EVs and really bad weather.....

[dobbslc]

Yes but you couldn’t get more ironic when discussing EVs and the environment

I did have a chuckle about that after I posted

 

[barracuda816]

I don’t really agree with the Bevs are inherently worse than ice cars for the environment.

I’m not diasagreeing that current tech lithium Cobalt battery’s are bad. And the relatively low volume manufacturing is not yet optimised. They are currently mined in areas of the world with some of the worst human rights and health. And safety conditions.

However the potential for Bevs to be far more environmentally friendly is there. With ice vehicles the rate of development has slowed to a point where decade over decade efficiency increases are minimal at best. This is the difference with emerging tech and mature tech. We have come so far with ice and now the evolution is Bev.

There are many obstacles to overcome.

From an environmental stand point the (what i consider to be a) sad future of vehicle ownership I mentioned in my last post would be a lot better then every one owning one or two vehicles themselves. Consider even the infrastructure, use of concrete in buildings is a huge environmental factor. The expansion to roads, wiring (and insulation) for the upgrades to the grid. Even the way cities are developed, currently cities are still developed around the use of cars.

I fear however the push for efficiency for any cars in the forseeable will be a far distant priority for manufactures behind marking them as cheaply as possible. Even in higher end cars. It happens now in ice cars, most components in an engine bay now are plastic. It lasts the warranty period (mostly) and then breaks. BMW are terrible for this, but by no means the only one. The only reason for this is plastic is cheaper then casting or milling metal.

 

[barracuda816]

Went off abit up there.

In my defence I don’t have many people to talk to about this these days. My wife and 14month old don’t seem to care

 

[optima21]

It happens now in ice cars, most components in an engine bay now are plastic. It lasts the warranty period (mostly) and then breaks. BMW are terrible for this, but by no means the only one. The only reason for this is plastic is cheaper then casting or milling metal.

and to save weight

 

[barracuda816]

In certain parts maybe. But have you felt the plastic manifolds on a bmw, I can’t believe they would be heavier.

Could be down to NHV design though

 

[Morrisman]

Whats the maximum weight? Say 5 adults and a boot full you must be nudging the 3.5t that the car license allows?

I'm pretty sure he says it was 3500kg.

 

[daleyd]

I'm pretty sure he says it was 3500kg.

Kerb weight of an id5 is roughly 2000 up to 2200 kg for the high spec 4wd model.

 

[Morrisman]

You can buy an awful lot of diesel or petrol for a new car costing, say, £30,000 from the balance of £23,000 from £53,000 !

It's a company car, he works for some big house construction company and they've all had to go to electric or hybrid vehicles this year.

 

[DAPPH]

My mates got a Tesla, he has to preheat it by phone to get the doors open when it gets to -6 and it's been raining. It's a year old, he's well impressed with it, but not the water ingress around the doors, which then freezes, needing a preheat to open the doors.

My Volvo is no better, but I use warm water.

Frozen shut doors are a PITA.

Lightly wipe the door seals with neat Glycerin to stop them frezing shut . perhaps reapplying once a week .

 

[DAPPH]

Didn't take long for the thread divert to kick in, my op was how EVs and their drivers would cope with snow/ice. More re this, than alternative vehicles

Guess it's easier if the driver knows the ins & outs of driving and the particular features available to him/her - but who reads car Owner's manuals in full? I suspect many would be caught out with the sudden onset of adverse conditions.

The thread could probably be closed now, before we get to the possibility of there being cowboys on the moon.....

I do , driving the PHEV was a totally new experience

 

[DAPPH]

I'd say the point is that you can buy a reliable/proven ICE car for not very much at all - no need to spend 30+K.

I've not looked what the cheapest EV or Hybrid car is.... but its a lot more than you can get a good ICE for.

Buying a used EV is also something that I reckon an awful lot of punters would be very, very wary of. There's little in the way of indications as to whether a 20K battery pack might last 5-years or 5-weeks, and just about everything that might go wrong comes with very, very big repair price tags - so the risks ad potential losses of serious money is off-putting.

Mind you - the skyrocketing cost of motoring is I believe slowly but steadily going to be pricing out all but the wealthy, while the scary unreliability and potential huge mtce & repair costs are purposefully killing off the used car market.

It'll not be too far into the future when personal transport demographics will return to how it was 100 years ago.

You can get the dealership to do a computer supervised heavy discharge test on the battery to get an indication of it's charge holding capacity as a percentage of 100 % for a new battery .

Alison's Outlander PHEV had one yesterday as part of the contracted dealership service & pre MOT testing ( 15 plate 62k miles ) whilst they didn't say what it was exactly the delivery/ collection driver said it is well above the required 80 % storage capacity life
Note Alison rarely puts petrol in the PHEV even when the warning light comes on to tell her to top up with fuel it's still OK to drive electric to get down to 2/3 of a tank before topping up The PHEV used petrol for a few seconds on starting up and occasionally on a bit of heavy acceleration or in winter when the heaters and lights are on for a long time

 

[Morrisman]

Kerb weight of an id5 is roughly 2000 up to 2200 kg for the high spec 4wd model.

I can't imagine what he was looking at on Sunday, as he pulled up the spec on his phone app.

 

[lazybones51]

The PHEV used petrol for a few seconds on starting up and occasionally on a bit of heavy acceleration or in winter when the heaters and lights are on for a long time

This is something that put me off buying a PHEV. You'll be merrily driving along on just electric, then you put your foot down to overtake and suddenly the stone cold engine roars in to life and immediately revs to a high RPM. I cannot see how the engine in a PHEV is going to last very long, when they're getting little use and no mechanical sympathy

 

[redlig]

But what about those who want an EV, and don't need any 'angle'?

I chose to drive an EV, saving the planet is just the day job

Chose to is the best reason for buying an EV. No B.S. just wanted one.

This is something that put me off buying a PHEV. You'll be merrily driving along on just electric, then you put your foot down to overtake and suddenly the stone cold engine roars in to life and immediately revs to a high RPM. I cannot see how the engine in a PHEV is going to last very long, when they're getting little use and no mechanical sympathy

Don't forget it's only got to last until the warranty runs out. Then it's all down to the ,usually, second owner.

 

[bricol]

. It happens now in ice cars, most components in an engine bay now are plastic. It lasts the warranty period (mostly) and then breaks. BMW are terrible for this, but by no means the only one. The only reason for this is plastic is cheaper then casting or milling metal.

That's not new. Working on a project back in 1991 while at Uni involving Rover, and plenty on the engine was plastic back then. I've been abusing one of their engines in a Caterham since 2001 and nothing plastic has broke . . . the aluminium radiator however . . .

But of course they use plastic as its cheaper - faster, easier, cheaper to make - why would they not?

 

[Burdekin]

We should do a poll for over 65s, what triggers you the most; EVs, cyclists or Greta.

Only joking.

 

[Seadog]

You forgot "All of the above."

 

[pint]

greta riding an e-bike

 

[My Old Landy]

Anyway, we didn't get any snow here and I don't own an EV (yet...) so how did those who have both snow and an EV get on?

 

[Erie Fred]

greta riding an e-bike

Greta should really do a show where she visits every stage of making that bike, including the Lithium mine for the batteries, the copper mine, the chip manufacturing plants etc.
And make sure to reveal the actual power used, CO2 generated, and all waste products emitted to make the little tot's bicycle.