The joys of electric car ownership!

[worn thumbs]

The motor industry !!! Our mini is 20yo previous polo same, VW caravelle 13yrs.
Ditto my previous Volvos!

The cars that aren't long lived are EV cars any that are in accidents are totalled!! No chance of repair due to the electrics!!

Once a Battery fails the car is US no one can swap them yet, unlike engines.

I do wonder about some of that,I would expect that batteries could be replaced,but at a considerable cost.Which might perhaps be brought down a touch by dismantling those EV's that have been written off due to bodywork damage.It has to be considered that the weight of an EV requires more energy to be dissipated in the event of a collision and the non EV that has the misfortune to collide with it could come off much worse.To use a woodworking analogy,which is more painful-hitting your thumb with a tack hammer or a lump hammer?

 

[niall Y]

Maybe all vehicles should come with their own " end of life" certificates, and be returned to the manufacturer for disposal.

 

[paulrbarnard]

Maybe all vehicles should come with their own " end of life" certificates, and be returned to the manufacturer for disposal.

This is actually a proposal being debated in EU

 

[Phil Pascoe]

The manufacturers would go bankrupt every few years and reemerge under a different name.

edit - I know builders who do this.

 

[niall Y]

This is actually a proposal being debated in EU

How logical ! Perhaps it could be extended to other goods.

 

[paulrbarnard]

How logical ! Perhaps it could be extended to other goods.

Given it is the EU debating it it’s safe to assume it will cover everything including bananas

 

[Terry - Somerset]

In time I would expect a thriving market to develop in EV battery replacement and repair.

Vehicle components of far lesser value are recycled from either accident damaged or older vehicles. It would be a surprise if the same were not the case with EV batteries at 10 or 20 times the value.

Current constraints on the business:

• too small a market - but growing
• no/limited common components among different manufacturers
• battery design is evolving rapidly - unlike ICE components which may remain unchanged for a decade or more
• most EVs on the road are still within manufacturers battery warranty

 

[selectortone]

EVs built by Chinese car company NIO have swappable battery packs. There are more than 1800 'swap stations' in China already. They are planning to introduce the technology to the UK in 2024. Charge in the normal way or visit a swap station for a full battery in 5 minutes. Drive in, swap your battery pack and drive out again.

Nio's UK swap stations will change EV batteries in under five minutes | Autocar

 

[TRITON]

I think we're going to have to look to China to help us out with this one, and also leasing companies given the price of EV's. and to come up with town/city vehicles that you really only use for short journeys, rather than a range of 250-350 miles.

This is one of the problems the haters in the likes of the daily mail push. Saying that because it doesnt have a 50 billion mile range its just a con. Theres so many options need to be made available that are more suitable for individual needs than a single do it all.

And more infrastructure. Although there its really only a matter of time and the tabloids need to lighten up.

Rome wasnt built in a day.

 

[Jameshow]

In time I would expect a thriving market to develop in EV battery replacement and repair.

Vehicle components of far lesser value are recycled from either accident damaged or older vehicles. It would be a surprise if the same were not the case with EV batteries at 10 or 20 times the value.

Current constraints on the business:

• too small a market - but growing
• no/limited common components among different manufacturers
• battery design is evolving rapidly - unlike ICE components which may remain unchanged for a decade or more
• most EVs on the road are still within manufacturers battery warranty

I think they will become power banks to help balence the load when we have no wind or electricity.

 

[MikeJhn]

The hyperbole surrounding electric vehicles will eventually catch up with public opinion when we all realise that we have a one trick pony and are paying through the nose to a power grid that is making extortionate profits.

The power grid, will not be UK based for the benefit of the UK consumer, as our government will sell it off, Oh hang on they already have.

 

[worn thumbs]

I think we're going to have to look to China to help us out with this one, and also leasing companies given the price of EV's. and to come up with town/city vehicles that you really only use for short journeys, rather than a range of 250-350 miles.

This is one of the problems the haters in the likes of the daily mail push. Saying that because it doesnt have a 50 billion mile range its just a con. Theres so many options need to be made available that are more suitable for individual needs than a single do it all.

And more infrastructure. Although there its really only a matter of time and the tabloids need to lighten up.

Rome wasnt built in a day.

Do you suppose it took as long to build Rome as the time we have remaining before internal combustion engines sales are prohibited?That really is the absolute deadline we need to meet for both generating capacity and distribution of power.Interchangeable battery packs are a great idea,but will require a common standard.I can't imagine any car maker doing this voluntarily as they would lose their spares monopoly.An international standard would help us,just as it would with batteries for hand held tools.It took years for phone chargers to have standardisation thrust upon them,but it helped eventually.

