Random EV thoughts.....

ELM327

I will not, ever, under any circumstances drive a made in China car. Not a hope.

ELM327

ELM327 wrote: »

I will not, ever, under any circumstances drive a made in China car. Not a hope.

Even a Chinese made Tesla? They can make good stuff when necessary, but they are a real threat to western car makers.

ELM327

ELM327 wrote: »

I will not, ever, under any circumstances drive a made in China car. Not a hope.

They don't care. They'll prosper on domestic demand supplemented by value conscious buyers in Europe and Middle East who will be fed these on the Silk Road Economic Belt as fast as they roll off the production line.

JPA

ELM327 wrote: »

I will not, ever, under any circumstances drive a made in China car. Not a hope.

They used to say the same about Japanese cars.

ELM327

Deleted User wrote: »

Even a Chinese made Tesla? They can make good stuff when necessary, but they are a real threat to western car makers.

Yes, even a chinese made Tesla. No chinese car, not now, not ever.

Deleted User wrote: »

They don't care. They'll prosper on domestic demand supplemented by value conscious buyers in Europe and Middle East who will be fed these on the Silk Road Economic Belt as fast as they roll off the production line.

I'll just import a US built one then.

ELM327

JPA wrote: »

They used to say the same about Japanese cars.

"They" may have, but I didnt.

I'm actually a fan of JDM cars. I used to own a z32 300zx fairlady, and currently have a JDM Toyota Corona in storage

JohnC.

There's likely loads of chinese in whatever you drive now anyway.

ELM327

JohnC. wrote: »

There's likely loads of chinese in whatever you drive now anyway.

A model S.
It's not chinese. Proudly built in the good old US of A, and one of the safest cars on the road.

the_amazing_raisin

ELM327 wrote: »

I will not, ever, under any circumstances drive a made in China car. Not a hope.

You say that but it's worth bearing in mind that you're probably posting to this website on something made in China

They can do good quality control when they want to, the problem is a lot of companies there go for the cheapest possible option and don't do any quality checking at all

the_amazing_raisin

graememk wrote: »

Maybe it's a case of "want it now!"

Haha, more of a case of trying to get the missus to stop driving around in a banged up old Citroen and get a proper car.

Also she's a car wrecker so something with fewer bits to break would be a good idea methinks

Laviski

so since buying electric earlier this year, today was the first morning with frost. Already had car set to preheat before leave, left house sat in warm car heated steering wheel with clear windows and saw neighbour scrapping ice of their ICE. Some call this an unnecessary perk but i say worth it

ELM327

Just parked the Tesla and collected my rental for the next 3 days. A 191 Skoda Octavia diesel manual. With manual "dumb" cruise.


I have to do nearly 1000km over the next two days (medical reasons) so this will be fun. Not.


Although, I filled it up for 35 quid from 3/8ths full. Probably 50 euro per tank, range showing as 950km on full.

So far it's a nice car but not even as nice inside as my Skoda Superb 2009 CR 170 DSG , let alone the tesla. Seems to retail around 20k (its a 191). I can think of many, many cars I'd spend 20k on before this!

cruisey1987 wrote: »

You say that but it's worth bearing in mind that you're probably posting to this website on something made in China

They can do good quality control when they want to, the problem is a lot of companies there go for the cheapest possible option and don't do any quality checking at all

Oh absolutely. But I'm not driving my phone or laptop.

obi604

ELM327 wrote: »

Just parked the Tesla and collected my rental for the next 3 days. A 191 Skoda Octavia diesel manual. With manual "dumb" cruise.


I have to do nearly 1000km over the next two days (medical reasons) so this will be fun. Not.


Although, I filled it up for 35 quid from 3/8ths full. Probably 50 euro per tank, range showing as 950km on full.

So far it's a nice car but not even as nice inside as my Skoda Superb 2009 CR 170 DSG , let alone the tesla. Seems to retail around 20k (its a 191). I can think of many, many cars I'd spend 20k on before this!

Sorry for the ignorance but would the Tesla not do the bulk of that driving with a couple of quick charges?

