Electric Cars, Anyone Got One?

[swarfendor437 14]

On 22/11/2019 at 18:36, swarfendor437 said:

It is quite laughable! There was a snippet of BBC coverage on an Extinction Rebellion event and a lady in the crowd suggested that Joe Public should get some government handouts to change form diesel to electric. It's a bit like the scenario where a person was once asked where they thought meat came from that lived on Supermarket shelves - the answer? A factory! They were not aware that meat was from a living animal - they thought it was manufactured (Matrix de ja vu!). OK, so let's take a look at Electric Vehicles. What is the crucial component for any rechargeable battery ... Carbon. Where does Carbon come from? Well, 60% of the World's Carbon is extracted in mines in Central Africa, reportedly in the past using up to as many 12,000 children as slave labour to extract it with no protection gear; similarly men who are employed to extract Carbon only receive $2 for 12 hours work. What happens to the Carbon once it has been extracted? It gets shipped (all that diesel being pumped into the atmosphere and sea by Goods Tankers) to Japan and China for processing before being shipped once again to where it is needed. I wonder if it has been lost on anybody that Tesla's factory (in China!) is having difficulty keeping up with demand. So Tesla Cars get shipped (more pollution) to where the electric cars are in demand.

 

http://www.easywebdesignsolutions.com/phellyer/aboutus.html

 

Oops! Not Carbon - Cobalt: https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/business/batteries/congo-cobalt-mining-for-lithium-ion-battery/?

 

[DeZeus 11]

On 28/12/2019 at 12:17, the_bloke said:

Would you have spent £65 a month on leasing the battery if it was a ten year old car?

Yes, for A NEW Car, it was a good deal for us at the time, (It could have been dearer for a better range battery) we were led to believe that they would only lease the batteries, because no one would then have to pay the full cost. My understanding was that they were being recycled after their two or three year contracts, then used cars started with new or rejuvenated batteries. But that could have been sales <removed>!

Edited January 10, 2020 by nikki-red

[blackydog 40]

Not strictly appropriate to my original thread question but as part of buyer due diligence, I have looked at some replacement parts for the EV Leaf and also ICE VW T-Cross. The higher spec models have LED headlights in which the "bulb" cannot be replaced alone. Unit replacements are approx £800 and £900 each!

[carosio 186]

That's probably why they're expensive to insure, and should the electic motor go wrong.... although they are proving reliable.

 

Interesting comment from a US site:

 

What Can Fail on an Electric Car Engine?

Essentially, there are two possible points of failure on an electric car engine and these are the battery and the connections. The battery problem is one that no amateur mechanic can handle and the same applies to problems with connections. These can be extremely complex and will need specialized equipment to trace any defects.

[geared 315]

On 31/12/2019 at 15:56, DeZeus said:

Yes, for A NEW Car, it was a good deal for us at the time, (It could have been dearer for a better range battery) we were led to believe that they would only lease the batteries, because no one would then have to pay the full cost. My understanding was that they were being recycled after their two or three year contracts, then used cars started with new or rejuvenated batteries. But that could have been sales <Removed>!

 

You'd need to check the fine-print, but chances are after the contract they simply test the battery and if it's not on it's arse it stays in the car.

Makes buying a used vehicle a minefield, as you need to figure out quite how thrashed the battery is.

 

There's been good news on the packs that you get in a Tesla, some have retained almost full capacity after extensive use.

However the cynic in me says French electrics have long been know to be an issue so I wouldn't expect the same from them.

 

  

On 04/01/2020 at 08:13, blackydog said:

Not strictly appropriate to my original thread question but as part of buyer due diligence, I have looked at some replacement parts for the EV Leaf and also ICE VW T-Cross. The higher spec models have LED headlights in which the "bulb" cannot be replaced alone. Unit replacements are approx £800 and £900 each!

 

The caveat in that is that bulb failures are quite rare though, certainly nothing like old Halogen lights.

My last car had Xenon lights, it still had the same bulbs it left the factory with in 2004.  I think as technology has progressed bulb life has massively increased.

Edited January 10, 2020 by nikki-red

[spider1 11]

Not only that is it . A bit of an accident and not just a new lense and bulb 30 pound but a thousand 

pound plus what a load of rubbish E . V are

[Albert the Cat 0]

18 hours ago, spider1 said:

Not only that is it . A bit of an accident and not just a new lense and bulb 30 pound but a thousand 

pound plus what a load of rubbish E . V are

So all EVs have a thousand pound bulbs?

 

What are you lot talking about?

 

I would never buy a second hand car. I lease them through work where the cost of the rental is taken from my gross salary so it reduces my income tax bill and effectively makes the rental 40% less. Also, never have to worry about insurance or servicing as it is part of the deal. Best way to do it. 

Edited January 7, 2020 by Albert the Cat

[Delphene 0]

These new electric cars are expensive, are they worth it? What is the long term potential for breaking down ? Personally, I wouldn't even consider purchasing one. I have been driving many years, and reside about 100 yards from a petrol station, so it's very convenient to purchase petrol. I feel it's all about money, as usual. The car manufacturers are the ones cashing in ! It's a case of beating the Joneses,with a new fangled posh car. That's fine, if you have loades of money ! As usual, time will tell, as it does with most things.

[blackydog 40]

On 06/01/2020 at 20:03, spider1 said:

Not only that is it . A bit of an accident and not just a new lense and bulb 30 pound but a thousand 

pound plus what a load of rubbish E . V are

Not just EVs have LED headlights. I did say VW did too. 

[bkcin 10]

On 07/01/2020 at 15:14, Delphene said:

These new electric cars are expensive, are they worth it? What is the long term potential for breaking down ? Personally, I wouldn't even consider purchasing one. I have been driving many years, and reside about 100 yards from a petrol station, so it's very convenient to purchase petrol. I feel it's all about money, as usual. The car manufacturers are the ones cashing in ! It's a case of beating the Joneses,with a new fangled posh car. That's fine, if you have loades of money ! As usual, time will tell, as it does with most things.

E.V.s typically have way less moving parts and less things to "go wrong" and generally speaking eletronic parts are much more reliable than mechanical parts which wear out. 

[geared 315]

Parts costs aren't the worry, it will be the depreciation you should be scared of.

As an emerging technology progress will be pretty swift, the main issues like battery capacity and charge times will get sorted.

 

As each new generation comes to the market the previous one becomes very unappealing, we could very well find cars approaching 10 years old are totally worthless and end up on the scrap heap, simply because they're just out of date.

 

Take for example the first generation Renault Zoe, it was released 7 years ago now.  Packing a 22kWh battery it was good for less than 100 miles, Renault themselves estimated 63miles suburban.

Even now thats completely pathetic, useful for nothing more than short trips around a city (where you should be able to use public transport anyway).

 

 

Edited January 10, 2020 by geared

[spider1 11]

3 minutes ago, geared said:

Parts costs aren't the worry, it will be the depreciation you should be scared of.

As an emerging technology progress will be pretty swift, the main issues like battery capacity and charge times will get sorted.

 

As each new generation comes to the market the previous one becomes very unappealing, we could very well find cars approaching 10 years old are totally worthless and end up on the scarp heap, simply because they've so quickly become out of date.

When this when that all load rubbish e v will never work on there own anyone who pays 30.000pounds for one of these is brain washed. Hybreds are as good as it it gets at the moment and they cost to much and more expensive to run than a normal car as you will know if you had one. Every one is waiting for an answer and it aint here yet so save your money