Why are people buying electric cars?

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AndrewFlannigan said:
OK, I'll offer you a deal: you stop bigging up electric cars and I'll stop pointing out how the British government is bribing a tiny minority with other tax payer's money.
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Where have you seen me "big up" electric cars? I've never had one and don't want one. Sure, a small EV will be great for my Mrs, 20 mile round trip for work 4 days a week and not much else (her 2011 Mini has less than 35k on the clock), but I can't see us buying one in the near future. But, we are in an EV revolution, just like all those years we had a horse & cart, them the IC engine arrived. Change happens, and on paper it looks like it's for the better. So I can see why governments would incentivise change. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean that it's wrong.
 
Jelster said:
Where have you seen me "big up" electric cars? I've never had one and don't want one. Sure, a small EV will be great for my Mrs, 20 mile round trip for work 4 days a week and not much else (her 2011 Mini has less than 35k on the clock), but I can't see us buying one in the near future. But, we are in an EV revolution, just like all those years we had a horse & cart, them the IC engine arrived. Change happens, and on paper it looks like it's for the better. So I can see why governments would incentivise change. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean that it's wrong.
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we are very much in an EV revolution the speed of ptogress and tech is mind blowing.
the one thing i am looking forward to is bikes and scooters in the UK as well.
 
ancient_mariner said:
I tend to think in terms of the trade-off between fuel usage and time for longer journeys, and also how bearable it is to be sat in a car moving relatively slowly for many hours. For our journey across France I'll normally run at 125 or 130kph on the autoroute as an acceptable balance between economy and time. The last 2 hours are on smaller country roads, and the limit moves around between 80 and 100kph except in villages.

As for diesel economy, they need a different technique to petrol, which can also vary between manufacturers too. I've been driving diesels for about 30 years now, and have sometimes needed brute economy above all else. Most economical was a Peugeot 307 SW that would do about 70mpg cruising at 65-70mph between Oxfordshire and Fleet in Hampshire.
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lindsay said:
I've driven various diesels for a good few years now. I hired a Moneo 2l estate once and for an easy 55mpg from it by driving between 50-65mph on the route between Salisbury and Exeter, mainly dual carriageway at times of low traffic. My Mazda 6 2.2l estate delivers 42mpg urban and uptown 60mpg on long runs if I hold it to slightly under 70mph on fast roads and just under the limits on other roads. However my past Disco's rarely did better than the book 27mpg, often worse, and my VW 2l Transporter camper van does about 27 urban and no better than about 33 on longer A road journeys. Weight, tyres, driving style especially momentum management, are all factors. I generally use gears to slow down as much as possible even on automatics, letting speed decay naturally, if I can.
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Certainly one benefit I have found with diesels is that accelerating hard seems to be far less aggresive on fuel consumption compared to petrols (even worse with EV). The BMW 330d I had was quite clever in that when in ECO mode and you were coasting it would disengage the transmission to have improve economy. I did a test on the M74 and set the cruise control to 55mph and I managed to get 66mpg (on the computer that is). That's pretty impressive engineering considering it was a 5.1 second 3 litre six cylinder engine with AWD.

My current petrol car can do about 36mpg on the motorway if coasting and driving with care. Put the boot down and it will drop like a stone to low 20's and sometimes even less. At the moment with the current prices, that's quite painful haha

Re. the paceometers, economy aside it could be a good way to discourage speeding at higher speeds with those who overestimate going faster actually achieves with journey time.
 
Mr Bump said:
we are very much in an EV revolution the speed of ptogress and tech is mind blowing.
the one thing i am looking forward to is bikes and scooters in the UK as well.
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I would agree that the pace of tech has been impressive and I think the next step with battery technology will be the big one. An electric bike or scooter would be ideal for me and all my short trips, but the one problem I have would be keeping it safe at my destinations.
 
