Electric car range test by Carwow

ShaunB

RMS Regular
Messages
2,318
Why can they not make any decent looking EV's?
They're all ugly as sin.
 
Last edited:

DC.

RMS Regular
Messages
11,357
Drives
VW Golf GTI
I think it could be down to the lack of air intakes on the front bumper.

Within 5 years electric cars will be increasingly normal. VW’s ID.3 will be everywhere soon after launch and could potentially harm sales of Golf 8.

Signed up to test drive the ID.3 when they hit showrooms.
 

Dave..

RMS Regular
OP
Dave..
Messages
10,037
I think it could be down to the lack of air intakes on the front bumper.

Within 5 years electric cars will be increasingly normal. VW’s ID.3 will be everywhere soon after launch and could potentially harm sales of Golf 8.

Signed up to test drive the ID.3 when they hit showrooms.
The ID Buzz looks good, would love to try one.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DC.

ShaunB

RMS Regular
Messages
2,318
5 years - no, too soon I think.

The technology still hasn't advanced enough, and we've had electric vehicles around for a good while, they have a hell of a lot of catching up to do still.
The batteries don't last, all batteries deteriorate over time.
Just look at your mobile phones/laptops, battery life great at the start, not that great after a year or two.
The cars are expensive if you want decent range, look at the Mercedes for example(which looks ok to be fair to it, and fairly decent interior) - 60 odd grand.

Charging network not good enough either, and could the generation companies cope with demand if there was a large number of people charging up at night?

Ugly, and as for the interior, **** me, look at the state of it!
 

DC.

RMS Regular
Messages
11,357
Drives
VW Golf GTI
There will be a huge push from governments, as well as manufacturers, to accelerate the uptake of EVs. Before long cities will mostly be EV only zones and eventually the charging network will catch up sufficiently for them to be a viable option.

Take that video, they all got a decent range from one charge. That would be more than enough for the vast majority of users (One charge would do me a week or more).
 

ShaunB

RMS Regular
Messages
2,318
The range might be ok in that video, but those are all expensive cars.
And lets face it, the range they quote is really half, because you need to get back again too, unless you spend however long at a charging point.
 

Dave..

RMS Regular
OP
Dave..
Messages
10,037
The range might be ok in that video, but those are all expensive cars.
And lets face it, the range they quote is really half, because you need to get back again too, unless you spend however long at a charging point.
If you are in a Tesla and can find a fast charger it only takes 20 minutes. I think there are some at the first Applegreen on the way to Dublin but a long way to go for a charge. 😃
Until there are more chargers short journeys only for most people.
 

Lyons

RMS Moderator
Messages
76,925
Location
Texarkana
Drives
X5 / 435D
I still can’t believe the 330e only has a range of circa 22 miles on electric.
 

Pumesta

RMS Regular
Messages
6,655
Drives
Focus_ST_3
If you are in a Tesla and can find a fast charger it only takes 20 minutes. I think there are some at the first Applegreen on the way to Dublin but a long way to go for a charge. 😃
Until there are more chargers short journeys only for most people.

20 mins charge time is still far to long. Even if every petrol station swapped over to EV charging, with a 20 mins charge time the queues would be huge
 

Nickyyy

RMS Regular
Messages
3,154
Location
International man of mystery
Drives
RS6 / DC2
How much CO2 do these batteries produce when manufactured?
Also. If everyone switches to EV it will require more energy from power plants. How much more CO2 will that generate. Unless we move to all nuclear/ wind/solar I guess

I always thought the future would be hybrids with very efficient petrol engines
 

stevieturbo

RMS Regular
Messages
21,096
Location
Antrim
Drives
Old Ford
There will be a huge push from governments, as well as manufacturers, to accelerate the uptake of EVs. Before long cities will mostly be EV only zones and eventually the charging network will catch up sufficiently for them to be a viable option.

Take that video, they all got a decent range from one charge. That would be more than enough for the vast majority of users (One charge would do me a week or more).

It will be a long time...it's one thing making the cars..it's another creating the electrical infrastructure to handle charging them all which goes a lot further than charging outlets.

The test was good...but lets face it, still not real world. Simply because the vast majority of their miles were simply motorway. Sitting at a steady cruise speed wont use as much as lots of stop go variable driving.
But even if they only did 120-150miles per charge, it would still do a lot of people.

I still can’t believe the 330e only has a range of circa 22 miles on electric.

Hybrids are for a different type of user though. If you live a short distance from work and have access to charging in work. Potentially you could cover a lot of your usage on electric all the time. But also have no range concerns on normal fuel for longer journeys.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DC.

quattro Rick

RMS Regular
Messages
5,217
Drives
quattro / M796
You could be sitting waiting for charging point for 60 mins it there are 3 cars in front of you.

