What would make you buy an electric car?

[NSP]

mm pity they dont talk to a few of their recently retired employees, I know of several who were made redundant after long service, to be replaced be people on short term contracts
they supply network is quite old, and many under ground cables are getting on for 80 years old, lead sheathed oil filled paper insulated
with joints and more joints everywhere
and some of the nasty interfaces i have seen for car hook ups, as as bad as the shonky interlinks for micro generating systems

It's all basically knacked, then...?

 

[Joshua Slocum]

It's all basically knacked, then...?

Yes, much of the underground supply network is an antique with far too many joints and repairs, every joint is a source of resistance, thats why sparkies are not permitted to have mechanical joints ( junction boxes) that are not readily accesible
add in the idiot governments idea of letting people remove their front gardens to park yet more fatmobiles, causing cables to be stretched, and to fracture when 2 tonne heaps are driven across footpaths, the addition of new housing, often requiring joints into the existing underground network, and overloading causing brownouts and surges, you can see why we might have problems
then you have the light fingered travelling commnity and their charming habit of cutting down over head power lines, and shorting out substations, all of which over load the system and lead to cables being embrittled
tie this in with installation of car charging that is carried out with very little regulation, especially where the big boys have the money to make themselves look good on paper, and you have a disaster that would make Grenfell look like a chip pan fire
the entire system needs to be replaced and updated to a conformal structure with restrictions on loadings, and a limit to building works in certain areas
its all piecemeal and tacking bits on

 

[bob231]

But infrastructure is manifestly unsexy and wins no votes!

 

[Robs dad]

Damaging your car can be an expensive business. Damaging your EV battery enclosure can be eye watering as this Jaguar i-PACE owner in Norway found out. A relatively minor bit of damage cost half the price of the car to repair

Damage To Jaguar I-PACE Battery Enclosure Comes With Huge Repair Bill

Repair and maintenance of electric cars is an uncharted topic still, as the majority of the electric cars on the roads are almost new.

insideevs.com

As the article in the Noggy press mentions, it's worrying that electric cars, which are supposed to be environmentally friendly alternatives will quickly be condemned because there are such high costs in repairing small damages.

 

[Joshua Slocum]

Damaging your car can be an expensive business. Damaging your EV battery enclosure can be eye watering as this Jaguar i-PACE owner in Norway found out. A relatively minor bit of damage cost half the price of the car to repair

Damage To Jaguar I-PACE Battery Enclosure Comes With Huge Repair Bill

Repair and maintenance of electric cars is an uncharted topic still, as the majority of the electric cars on the roads are almost new.

insideevs.com

As the article in the Noggy press mentions, it's worrying that electric cars, which are supposed to be environmentally friendly alternatives will quickly be condemned because there are such high costs in repairing small damages.

Drive your tesla through floodwater, and you will find that the battery pack is ruined
Car written off

 

[Chef]

Drive your tesla through floodwater, and you will find that the battery pack is ruined
Car written off

That and @Robs dad's article doesn't bode well for any EV purporting to be an off road vehicle. Mount the battery pack high to protect it from rough terrain and raise the centre of gravity. Keep it low and risk breaking it.

From the article

'It's a single case, but according to the article, a representative of the insurer said there ares multiple similar cases of electric cars with damaged bottom plates/battery boxes. In some cases, the cost is so high compared to the value of the vehicle, that those EVs are scrapped. It's a general industry problem.'

'On the other hand, if the repair cost is so high, maybe then Tesla is right to simply make a structural battery as there will be no economic sense for repairs anyway?'

Mentioned elsewhere: You rarely see cars with damaged panels replaced with scrap yard salvaged ones. Many damaged components are thrown away and replaced with new rather than repaired.

Is this the next step? Damage the car and simply junk it as beyond economic repair unlike say a Moggy Minor or similar?

Very green.

 

[Robs dad]

With the SUV type of EV weighing around 1tonne more than a diesel version of the same model.. and in countries such as Sweden and many parts of Germany etc where changing from a winter set of tyres to the summer set is just routine then this type of accident may become more prevalent as apparently this small hole may have occurred during a tyre change and the operator was a bit careless or just a bit out with the mounting point for a jack... (the Noggie tyre shop owner is disputing this of course) Not much of a hole though (just to the left of the scuff marks)

..and the £30k repair bill doesn't take into account that if there's damage to the battery modules (there are 36 of them on the i-PACE), it would cost even more....

 

[Goutyfrub]

Drive your tesla through floodwater, and you will find that the battery pack is ruined
Car written off

What about rain.

 

[tgo]

Yes that doesn't really compute, I'm no expert on EV but things like rain, puddles etc must be accounted for unless your market is the Middle East I'd have thought sealed battery packs would be better at going through water than ICE where one wrong move gets water sucked into your engine.

 

[stacker1]

Yes that doesn't really compute, I'm no expert on EV but things like rain, puddles etc must be accounted for unless your market is the Middle East I'd have thought sealed battery packs would be better at going through water than ICE where one wrong move gets water sucked into your engine.

There are several videos on Youtube of Teslas going through a couple of feet of water without any issues.