Do agree that electric motorbikes would be fun and perfect for commuting but I just couldn’t bring myself to swap any of my petrol bikes for one
Probably I’m old fashioned and irrational but a bike has to have an engine an electric bike has no soul
Nothing against electric cars or anyone who does get an electric bike :)
 
Jelster said:
Where have you seen me "big up" electric cars?
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It was a general statement about anyone who supports the current approach to forcing these vehicles on the rest of us.
Jelster said:
But, we are in an EV revolution, just like all those years we had a horse & cart, them the IC engine arrived. Change happens, and on paper it looks like it's for the better. So I can see why governments would incentivise change.
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Change should happen by the will of the majority and not at the expense of the majority for the benefit of the minority
Jelster said:
Just because you don't like it doesn't mean that it's wrong.
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...and just because you or anyone else likes it, doesn't mean that it's right.

I have no problem with people having electric cars but I have a big problem with them cheating their fellow road users. If and when all electric car drivers have to pay the full cost of their purchase and provide the same level of contribution to road construction and maintenance as well as the same amount of VAT, I shall have no problem with them.

Until then, they look like a bunch of cheats and freeloaders to me.
 
LCPete said:
Do agree that electric motorbikes would be fun and perfect for commuting but I just couldn’t bring myself to swap any of my petrol bikes for one
Probably I’m old fashioned and irrational but a bike has to have an engine an electric bike has no soul
Nothing against electric cars or anyone who does get an electric bike :)
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kinda would agree but recently in GC i rode an electric motocross mate and it was wild, all the power no messing with gears, huge torque.
my honest answer more fun that the petrol version and i can happily leave the noise behind
 
AndrewFlannigan said:
It was a general statement about anyone who supports the current approach to forcing these vehicles on the rest of us.

Change should happen by the will of the majority and not at the expense of the majority for the benefit of the minority

...and just because you or anyone else likes it, doesn't mean that it's right.

I have no problem with people having electric cars but I have a big problem with them cheating their fellow road users. If and when all electric car drivers have to pay the full cost of their purchase and provide the same level of contribution to road construction and maintenance as well as the same amount of VAT, I shall have no problem with them.

Until then, they look like a bunch of cheats and freeloaders to me.
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Same argument can be used for many things - heat pumps, the old (or maybe current I dont know) government scrape scheme for old cars, people who heat homes with oil...
 
AndrewFlannigan said:
It was a general statement about anyone who supports the current approach to forcing these vehicles on the rest of us.

Change should happen by the will of the majority and not at the expense of the majority for the benefit of the minority

...and just because you or anyone else likes it, doesn't mean that it's right.

I have no problem with people having electric cars but I have a big problem with them cheating their fellow road users. If and when all electric car drivers have to pay the full cost of their purchase and provide the same level of contribution to road construction and maintenance as well as the same amount of VAT, I shall have no problem with them.

Until then, they look like a bunch of cheats and freeloaders to me.
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There are a huge number of anomalies in the UK tax system in general and specifically around road tax and fuel duty.
There used to be few diesel cars but the government thought they used less fuel so encouraged them and diesel was cheaper than petrol.
Then they introduced catalysts on vehicles to reduce toxic nitrous compounds without understanding that in fact the catalytic converters are hugely costly and very inefficient until they achieve working temperature. Not to mention that in cold climates they produce even more noxious gases and choke the engines so the engines use more fuel so more emissions.
Then the government decided the lead need to come out of petrol so more encouragement to go diesel.
Then they found that there were particulates in the exhaust gasses so they reversed out of their decision and increased diesel prices.
Now we have electric cars which are a good idea until you consider the toxicity of the materials used in the battery manufacture. Also I am unsure about the safety angle with respect to somebody in a crash situation or some DIYer working at home on the battery.

The future possibilities are hydrogen cells that produce electricity or to convert the current ICEs to run on hydrogen.
Hydrogen is explosive if mishandled so this brings its own dangers.

What I will say is that these decisions are better left in the hands of experts rather that the fools and idiots we seem to elect to parliament or other high office.
 
jknights said:
Snip- Now we have electric cars which are a good idea until you consider the toxicity of the materials used in the battery manufacture. Also I am unsure about the safety angle with respect to somebody in a crash situation or some DIYer working at home on the battery.

The future possibilities are hydrogen cells that produce electricity or to convert the current ICEs to run on hydrogen.
Hydrogen is explosive if mishandled so this brings its own dangers.

What I will say is that these decisions are better left in the hands of experts rather that the fools and idiots we seem to elect to parliament or other high office.
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Essentially you have decided to dislike some things without reasoning them out.