 

[heimlaga]

Maybe all vehicles should come with their own " end of life" certificates, and be returned to the manufacturer for disposal.

The problem being that no ordinary people will be able to afford car ownership when all old cars just disappear into a black hole instead of being scavenged for parts.
Not the mention the persistant problem that an electic car becomes affordable at between 15 and 20 years of age. The battery is useless at 10-15 years. Therefore I predict that the in the future most cars owned by ordinary working class or middle class people will tow a trailer with a home built generator feeding the car through a cable. The generator being powered by either a diesel engine from a scrapped combine harvester or a coal fired steam engine.

 

[Fergie 307]

EVs built by Chinese car company NIO have swappable battery packs. There are more than 1800 'swap stations' in China already. They are planning to introduce the technology to the UK in 2024. Charge in the normal way or visit a swap station for a full battery in 5 minutes. Drive in, swap your battery pack and drive out again.

Nio's UK swap stations will change EV batteries in under five minutes | Autocar

Good idea just need an ISO spec for batteries, maybe scalable too. One battery for a little run about more for something bigger, will be interesting to see how it develops.

 

[Fergie 307]

I think we're going to have to look to China to help us out with this one, and also leasing companies given the price of EV's. and to come up with town/city vehicles that you really only use for short journeys, rather than a range of 250-350 miles.

This is one of the problems the haters in the likes of the daily mail push. Saying that because it doesnt have a 50 billion mile range its just a con. Theres so many options need to be made available that are more suitable for individual needs than a single do it all.

And more infrastructure. Although there its really only a matter of time and the tabloids need to lighten up.

Rome wasnt built in a day.

I always think of the little cars you see in Amsterdam for example, can't think off the top of my head what they are called. An electric car of that size with a range of say 50 or 60 miles would be ideal for many people for commuting etc, and ought to be cheap enough that people could actually afford one.

 

[Fergie 307]

I think they will become power banks to help balence the load when we have no wind or electricity.

Guy up the road from us is heavily into solar and has at least one old EV battery as storage, from a Nissan leaf I think.

 

[Fergie 307]

The motor industry !!! Our mini is 20yo previous polo same, VW caravelle 13yrs.
Ditto my previous Volvos!

The cars that aren't long lived are EV cars any that are in accidents are totalled!! No chance of repair due to the electrics!!

Once a Battery fails the car is US no one can swap them yet, unlike engines.

Same here. When you see the numbers of new cars being produced you wonder who on earth is buying them all. Crazy consumption, and becoming more needlessly complicated all the time. So many otherwise perfectly usable vehicles scrapped because of electronic issues and ECU either no longer available or impossible/prohibitively expensive to repair. Can there be anything else in our daily lives that costs so much, and yet is expected to have such a short life.

 

[Fergie 307]

The problem being that no ordinary people will be able to afford car ownership when all old cars just disappear into a black hole instead of being scavenged for parts.
Not the mention the persistant problem that an electic car becomes affordable at between 15 and 20 years of age. The battery is useless at 10-15 years. Therefore I predict that the in the future most cars owned by ordinary working class or middle class people will tow a trailer with a home built generator feeding the car through a cable. The generator being powered by either a diesel engine from a scrapped combine harvester or a coal fired steam engine.

A good point. By the time the battery packs up a replacement is likely to be far more than the car's value, so the whole thing gets scrapped. Lucrative for the manufacturer, but very wasteful.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

The problem being that no ordinary people will be able to afford car ownership when all old cars just disappear into a black hole instead of being scavenged for parts.
Not the mention the persistant problem that an electic car becomes affordable at between 15 and 20 years of age. The battery is useless at 10-15 years. Therefore I predict that the in the future most cars owned by ordinary working class or middle class people will tow a trailer with a home built generator feeding the car through a cable. The generator being powered by either a diesel engine from a scrapped combine harvester or a coal fired steam engine.

or a windmill on the roof?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I think the thing that worries many people about the lack of range is that there's little wriggle room if they get caught out with an unexpected long trip, e.g. to a child, a distant elderly relative or hospital. Great fun if you get half way to where you're going and can't find a charging point or haven't the time to use one. When I learned to drive I was taught never to let the petrol get so low I couldn't get somewhere in a hurry in the middle of the night.