Or no fast chargers on route is it.

the_amazing_raisin

Laviski wrote: »

so since buying electric earlier this year, today was the first morning with frost. Already had car set to preheat before leave, left house sat in warm car heated steering wheel with clear windows and saw neighbour scrapping ice of their ICE. Some call this an unnecessary perk but i say worth it

Absolutely my favourite feature of owning an EV, just click the heating on from the phone and watch the frost melt, then get into a nice warm car

Another good thing is the climate control timer most EVs have now. It's proven useful during lockdown to give the car a decent airing every day and stop any damp or mould building up

the_amazing_raisin

obi604 wrote: »

Sorry for the ignorance but would the Tesla not do the bulk of that driving with a coupe of quick charges?

Or no fast chargers on route is it.

He mentioned medical reasons so I'm going to assume it's chronic diesel fume withdrawal. A lot of Model S owners suffer from it in particular because of the HEPA filters in the cabin

Casati

cruisey1987 wrote: »

Absolutely my favourite feature of owning an EV, just click the heating on from the phone and watch the frost melt, then get into a nice warm car


It is useful to remotely control the car in the way, especially as winter sets in - it’s not a feature that’s unique to EV mind you and I have similar on a diesel estate

tom1ie

ELM327 wrote: »

I will not, ever, under any circumstances drive a made in China car. Not a hope.

Just wondering but why?

innrain

I bet it is an automatic one. A few selected ICE models could have "winter pack" which includes warming up the car remotely or based on some schedule. With the EVs all of them are capable of this when plugged. This is a way of mitigating the increased consumption during cold days, as you don't use the battery in the first minutes to raise the cabin temperature from -32 to 22

unkel

obi604 wrote: »

Sorry for the ignorance but would the Tesla not do the bulk of that driving with a couple of quick charges?

Or no fast chargers on route is it.

His car can fast charge at any DC fast charger in Ireland

It's a Tesla, so it can natively super charge on Tesla superchargers. These are located between Dublin and Belfast, Dublin and Cork and Dublin and Limerick / Kerry. It is converted to CCS, so it can also charge on any CCS charger in Ireland (ESB, Ionity, Easygo, etc.) and he has a CHAdeMO cable, so again all the old ESB fast chargers will be good for this, any Nissan dealer. As all Teslas, it also has 3 phase AC charging at any ESB or other slow charge point in Ireland (about 1000 of them last time I checked)

And his car has a 300km motorway range @120km/h

I have absolutely no idea why he had to rent a car for that trip

garo

Because his Tesla is in Sandyford for scheduled work? Not sure what his Model X has by way or charging.

zg3409

Silent Running wrote: »

Would it be too much trouble for us to follow the UK lead on this and have every charger able to give a charge with a swipe of a debit or credit card, without being a member of any 'club'?

This was discussed here before. In UK all NEW chargers need to have credit card reader and ESB in London have bolted a separate card machine to outside of same chargers used in IRL. Easygo said their Cork 50kW will have a reader in the future but it involves replacing the display with a new one, if it works well they intend rolling out to their 50kW units. However there are additional fees to the user or company for micro payments which might be relatively high, and they want users to have their app so they can only see their chargers, and they might need to be forced by legislation. That is possible but it would need a campaign to tie it with future rollouts. Even in UK they are not required to retrofit and you can pay for a single charge session via credit card via the website without an account, but its not simple

Silent Running

zg3409 wrote: »

This was discussed here before. In UK all NEW chargers need to have credit card reader and ESB in London have bolted a separate card machine to outside of same chargers used in IRL. Easygo said their Cork 50kW will have a reader in the future but it involves replacing the display with a new one, if it works well they intend rolling out to their 50kW units. However there are additional fees to the user or company for micro payments which might be relatively high, and they want users to have their app so they can only see their chargers, and they might need to be forced by legislation. That is possible but it would need a campaign to tie it with future rollouts. Even in UK they are not required to retrofit and you can pay for a single charge session via credit card via the website without an account, but its not simple

In the UK it is already possible to swipe and charge without any membership, and has been for some years. Instavolt use the same machine as Easy-Go and it couldn't be simpler charging at their stations. Their rate for charging was about the same as Ecotricity when I last used it. No extra fee for just rocking up and charging. No fob, membership or secret handshake required, and no having to have 20 quid credit either... looking at you Ecars.

