EV and short journeys

Latest Articles

EV and short journeys
Page Previous 1, 2, 3 Next

Downsizer Forum Index -> Energy Efficiency and Construction/Major Projects

Author

Message

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46207
Location: yes

Posted: Thu Apr 04, 24 8:57 am Post subject:
my best wheelnut story surprise anti theft nuts, a very specific spanner, that was a tow and obtain the tool re wt, folk jack bridges into place, lift any vehicle off the running gear is easy and ev cars are not very heavy compared to a transit or tractor, both of those are heavy but easy to make stand on 3 legs

Nicky cigreen

Joined: 25 Jun 2007
Posts: 9878
Location: Devon, uk

Posted: Thu Apr 04, 24 9:30 am Post subject:

dpack wrote:

the stuff that makes ice move is over complex and expensive, a ten yr old reasonably priced ice car might cost more to mend each year than it cost

ev is newish tech, but there are less breakable bits which hints at less to mend

yeh my old car - getting the brakes fixed cost twice what it was worth. However if it was only worth 300 quid, then 600 quid for a working car is a lot more affordable than buying a new or newer car! And even when it becomes a money pit, most people are more likely to be able to come up with the 600 to get back on the road for now, than find the £££s needed for a more reliable car. It's Vimes boots theory all over again. Reliable cars are for the privileged.

People say EVs have less to go wrong on them - dunno, there aren't that many old EVs around, so I am not sure if that has been properly tested. The only personal knowledge I have was my relatives buying a nissan leaf and that wasn't that old and totally rubbish. T
There are cases of parts being A no where near the owner and B thousands of pounds in value so still costing more than the Ev....(my relatives needed to replace the battery, far more expensive than the car, they gave up on it ) so... I would say the jury is still out on that.

Nicky cigreen

Joined: 25 Jun 2007
Posts: 9878
Location: Devon, uk

Posted: Thu Apr 04, 24 9:31 am Post subject:

tahir wrote:

I've had two punctures, both were very deep potholes hidden under flooded roads. My brother has had none, my nephew has had an EV for several years he hasn't had one either.

I really can't imagine a Mini EV is any heavier than say a Range Rover or similar, that sounds like total bollox to me

So you replaced the wheels yourselves via a jack?

Nicky cigreen

Joined: 25 Jun 2007
Posts: 9878
Location: Devon, uk

Posted: Thu Apr 04, 24 9:35 am Post subject:

jema wrote:

The 12 volt battery is a weak spot, I have a timer set to tell me I need to take a drive or else it's jump leads.
I'm surprised it hasn't been engineered out of EVs, though there are very good reasons why not in reality.

yes, I didn't realise EVs still had a 12v battery set up. I understand that trickle charging is ok but jump starting shortens the life of the battery. I'm told that short journeys do too, as does using the stop start thingy.( I dont because my journeys dont involve much hanging about in traffic)

Certainly sounds like I will have the same problems with batteries when I change to an EV, unless I get one with some sort of trickle charge set up

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45668
Location: Essex

Posted: Thu Apr 04, 24 9:41 am Post subject:

Nicky cigreen wrote:

tahir wrote:

So you replaced the wheels yourselves via a jack?

Nope, I have no spare (a lot of new cars don't) and the potholes were so big they'd completely wrecked the tire, just managed to get to a safe enough place for a mobile tyre company to come out and replace

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45668
Location: Essex

Posted: Thu Apr 04, 24 9:43 am Post subject:

Nicky cigreen wrote:

jema wrote:

If you're using it once a week you won't have a problem, the 12v in an ICE does lots of high demand stuff in addition to running the onboard 12v circuit, so an EV 12v battery does a lot less.

Nicky cigreen

Joined: 25 Jun 2007
Posts: 9878
Location: Devon, uk

Posted: Thu Apr 04, 24 9:50 am Post subject:

tahir wrote:

If you're using it once a week you won't have a problem, the 12v in an ICE does lots of high demand stuff in addition to running the onboard 12v circuit, so an EV 12v battery does a lot less.

yes that makes sense.

Also I may just have to accept that shortened battery life is a consequence of my driving lifestyle. I guess people who do high mileage have different issues. Doesn't sound like an EV will be worse from a battery point of view.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45668
Location: Essex

Posted: Thu Apr 04, 24 10:05 am Post subject:

Nicky cigreen wrote:

Also I may just have to accept that shortened battery life is a consequence of my driving lifestyle. I guess people who do high mileage have different issues. Doesn't sound like an EV will be worse from a battery point of view.

