air quality

Latest Articles

air quality
Page Previous 1, 2, 3

Downsizer Forum Index -> Conservation and Environment

Author

Message

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45669
Location: Essex

Posted: Tue May 26, 20 3:17 pm Post subject:
Which electric car? I have a hybrid Audi A3 but will be ordering electric as soon as I can. And, how old are you now? Geriatric old geezers "drifting" around a roundabout?

Jonnyboy

Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 23956
Location: under some rain.

Posted: Tue May 26, 20 3:21 pm Post subject:

tahir wrote:

Which electric car? I have a hybrid Audi A3 but will be ordering electric as soon as I can.

And, how old are you now? Geriatric old geezers "drifting" around a roundabout?

last of the e-golfs..was due in April but no idea if it will arrive. The pod point is installed through

had an Outlander PHEV for three years but in hindsight it was hopelessly compromised,I worked hard at maximising the electric use but range dropped of by 30% in year three and the 4x4 system was largely shite. Long distance journeys average out around 24 mpg!

I'm old, but not too old to be an idiot from time to time.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45669
Location: Essex

Posted: Tue May 26, 20 4:03 pm Post subject:
Will the eGolf have enough range in winter? You're a fair way from work aren't you? I'm looking at the VW ID3 or the Kia Niro. Even my brother's Tesla has appalling winter range

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46211
Location: yes

Posted: Tue May 26, 20 4:07 pm Post subject:

Jonnyboy wrote:

dpack wrote:

and some folk see an empty road as a topgear opportunity without having the required skills

semi-guilty. The daily commute (to a hospital) has been much reduced in time recently, and the temptation to drift a little on the roundabouts has been.....succumbed to on occasion.

Also have an electric car on order.....

ace on the last bit

Jonnyboy

Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 23956
Location: under some rain.

Posted: Tue May 26, 20 5:54 pm Post subject:

tahir wrote:

Will the eGolf have enough range in winter? You're a fair way from work aren't you? I'm looking at the VW ID3 or the Kia Niro.

Even my brother's Tesla has appalling winter range

Should be plenty for a round trip in winter even with full heating, plus we have free chargers in work. Golf real world range is around 125 and I need half that for a round trip commute.

ID3 and Niro have a far better range, but I’m not sold on the looks (I know) and this was a good deal. If it gets cancelled I’ll look at the new leaf instead.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45669
Location: Essex

Posted: Tue May 26, 20 6:51 pm Post subject:
Had a test drive in an ioniq last year, that was nice too (and don’t be a fit about looks)

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15967

Posted: Wed May 27, 20 7:07 am Post subject:
If you are only getting 24mpg, that is worse than our full diesel Rangers off road! Doesn't seem much point in it being a hybrid at that level.

Jonnyboy

Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 23956
Location: under some rain.

Posted: Wed May 27, 20 7:22 am Post subject:

Mistress Rose wrote:

If you are only getting 24mpg, that is worse than our full diesel Rangers off road! Doesn't seem much point in it being a hybrid at that level.

absolutely, but that was an outlier when we went to France fully loaded on hols. you could get high 30's on an extended run if you were very careful and had no roof load etc.

32 mpg ev range meant that I could drive to work, charge then drive home. But you had to be absolutely religious about it or else you ended up drive a 2.0 petrol automatic brick, lugging a 250kg battery.

The outlander was a nice idea - EV range for work commute, extended range with a traditional engine, enough room for an entire family plus luggage and 4x4. In theory the only car a family might need, but the reality was it wasn't well made and had technical issues.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46211
Location: yes

Posted: Wed May 27, 20 10:52 am Post subject:

not cars , electric bikes, but the principals might be relevant

i was an early adopter circa 2007, got a pair of whisper, top end ,off road and on, could carry me and 40kg or ten chickens pretty well over a muddy field or pootle along a flat route with little or no pedal work.
20 mph with little effort =ten miles, the batteries were a bit carp and expensive to have 2 for each bike
very robust in some ways ,bit of a lump in others rather like a mk1 landy
i have seen photos of them converted to 3 old car batteries in a trailer hauling a peasant and half his farmyard across pretty rough tracks in the far east

nice and long-lasting if a bit basic and limited, a grand purchase but getting to the unmendable at a decent cost stage

the new ones are about 2 yrs old and very different.

