Electric Vehicles - Any Opinions??
- Thread starter siilver
- Start date
thecrazybandit
Member
The issue with EV has always been range and charging points once they sort that out things may move on
grog68
VIP Member
Range is improving but to be honest even now, how many people regularly drive 300+ miles in a single trip, and if you do you should be stopping for a break anyway.
As for charging points, motorways are covered generally, I think there are now only a couple of services without chargers, but they need to be the faster ones. I charged my EV at Stansted airport last year after coming back from holiday and it was only charging at something like 22kWh which would have taken 2 or 3 hours to charge. Go down the road 10 miles and there is a EV charging forecoard with upto 300kWh chargers. Need more of at least 100-150kWh charging.
Local charging is more of an issue, more pubs and car parks are adding chargers but they are normally 7 or 22kWh so only really good for a top up. Need a solution though for those that can't have a charger at home, plenty of options but councils aren't doing anything.
Been running an EV now for 18 months and would never go back. One proviso though is being able to charge at home as I do. If you charge out on the road all the time it will probably be more expensive than running a diesel car. I bought a cheap Nissan Leaf and ran if for a year to see if an EV would suit us, range was only 95 miles (9 year old 30KW model) and over a year and 6,500 miles it cost me just over £150 to charge and run. I have a cheap night time tariff that gives me 5 hours of cheap electricity overnight and this was more than enough the fully charge the Leaf.
I have sold the Leaf and bought a 64KW Kia E-Niro which has a real world range of over 300 miles. My last "tank", I did 305 miles and still had 9% battery left (approx 28 miles).
Long distances are not a issue but just need a bit more planning for charge stops and it's even better now Tesla have opened up their network to non Tesla EV's.
I have sold the Leaf and bought a 64KW Kia E-Niro which has a real world range of over 300 miles. My last "tank", I did 305 miles and still had 9% battery left (approx 28 miles).
Long distances are not a issue but just need a bit more planning for charge stops and it's even better now Tesla have opened up their network to non Tesla EV's.
loncell
TK Veteran
loncell
TK Veteran
What about hydrogen cars ?
Hydrogen Fuel Cell (FCEV) Technology:
Toyota Mirai:
The Mirai is Toyota's flagship FCEV, utilizing a fuel cell system that combines hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity, powering the electric motor and emitting only water vapor.
Zero Tailpipe Emissions:
A key advantage of FCEVs is that they produce no harmful tailpipe emissions, only water.
Refueling:
Hydrogen refueling is similar to gasoline refueling, taking only a few minutes.
Hydrogen Combustion Engine Technology:
GR Corolla and GR Yaris:
Toyota has been testing a 1.6-liter 3-cylinder turbocharged hydrogen engine in vehicles like the GR Corolla and GR Yaris.
Hydrogen Fuel Cell (FCEV) Technology:
Toyota Mirai:
The Mirai is Toyota's flagship FCEV, utilizing a fuel cell system that combines hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity, powering the electric motor and emitting only water vapor.
Zero Tailpipe Emissions:
A key advantage of FCEVs is that they produce no harmful tailpipe emissions, only water.
Refueling:
Hydrogen refueling is similar to gasoline refueling, taking only a few minutes.
Hydrogen Combustion Engine Technology:
GR Corolla and GR Yaris:
Toyota has been testing a 1.6-liter 3-cylinder turbocharged hydrogen engine in vehicles like the GR Corolla and GR Yaris.
grog68
VIP Member
at the minute they have very little going for them apart from the fact they are greener.
Vehicles are expensive ie the Mirai is around £65k
Hydrogen is apparently more expensive than Petrol/Deisel
there are just a few filling stations, apparently only 7 in the UK. (down from 11 a couple of years ago)
Obviously as the last pont improves then maybe the cost of Hydrogen will come down.
I would bet that more EV owners have got their EV's to reduce their running costs rather than because it's greener. In the same way people get solar panels installed to reduce their bills rather than to reduce their carbon footprint. At the moment Hydrogen will not reduce any costs.
Maybe once ICE cars have been banned and petrol/deisel sales drop, the government will increase the tax on electricity to recoup their losses in Fuel tax and then EV's wont be as cheap to run and Hydrogen will become more competative cost wise.
