EV and their range...

[Graham]

OK folks,

Assuming you had a home charging point and never needed to rely on public charging, what range would make you move to an all-electric vehicle.

Answer this based on there being no option of petrol or diesel, as is planned from 2030.

Thanks,
G

 

[Ben]

Will still be able buy a new PHEV or hybrid until 2035 thankfully.

Anything with an actual range over 200 miles would probably do me. More than I get in the M3 currently lol.

 

[Coog]

Public charging is a necessity otherwise you’re only going to be able to use half the range available before being forced to turn home (less some percentage for contingency).

140-180 mile range works for us because of the public charging network. If there wasn’t one then I’d want 350+

 

[Eddies]

Ideally I'd be looking for 500 plus. To warranty any change. A trip to Belfast an back for me is 120, ish, so with any figures they rave about the real world stats will be different. Reno promote the zoe at 245 range. On their website given 60mpg with no air con or heat, gives a range of 140 so I'd say 110. I couldn't even do a trip to Belfast and back without charging. To me that's a hassle and unnecessary waste of time/money when they start charging for charging points.

 

[Crow555]

200 miles for me. Most trips wouldn't be far but if I were to visit my folks 65 miles away, I would like to do it on a single charge if possible.

 

[saxo_man]

It would need to be 250 miles. Enough to get to cover all journeys within NI, and an occasional run to Dublin Airport.

 

[Cooper]

Average daily mileage here is what 16 miles per day. Not a huge amount of range needed for that. Having an ICE for any long journeys and an EV for the rest of the time makes sense... that is if EVs were 50% cheaper!

 

[Mel_45]

Public charging is a necessity otherwise you’re only going to be able to use half the range available before being forced to turn home (less some percentage for contingency).

140-180 mile range works for us because of the public charging network. If there wasn’t one then I’d want 350+

how many miles do you do in a day?

 

[Burt2000]

E tron does no more than about 140 miles to a charge. It hasn’t done 180 since it was a few weeks old. It’s enough for us as my wife uses it for work and is approx 6 miles from there and the schools etc are close to home. It think as said above an ICE car is always going to be a better choice for any long range journeys.

I wouldn’t be 100% confident in taking the E tron to say Donegal or a tour around the country, although there are chargers on the way few are rapid and they can’t always be relied on to be working or not being used, at least there is a 3 pin home socket slow charger as a back up that could go on overnight. Range isn’t a massive issue to me if the charging network is massively increased and well maintained.

 

[gary87]

I have a wee Corsa-e that I am driving at the minute and the range from a full charge for it is about 120 miles. Last week, I was driving a Zoe and it was about 185 miles.

I am driving a Lexus UX at the minute, range out of a full charge for it is 170 miles - but the re-gen on it, seems to be much better. Drove from Mallusk, to Carryduff, to Larne and only used 30 miles of range.

If I wasn't able to charge every time I need some range, at work; then realistically I think you would need about 250 miles for it to be an only car. For me just commuting back and forward to work in it, it's been great - keeps the miles off the Merc and saves me having to fuel it!

 

[Terry]

The non-use of public charging network is going to skew the results a lot and make it even more hypothetical / less real world. In a similar way to asking people about mpg/range if they could only use their local petrol station.

With current battery tech/size, a couple of hundred miles would do me. The majority of my journeys are sub 20 miles. Some days driving might be close to 100+.

I wouldn’t want to be paying for, lugging about & charging batteries capable of 500miles if I only needed that range once or twice a year.

 

[Eddies]

What's the charging time roughly on most? If you kill the battery on a journey and know you won't have enough to get home do you have an hour wait or what before you get home. I know if I'm running low on fuel it's a 2 minute stop at the filling station and on I go. I wouldn't like to be out for a day and then have to make a stop for hours to be able to get home.

 

[Crow555]

A lot of EVs now advertise a certain percentage over 30 minutes (80% over 30 minutes) for 2 reasons - typically the amount of time someone is prepared to wait and get a coffee and secondly, the last 10-20% is a bit slower than the first 80%. Obviously it varies from vehicle to vehicle but, that should be enough charge to get you further before having to stop again or home.

 

[Coog]

how many miles do you do in a day?

Not too many. Maybe 6 during the week and perhaps 20 or 30 at the weekend. The issue is when for example we want to head to my parents caravan in enniskillen. It’s not possible without a load of faffing in the EV (charging at the van is impossible) so we bring the ICE.