 

[Edwardian Fred]

hopefully the repairs can be carried out at local dealers, Hyundai are a massive company with a wide engineering expertise, in fatc many of the recalls that take place today would neveer have been bothered with 40 years ago
when BMC first launched the Farina range in 1958 the problems started to accrue, a repair and modifacation book was published full of technical drawings, images and part numbers
on the fornt in big red letter
Secret, the contents of this document must not be divulged to the press
eahc one had a serial number, being printed at their own printing works in Oxford
I have a copy, no one else has seen one so it must be rare, but the list of faults is horrifying, most repairs woudl have been carried out during general service or repair work

these days you cannot get away with that

Sorry is well known problems mostly due to Alex Issiagonis being a bit of a git and a genius at the same time. He knew about rust traps on all of his approved designs, parts that were marginal on life expectancy due to under specifications and most of all he knew who was putting them together. In short he calculated the options to the optimum. Frankly I'm surprised any of his beautiful/ practical products is still around. If anyone threw a Morris 1100/1300 around country lanes they would testify how good they stuck to the road. Plus how much quicker they got as rust plus bits falling off made them lighter

 

[Humble Tiller]

That and @Robs dad's article doesn't bode well for any EV purporting to be an off road vehicle. Mount the battery pack high to protect it from rough terrain and raise the centre of gravity. Keep it low and risk breaking it.

From the article

'It's a single case, but according to the article, a representative of the insurer said there ares multiple similar cases of electric cars with damaged bottom plates/battery boxes. In some cases, the cost is so high compared to the value of the vehicle, that those EVs are scrapped. It's a general industry problem.'

'On the other hand, if the repair cost is so high, maybe then Tesla is right to simply make a structural battery as there will be no economic sense for repairs anyway?'

Mentioned elsewhere: You rarely see cars with damaged panels replaced with scrap yard salvaged ones. Many damaged components are thrown away and replaced with new rather than repaired.

Is this the next step? Damage the car and simply junk it as beyond economic repair unlike say a Moggy Minor or similar?

Very green.

In fairness, I don't think there are any EVs being sold as full on 4x4s, yet, apart from the Bollinger. There is a firm doing an electronic conversion of Defenders, no I can't recall the name, but they are SO expensive as to make the Bollinger look value for money.

 

[ExREME.TECH]

In fairness, I don't think there are any EVs being sold as full on 4x4s, yet, apart from the Bollinger. There is a firm doing an electronic conversion of Defenders, no I can't recall the name, but they are SO expensive as to make the Bollinger look value for money.

 

[Chef]

In fairness, I don't think there are any EVs being sold as full on 4x4s, yet, apart from the Bollinger. There is a firm doing an electronic conversion of Defenders, no I can't recall the name, but they are SO expensive as to make the Bollinger look value for money.

Coo they are expensive. I wonder if electric will ever be used in the ulu?

 

[RBMK]

SWMBO has been seduced by the thought of an electric car.

She wants a smallish car, but that sits high like an SUV so she can see better round the country lanes where we live.

The problem is that such a car does not exist. There's the "Mini" [which is a huge lump and doesn't have much range], the Zoe [too small], Honda E [too small, short range], Nissan Leaf [ugly & price starts at £35,000 including government discount], Tesla [too expensive], £36,000 Golf ID3 - she likes but £5k above budget.

Oh, and she doesn't want an auto or too many gadgets.

Yeah, really.

 

[RangdoOfArg]

SWMBO has been seduced by the thought of an electric car.

She wants a smallish car, but that sits high like an SUV so she can see better round the country lanes where we live.

The problem is that such a car does not exist. There's the "Mini" [which is a huge lump and doesn't have much range], the Zoe [too small], Honda E [too small, short range], Nissan Leaf [ugly & price starts at £35,000 including government discount], Tesla [too expensive], £36,000 Golf ID3 - she likes but £5k above budget.

Oh, and she doesn't want an auto or too many gadgets.

Yeah, really.

She needs a penny farthing bike. You can see for miles.

 

[samain11]

Never happen, these commitments are political posturing and will be dropped when reality sets in.
That reality being energy security and ability of the grid to cope, running on kumbaya instead of reason won't deliver it.
Nuclear might make it feasible.

 

[samain11]

Well worth another airing......

 

[samain11]

Coo they are expensive. I wonder if electric will ever be used in the ulu?

Can't imagine electric working very well on a seismic survey crew in the Murzuk sand sea for example, sometimes we lost the generators because of overheat protection and kept small diesel silentpacs to run the UPS, (the data being worth millions and far more important than our comfort).
Plenty of sun you might say...

 

[Joshua Slocum]

What about rain.

rain is ok, its a problem if the water comes in through the door sills and the carpet

Tesla in rain​

I love my new Tesla so this is not a "hater" piece. There was a heavy rain in Naples as we were driving and we turned on to a side street. It was dark and we were unable to see the road clearly. We went through a puddle (deep, but too dark to tell how deep) and then quickly turned into a parking lot to get off the street. The car didn't start the next day and is now at the service center where they are telling me that Tesla will not cover the expensive damage under the warranty.
This was a normal driving experience, not a hurricane or a flood, and it seems to me that the car should be built to withstand this sort of minor situation.
Watch out for puddles!


OK, I heard from Tesla and the insurance company. Bad news...$9930.00. Good news, the insurance covers it less the deductible.

Clearly, I did not deliberately drive into deep water. In heavy rain, at night, with limited visibility, everybody has unexpectedly hit water. I can't quantify it because I couldn't see it, so I just got out of there as fast as possible. All I am saying is that there was a lot of damage so be careful. I do have the air suspension but was too stupid to think ahead and raise the car......