That's right. As tech moves on all of these issues will be ironed out, particularly by those manufacturers that don't have a vested interest in ICE.

Nicky cigreen

Joined: 25 Jun 2007
Posts: 9878
Location: Devon, uk

Posted: Thu Apr 04, 24 10:55 am Post subject:

gz wrote:

I have a small solar panel on the dash which trickle charges the battery when I don't use the car for a while

you would think they would built something like this in, Perhaps there is a reason to not?

Nicky cigreen

Joined: 25 Jun 2007
Posts: 9878
Location: Devon, uk

Posted: Thu Apr 04, 24 10:57 am Post subject:
so 12v battery aside - what about the 'big' battery - would not charging the car up very often be detrimental to the life of battery - which is expensive bit of car ?

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45668
Location: Essex

Posted: Thu Apr 04, 24 12:26 pm Post subject:

Nicky cigreen wrote:

so 12v battery aside - what about the 'big' battery - would not charging the car up very often be detrimental to the life of battery - which is expensive bit of car ?

I've not followed any of the good battery management rules, my car is 14 months old now and I've seen no range drop, it still shows between 185-225 miles depending on the weather.

My way of thinking is that within the lifetime (lets say 10 years) of the car there'll be software upgrades that monitor and manage charging better and battery repairs/replacements will also become easier and cheaper.

I know 10 years doesn't sound a lot, but all new tech (connected) cars will face issues as software platforms become obsolete (regardless of ICE or EV), just as smart TVs are in fact really dumb once the built in apps stop getting updated.

I would hope that big trading blocs with regulatory power (like the EU) step in to ensure that this is managed better going forward, I doubt our govt is even aware of this as a potential issue.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45668
Location: Essex

Posted: Thu Apr 04, 24 12:29 pm Post subject:
To add, I rarely drive more than 30-40 daily, when I've travelled beyond the range of the car I've always planned my route to ensure that I know where my next charging stop will be (Octopus Multiverse app is really good) and I've never had an issue

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15966

Posted: Fri Apr 05, 24 7:49 am Post subject:

One thing about tyres. Modern cars tend to have low profile tyres that can allow the wheel itself to be damaged. SUVs tend to have far bigger and larger profile tyres, so are less likely to be wrecked. The big pothole on the way to the woods has already claimed a few cars, but didn't do the tyre on our SUV any harm when we went into it. Am hoping the council will do something about it before a cyclist goes into it, which is what happened with the last bad ones up there. Luckily he wasn't badly hurt.

waerloga

Joined: 11 Sep 2011
Posts: 9

Posted: Mon Aug 19, 24 9:45 am Post subject:

1: with occasional & short use the 12V battery can suffer a solar trickle charger will address this (£30 Amazon). The Leaf was particularly bad a caring for the 12V battery, a solar panel was built in on some models as a simple fix.
2: Main battery; charge to 80% unless about to go on a long trip. Top up back to 80% as needed. The drain when parked varies a lot between models so this could be once a week to once a month or more.
3: EVs usually weigh around 20% more than their ICE equivalents so the tyre life is only marginally affected. Fleet managers have said on first handing over an EV tyre usage goes up as the try the impressive acceleration, then the novelty wears off, EVs encourage smooth driving and tire wear drops.
3a: Impossible to change a flat - total junk ignore anything this person says about EVs and probably anything else.
4: Brakes can rust and stick on in any parked vehicle, if you can chock the wheels and leave the handbrake off that is good. EV brakes tend to rust out rather than wear out because of regenerative braking. Unlike ICE short trips are not bad for EVs, take it 'round the block' even just 1/2 a mile every week or two if not otherwise used.

On the economy front if you are only doing short journeys you may find good value in an EV discounted because of reduced battery capacity.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45668
Location: Essex

Posted: Mon Aug 19, 24 9:46 am Post subject:

waerloga wrote:

On the economy front if you are only doing short journeys you may find good value in an EV discounted because of reduced battery capacity.

Especially if you charge at home

	Downsizer Forum Index -> Energy Efficiency and Construction/Major Projects	All times are GMT Page Previous 1, 2, 3 Next
Page 2 of 3

View Latest Posts