/BGDOKD7ZZqI?si=i0UfR7HpJ4_9EpIW&t=1160

Crazy design, quite courageous...

[mojo]

There is a growing chorus of criticism against EVs because people are waking up to their disadvantages and dangers.

Actually, I don't think there is a "growing chorus" at all.

People have been sceptical for years, but I don't think it's changing a huge amount with time now and, if anything, we have a growing population of people that have actually driven an EV for a number of years and who are better qualified to comment on the practicalities.

What we do seem to have are a small number of people who are very anti-EV, and who are prepared to divert conversations which have only very tenuous links to the subject, and to try to fill them with anti-EV commentary.

This type of person will typically inject lots of links to "amusing" anti-EV YouTube content, and will often use phrases like "There is a growing chorus", and similar.

[AH1951]

"Actually, I don't think there is a "Growing chorus" at all."

Then you probably watch and believe the BBC.
Out there in the real world, EVs are the subject of much mirth.
Especially when they catch fire and cause a catastrophe, on a ship or car park.

Just give it up, Mojo!
You're out of touch.



I don't feel the need to drive an EV for years in order to intelligently comment about them, any more than I need to be a moon-landing Astronaut in order to know what environmental conditions are like on the surface of the moon.

EVs are a technological dead-end, as they exist today.
Barring a breakthrough in battery technology which overcomes the woefully low energy density of current batteries, they will continue to be expensive, heavy, dangerous, inconvenient, and make neither environmental nor financial sense.
In the USA, dealers' lots are flooded with unsold EVs.
EV makers are losing billions of dollars, they are halting or scaling back production.
There is now huge buyer resistance.
Salesmen have become very aggressive in pushing buyers towards EVs. In the UK too.

This is the harsh reality that you cannot argue with.

The videos I post should be entertaining, as well as informative and above-all, honest.
Watching them is not compulsory.
But these are really good.

4 minutes:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dNFiO8aMR ... cmFsaWE%3D


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pgTyG9n9v ... cmFsaWE%3D


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=La4iWcQn9bM

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tIpipeUI6zw

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=drkPXa5SRwk

https://dailysceptic.org/2023/12/29/the ... -turbines/

My participation in this thread is over.

[Richie]

To be fair Adrian, I think Mojo has raised an excellent point.
Like the vast majority of those who have an EV, purely based on the driving experience, (and nothing to do with the BBC ) as I have often said, I wouldn't want to go back.
Their popularity is increasing. And it's so easy to see why. I live in a close of a dozen houses and just before Christmas a car arrived that took the proportion of EVs here to a third. As the recipient of the latest arrival shares a love of cars (he's a serial Alfa owner) we've always been able to easily chat cars. Though he may be in a honeymoon period with the new one (VW ID3) he said the same as me - purely based on the driving merits, he wouldn't want to go back to combustion either. The other has already proved it - when the three year lease was up on their first EV, they've replaced it with another and said that they wouldn't have considered an ICE car - so no aggressive sales tactics there...
The reality is that the vast majority of those who try them, like them.
Probably time for me to bow out of this thread too before I really start boring everyone. Or is it too late for that?

[Mark1Stu]

Shut up you lot and just enjoy the picture

[Richie]

Good speech Stu and that's quality!
The legendary Ford Pinto in a Capri - and if the weather ever improves, I'm looking for any excuse to use mine.

[David Davies]

The stats in my road - in 20 houses, only 1 electric vehicle out of 45-50 cars. Age group mid 50s-late 60s, apart from the EV house who are 30s and it is probably a company car. On the roads in the wider locality each day I probably see 10 % fully electric on the road with another 20% hybrids.

I had a BMW 530e hybrid for 9 months a couple of years ago (with 35 mile electric range). Dealt with most of my 12-13,000 a year local trips using the battery. Perfectly fine but no particular appeal over petrol. Downsides - had to go in forwards for the charge point and then turn round every day to facilitate disabled access for aged parent. Quite a faff in all weathers. Also, Electricity prices shot up soon after I got it. Reverted to petrol BMWs.

