The joys of electric car ownership!
- Thread starter flying haggis
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Just to throw my hat in the ring as an owner of a Hybrid car.
I have owned my car for nearly 2 years. I pay no tax on it whatsoever and it costs me approximatly £10 per 100 miles in fuel. But now this year I have seen my car insurance double at least and can't seem to get a reasonable explanation as to why except from my car mechanic. He told me that because of the "volatile nature" of the batteries inside EV's any crash or prang an EV may have, the battery is deemed too unsafe to continue on the road as it is seen as a grenade waiting to go off. Even though my car is half petrol, half electric, with a relatively small battery in comparison with a standard EV, it is still seen as a risk to insurers.
Car companies are pushing the whole "self charging hybrid" more than EV's lately and yet much of the savings I have made on mine are now being eaten up by the insurance company. I have been fighting the knee jerk urge to sell the car and go back to a simpler car as I hope that this whole price hike thing will pass over in the future along with other price hikes.
I have owned my car for nearly 2 years. I pay no tax on it whatsoever and it costs me approximatly £10 per 100 miles in fuel. But now this year I have seen my car insurance double at least and can't seem to get a reasonable explanation as to why except from my car mechanic. He told me that because of the "volatile nature" of the batteries inside EV's any crash or prang an EV may have, the battery is deemed too unsafe to continue on the road as it is seen as a grenade waiting to go off. Even though my car is half petrol, half electric, with a relatively small battery in comparison with a standard EV, it is still seen as a risk to insurers.
Car companies are pushing the whole "self charging hybrid" more than EV's lately and yet much of the savings I have made on mine are now being eaten up by the insurance company. I have been fighting the knee jerk urge to sell the car and go back to a simpler car as I hope that this whole price hike thing will pass over in the future along with other price hikes.
I won't argue with a Luddite. I've said my piece and it indicates the future, not the past.
Happy Daze...
Agent_zed
Established Member
sorry think we were agreeing as i was being sarcastic that we should only stick with the past, whilst forgetting all the problems the past had in it's initial stages that are overlooked.
John on the Wirral
Established Member
Full EV is not the answer and will cost you as much to run. I am on my third hybrid Kia which is a PHEV which I am thrilled with. OK so I am retired and worked out that the majority of my runs were local. I have had it a year now almost and covered just over 2,500 miles and on my second tank of petrol. However,I do make sure that I use the the IC engine both to stop it going rusty!! and avoid the problems of stale fuel. My energy provider provides with leccy at 7.5p/unit from 9.30pm until 01.30am. Of course use of washing macines etc are banned until 9.30pm! I have invested in a decent smart charger which,as all new builds must include one, will put value on my house I believe. Also,everyone should avoid using public chargers not only because of cost but also because they get heavy rough use so become less efficient over time - I believe a lady was fined £100 for overstaying her welcome at a charge point by ten minutes because the charger did not give what was due in the normal 40 minutes. I treat my expensive charger with great care have installed inside my garage.
Regarding the future hydrogen is not the future either as it uses fossil fuels to create. I believe Toyota have stopped producing electric cars for the home market turning to hydrogen. Up to now they have been buying anthracite from Autralia to produce it but they have done a deal whereby the hydrogen is produced in Australia and Japan sends special tankers to get it - nice footprint for Japan but lousy for the Aussies - some deal!
The answer has to be nuclear fusion with all that "free" energy from the Sun!
Regarding the future hydrogen is not the future either as it uses fossil fuels to create. I believe Toyota have stopped producing electric cars for the home market turning to hydrogen. Up to now they have been buying anthracite from Autralia to produce it but they have done a deal whereby the hydrogen is produced in Australia and Japan sends special tankers to get it - nice footprint for Japan but lousy for the Aussies - some deal!
The answer has to be nuclear fusion with all that "free" energy from the Sun!
Agent_zed
Established Member
? some may currently be produced with fossil fuels but the point of Hydrogen is to create it when you have excess wind and solar power and then use it when you need it. There will be times when wind/solar produce more than is needed so this excess can be stored.
Nationalgrid say that on a day in nov 22 77% of all the UKs electric needs was created by wind power alone. Whilst that is only 1 day this will become more commonplace as more solar and wind farms are installed. We'll get to the point where you need to 'dump' this energy somewhere so makes sense to store it as something you can use.