Your average ice car is full of toxic materials. EV batteries have toxic materials for sure but far less today than even 10 years ago and the amount is dropping with each itterration. The phone/laptop/computer and a host of other items you use every day contain toxic materials.

Dumb is going to dumb regardless, a dumb DIY mechanic is in as much danger fixing a petrol car as an EV.

Hydrogen is clean burning, but the hydrogen manufacturing process most certainly is not clean, nor is it cheap.

It's just possible that the fools and idiots have not done as badly as you fear.
 
AndrewFlannigan said:
Change should happen by the will of the majority and not at the expense of the majority for the benefit of the minority
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But then you liked the comment that included this:
jknights said:
What I will say is that these decisions are better left in the hands of experts rather that the fools and idiots we seem to elect to parliament or other high office.
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At the moment decisions are being skewed by the minority. A very good example is the gaslighting over Climate Change. It is not in the interests of billionaires to say that our economy is killing our world. So they obfuscate and lie and produce squirrels for people to chase.

Some people believe the lies of the billionaires…
 
AndrewFlannigan said:
It was a general statement about anyone who supports the current approach to forcing these vehicles on the rest of us.

Change should happen by the will of the majority and not at the expense of the majority for the benefit of the minority

...and just because you or anyone else likes it, doesn't mean that it's right.

I have no problem with people having electric cars but I have a big problem with them cheating their fellow road users. If and when all electric car drivers have to pay the full cost of their purchase and provide the same level of contribution to road construction and maintenance as well as the same amount of VAT, I shall have no problem with them.

Until then, they look like a bunch of cheats and freeloaders to me.
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People can argue all they like about EVs but the facts are that oil has a limited lifespan, there is a strong case for alternative methods for transport (be it electric, hydrogen or something else). The UK will have to follow what the rest of the world do - we cant have a Betamax v VHS scenario where the world go electric and we try to do hydrogen by ourselves. We dont have a mainstream car industry and will be a small player compared to the likes of the EU, US, China etc... If Kia, Tesla and VW for example decide that electric is the way forward we have to go along with it.

And change often happens by governments dictating things often against the will of the people (initially). Am sure that many things today would not be there if the will of the majority had been stuck to
 
Very much so. And how would AndrewF know if the will of the majority had been skewed by a few billionaires…?
 
Or to look at it another way: since China is producing and exporting more cars than anyone else, and they are in the main (if not exclusively) electric, then the Supply side of the economics is a done deal. We will be mainly if not exclusively EV within the next 20 years or so because the Chinese will control the market for new cars. European manufacturers are just trying to hold on to some slice of market. Us old fogeys are p*****g in the wind against this, but since most of us will have stopped buying cars by then, our opinion is worthless.
 
Pound Coin said:
Very much so. And how would AndrewF know if the will of the majority had been skewed by a few billionaires…?
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Easy to get rid of a few billionaires. Forbes produce a rich list!
 
Steep said:
Essentially you have decided to dislike some things without reasoning them out.

Your average ice car is full of toxic materials. EV batteries have toxic materials for sure but far less today than even 10 years ago and the amount is dropping with each itterration. The phone/laptop/computer and a host of other items you use every day contain toxic materials.

Dumb is going to dumb regardless, a dumb DIY mechanic is in as much danger fixing a petrol car as an EV.

Hydrogen is clean burning, but the hydrogen manufacturing process most certainly is not clean, nor is it cheap.

It's just possible that the fools and idiots have not done as badly as you fear.
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It is not a question of reasoning it out.....
1. The majorities tend to get stuff wrong as they dont have all the information.
2. Vested interests and rich lobbies will sway the masses or politicians.
3. It is almost impossible to convince people by good rationale as they are mostly emotionally vested in a situation.
4. Logic does not convince many only those who are open minded enough to admit that their initial thoughts are ill conceived, illogical or formed before the full weight of facts were presented.

Agree there are dumb mechanics but there are also dumb electricians. I would rather work out what a dumb mechanic has done than a dumb electrician. High voltage DC is lethal but so are badly maintained mechanicals! Ever had a 440v AC blast..... I have and it is most unpleasant. Still alive from my Renault 5 Challenge efforts with no bad side effects the washing machine could not handle!

