Electric Cars - a ridiculous product

On my long trip I do rarely, I discovered that going a hilly shorter route not only saved me time Vs the longer motoway route I usually go. I but used a lot less battery due to speeds being lower and I got regen on the hills which I don't on the motorway.
 
Have you a source for this? Battery swapping is niche compared to standard charging and not possible on the top selling models. Most Chinese EV owners charge at their housing complexes according to this article in Reuters
It was my boss, he was in China last week and this is what he saw on the ground and what people told him. Maybe it was just the specific part of China he was in? I thought it was a great idea for a model, especially those who live in large apartment blocks in Ireland. They can’t all pass a charging cord in through a window which is what some people do here.
 
Wouldn't work in Ireland with expensive labour, compo culture etc. The service stations would need a huge premises to facilitate this. Think about all the expensive and heavy lifting gear you would need to do this. No service station in their right mind would go for this, it's a battle just to get them to put in the fast chargers. In china the state is fully behind the electric car business since they see it as a way to jump over the western automobile industry, it's not about environmental concerns but geopolitical, it's a way for them to get ahead of western technology.

It helps them with their emissions targets, and creates employment!
 
It was my boss, he was in China last week and this is what he saw on the ground and what people told him. Maybe it was just the specific part of China he was in? I thought it was a great idea for a model, especially those who live in large apartment blocks in Ireland. They can’t all pass a charging cord in through a window which is what some people do here.

You are correct in what you've said - people here need simply do a few minutes research online, reading up on NIO, to see that your are correct. :)
 
You are correct in what you've said - people here need simply do a few minutes research online, reading up on NIO, to see that your are correct. :)
No, the top selling EV models in China don't support battery swapping. The majority of EV owners in China charge at home. Battery swapping may well take off in the future but right now, the figures don't support what he said. China has around 2 million public chargers and only around 3000 battery swpping locations. Swapping is niche.
 
Most drivers only drive short distances. But...the lack of chargers in the country is another failing of government. If they want people to move away from combustible engines, they need to make it more appealing for people to be able to charge their cars. There should have been massive investment into charging stations in conjunction with the petrol stations on motorways and towns. Instead they imposed a tax on plastic bottles... :rolleyes:
 
Most drivers only drive short distances. But...the lack of chargers in the country is another failing of government. If they want people to move away from combustible engines, they need to make it more appealing for people to be able to charge their cars. There should have been massive investment into charging stations in conjunction with the petrol stations on motorways and towns. Instead they imposed a tax on plastic bottles... :rolleyes:
You can do both. The bottles recycling is as usual a last minute rush to get something most "developed" countries did decades ago.
And gosh, you can implement a proper metro and public chargers.....At least until the Apple windfall continues - which wont be forever.

How many DART 3 D Metro north CAD drawingoutputs must we see before one is built!
 
Electric cars are ideal for town runs, 2nd cars for a house for school runs and shopping etc etc. I know people who installed solar at home and basically power their car for free. They are also much easier to drive. The vast majority of people are not petrol heads and don't care about "performance" and the other type of nonsense you get in car reviews or if you have ever had the misfortune of ending up in a conversation with a bunch of petrol heads.

Electric cars are far less ideal for longer journeys due to the infrastructure not being in place. They were also over-priced in my view and that is now coming home to roost. But those issues will get solved over time.

I have a 13 year old. She is unlikely to ever drive a stick shift, she may drive a hybrid but the chances are her first car will be electric and all her future cars will be electric or some other power source but they almost certainly won't be powered by fossil fuels. That is the future reality. After all, 15 years ago, how many of us would have talked seriously about installing heat pumps, solar panels or external insulation and now it is everywhere.
 
We have a PHEV and an EV, it suits us very well due to our circumstances of routinely doing 70km a day in the EV and free charging at work. I think that people would benefit from logging their journeys for a couple of months and seeing if an EV would fit. And even at that, you would have to consider costs to change over, charging requirements etc.

