Electric car pulling a caravan
Comments
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I can’t comment about towing. Indeed, I have nothing to tow but the positive experiences and explanations reported here certainly inspired me to find out more and, ultimately, to take the plunge into EV ownership.
I think we're all fully aware of the of the difficulties for those who cannot charge at home and of the need for more public charging points but the latter are increasing day by day. Really, I think those negatives are overplayed here and they aren’t negatives at all for a lot of folk who find the positives far outweigh any drawbacks.
I’d like to thank those folk like ChocT and yourself who reported on experiences with various forms of EVs as real life feedback from users is worth far more than hearsay. You opened my eyes to the positives.
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We are watching with interest as well, things are definitely improving. Wouldn’t be a tow vehicle, just something smaller for mainly local commuting.
Our next door neighbours have EV’s. They had a Phev when they moved in, now have a Polestar. The Phev was ditched in favour of an ICE Range Rover, as long daily commute, it proved slippy.0 -
I take it all those who. are looking at the positive end of EVs haave easy access to chargers which if you did not have like so very many of the Uk population,would you have been so positive,? Truthfully? And bought /leased one yet?
The only type of vehicle that would be a viable proposition in this area would be a self charging hibrid at this time, even bru has an ice range extender
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Gosh! Are they using the RR for the commute and not the Polestar? It must be very very long! Which PHEV did they have that was slippery?
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JV, it goes without saying that I’m one of those who don’t find the negatives you’re so fond of repeating an issue at all. Therefore, your question becomes rhetorical.
We all get it that you don’t consider EVs viable in your area - goodness, you’ve told us often enough.
That’s a very puzzling comment you made regarding Brue's car as I understand she can charge at home so there’s no problem for her at all. Why bring it into the equation?🤷🏻♂️
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Would you believe it would make a world of difference in this area
And as for mentioning the lack off charging possibilities if was just area then it would not be a subject that keeps needing for those(which there are millions) contemplating a full EV
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Where exactly is “in this area”.
Let’s turn it around. Imagine you did have access to easy charging (home, street, public overnight), would you be interested if you could save say 60% of your running costs?
As you say, many people in the uk do not have access to off street parking, but most do (according to the AA).
In my town we have 18 fast (7kW) public charging posts open to anyone. Currently they are completely free. For most in town they are at most a 15-20 min walk away (much closer for others). For those that commute to Milton Keynes or Northampton (20-25 mile round trip), charging overnight once a week is enough to commute all week.
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What would make a world of difference?🤔
I wouldn’t mind anyone now and again mentioning the lack of charging availability in the UK as it is fact and something we all know but why do you feel the need to keep repeating yourself? You're coming across as one who posts negatively just for the sake of it which is unfortunate in such a constructive useful thread as this.
Millions? Have you done a survey of the nation and established that, JV? Perhaps you can supply a link.
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The millions is a well known fact with the majority of new dwellings now being biult are flats (sorry apartments)
As posted earlier even the contractors installing the latest new lampposts in our road have said the reason for them not having EV charging facilties because the infrastructure (underground cables) would not cope with the add power needed when all the streetlights are on and overnight EV is required
you could always do a google map of the area AL 8,7 HH
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My question was enquiring how you know there are millions of people contemplating an EV. That was what you said. Maybe it wasn’t what you meant but it was what you said.
Googling St Albans postcodes will tell us nothing.
I'm leaving it there as you’re going round in circles to no avail.
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No local infrastructure in AL8? Looked at zap map. The 1st place I find is a 42 charger carpark with free charging at an overnight cost of £3.70. For 75kWh (my usable battery) that equates to less than 5p per kWh. For my incoming Fiat, (49kWh) it’s the same as I pay at home today (7.5ppkWh).
That sounds pretty usable.
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Local?the industrial area where Tesco HQ is the EV chargers are no available to other than those who work there there are 4very expensive Charging points at our local shops that no one uses as they are not working more often than available
Those that would give sensible suggestions have yet to post
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The range extender (rex) is a small generator which acts as a battery charger, it doesn't drive the engine at all. We can use the REX if needed on long journeys it requires 8 pints of petrol! This was a clever addition now dropped in Europe but I think still used elsewhere. Minimum particulate emissions.
I'm only responding to this as I have done previously with JVB so that any newcomers understand this design feature.
Our normal running procedure is to charge at home. There is a Polestar owner not far from us, end of terrace with a charger on the wall and the car is charged on the street. There are so many permutations and obviously there are going to be local situations where charging at home is not a possibility just the same as everyone at present with an ice engine has to go to a fuel station. I think we are in the realms of the whatsit obvious here, we don't need to hear this over and over again!!
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Out of interest, Brue, are you able to control the regenerative braking on your car? I’m pondering whether the rex may have been fitted as an alternative to regen for battery charging on the move.
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Whilst there may be workarounds on charging which also may improve over time, the biggest barrier must surely be capital outlay. AFAICS one is going to have to shell out around £50K or more for all but the most modest of vehicles.
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I can assure you I shelled out nothing like that, CY, and although mine's not a tow car, it’s far from modest😂😂
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Yes we can use the regenerative braking etc. The rex only gets used when the mileage reaches a certain level. I can't remember at present what remaining mileage is needed for the rex to come in automatically but we use it occasionally just to keep topped up with battery power on long journeys. We can over ride most of the systems to suit. However we rarely use the rex and the car computer switches it on occasionally just to keep it in running order. It was a good invention I presume the tiny bit of fuel needed didn't fit in with EU green credentials so it was dropped.
It would have been very useful for towing vehicles.
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Thanks. Seems it truly was an extra rather than an instead of.
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TW, regen braking is fundamental to almost all EVs. The notable exceptions being E-bikes, E-scooters and golf-carts :-)
The I3 Rex and Vauxhall Ampera had the same system with a decent sized battery allowing for most daily journeys to be undertaken in electric only mode. The major saving over a “regular” PHEV being no gear box or transmission. The engine was designed to run at optimum load to deliver the average power needed for a journey (I.e. cruising power at 55 to 60 mph) rather than accelerating or overtaking power. That made it much smaller than an ICE that had to the same job. The Outlander has a similar system, but adds direct drive of the ICE to the wheels via a single speed gearbox for higher speed cruising only.
The formula was very successful for those cars (Chevy Volt is the US version of the Ampera).
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Thanks, ChocT. So, if I've got this right, the I3 Rex and Ampera were rather like the usual hybrids but with bigger batteries making them predominantly electric with small back up ICE power and with a plug-in facility. Or, you could say they were like PHEVs but with the batteries providing the largest proportion of power.
There's an awful lot to get our heads around and each system has pros and cons.
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Mmm, strange. You'd have thought if it was an emissions issues then we'd have seen the demise of all forms of hybrid. Perhaps it was production issues/costs🤷♂️
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