Agree with you that currently hydrogen is not only dangerous but horribly expensive to produce and store.

No I will argue that the fools and idiots do not have a clue. You and I will die on that hill as there are too many fools and idiots!
 
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jknights said:
It is not a question of reasoning it out.....
1. The majorities tend to get stuff wrong as they dont have all the information.
2. Vested interests and rich lobbies will sway the masses or politicians.
3. It is almost impossible to convince people by good rationale as they are mostly emotionally vested in a situation.
4. Logic does not convince many only those who are open minded enough to admit that their initial thoughts are ill conceived, illogical or formed before the full weight of facts were presented.

Agree there are dumb mechanics but there are also dumb electricians. I would rather work out what a dumb mechanic has done than a dumb electrician. High voltage DC is lethal but so are badly maintained mechanicals! Ever had a 440v AC blast..... I have and it is most unpleasant. Still alive from my Renault 5 Challenge efforts with no bad side effects the washing machine could not handle!

Agree with you that currently hydrogen is not only dangerous but horribly expensive to produce and store.

No I will argue that the fools and idiots do not have a clue. You and I will die on that hill as there are too many fools and idiots!
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Re 440v AC shock, you were lucky you were not working on an EV, it would have been DC and you'd most surely not have survived.
 
Japan strides ahaed.

solartrainjp.jpg
 
What with the Orange Idiot responsible for a 50% increase in my diesel cost and the possibility of fuel rationing I've been looking at the dreaded EV market. Not jumping ship yet, but we had planned to retire my old Honda CRV next year when it will have 230k miles on its 17 year old clock. Still ticking like a Rolex though. Anyway, what a palava!

I knew from comments on here that there are different chargers giving various rates of recharge. What I didn't realise is that different car models have different rates that they can accept the charge. Then there are different costs per Kw at public chargers in France dependent on the day / time of day and the providers commission. I haven't been able to find an official guide to charging prices for public chargers. And there are issues with charging locations. For example the resort that we like to visit in Spain has five public chargers and yet on a Sunday or bank holidays there could be several thousand rich people turn up from Barcelona, quite a few will be in EVs. In summer months the resort would be packed. There are only about twenty charging points in a fifty kilometer radius. For the half dozen times a year we travel to Spain or 4 hour trips to French airports it would mean planning in recharging on route.

The good points include many models now giving useable ranges from 75Kw + batteries meaning that a once a week home charge would suffice for most weeks. Two overnight charges, total €24 for the same range as my current €110 tankful.

At the moment I would be struggling to get a nearly new CRV replacement shy of €40k with no American, no Chinese and if possible no Stellantis amongst my preferences. The Kia EV5 & 6 and the four VAG options of electric ID.4 platforms look like they might fit the bill by next year. I would imagine however that many other people are reviewing their vehicle situations too. The market might be much different next year.
 
Clive K said:
What with the Orange Idiot responsible for a 50% increase in my diesel cost and the possibility of fuel rationing I've been looking at the dreaded EV market. Not jumping ship yet, but we had planned to retire my old Honda CRV next year when it will have 230k miles on its 17 year old clock. Still ticking like a Rolex though. Anyway, what a palava!

I knew from comments on here that there are different chargers giving various rates of recharge. What I didn't realise is that different car models have different rates that they can accept the charge. Then there are different costs per Kw at public chargers in France dependent on the day / time of day and the providers commission. I haven't been able to find an official guide to charging prices for public chargers. And there are issues with charging locations. For example the resort that we like to visit in Spain has five public chargers and yet on a Sunday or bank holidays there could be several thousand rich people turn up from Barcelona, quite a few will be in EVs. In summer months the resort would be packed. There are only about twenty charging points in a fifty kilometer radius. For the half dozen times a year we travel to Spain or 4 hour trips to French airports it would mean planning in recharging on route.

The good points include many models now giving useable ranges from 75Kw + batteries meaning that a once a week home charge would suffice for most weeks. Two overnight charges, total €24 for the same range as my current €110 tankful.