I doubt the long term plan is for households to maintain two suitable cars forever. It’s not like we could have a MX5 as the second car, it’ll need to be another big family car like the EV (which is fine now but perhaps not as viable in a decade or so)
We’re getting 170 odd @Burt2000

 

[RevT]

I’m not looking forward to having to switch. I do high miles though and would maybe divert all over the place to visit family and what not before heading home after work or heading on a coastal drive. I’d easily do 250+ miles on a good day at the weekend if I was in the notion. I’d need to have a 350+ miles capacity to even be close to interested.

 

[Eddies]

A lot of EVs now advertise a certain percentage over 30 minutes (80% over 30 minutes) for 2 reasons - typically the amount of time someone is prepared to wait and get a coffee and secondly, the last 10-20% is a bit slower than the first 80%. Obviously it varies from vehicle to vehicle but, that should be enough charge to get you further before having to stop again or home.

That's what I wouldn't want, I've seen me do high miles and hours in the car in a day but I wouldn't want to have to plan my day and then have to think about charging points and stops along the way. But again my opinion and they are all moving that way anyway. May start importing engines from the states now

 

[Crow555]

Sounds like you'll be using a hybrid by then. That said, if you look at EVs from 10 years ago and then think of where they will be 10 years from now, the range should be much better by then.

 

[hutchy_belfast]

Average daily mileage here is what 16 miles per day. Not a huge amount of range needed for that. Having an ICE for any long journeys and an EV for the rest of the time makes sense... that is if EVs were 50% cheaper!

There are ways and means for quite a lot of people to get them 40%+ cheaper with only nominal BIK tax and no road tax etc not to mention lack of fuel costs.

1 year with an ipace here with a "real world" range of 210 220 ish and I've never *needed* to use a public charger so it's plenty for me.

 

[gary1365]

I regularly do a 160 mile round trip to my parents house so really I'd need 200 miles but I think I'd be happier with 250 to have a bit spare just incase and in the colder darker weather. I have looked into EVs before I was close to buying a Zoe until I realised there was a £180 a month battery lease for 10k miles a year on top of the HP payment.

 

[impact]

Longer term high voltage batteries, dedicated charging stations/garage forecourts and battery tech improvements will mean minimal charging times. Can stick 200 miles in a Taycan with a rapid charger in 22 minutes today (if you can find one of only a handful of rapid chargers or afford a Taycan ).

Serious money now being pumped into giga plants and tech research like graphene batteries.

But before long FCEV will start to go mainstream which once hydrogen infrastructure is in place it will be like filling up at garage again. Can do this today with a Hyundai NEXO in the UK (with hydrogen infrastructure really only around London) 5 min fill +400 mile range.

Tech already here for mass solar/wind hydrogen generation - once government grants start dropping for it I'd expect these to start adoption in the same way wind turbines did. Looking at viability options of it on site in work and probably likely that this is pushed hard in NI over coming years. Its a million miles a way from being able to support a full automotive infrastructure but I think it will start slow they move on quick. Certainly for buses and heavy commercial.

‘Hydrogen NI’ Launched To Support Growth Of Northern Ireland's Hydrogen Economy

Hydrogen NI, a new membership group established to support the growth of the clean hydrogen economy in Northern Ireland...

fuelcellsworks.com

 

[DC.]

I would switch when I’m looking to change. I don’t a lot of miles (circa 5k a year) so I could manage with one at current range levels.

Biggest problem is that they are still too expensive.

 

[davyk31]

Just picked up my first EV yesterday and so far very happy. I have sole use of a charger at work and only live 3 miles from work so there shouldn’t ever be any range issues.

 

[bigpupcooper]

Glad to hear you got it finally @davyk31.

I was so close, signed and it was at uk port. Pulled the plug in the end. I’d like to know I can drive to Dublin airport , leave it for two to three weeks and drive back to Ards without a stop off or worry. Would be nice to do a family trip across to Scotland also.

 

[mk2driver]

My I-Pace should be with me in the next few weeks

We do about 10k a year but very rarely trios over 200 miles return.

We have a 3 year old and baby number 2 on the way so no way we would be doing that without a stop anyway so just build in charging there

Will save me £100/month minimum in fuel

 

[big cyril]

We’ve had the e-tron for almost a year now, range has settled at 170 miles although less in winter if you whack the heater and heated seats on full. The range is more than I need in a day, it always gets charged at home so is fine for 99 percent of the time. The downside is longer journeys eg I wouldn’t fancy taking it across the water as I’ve no idea how charging works there and last time I looked there were a load of providers each with a different card.
So, to answer the OP’s question, the range needs to be comfortably longer than daily commute but realistically the solution for longer journeys lies in better charging provision more than longer range.