I doubt they'd incorporate electric pumps in the same way as fuel pumps, look at the way they are now, they occupy parking spaces in the car park section of the station, it's likely more will be introduced for Street parking and more spots allocated to EVs in car parks

But as said it's still a ways away when less than 5 mins fills a tank from empty


I do recall seeing something a while back about a car which had a removable oil change housing where the cars oil "box" was pulled and replaced in minutes for an oil change, maybe there'll be a way to swap out main batteries in lieu of a fully charged one some time down the line
 

impact

RMS Regular
Messages
3,360
Drives
GT86
A wee charging station in Shenzhen



Watched a program on the tech city of Shenzhen the other night, a small place near twice the size of London that they built from scratch in 30 years where all buses and taxis plus 30% of logistics fleet are now all full electric.
 

DC.

RMS Regular
Messages
11,357
Drives
VW Golf GTI
It will be a long time...it's one thing making the cars..it's another creating the electrical infrastructure to handle charging them all which goes a lot further than charging outlets.

The test was good...but lets face it, still not real world. Simply because the vast majority of their miles were simply motorway. Sitting at a steady cruise speed wont use as much as lots of stop go variable driving.
But even if they only did 120-150miles per charge, it would still do a lot of people.



Hybrids are for a different type of user though. If you live a short distance from work and have access to charging in work. Potentially you could cover a lot of your usage on electric all the time. But also have no range concerns on normal fuel for longer journeys.

A neighbour of mine can, apparently, drive his Mitsubishi PHEV thing from Portaferry to Lisburn on one charge, visit some family for a few hours and charge it back up whilst there then drive home on electric power again.

I’m guessing business will be incentivised to install charge points at the office so employees can drive to work, charge up then drive home again.

But as you rightly say, infrastructure is the big thing going forward. The rate of development will get faster with battery technology as will as charging innovations.
 

Dave..

RMS Regular
OP
Dave..
Messages
10,037
I do recall seeing something a while back about a car which had a removable oil change housing where the cars oil "box" was pulled and replaced in minutes for an oil change, maybe there'll be a way to swap out main batteries in lieu of a fully charged one some time down the line
This would be brilliant but until the price of an EV comes down I think it will be a while until everyone wants one.
 

Coog

Admin
Messages
47,514
Drives
GTI
How much CO2 do these batteries produce when manufactured?
Also. If everyone switches to EV it will require more energy from power plants. How much more CO2 will that generate. Unless we move to all nuclear/ wind/solar I guess

I always thought the future would be hybrids with very efficient petrol engines

Apparently something like 15 tons of CO2 are emitted making a Model 3 battery? It's difficult to compare apples with apples but that's about 35k miles or so in my XJ6 or 100k in a Fiesta!

If anyone actually cared about the environment then surely the most environmentally friendly option would be to incentivise people to maintain their older cars properly instead of scrapping them at the first sign of trouble. Perhaps the government could also suggest manufacturers make them easier to repair with more readily available individual spare parts vs forcing consumers to buy complete assembled modules, etc.

En mass wireless charging is the future IMO
 

Mel_45

RMS Regular
Messages
1,622
Location
Belfast
Drives
megane
I’m guessing business will be incentivised to install charge points at the office so employees can drive to work, charge up then drive home again.

That will contradict their push to get people onto public transport though, so they'll be in a catch 22 trying to push public transport and push EV's.

An EV would do me perfectly for the mileage range we do, BUT the cost doesn't make it viable yet.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DC.

RallyCiaran

RMS Regular
Messages
1,623
Location
Ballymena
Drives
Nova 1600 8v
I don't know much about BiK but I understand there is a big change coming in April, and company car drivers will be massively incentivised to swap over to electric cars.
 

Marc

RMS Moderator
Messages
9,905
Location
Belfast
I don't know much about BiK but I understand there is a big change coming in April, and company car drivers will be massively incentivised to swap over to electric cars.

0% BIK in April 2020
1% BIK in April 2021
2% BIK in April 2022

I ordered an EV as a company car just for the commute mostly, it will work out pretty much free for me if i can utilise the public charging network, and very little issues on P11D for the next 3 years.
 

Noel McQ

RMS Regular
Messages
2,408
Location
Banbridge
Drives
Mazda 3 MPS
We are switching to all electric demos in March/April too! have been driving a Golf GTE for the past year or more and can manage to get to work and almost home again on electric only. I don't charge at home as i live in an apartment so is not really handy to do so I just use the fast charge points we have in work.

We have had BMW 330E's and Mercedes C350E's through as demos too but their range is much lower than the Golf. Have not really looked into which electric vehicle we will go for but I would imagine it's going to be the Nissan Leaf.
 
Top