At the moment I would be struggling to get a nearly new CRV replacement shy of €40k with no American, no Chinese and if possible no Stellantis amongst my preferences. The Kia EV5 & 6 and the four VAG options of electric ID.4 platforms look like they might fit the bill by next year. I would imagine however that many other people are reviewing their vehicle situations too. The market might be much different next year.
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You'll rarely be charging from empty to full at home so those costs will be down.
There is no official guide for public chargers as they are all owned by businesses or privately and the owner sets the tariff they want to. Prices also change as energy costs change.
What tends to happen is that you do 99% of your charging at home and on regular long trips you get to know the sites that are most convenient for you.

According to Autotrader btw, EVs are now officially cheaper to buy than petrol/diesel cars.
 
Clive K said:
What with the Orange Idiot responsible for a 50% increase in my diesel cost and the possibility of fuel rationing I've been looking at the dreaded EV market. Not jumping ship yet, but we had planned to retire my old Honda CRV next year when it will have 230k miles on its 17 year old clock. Still ticking like a Rolex though. Anyway, what a palava!

I knew from comments on here that there are different chargers giving various rates of recharge. What I didn't realise is that different car models have different rates that they can accept the charge. Then there are different costs per Kw at public chargers in France dependent on the day / time of day and the providers commission. I haven't been able to find an official guide to charging prices for public chargers. And there are issues with charging locations. For example the resort that we like to visit in Spain has five public chargers and yet on a Sunday or bank holidays there could be several thousand rich people turn up from Barcelona, quite a few will be in EVs. In summer months the resort would be packed. There are only about twenty charging points in a fifty kilometer radius. For the half dozen times a year we travel to Spain or 4 hour trips to French airports it would mean planning in recharging on route.

The good points include many models now giving useable ranges from 75Kw + batteries meaning that a once a week home charge would suffice for most weeks. Two overnight charges, total €24 for the same range as my current €110 tankful.

At the moment I would be struggling to get a nearly new CRV replacement shy of €40k with no American, no Chinese and if possible no Stellantis amongst my preferences. The Kia EV5 & 6 and the four VAG options of electric ID.4 platforms look like they might fit the bill by next year. I would imagine however that many other people are reviewing their vehicle situations too. The market might be much different next year.
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It's worth doing the research before leaping. I was very tempted until I started digging and finding out about real-world ranges, charging rates & so on. An EV can be an extremely practical solution, especially if you don't have to do long journeys, but if you do then planning is required and stops may be longer than you would naturally choose.
 
ancient_mariner said:
It's worth doing the research before leaping. I was very tempted until I started digging and finding out about real-world ranges, charging rates & so on. An EV can be an extremely practical solution, especially if you don't have to do long journeys, but if you do then planning is required and stops may be longer than you would naturally choose.
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But unless you are a regular long distance traveller, it’s not much extra hardship to stop an extra time.

I’ve got a 460 mile trip (each way) planned in the near future, if I set off with 100%, I’ll have to make 2 stops to charge 20-80% - can plan these around meal/drinks breaks and on reasonable fast chargers it should be straightforward.

I accept though if you are a regular long distance traveller or in a hurry, then an EV is less convenient. But considering my other car left me at a service station for 3 hours yesterday with a Hybrid System Failure message, any trip can have unforeseen circumstances!!!!
 
Mr Perceptive said:
But unless you are a regular long distance traveller, it’s not much extra hardship to stop an extra time.

I’ve got a 460 mile trip (each way) planned in the near future, if I set off with 100%, I’ll have to make 2 stops to charge 20-80% - can plan these around meal/drinks breaks and on reasonable fast chargers it should be straightforward.

