Bob Flavin (motoring journalist) & his views on EVs

unkel

Every time I look on Irish EV Facebook pages I come across people like that Brian Doran. I haven't even tried TikTok, don't think I will 😂

KCross

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119573598#Comment_119573598

At least she had drink on board, so had some excuse!

Not everyone can handle math, its not their fault, but it is their fault if they dont recognise they are out of their depth on a debate which requires math!

liamog

It's charging losses. Whatever power your car's on board charger and unit rate by your energy supplier are, they adjust themselves until charging the car costs exactly €3.20/hour. It's quite a complex chip they employ.

mfceiling

I'm not terribly au fait with the whole costings examples.

I'm presuming that you take the cost per KW and multiply it by how many KW's you put into the battery?

Example 10 cents per kW and you put 50kw into your battery equals €5.

Thumper Long

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119574095#Comment_119574095

Jaysus don’t spell it out in Ann & Barry language 😂

liamog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119574095#Comment_119574095

Pretty much, you should add around 5% to 10% for charging losses. So if you need to add 40kWh to the battery with losses you may be closer to 44kWh used. I use 10% in calculations because I always prefer to be pessimistic.

KCross

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119574095#Comment_119574095

You are close.

kW is the "speed" at which you can charge the car. Analogy.... How quickly the petrol flows into the tank.

If you charge at a speed of 1kW and you do that for one hour you will have delivered 1kWh to your car (some losses but lets keep it simple)

kWh is the capacity of the battery.... Analogy... size of your petrol tank.

If your battery is 40kWh and you charge at 1kW "speed" it means it will take 40hrs to charge it.

In reality you can charge at ~ 7kW at home so you get 7kWh to the car every hour, so just under 6hrs (40/7) to charge from 0-100%.

On the costings side of things... an electricity unit on your bill = 1kWh.

If you charge your 40kWh car (e.g. Leaf) from empty to full it is 40 units (again, keeping it simple, it will actually be a bit more than that). If you are paying the current Energia night rate of ~8c/unit it means it will cost you €3.20 (40kWh * 0.08c) for that full charge.

It can be confusing for alot of people, tbf.

Gumbo

You know what the worse thing is, many people have posted up links and replies quoting the energia 8c rate but he has deleted and blocked the comments.

Which mean the only comments left are the Hill Billy comments that agree with his agenda.

Kramer

It can be confusing for alot of people, tbf.

Which is why we should listen to the experts, like Bob 😆.

He, thankfully, calls out BS & misinformation.

TitianGerm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119575055#Comment_119575055

Except his own of course.

Kramer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119575051#Comment_119575051

Seriously? Wow 🙄.

KCross

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119575051#Comment_119575051

A small part of me thinks he is just trying to drive clicks to his account. It is either that or he isn't willing to learn or listen.

carsfan2

I heard on the radio today that Bob will be on radio one with Claire Byrne on Friday morning to discuss all things EV.

if you’ve have any questions you can email Claire’s show apparently.

crisco10

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119995774#Comment_119995774

That promises to be informative and accurate piece.

Would much prefer an actual EV expert like Peter Braken or someone.

Redfox25

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119996836#Comment_119996836

Bob would likely provide/play along with the narrative that RTE hand him.

MojoMaker

Why would he shoot a potential future golden goose?

Boscoirl

have always seen this thread but never went into it. Never knew who the guy was. Just seen the coke video.

I am speechless and at a loss as to what point he was trying to get across.

road_high

Bob has put on a bit…I barely recognised him in a recent video.

Killer K

Don't get the hate towards Bob. Doesn't get everything right and he has too much of a soft spot for VW in my opinion but his point on how poor the public charging network still is, is very fair.

He gives individual EVs credit/praise when test driving them (and is often more complementary about EVs than ICE cars). He rightly points out how expensive EVs in general are to purchase and that this is beyond a lot of people's purchasing power.

I have a lot of respect for him ever since I saw his review of the Renault Fluence many years ago.

For any car I am interested in I always check out what he has to say on them. Equally I will look at every other review available online as well and make a decision at that point.

He does not deserve the abuse he gets on social media or on this thread.

MojoMaker

A few regulars here have had quite personal experience with him however @Killer K

It's not for nothing shall we say.

Gumbo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120000636#Comment_120000636

He gave me dogs abuse when I pointed out to him about night rate Electric costs and subsequently blocked me so I couldn’t even reply to him. He continued on his crusade with his merry men subscribers that all ask the Same question….. is an IS200 good, how do I get my licence…

I wouldn’t mind if I was wrong, I’d own up and admit it. But he completely shut me down with abusive comment and reply (which was subsequently removed) after I was blocked by him.

That, along with his BS shenanigans and fake facts he spouts out means to me, he is not a real journalist. He has long term loan cars from certain brands and sponsorship deals that he doesn’t tell you about and makes out he’s driving around in an old seat Ibiza banger and compares every new EV to it.

So yes, he deserves the abuse he gets on here IMO as he’s an arrogant little man that believes it’s his way or the highway.

road_high

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120001000#Comment_120001000

Was this all on Twitter?

RM Ernest

It was all going well on his slot on Claire Byrne today talking about EVs until he started talking about houses needing dual phase electricity to get a home charger.....Holy God....

Gumbo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120004928#Comment_120004928

I rest my case. The man’s a dope.

MightyMunster

Dual phase 🤔

DrPhilG

Ah come on @Bodhan (aka Bob), you're a member here and you've defended your corner before.

I'd love to hear the logic behind that one.

VikingG

Just listened to this on the RTE website - it wasnt that bad but good lord what was that about dual phase electricity at the end. I am always amazed at the neck of some people on the radio who can talk about a topic with such confidence and be totally wrong. You would think that professional pride would ensure that some basic facts would be checked.