Don’t have any missionary zeal one way or the other re EVs. At the moment, like for like the EV BMWs are 40% more and on a WIFM basis I don’t see any basis to spend that. Don’t think any of my mainly pensioner neighbours are going to be in any hurry to pay the large premium either just to go green.

When there is a full green national infrastructure to support EVs and attractive pricing offers I guess the mass market is more likely to get on board. Would feel a bit happier personally if there were other options in the future, seems quite high risk for the country to have all eggs in the electric basket.

[felixkk]

Some statistics from the UK National Travel Survey 2021: Household car availability and trends in car trips

I would had expected that there was far more traffic for business/commuting- the percentages correspond approx to ours. Leisure and shopping is 50% of the traffic..!

type.jpg (37.07 KiB) Viewed 427 times

purpose.jpg (62.04 KiB) Viewed 427 times

trips distance 01.jpg (123.3 KiB) Viewed 427 times

trips distance 02.jpg (71.77 KiB) Viewed 427 times

availabilty.jpg (58.36 KiB) Viewed 427 times

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistic ... people-own

[Pymmie]

This makes interesting reading …

Is this the end of EV’s already ?

John P

Link : https://electrek.co/2024/02/22/mercedes ... Spbrfj2wUQ

[colin7673]

People who drive electric cars should be made to charge their cars with either Wind or Solar Power If they don't then plugging them in is just playing

Its not just Mercedes that have changed, Ford and General Motors are cutting back on production and investment of electric cars because they have acres of unsold cars, I read somewhere as well that Hertz have returned all there EVs in the US because repairs and cost are too expensive. BMW have or are doing, are in development of a hydrogen engine.
Chrysler and Honda are working together to go down this road as well.

We have to remember that Toyota brought a mass production electric car in the 90s and have plans to move away from this sighting hydrogen is the way forward.

The Tesla lorry has 4 tonnes of batteries, this with the vehicle weight before the batters will cut the payload down drastically

The future for the Motor industry, is for sure going to be interesting.

[felixkk]

Harry's Garage also did an interesting piece on EVs not long ago:

https://youtu.be/nZysvgm2_Aw?si=5TFiBn6wVjD7i-8r

[Pymmie]

Harry's Garage also did an interesting piece on EVs not long ago:

https://youtu.be/nZysvgm2_Aw?si=5TFiBn6wVjD7i-8r

Harry as usual makes perfect sense ..

And ends up with a fossil fuel RR …

John P

[mojo]

Is this the end of EV’s already ?

We've just passed a total of one million battery-only electric vehicles on the road in the UK. On average each one of those will be with us for at least 10 years, so rumours of "the end of EVs" don't really make much sense.

If you want objective reporting on any subject (EVs or anything else) then the one place you should not be looking is YouTube. Harry's or Clarkson's or whatever channel - all they want are clicks/subscriptions because that's what brings in the money. And the best way to get clicks is just to tell people what they want to hear, and to confirm to them what they think they already know.

[VFK44]

the one place you should not be looking is YouTube. Harry's or Clarkson's or whatever channel - all they want are clicks/subscriptions

I think you are rather underestimating Harry Metcalfe. The Harry's Garage clip mentioned is just a guy with an A4 notepad standing in his garage and talking for half an hour. It is completely unsensational, insightful and balanced.

If I regularly spent £100,000 on my cars, I'd be glued to his observations as he actually represents the target customer for these cars, and uses and reviews them under real-life conditions.

[felixkk]

If you want objective reporting on any subject (EVs or anything else) then the one place you should not be looking is YouTube. Harry's or Clarkson's or whatever channel - all they want are clicks/subscriptions because that's what brings in the money. And the best way to get clicks is just to tell people what they want to hear, and to confirm to them what they think they already know.

It seems like you didn't watch the video, Harry isn't anti EV, that's not what it's about.