I accept though if you are a regular long distance traveller or in a hurry, then an EV is less convenient. But considering my other car left me at a service station for 3 hours yesterday with a Hybrid System Failure message, any trip can have unforeseen circumstances!!!!
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We do a 500+ mile drive through France several times a year. The extra hassle, and particularly the extra time added to the journey plus the issue over charging speeds convinced me that I wasn't ready to make the jump, and the more I explored the more I was put off. If we had a more conventional pattern of driving then I'm almost certain I'd have bought an EV this time around.
 
ancient_mariner said:
We do a 500+ mile drive through France several times a year. The extra hassle, and particularly the extra time added to the journey plus the issue over charging speeds convinced me that I wasn't ready to make the jump, and the more I explored the more I was put off. If we had a more conventional pattern of driving then I'm almost certain I'd have bought an EV this time around.
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This is exactly the stumbling block for me. It is the unknown in relation to the long journeys that we want to make rather than the routine weekly recharge. When I used to work here my two routes were around 200 miles per day visiting 16 clients each day. On the first route I didn't pass a single fuel station, let alone charging points. On the second route I only passed one filling station and unhelpfully for EV purposes that was near to the start of the route. Then there are other unknowns such as air-con and heating both eating into the range far more than in my diesel car's consumption. You would always have to plan for the worst case scenario.

When returning from a short break in Carcassonne 440km away the pesky French farmers had set fire to the autoroute so we and everybody else had to take the D roads. It was a nightmare and having to recharge an EV would have made it far worse.

The cash savings however are annoyingly getting greater.
 
Lots of people drive EVs to France and Italy from the UK. Any of the teslas Model 3 & Y charge up pretty quickly. I spent all of 10 minutes at a charger yesterday. That was to get another 100 or so miles to get home. My previous 2014 Tesla would have taken at least 30 minutes to do the same. It's a 2019 car not a new one. The newer ones are even faster still. I think the peak charge rate was over 200kw and that's not a new car. The world has moved on a lot.

There's a lot of new EVs coming out with 400 odd mile ranges. It's just not a problem.

The Mercedes new ones are nearer 500 miles.

The issue with re-routing is whether the car knows where all the chargers are and how busy they are. That's what makes the Tesla much easier to own. If something happens it will just re-route you easily.
 
Clive K said:
When returning from a short break in Carcassonne 440km away the pesky French farmers had set fire to the autoroute so we and everybody else had to take the D roads. It was a nightmare and having to recharge an EV would have made it far worse.

The cash savings however are annoyingly getting greater.
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Part of the EV driving mindset is being sure you have enough power (or access to) to get where you're going before you set off. It becomes second nature very quickly and you hardly even notice you're doing it.

Here's an exercise you should do. Hop on google maps and look at the area around any place you are likely to go and add EV chargers to the search bar.
E.G. Carcassonne - As you can see below there are plenty of chargers there, even some 300kw ones, so in your scenario above you'd have topped up in Carcassonne before setting off for the return journey.
On a warm day my car could do that 440km run without having to charge but I'd always top off before setting out for home just in case of diversions etc. I can charge at up to 150kw and 20 minutes at that speed would get me 50kwh or 260km extra range (or more depending how you drive).

www.google.com

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.
www.google.com www.google.com
 
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Steep said:
Part of the EV driving mindset is being sure you have enough power (or access to) to get where you're going before you set off. It becomes second nature very quickly and you hardly even notice you're doing it.

Here's an exercise you should do. Hop on google maps and look at the area around any place you are likely to go and add EV chargers to the search bar.
E.G. Carcassonne - As you can see below there are plenty of chargers there, even some 300kw ones, so in your scenario above you'd have topped up in Carcassonne before setting off for the return journey.
On a warm day my car could do that 440km run without having to charge but I'd always top off before setting out for home just in case of diversions etc. I can charge at up to 150kw and 20 minutes at that speed would get me 50kwh or 260km extra range (or more depending how you drive).

www.google.com

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.
www.google.com www.google.com
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Thing is Hugh that we topped up the Honda with 800km of derv before setting off not knowing that the autoroutes were closed. But we only just got home with around 50km in the tank. Because we couldn't use the autoroutes as nobody else could, we ended up travelling almost half as long again as when we travelled there and spent ages crawling in low gears behind solid traffic jams for hours. It is the Iberian >< Eastern European haulage route.

On our normal commute to northern Spain, 660km, a tankful will just get us there in six and a half hours, a lot of which is af 130kph with the air-con on. In a 500km rated EV I would have to stop somewhere between Toulouse and Carcassonne at either an autoroute service area or at a supermarket just off the autoroute. Neither option is prefferable to the quiet picnic spot at the side of the Canal du Midi or the riverside one where we usually stop to walk the dog and have a relaxed picnic lunch. At L'Estartit I only know of two public chargers, one more site at a nearby town and the arm & a leg priced one at a Repsol garage.

