Electric cars - running costs.

[Bill Wright]

Why are they called 'hybrids'? A better name would be 'chimera'.

Bill

[Bill Wright]

Back to the 1950s then.

Bill

[Bill Wright]

So, no more moving you kid and her stuff to and from uni then.

Bill

[Bill Wright]

Bloody hell it was a right racket in the cab when I did that!

Bill

[bert]

Heated front windscreen?

[Scott M]

Do you mean leave it at the supermarket overnight and walk a couple of miles home? Or does one get used to doing 2+hrs shopping every day?

Great chunks of round here guarantee that parking within 50 yards of the front door is a rare occurance.

[T i m]

In those cases, yes.

But again, might in a 10kWh battery? (had it not used an additional battery). ;-)

And no heating at all uses even less energy. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[T i m]

No, this is an Enfield 8000 Bicini (Moke) Chris.

(scroll down just below half way)

Only re defrosting the screen. If it gets bad I can just drop it forward onto the bonnet. ;-)

Keeping your hat, coat and gloves on keep you warm ... and if I wasn't in that I could be on a motorbike. ;-)

And after all, we live in England, not Siberia so it rarely get's that cold these days (especially when you are dressed accordingly). ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[T i m]

No, in general the aux battery under average load would outlast the traction batteries.

I think is was about the size if a larger SLI battery but because it was a cyclic use type it was probably lower capacity (so say 40Ah)?

You would indeed, however, this is a an old skool lead-acid powered and non aerodynamic design we are talking about here. ;-)

However, it would take me to and from work (inc home lunchtimes) for about 2 weeks on one (50p) charge so ... ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[Dave Plowman (News)]

A Tesla may be interesting. But not as interesting as many many ICE cars at the same price.

[T i m]

It isn't.

40+ Ah.

Not quite. It can be charged but you can't run the lights or drive the vehicle because the aux battery also powers the main contactors. So, there are two (onboard) chargers that take 240V, one for the main (48V) battery and one for the (12V) Aux.

Cheers, T i m

[Dave Plowman (News)]

And you call that a dream to drive? Last car I drove where you had to wear warm clothes for a journey was a pre-WW2 Austin 7.

[T i m]

Nope, I just keep my hat, gloves and coat on Brian. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[Dave Plowman (News)]

They only really work well driven gently around town. Drive them hard on the open road and they use more fuel than an equivalent performance ICE.

[T i m]

They are very different that's for sure (especially something as simple as mine).

When I first got it home I gave it 'a service'.

I checked the brakes (drums all round), the oil in the diff, made sure all the lights and wipers worked and topped up the washer bottle ... and that was about it. ;-(

No plugs, points, antifreeze, fan / aux belts, exhaust, engine or gearbox oil to check etc.

Just check the battery electrolyte level now and again and that was that.

Cheers, T i m

[Dave Plowman (News)]

You could have charging sockets wherever the car is parked up overnight. Posts at the edge of the pavement. Exactly as are springing up round here. Although at the moment they seem to be restricted to the very few stretches of pavement in residential areas that aren't actually in front of a house. Like say on the end of a street where there is a longish garden wall from the house on the corner.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

My very first car was 50s. Had a very good heater.

[T i m]

harry said 'a dream to drive', not 'interesting'.

eg, Ignoring range anxiety, from turning they key the first time (and I'm talking specifically of my EV here) that trip, that's it, you don't even feel / rear the gear changes as you might with even the best automatics and have loads of torque (even on a small EV), just when you generally need it.

And when you come to a halt, everything (any noise / vibrations etc) instantly stop, silence, nothing. And when you hit the throttle, you

*instantly* start off again, no lag or hesitation whilst things fire / spool up again (especially on the stop-start IC engined vehicles).

I have seen all this being experienced (and expressed by those interested in such things) many many times over the 30 I've had my EV.

The first is that it's a Moke (when all open in the summer and especially when the windscreen is folded flat on the bonnet and the doors off) and so very open making you very aware of everything around you, especially noises and in the olden days, smells of other peoples exhausts (as you would as a pedestrian, cyclist or motorcyclist etc).

Then you turn the 'ignition key' and they 'expect' something to happen ... but it doesn't.

Then you accelerate and they jump because they didn't expect that to happen when they hadn't previously heard the engine start etc. ;-)

Then they grin when you are bundling along the high street at 30 mph and there is no noise coming from the vehicle at all (inc PCM speed controller 'whine').

Then you come to a halt at say some traffic lights and they look uneasy when as you come to a halt, they don't hear an engine ticking over (thinking it has stalled etc).

Then as you pull away again they are often once again 'shocked' that you have done so without any preamble / starting / revving etc. ;-)

Now, given my Moke is a very crude / basic example of an EV and pretty old now ... and ignoring the ride quality, lack of speed and features etc, I'd say that *comparatively* my EV was 'a dream' to *drive*, even when compared with my mates RR Ghost.

And the Moke is faster in reverse of course. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[T i m]

Again, you are missing the point. harry is probably talking of the actual *driving* (as in, the process of making the vehicle start, stop and get you from A to B), rather than the whole experience of being in a car.

eg. A fact that a car has a heater or even climate control doesn't then make a heavy clutch or a noisy engine into a 'dream to drive'.

Cheers, T i m

[Andy Bennet]

I dunno, A S P100D can do 0-60mph in 2.28 seconds, and you can listen in comfort to some quiet Brahms and eat a sandwich while doing it.

Try doing that while sweating your way through gears in anything else.