Electric cars - running costs.

The Gov doesn't have its own money, it gets it from tax payers like me. I see the bonus as a tax rebate ;-)

But you are only paying 5% vat on the leccy used for your car, while normal cars pay fuel duty and vat at 20% on top of the fuel duty.

Optional extra in a Ford Anglia - about £12 if I remember correctly.

I;m not a driver but even I know there are differnt dreams for drivers.

Electric cars are a dream to drive because:- The torque max comes at the time you need it (setting off) There are no gear changes,just seamless acceleration. Leaves most other cars standing at the traffic lights. The mechanical brakes are only used to stop the car. Normal braking is regenerative, ie all speed control on the one pedal. The regenerative braking is adjustable to road conditions on my car. The only noise is from the tyres so it's quieter than a Rolls Royce. In Summer I charge it from my solar panels for free. There's no road tax. Insurance is about the same as a conventional car. Maintenance is almost zero. No oil, no filters. Just fluids to top up.

What's not to like?

Some of the automotive equivalent of Linux fanbois who buy them?

Problem with the fast step off from rest is it tends to promise something it can't deliver at higher speeds.

Not sure I'd like a car with no brakes - other than just to bring it to a halt over the last few yards. ;-)

Any particular reason why? As a London resident you may well use Public transport more frequently than those in the sticks and many of the electric trains that you may use will be slowing in a very similar fashion.

G.Harman

Tssk. They bear much more comparison with Mac fanbois; electric cars are very far from free. Although I have recently discovered a tribe of fanbois who make the Apple ones look like calm rational human being; Adobe Photoshop fanbois.

My French 4x4 hybrid estate car saves me £130 every month compared to the Audi A4 Allroad it replaced and does everything the Allroad did!

Mike

And they were both free, were they?

You think a train running on rails the same as a car on a road? ;-)

I was just commenting on the nonsense that electric cars don't have normal brakes. Of course they do - even when using regeneration to slow them down to some extent. Unless you think two wheel brakes are going to be marvellous for all occasions.

No, although some trams will be using the same technology and they run on roads in places. I just thought that maybe you had some sort of phobia or mistrust about something not being 100% mechanical in action like some pilots were apprehensive in fly by wire rather than mechanical linkages.

The post to which you were replying said "The mechanical brakes are only used to stop the car. Normal > > braking is regenerative,"

It did not say it had no mechanical brakes, only you introduced that with your line on personal preferences "Not sure I'd like a car with no brakes - other than just to bring it to a halt over the last few yards. ;-)" I've no beef with that just wondered why, some drivers when conditions allow like to combine throttle and brake input simultaneously so it would on first glance appear an electric car may not be the best tool for that. But won't the mechanical brakes be applied anyway from he brake pedal when required if you wanted them to? Is all you are doing when driving an electric on the throttle pedal is using engine braking that is a bit more than the driver of an IC vehicle is accustomed to so use of the actual brake pedal is far less and later than in an IC car. Sounds like it may actually encourage a reasonable driving technique amongst the present " I can't anticipate I'm going to need to slow down for that red light ahead" who keep the gas on and then brake hard.

G.Harman

Yes, Company cars. I'm personally £130 better off every month due to the lower Benefit in kind tax I have to pay.

You think a tram could stop as fast as a car using regenerative brakes?

Absolutely not. Just the way it was worded. The usual

Exactly. Which was what I was commenting on. Braking to a mild degree of retardation may well be regenerative. Whether that is normal or not depends on the circumstances.

It's just the usual ad man's technique of trying to hype something out of all propertion.

How did you read 'only used to stop the car' then? That just says what every brake ever made does - until it was qualified by mentioning regenerative braking.

Really? It is a technique used by some rally drivers. Not sure it would be much used on a public road.

You'd have to ask harry.

The same will apply to an electric car. It is not going to be 100% efficient in using regeneration to slow it down. Far better to anticipate stopping where you can and 'coast' to a halt.

Not as good as car I would have thought, they can stop surprisingly fast in emergency if the regenerated power is sent to the track brake which is basically a long electromagnet mounted to a shoe that gets clamped down to the rail , it also increases the downward force on the wheels themselves.

Fair enough

I read as it as if you thought there was no alternative to relying on the regenerative braking until it had slowed and you thought the mechanical system was only operative for the last stage as regen retardation became less.

There are quite a few out there who will try, often the unlicensed and uninsured, not that I'm accusing you of being one of them. Others may just let rip on a quiet road out in the sticks for a bit of fun because they can even though their insurance company would not approve. At least till we all get compulsory trackers in the future,its possible you have may have done something like that till the expericence of age moderated machoness.

There others on here with electric cars that although I may not agree with all their views are not just senile old gits, Harry as been KF'd for years and will remain so.

G.Harman

JOOI, I checked on the map and the nearest point (by miles) looks to have been offline for months.

Who typically 'police' these 'Electric Vehicles Only' bays to ensure that non electric cars don't block them up, as who would risk driving to one if nothing can be done about it if the bay was so occupied?

Personally ... unless there was a *very* good reason for blocking a restricted bay (like you were having a heart attack and were subsequently taken to hospital by ambulance), your car should be taken away, sold (or scrapped) and the funds given to the first person who needed legitimate access to that space who reported it. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

Quite. Rather the same as an electric car. Regenerative brakes on their own are no good for a quick stop.

That really was the point I was making. The brakes on any vehicle should be specified to stop it as quickly as possible from any spped in an emergency. If they use some other method to save or conserve energy on gentle braking, so much the better. But this isn't restricted to electric cars. Some buses used a flywheel many years ago. Some ICE cars use the alternator.

Some might say if an electric vehicle wants exclusive parking bays in a public place, they should pay VED like other vehicles. And pay the same sort of tax on their fuel as ICE vehicles.

I do.