When we are all EV drivers

[NY]

What is there to see beyond such a major limitation that causes you to change how you use a car, from one which can travel an unlimited distance, with a 5 minutes stop before many hundred miles can be added to the range, and which instead requires you to make a long killing-time stop every few hundred miles.

I am the sort of person (probably an incurable pessimist) for whom one major disadvantage outweighs a large number of lesser advantages. If a change makes one thing worse, don't change. Should I rename myself Eeyore? ;-)

[Sysadmin]

I have nowhere to charge at home, car in car park.

[charles]

For the last 5 weeks, I've found 3kW sufficient.

[charles]

'twas a typo, but possibly accurate/

[Tim+]

For me, it?s the joy of ditching the ridiculously over complicated unreliable pile of oily bits that is so poorly matched to the demands made on it it needs a complicated system of gears and clutches to make up for its shortfalls.

For me it?s the instant acceleration and effortless performance.

For me it?s ability to refuel at home with ridiculously cheap fuel.

For me it?s the super quiet ?magic carpet? like progress compared to any ICE vehicle.

I *will* admit that I would be uneasy about having it as an only car, particularly as my wife stresses about recharging on long journeys (so we still have her diesel) but that hasn?t stopped me doing 16,000 miles in the first year of ownership with zero problems.

As the charging network improves, I dare say I will use it for more longer journeys and I will just adjust to the need for longer stops to refuel. For all the advantages for me, it is a price I would accept paying.

Yes. ;-)

Tim

[Tim+]

7kW is as much as EVs will ever draw on a single phase AC charger and most folk will be charging when there are few other significant loads. Most power companies will upgrade supply to 100 amps free of charge when a car charger is installed.

You cook, shower and run your heat pump flat out overnight?

Many EV owners do manage two EVs and two chargers on a single phase supply. Admittedly sometimes the chargers may have to do a bit of load balancing and in an ideal world, one would prefer to have a 3 phase supply, but it is possible.

Tim

[The Other John]

Am I mis-remembering or didn't there used to be a train service from, I think, Hammersmith Olympia to Scotland that you could put your car on? Was it an overnight sleeper service? They could bring that back to save charging en route.

[charles]

This house has 2 incoming phases, so I could presumably use one for vehicle charging. Yes, I know I'd need another meter.

[williamwright]

It wrote off a BMW.

Bill

[Theo]

Yes - Kensington Olympia was the Motorail terminal. They ran from Paddington to Penzance until 2005.

Today you can get motorail trains from Washington DC to Florida and from northern Germany to Italy and the Alps. It makes a lot of sense compared with days of driving and paying fuel and tolls.

An electric motorail train could charge EVs en route ;-)

Theo

[Jack Harry Teesdale]

How so?

[williamwright]

What a hoot! Leave something worth £1k on the pavement round here and it would be gone in seconds.

Bill

[charles]

I would agree with there points after only 5 weeks.

I was down to about 8,000 miles a year - Covid took it down to about 4k.

I'm getting to an age where driving all day is not really much fun. My longest one day journey in recent years was Cherbourg to Megeve on a summer half term. Most recently Edinburgh to Surrey. So, I'm going to spend the night en route giving plenty of time to get the battery up to another 300 miles. Possibly I'll try this in the spring of next year.

[Jack Harry Teesdale]

It was known as Motorail but is sadly defunct now.

[Theo]

So your 100A cutout can deliver 550kWh per day. That's enough to charge about 7 long range EVs from flat, to boil 5300 litres of water, or the energy content of 55 litres of heating oil.

As long as you don't do it all at once (and chargers/heatpumps can be configured not to do that), you'll be fine.

Theo

[williamwright]

I can offer you a 13A socket and a comfy bed! Maybe you could make it a two night stop to get fully charged!

Bill

[williamwright]

I was looking seriously at getting a small electric car for local journeys. Such a car would complement my other vehicles. But I just can't get the sums to work out. It would be a very expensive option.

It's a pity because my mate has an electric van and I love it.

Bill

[williamwright]

Most folk? Oh that's alright then, bugger the others.

I cook, shower, and use the washing machines overnight.

Possible but a juggling act. Inconvenient. It'll be interested to see what the elite do, after the 400 private jets disgrace at COP26. I doubt if they'll puy up with the inconvenience they plan to foist on the rest of us. Maybe they'll have nuclear cars.

Bill

[charles]

There certainly used to be - it went to Perth and possibly other places too. Yes, a sleeper services.

[charles]

A kind thought. I'll bear it in mind