Can I ask what is the life of your EV's battery and what is the cost to replace it?
The warranty is 8 years or 100,000 miles. I bought it 2nd hand (2 years old). Because I mainly charge at home (AC) rather than at rapid chargers (DC), the battery will probably last a lot longer than the warranty. Most seem to last around 200,000 miles. My previous car was 15 years old and had done less than 100,000 miles when it became uneconomical to keep on the road, so there's every chance something else in the car will fail long before the battery. They are mechanically much simpler than ICEs, so it probably won't be the motors either. Tyres are the biggest cost for this car (ridiculously big wheels).
I can charge my car for free (I can't get that good a deal on petrol anywhere.) so I can't say what the extra cost is on the household bills - that's going to depend a lot on how many miles you do and how inefficient your house is.
You can get cars now with 400 mile battery range - the latest ones - but I couldn't afford one of those. Maybe when I can trade up. We went on a break to the Isle of Wight in it last autumn. Chargers at both the hotels we stayed in (one on the island, one on the mainland). It did give me pause driving onto Ryde pier because of the weight, but we made it (twice).
I love the car. It's the easiest I've ever had to drive (I'm not sure it really needs me). As I said there are problems, for sure. But the only genuinely 'good' option is to walk, and that's not always possible.
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
I agree with @raisingirl about the need to overcome hurdles on use of electric vehicles instead of throwing our hands in the air and continuing on the same path.
The charging infrastructure needs to be improved but there are such things as on-street chargers at parking bays. Across the Channel, there are countries that have been installing chargers on lamposts. New-build homes with driveways should come with chargers (I've seen some that already do) or be able to have chargers installed.
Cobalt mining: the solution is to press battery makers (for all sorts of batteries) to ensure their supply is ethically-obtained. There have been scandals about abuses in clothing factories abroad but no one has suggested that we stop wearing clothes or weave our own cloth. Ensuring a steady supply of petrol has
resulted in wars and kissing-up to oppressive regimes that the UK
government would not normally give the time of the day to. And if you've
ever seen the fumes spewing from gas and petrol refineries...
I think the one of the best comments I read on the internet about the resistance to EVs was that if we only introduced petrol cars now, people would say, "Oh, this would never work because the fuel needs to be dug up in foreign countries thousands of miles away, then shipped over in the largest tankers ever built, then we need to build thousands of petrol stations all over the country and truck the fuel to them, etc etc".
Somebody up the road has a charger on the kerb because their front garden isn't suitable for turning into a car park, I suppose.. It's like a skinny bollard. I don't see what's to stop someone else from parking in front of it, though.
As so often I have just caught up with this. I agree with a lot of points made about weight, infrastructure etc, but also agree with the last post, we need answers, not to just say oh it's too difficult let's not bother. Just a few points though. 1) There is a solar powered car, made in Holland, covered in solar cells, very slippery shape, BUT, needs to be kept very clean so no good for me 😅. 2) There are on street chargers here in some areas already, ( in lamp posts) but not enough for all who will need them. 3) A point that seems to be overlooked widely. The biggest contribution to carbon emissions of almost all cars is when they are made. If thousands of people all scrap their old cars and buy new carbon emissions WILL GO UP. It takes, about 10 years for the carbon debt to become neutral on a new car. 4) Even on a street with plenty of off road parking, the power infrastructure will probably need upgrading , if everyone gets home in early evening and wants to plug their cars in at the same time, put their electric heating on and cook dinner, guess what !!!! This doesn't mean we shouldn't try to change though, but the wider impact needs careful thought.
If I used an electric car to visit my mother we would never make it on an even 100% charge. So we would be stranded somewhere, ( middle of the M6? Down some B road? In the middle of nowhere?) so what would we do? So impractical for those who travel a lot of miles.
4) Even on a street with plenty of off road parking, the power infrastructure will probably need upgrading , if everyone gets home in early evening and wants to plug their cars in at the same time, put their electric heating on and cook dinner, guess what !!!!
This was the point I made about the potential for smart chargers to actually supply the grid using car batteries at peak times then charging late at night when demand is low.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
Posts
I can charge my car for free (I can't get that good a deal on petrol anywhere.) so I can't say what the extra cost is on the household bills - that's going to depend a lot on how many miles you do and how inefficient your house is.
You can get cars now with 400 mile battery range - the latest ones - but I couldn't afford one of those. Maybe when I can trade up. We went on a break to the Isle of Wight in it last autumn. Chargers at both the hotels we stayed in (one on the island, one on the mainland). It did give me pause driving onto Ryde pier because of the weight, but we made it (twice).
I love the car. It's the easiest I've ever had to drive (I'm not sure it really needs me). As I said there are problems, for sure. But the only genuinely 'good' option is to walk, and that's not always possible.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Not just across the Channel, @NoSlugsPlease - more than one London borough is installing them. Here's one example:
https://www.southwark.gov.uk/parking/parking-projects/electric-cars?chapter=2
https://www.londoncouncils.gov.uk/our-key-themes/transport/electric-vehicle-charging/suggest-location-ev-charge-point
Just a few points though.
1) There is a solar powered car, made in Holland, covered in solar cells, very slippery shape, BUT, needs to be kept very clean so no good for me 😅.
2) There are on street chargers here in some areas already, ( in lamp posts) but not enough for all who will need them.
3) A point that seems to be overlooked widely. The biggest contribution to carbon emissions of almost all cars is when they are made. If thousands of people all scrap their old cars and buy new carbon emissions WILL GO UP. It takes, about 10 years for the carbon debt to become neutral on a new car.
4) Even on a street with plenty of off road parking, the power infrastructure will probably need upgrading , if everyone gets home in early evening and wants to plug their cars in at the same time, put their electric heating on and cook dinner, guess what !!!!
This doesn't mean we shouldn't try to change though, but the wider impact needs careful thought.