haibike, mountain bike style, top end engineering, batteries, motor and control gear
they need to be pedalled for legal reasons but the odd tweak can make that a far better experience(no comment)
range/rate, i am not sure, half a full battery was about 20 miles in about an hour without getting an old man tired
it handles like a class b rally car (post tweaks) and is ace off road or in urban use
not a landy and it does not handle loads as well as the last one but that is not its role, it can shift shopping or 50 rose bushes and a pick though

the two are different styles but the technology of the 2007 compared to the 2018 is as mk1 to a quattro A2

if cars have followed a similar development curve the newer ones might be a very pleasant surprise

Jonnyboy

Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 23956
Location: under some rain.

Posted: Wed May 27, 20 11:11 am Post subject:
e-bikes are really, really developing well, weights have come down and range has increased. some compromise between tech and components though. lower spec ones are rather lacking in the brake and gearing department. Also needs some standardisation to be introduced. (this also should apply to EVs in my opinion).

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45669
Location: Essex

Posted: Wed May 27, 20 11:17 am Post subject:

Jonnyboy wrote:

But you had to be absolutely religious about it or else you ended up drive a 2.0 petrol automatic brick, lugging a 250kg battery.

Yep, that's the thing with hybrids. If you can charge at both ends of your journey it works great. I commute about 35 miles each way and in the 3 years I've had the car I've averaged 71 mpg, would be better but there's been a few long trips in there too.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46211
Location: yes

Posted: Wed May 27, 20 12:13 pm Post subject:

Jonnyboy wrote:

e-bikes are really, really developing well, weights have come down and range has increased.

some compromise between tech and components though. lower spec ones are rather lacking in the brake and gearing department.

Also needs some standardisation to be introduced. (this also should apply to EVs in my opinion).

even modern low spec are not as good as the whisper, we were lent one while one of ours was being fettled, total joke of a thing

re weight , the new ones are not much lighter than the old ones unless stripped to basics but i like comfort and a decent rack, i rather like the front and back disk brakes, the old one was front disk and rear caliper which could be a bit interesting on downhill stuff, both of us nearly died of devon hills
they do have a far better power to wt ratio though for the same nominal motor power and the tweaks make them far safer in urban traffic

back to cars if bikes are anything to go by, top of mid range and made for the tasks you require it to do should be very pleasant

if you like drifting etc there will be a car for you:roll:
some of the things i do on bikes are based on using old school east euro and brit motorbikes off road for quite a while adapted to these things,
on road tis pedal style but with an atomic postman rider doing the pedals:lol:

an electric quattro e2 peaks version would be fun but sensible is probably best

i recon with a safeish route and not much to transport many folk could do most of their journeys on a leccy bike , some journeys and loads need a bigger machine

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15967

Posted: Thu May 28, 20 6:43 am Post subject:

Although battery technology has come a long way, it still needs to go further to really make electric vehicles better still. We have been using mobility scooter batteries to power the servo of the automatic venting on our charcoal kiln, and they need charging after every firing. Husband has started to use an old car battery and that seems to be rather longer lasting, although of course larger.

Your mpg is pretty impressive Tahir and worth converting to hybrid.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46211
Location: yes

Posted: Thu May 28, 20 10:21 am Post subject:
a new scooter battery would probably have several times the usable Ah

Slim

Joined: 05 Mar 2006
Posts: 6612
Location: New England (In the US of A)

Posted: Thu May 28, 20 2:27 pm Post subject:
Modern batteries are so far beyond the old lead acid, and the next generation coming out are looking very promising

	Downsizer Forum Index -> Conservation and Environment	All times are GMT Page Previous 1, 2, 3
Page 3 of 3

View Latest Posts