You only get cheap elec at night because it is more efficient to leave the power stations running and in most cases you will be charging your car with fossil fuel power or nuclear fusion (which has it's own environmental problems), as it certainly won't be solar.
Phil Pascoe
Established Member
Install ten times more and they still won't make any difference on a still night.
Agent_zed
Established Member
indeed, which is why a diverse system is best encompasing Hydro, Wind, Solar, Geo Thermal,Tidal, biomass etc. Then create storage systems such as sand 'Batteries' and Hydrogen production for when there is over production.
Terry - Somerset
Established Member
The UK, and I suspect most other developed nations, are presently going through serious transitional aggravation. Most issues are capable of resolution through investment, plausible technological improvements, changes to behaviours etc.
The alternative - stick with proven technologies and solutions. This would delight some/many who have difficulty believing change can happen. Rather than focus on the "now" problems, we should contrast the outcome of policies adopted 10-20 years in the future.
A fossil fuelled future is reliance on imported energy, pollution, climate change projections (deniers won't be bothered by this). Energy sources are limited in supply and likely to become increasingly expensive. Depending on what the rest of the world does, the UK may become a pariah state.
It is almost certainly illusory to believe that delay will improve the outcome - inertia, however rational it sounds, is rarely a recipe for success. At some point the transition will need to be made - it will likely be no less fraught than it is now.
The current pathway is far more positive, albeit not without risk. In 10-20 years
The alternative - stick with proven technologies and solutions. This would delight some/many who have difficulty believing change can happen. Rather than focus on the "now" problems, we should contrast the outcome of policies adopted 10-20 years in the future.
A fossil fuelled future is reliance on imported energy, pollution, climate change projections (deniers won't be bothered by this). Energy sources are limited in supply and likely to become increasingly expensive. Depending on what the rest of the world does, the UK may become a pariah state.
It is almost certainly illusory to believe that delay will improve the outcome - inertia, however rational it sounds, is rarely a recipe for success. At some point the transition will need to be made - it will likely be no less fraught than it is now.
The current pathway is far more positive, albeit not without risk. In 10-20 years
- the UK could be self sufficient in green (including nuclear) energy
- gaps in generation (wind not blowing etc) could be met by integrating vehicle batteries into the domestic power network
- excess green generation could electrolytically produce hydrogen for those applications for which battery is unsuitable.
John Brown
Freeloading Social media influenza
I think there might be enough fossils on this forum alone to provide fossil fuel for the next few decades, if only we could accelerate the process.
Jameshow
Established Member
Hydrogen could easily be the answer if wind, tide and solar energyis used in its creation.
Phil, I took your post literally and, after reading some of the daft posts, I carried on beliving you were genuine.
The subtlety missed me...sorry.
clogs
just can't decide
nobody has mentiond this as an alternative........hahaha.......
EV's although a great idea, it's just for a few to make billions of £'s from from the masses.....
as for public transport, less cars on the road might give us an intergrated service instead of what available.....
def more trams are needed.....
EV's although a great idea, it's just for a few to make billions of £'s from from the masses.....
as for public transport, less cars on the road might give us an intergrated service instead of what available.....
def more trams are needed.....
It is an interesting fact that the millionaire bankrolling the Stop oil clowns has made his money from a "green energy" company. Probaly by the sleight of hand Off set Tax credits etc. As used by the "so called celebs. for their private jet travel.
Jameshow
Established Member
"Just ask them if thier naan has a heart attack will they turn away the diesel ambulance?"!!!
Terry Rogers
New member
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Why are they assuming it's a diesel van it's more likely to be an electric one.
John Brown
Freeloading Social media influenza
Yeah, right! That'll teach 'em!
Indian flatbread flatlining because eco-clown refuses diesel ambulance!
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And although the insurance companies are doing this it is utter rubbish, the same could be said about a fuel tank with a sender unit cracked by an impact. Yes batteries can catch fire and if they do your not going to put them out. The same is true of a car fire if the petrol tank is involved. The difference is the possible delay between impact and ignition, it's a relatively new tech with different issues and we all have to understand the differences, it takes a while even in the industry. The simple fact is less electric vehicles burn. True I am biased towards EV but that's because I spent 20+ years as a crash test engineer.
Please (insert name of chosen deity) not trams! Electric buses, hydrogen buses, even stored kinetic energy buses but when you put the things on rails or run from overhead lines all flexibility is lost.