Other personal issues that restricts our choice are the need to fit a dog cage in the boot and still leave room for luggage for four people and I'm not ready to give up AWD for access to my fishing spots. I'd need a soft roader at least and they are really only just becoming available at what we want to pay.
 
I stopped counting when I passed 100 rapid or ultra rapid chargers along the Canal du Midi. I know you have your reasons for not wanting to take the step, but lack of chargers cannot be one of them. As I said it's a mindset thing and a 20 minute stop for the toilet or a coffee isn't going to mess up your day. Hopefully a suitable all wheel drive car will come out soon.
 
Steep said:
I stopped counting when I passed 100 rapid or ultra rapid chargers along the Canal du Midi. I know you have your reasons for not wanting to take the step, but lack of chargers cannot be one of them. As I said it's a mindset thing and a 20 minute stop for the toilet or a coffee isn't going to mess up your day. Hopefully a suitable all wheel drive car will come out soon.
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Are those chargers for cars? There were none that I could see on the stretch just south of Toulouse. And locally, other than in larger towns there are few accessible chargers.

The situation is nearly there. From a day to day point of view it is feasible. But, like Toni, we have maybe three or four trips a year when an EV could be a pita and I would like some clarity regards real life ranges when using heaters and air-con as they could have more impact than in diesel cars. It is those long distance trips that cause the most stress.
 
Clive K said:
Are those chargers for cars? There were none that I could see on the stretch just south of Toulouse. And locally, other than in larger towns there are few accessible chargers.

The situation is nearly there. From a day to day point of view it is feasible. But, like Toni, we have maybe three or four trips a year when an EV could be a pita and I would like some clarity regards real life ranges when using heaters and air-con as they could have more impact than in diesel cars. It is those long distance trips that cause the most stress.
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Yes, all CCS rapid or ultra rapid. There are almost as many AC charger (slow 7 or 22kwh) for overnight charging.
From experience using air con/ heating takes about 5% off the range on a ~200 mile trip.
In the end only you know what you want from a car and what you are willing or not to change about your habits.

As for where the chargers are, use Google maps, search for canal du midi and EV chargers and see what comes up.
 
I have looked. They might be some in nearby towns, but not alongside the canal which is where we stop off.
 
Clive K said:
I have looked. They might be some in nearby towns, but not alongside the canal which is where we stop off.
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This sounds a little like us - if we stop overnight in Calais before the drive down, we pass through lots of villages over the final few hours, and normally stop for lunch by the lake at Prusy. With an EV we would have to stop in Tonnerre, probably at the hypermarche to recharge, instead. While this is functional, it's not pleasant.

If having an EV is important to you then then the inconvenience pales by comparison, but if it's not really what you want then it's amplified.
 
ancient_mariner said:
This sounds a little like us - if we stop overnight in Calais before the drive down, we pass through lots of villages over the final few hours, and normally stop for lunch by the lake at Prusy. With an EV we would have to stop in Tonnerre, probably at the hypermarche to recharge, instead. While this is functional, it's not pleasant.

If having an EV is important to you then then the inconvenience pales by comparison, but if it's not really what you want then it's amplified.
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It's the "instead" bit that I fail to get. A stop to charge can be as little as 15 or 20 minutes. Ok if you have time constraints like catching a ferry etc it might be awkward if you hadn't planned for it but if you're just tootling South on your holidays 20 minutes isn't a big deal.
I do understand the negativity towards the idea, I was the same until I had to drive electric for work. The mindset changes quickly though once the move is made.
 
Steep said:
It's the "instead" bit that I fail to get. A stop to charge can be as little as 15 or 20 minutes. Ok if you have time constraints like catching a ferry etc it might be awkward if you hadn't planned for it but if you're just tootling South on your holidays 20 minutes isn't a big deal.
I do understand the negativity towards the idea, I was the same until I had to drive electric for work. The mindset changes quickly though once the move is made.
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The instead is that we can stop in a beauty spot or we can sit in a supermarket car park. Sure we could do both, but then I would really begrudge the time spent in the car park.
 
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