Electric vans

[bigspark17]

Any body have or thinking about getting an electric van?

im considering the vivaro e. The 50kw battery will do 143 miles which is more than enough for me. With the goverment grant of 20% off zero emmisions vans up to £8000 its coming out at onlu a few grand more than a new vivaro diesel. British made and also a good usefor the BBL. any views?

 

[Ian Mills]

Interesting, but too small and I still can't get past the price, well out of my reach. I was surprised at the weight too, though that should have been obvious as it's filled with the batteries. I get the feeling I'd be using the engine more than the batteries alone to save the hassle of finding somewhere to charge it and then waiting for it to charge.

I do like the look of it and think it will last a long time but like you a bit small and expensive, I can not understand why has it got a max range on the engine option or is that just that you will need to refill with petrol. But saying that I think maybe not this but the same sort of hybrid is what we will all end up driving after 2040 when straight petrol and diesel are band, Top gear some years ago had a bit about electric cars where they built something up with a diesel generator in the back (as a bit of a joke) but looks same idea is being used on this

 

[Zerax]

Glad to see my op has generated alot of responses in the subject. However i have decied to go with a bran new vivaro L2 120ps diesel as i feel more comfortable than taking a risk in the unknown market. Hope next time i buy new in 4/5yrs i will have enough confidence to buy electric.

I'm still wavering towards an electric one... but I think that's more driven by personal motives and the marketing angle of installing EV charging whilst using an EV.

 

[nicebutdim]

Sorry to ressurect an old thread, but Youtube thought I should watch this and couldn't help thinking back to the EV discussion here.

 

[pc1966]

Just looked on the Zap-Map here:

Understanding electric vehicle connector types | Charging guide - Zapmap

How long does it take to charge an electric car? Learn about charging standards, compatibility, and make informed decisions for your EV charging needs.

www.zap-map.com

Looks like there are at least 7 different connectors in use. WTF, would anyone accept needing 7 different types of petrol at each petrol station?

 

[Mike Johnson]

Evangelist of electric cars/vans will never admit there may be a problem with what they have bought ?, but then that applies to all of us with something we have paid a lot for.

 

[Zerax]

Yes... there is definitely an issue with standardisation of connector... similar to VHS vs Betamax... as well as several other issues. However, things are changing in this new industry... the same as every other new industry.

But to address the specific query here... you need to remember that at present, only 5% ish of EV charging will happen at public chargers... the rest is done at home where different connectors are not an issue.

As I'm sure I've said frequently... you need to look at what works for the 80% of cases... not what works for the 1% of cases... 'low hanging fruit' or 'Pareto' principle.

 

[nicebutdim]

It's inevitable that we'll all have to drive Electric Vehicles in the near future - at least until a better option becomes viable. The rights and wrongs are as important as the fact that politicians are moving in this direction and they make the laws.

I see an untapped niche in the market for double insulated jerry cans.

 

[Mike Johnson]

It's inevitable that we'll all have to drive Electric Vehicles in the near future - at least until a better option becomes viable. The rights and wrongs are as important as the fact that politicians are moving in this direction and they make the laws.

I see an untapped niche in the market for double insulated jerry cans.

In the future we will not be able to drive anywhere the whole world will be covered in wind farms and solar panels.

 

[pc1966]

But to address the specific query here... you need to remember that at present, only 5% ish of EV charging will happen at public chargers... the rest is done at home where different connectors are not an issue.

Unfortunately I think the majority of households do not have the option of home charging as they have no driveway. If you live in a block of flats, or even on a typical street of terraced houses where you have no reserved parking space (and every fsker seems to have 2 cars per household so finding a space is a lottery), you are out of options.

Just now the "early adopters" are in the upper income range and have home charge options, how to scale that to the majority remains to be seen.

Sure EV will be the future one way or another, but for now it is simply not an option for me and others in my position as (a) I have no home charge option, and (b) my main long-distance destinations don't either (as well as the round-trip being worryingly close to a typical EV's range).

 

[nicebutdim]

In the future we will not be able to drive anywhere the whole world will be covered in wind farms and solar panels.

I note that a recent Dutch study concluded that powering their country solely by means of wind and solar would require a land area 1.8x greater than Holland.

 

[pirate]

I live in a flat. Every flat has a garage, all of which form the ground floor of the block, and all have basic pwer and light installed. Each also has a parking space in front of the garage. However, most modern cars are too big to get into the garages. Only one neighbour uses her garage for its intended purpose and she drives a small car, a Toyota Aygo. Only one proprietor has an electric car, but of course he has to charge it while it is parked outside his garage. I suspect he had a non-compliant charging setup (he's moved away now, but his flat was full of dodgy electrics, some of which I have posted pics of previously) and there is no evidence of what charger he had. I suppose I might buy an electric car of some sort next time as my daily mileage is normally minimal nowadays, but i will hold on to my current diesel car as long as possible as it gives me a range of over 500 miles on a tankful, and I like that flexibilty for weekends away, not that I'm doing much of that at the moment. I would struggle to visit my sister in Ardnamurchan in an electric vehicle as there are very few, if any, charging points on the route, and she doesn't have a charger either. EVs may be suitable for many, but certainly not for me.

 

[pc1966]

Were it not for the serious problem of home charging for me, an EV would be great as my typical mileage per day is around 30 at most so no range problems (other than trips to family where the round-trip and no remote charging point, is around 180 miles).

 

[freddo]

I also don't do many miles, the main issue for me is the cost of the car!

 

[Mike Johnson]

A fair few leased electric cars are coming to the end of the leasing period and will be available on the second hand market, the only thing I would be wary of would be the battery life left, but I don't think it will bother me in my lifetime. ?

 

[Zerax]

EVs may be suitable for many, but certainly not for me.

Exactly what I said... EVs work well for many many many people... but NOT all. But that's only the current position... as EVs become more mainstream we'll slowly see many of the obstacles to ownership being overcome... it's all very normal for any new technology.

 

[Mike Johnson]

Conversely EVs don't work for many, many, many more people, this technology will be forced onto the rest of us in the future and they will become mainstream, but at a cost to our countryside that we will never get back, the whole side of a hill disappeared into a river in County Down recently because the pine forest had been cut down to make way for a wind farm, the local councils objections on the development to the APB due to environmental issues was ignored and the planning permission was fast tracked as Strategic Infrastructure, bypassing the local council and going directly to "An Board Pleanala" who approved the project, this is just part of the ongoing Meenbog project which is still ongoing despite this ecological disaster to the river, its this sort of news that is never made public on the other side of the ongoing drive to make us all use more electricity than at the moment we can't produce ecologically sufficiently without destroying our countryside.

 

[nicebutdim]

*Co Donegal

It was a huge peat slip. The great irony is that a lot of former bog land has been deforested, at great expense, in an effort at restoring peat bogs.

 

[Mike Johnson]

Yes in total 182 acres which ran into the River Mournebeg a tributary of the river Derg, part of the river Foyle all areas of Conservation (SAC)