Its not black and white and unfortunately, like most of society at the moment there is no nuance in discussion any more. There is a lot of manipulation of discussion from both sides as well as most publications and media stirring the pot for extra engagement. In reality it is a lot more boring. It's all headlines about EV fires and lack of infrastructure and depreciation or it's headlines about being a devil for keeping a diesel til its end of useful life etc. In reality it fits your life or it doesn't and you can make a reasonable guess by logging your journeys, running some numbers etc.

Even though I think there is a reasonable discussion to be had for EV and non-EV I will say that he majority of complaints about EV's come from people that have never driven, yet alone owned one.
 
Saying they are not ideal for longer journeys, is a mixed bag. Someone doing the same long journey on a regular basis either within their range or with good access to chargers on route, or at the destination, the EV might be ideal. Make a lot of savings on fuel, and enjoy driving an EV better.

It's really areas with a shortage of chargers, and adhoc very long distance journeys to these areas. Or time critical long distance journeys. Like a salesperson or support engineer or such who is driving all day between appointments. Or perhaps high speed motorway journeys to go skiing in the Alps. Or perhaps someone who does a very long drive at the weekend, and short on time.

Or someone who has no interest in EVs, which is equally valid.
Personally I have no interest in driving something with an excess of touch (or voice) controls. EV or ICE.
I can see there always being a case for a long range diesel or petrol, at least in my lifetime.
 
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No, the top selling EV models in China don't support battery swapping. The majority of EV owners in China charge at home. Battery swapping may well take off in the future but right now, the figures don't support what he said. China has around 2 million public chargers and only around 3000 battery swpping locations. Swapping is niche.
Approx 1% of the population of China, own EVs. That's fat too small to be basing your views on.

Go and take a look at the percentage of Chinese living in apartments, compared to houses, and then ask yourself if its realistic to give them individual chargers. The same question can be asked, for other high rise cities, elsewhere in the world.
 
Approx 1% of the population of China, own EVs. That's fat too small to be basing your views on.

Go and take a look at the percentage of Chinese living in apartments, compared to houses, and then ask yourself if its realistic to give them individual chargers. The same question can be asked, for other high rise cities, elsewhere in the world.

I get the impression that in the US there's a higher % of EV owners with Tesla's in particular that don't have home charger. Not entirely sure why. I know it used to be free. Perhaps it cheap to compete with cheap US fuel prices.

China has low car ownership in general. Though its rising rapidly. Its 98th in the world for car ownership. Ireland is 49th.

 
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As I said earlier swapping batteries was explored back over a decade ago. Never took off.

 
This goes into some of the issues with it.


An as usual Bjorn has done a good video on it.
 
Approx 1% of the population of China, own EVs.
It could be 10% in Shanghai and 0.1% in the rural interior. EVs are now over half of new sales in Shanghai. People don’t appreciate big differences in living standards within China.

Anyway 1% of a massive number is still a big number.
 
It could be 10% in Shanghai and 0.1% in the rural interior. EVs are now over half of new sales in Shanghai. People don’t appreciate big differences in living standards within China.

Anyway 1% of a massive number is still a big number.

I think the only number thats important is what makes it viable in Ireland.
 
Sure ........... but its very interesting ............. A6 nice car ........ long journey, I wonder what the average mileage is for city suburban where most live & pure country (outside Dublin)
 
A long distance cruiser without adaptive cruise control. No thanks. But can't argue with the range.
 
Does working out your home energy rates and subscriptions and smart meter make your head spin. Because it's literally exactly same thing. If you're paying 30c per kWh for using your cooker or washing machine.

Plug in at the 3 pin. Does that need explaining? Or buy a faster home charger. Less than the cost of most peoples new iPhone or TV.

Have you used a fuel card for petrol. Credit card for petrol pump. Same thing with public chargers. Just remember not to use a square plug in round hole, don't put diesel in your petrol car. Same sort of thing.
None of the above. I just mosey on down to the forecourt to fill up, grab a nice cuppa while paying and drive off.
 
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