MJohnston

cruisey1987 wrote: »

Absolutely my favourite feature of owning an EV, just click the heating on from the phone and watch the frost melt, then get into a nice warm car

Another good thing is the climate control timer most EVs have now. It's proven useful during lockdown to give the car a decent airing every day and stop any damp or mould building up

In addition to this, another favourite feature of EVs for me is the complete lack of gears. I’m absolutely out of the manual gearbox game as I hate it intensely and it’s awful for your back. But even automatics still have that shifting interference with acceleration. An EV is just pure comfort.

innrain

MJohnston wrote: »

In addition to this, another favourite feature of EVs for me is the complete lack of gears. I’m absolutely out of the manual gearbox game as I hate it intensely and it’s awful for your back. But even automatics still have that shifting interference with acceleration. An EV is just pure comfort.

Yeah, these are features that are nearly not advertised by the salesreps. It's such an easy and relaxing drive. I rented a van few months back for few hours and it was a complete ... travel in time. We get stuck in arguments about range, charging network but never about how more advanced these machines are. How better experience is driving an EV through the city in a cold day. Have you ever kept the distance from the car in front of you worrying about the fumes?

the_amazing_raisin

MJohnston wrote: »

In addition to this, another favourite feature of EVs for me is the complete lack of gears. I’m absolutely out of the manual gearbox game as I hate it intensely and it’s awful for your back. But even automatics still have that shifting interference with acceleration. An EV is just pure comfort.

I had to drive the missus's car last summer to a wedding as it involved a double charge with the Leaf which is just a bit too inconvenient when you're on a deadline



First 30 seconds in the car went like this:


Wife: "You remember how to drive this car right? Like it's got gears and stuff"
Me: "Ah yeah, it'll be grand"


(Tries putting car in reverse without clutch, grinds gears)


Me: "Okay, maybe I'm a little out of practice"


Interestingly, she hasn't insisted I drive her car any more since then

the_amazing_raisin

innrain wrote: »

Yeah, these are features that are nearly not advertised by the salesreps. It's such an easy and relaxing drive. I rented a van few months back for few hours and it was a complete ... travel in time. We get stuck in arguments about range, charging network but never about how more advanced these machines are. How better experience is driving an EV through the city in a cold day. Have you ever kept the distance from the car in front of you worrying about the fumes?

Absolutely, they're just so simple to drive.


I remember when I first got the Leaf I kept getting in trouble because I'd be too relaxed while driving and wasn't paying enough attention :eek:


My mum was the same when she got her ID.3, she said she felt like falling asleep while driving because the car was so quiet.


Thankfully, she didn't

cruisey1987

cruisey1987 wrote: »

I had to drive the missus's car last summer to a wedding as it involved a double charge with the Leaf which is just a bit too inconvenient when you're on a deadline



First 30 seconds in the car went like this:


Wife: "You remember how to drive this car right? Like it's got gears and stuff"
Me: "Ah yeah, it'll be grand"


(Tries putting car in reverse without clutch, grinds gears)


Me: "Okay, maybe I'm a little out of practice"


Interestingly, she hasn't insisted I drive her car any more since then

Reminds me of the first time I drove an automatic, pressing the "clutch" really stops you and reminds you that you don't do that !

MJohnston

innrain wrote: »

Yeah, these are features that are nearly not advertised by the salesreps. It's such an easy and relaxing drive. I rented a van few months back for few hours and it was a complete ... travel in time. We get stuck in arguments about range, charging network but never about how more advanced these machines are. How better experience is driving an EV through the city in a cold day. Have you ever kept the distance from the car in front of you worrying about the fumes?

Right - sitting in traffic in an ICE car is a real pain, manual or automatic, because you have that awkward biting point gap on the acceleration curve that makes holding a speed below 5kph really difficult. I find myself not minding traffic as much anymore in an EV. Although I'm also not really rushing anywhere anymore so maybe it's more that.

One other thing having an EV has done has drastically increase my irritation with driver reaction time, like "ugh I've gotta wait for them to find first and then first to second and second to third" - it seems like most Irish drivers like to react far too slowly and drive far too quickly.

unkel

MJohnston wrote: »

One other thing having an EV has done has drastically increase my irritation with driver reaction time, like "ugh I've gotta wait for them to find first and then first to second and second to third" - it seems like most Irish drivers like to react far too slowly and drive far too quickly.

This

I've never been a patient man, but this has now become far worse an issue.

Kramer

MJohnston wrote: »

One other thing having an EV has done has drastically increase my irritation with driver reaction time, like "ugh I've gotta wait for them to find first and then first to second and second to third"

You'll blow a gasket then if you ever end up behind me as I have a perverse penchant for hypermiling .

Leaf speed is hypersonic compared to how I move off from red lights .