MojoMaker

Reflects poorly on Claire Byrne as well.

Mad_maxx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120007138#Comment_120007138

Not knowing much about a topic never held her back before

MightyMunster

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120007138#Comment_120007138

She has a history of being anti EV, or maybe just poorly informed on them.

Old diesel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120007149#Comment_120007149

RTE in general are woeful on EVs

A couple of prime time examples.....

1) having a 2nd hand car dealer whose pro diesel and wants to sell them give opinions on EVs.

2) at a time when 64 kwh Konas were available new. Prime time sent David Mc Cullagh and Miriam O Callaghan on an ICE vs EV road trip.

Two problems

they didn't use a 64 kwh Kona - instead they used an AC charging only Zoe ze40.

David was an EV owner already but Miriam was not. They gave Miriam a Zoe that wasn't fully charged and David an ICE Golf.

Result - EVs made to look really bad.

And Claire Byrne had an EV piece on her old Monday night show.

Where they gave Bob and Renee from Fair City an Enyaq to use for a weekend.

It was a disaster because no one showed Bob and Renee how to do EV charging or do RFID cards or apps.

I'm actually thinking that some people in RTE actually don't really believe in EVs and that's clouding editorial judgement and research.

Old diesel

Forgot the Sean Whelan report on hydrogen on the news.

Whelan was RTEs London correspondent at the time.

He went for a spin in hydrogen car and the report made hydrogen look simple enough.

He went to a building site of a dedicated EV charging site and made EVs look horrid complicated.

Poor

MightyMunster

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120007198#Comment_120007198

Remember that Enyaq one, I was thinking Skoda must be raging watching that.

liamog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120004928#Comment_120004928

He's not wrong, for homes to get a decent home charger installed, it is recommended they use a dual phase connection. Unfortunately that's only true in North America so they can run the charger at 220V instead of their single phase 110V. Perhaps the Claire Byrne show is very popular in the US.

Gumbo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120007841#Comment_120007841

You had me going with the first line then I read the rest 🤣🤣

Kramer

https://irepod.com/podcast/today-with-claire-byrne/what-to-know-before-buying-an-electric-car

Did he say he used 45% to get to RTE (80% to 35%) but the 35% would be enough to get back home? He mentioned Portlaoise. That's approx. 100km from RTE.

What's he driving that used 55% for 100kms? A 2012 Leaf?

Maybe I misheard. I thought I heard dual phase too in there....

McGrath5

Happened to stumble across one of Bob's recent videos and I hardly recognize him, he's been enjoying the free grub on those press trips.

DrPhilG

Feck sake, I'm as big a critic of Bob as anyone but just resorting to calling him fat is a bit ridiculous.

unkel

@DrPhilG - yeah was thinking the same. What's that got to do with anything?

TheWonderLlama

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120004928#Comment_120004928

I heard this and I was roaring at the radio.

some highlights:

There's no similarity between driving an EV and an ICE, apparently.

50kw DC isn't a fast charger.

air pressure on an EV car at 120kmh will sap a battery.

pre-warming still pulls from the battery even if its plugged in.

if you invest 20 grand in batteries and solar you can charge your car for free.

EV manufacturers only mould enough plastic parts for production line, they don't make spares.

there's single-phase electricity in houses, which is dangerous, but you should be using dual-phase electricity to charge an EV (there is no such thing as dual-phase)

what a cretin.

Old diesel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120021881#Comment_120021881

The issue with all this is - imagine how this all sounds like to a Claire Byrne listener who knows nothing about EVs.

The listener is thinking

"god these EVs sound unworkable and totally 10 years time technology".

How do they choose who to talk to as an expert.

I mean there's an EV Owners association - would you not if RTE - talk to them for example.

DrPhilG

Lol, just realised I've been blocked by our favourite spoofer on twitter for pointing out his dual phase electricity nonsense.

ED E

It seems like a load more shite is allowed to fly in the post Sean O'R days. She had another "expert" on recently spouting crap that science has debunked for 15-20 years.

Gumbo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120259891#Comment_120259891

100% he is a BS merchant. Blocked me when I pointed out to him about our night rate tariffs while he himself was slagging another poster that the costs he was stating were incorrect. He strikes me as an arrogant his way or no way type of fella. His following is a bunch of teenagers asking questions about theory tests, insurance for exhausts of IS200’s etc

unkel

Similar enough happened to me. I rarely comment on YouTube videos. And if I do, it's almost always heartfelt, honest & constructive, in an area that I am passionate about and dare I say, knowledgeable about and experienced in. And I am good at sums. So I would call out anyone doing blatantly incorrect maths. Not so much does Bob show any appreciation of that, to put it mildly...

Black_Knight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120263612#Comment_120263612

You think he'd appreciate the comments for the algorithm. I hear "bad math" etc in YouTube videos can be a purposeful trigger to get more comments. You can certainly see how it'd work

MojoMaker

He's on here and can't explain himself so what hope have you on any other form of social media.

DrPhilG

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120263739#Comment_120263739

"Won't", not can't...

Gumbo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120263739#Comment_120263739

Too ignorant and arrogant to explain himself or even admit he made a mistake.

For some reason the people who use liquid fuel have no problems understanding that you can't add 200 litres of petrol in a 50 litre tank. And that the number of litres added is directly proportional to the price of said fuel per litre.

So yes, you can't keep on charging 100's of kWh of electricity in a 50 kWh battery back. Or that if you add 30 kWh in that battery when it's partially used it costs approx. that number multiplied by the cost of the unit. So at home between €2.50 and €10 depending time of day and how bad you're electricity rates are, and on the road about €20.