Electric Cars - a ridiculous product

ICE cars gets no subsidy. I was comparing a EV car versus a bus that can carries passengers of multiple cars. For major cities, public transport is better environmental friendly than individual driving cars - no matter which..
diesel cars had reduced VRT for years.
 
Electric car batteries can store a large amount of power which could be used as back up for national grid as part of managing demand/supply.

Someone using a battery at home for solar is effectively already doing this. As they fill the battery at off peak rates on or Solar. Then at peak time time use the battery instead of the grid and expensive peak time rates.

An old car battery could easily be repurposed for this. Wasn't that the the Tesla Power Wall concept in a nutshell.
 
ICE cars gets no subsidy. I was comparing a EV car versus a bus that can carries passengers of multiple cars. For major cities, public transport is better environmental friendly than individual driving cars - no matter which..
True.

But even in places like Holland there is still a lot of car traffic and local car traffic. That you'd prefer to be cleaner and less reliant on fossil fuels.
 
Because those in favour of EVs...just charge at home. They wake up to a full 'tank' everyday and there is very little hassle to using a fast charger out and about.

Battery exchange is a concept for people who are not in favour of EVs.
Not necessarily "NOT IN FAVOUR" but for people with genuine range issues its a solution . EVs are ok for city driving where range is not an issue and you get home with plenty to spare but current batteries just do not have the range practicality that an ICE car has in abundance .

A friend in work just bought a new EV , suits him perfect as he does just city and short range driving these days but it was very interesting the advice from the dealer in respect of charging to extend the battery life , don't charge above 80% or let it go below 20% .
Just think about that advice and reflect that the dealer advises you only use 60% of the capacity to extend the life cycle of the battery .
Depending on what source you reference the average real world range of an EV is about 300 kilometres so if you can only use 60% then you are down to 180 Km following that advice , fine if your driving short distances but not practical in the real world.

Overall its not at the realistic stage to expect people to embrace EVs , in the Celtic Tiger days people had to move along way from Dublin to afford a house and became very dependent on their cars for work , we are back in that same dilemma today with the housing market being so messed up and its really simple that today just as in the Celtic Tiger an awful lot of people just cannot get to work any other way then in their cars and if you take it that some people have 4 hour round trips to work in Dublin they just cannot afford to gamble on an EV .
That is the reality that the Green Party will never face upto ... there is no real alternative right now . If that changes then most people will embrace something that works and serves them well .
 
That's not how the 20-80 thing works.

One sort of person doing that mileage of mileage might embrace the EV to save a lot of money on fuel and servicing.

If someone doesn't want to. Thats valid for them. I could see someone not wanting to bother with it.
 
Last edited:
it was very interesting the advice from the dealer in respect of charging to extend the battery life , don't charge above 80% or let it go below 20% .
Just think about that advice and reflect that the dealer advises you only use 60% of the capacity to extend the life cycle of the battery .
Depending on what source you reference the average real world range of an EV is about 300 kilometres so if you can only use 60% then you are down to 180 Km following that advice , fine if your driving short distances but not practical in the real world.

300km range is conservative for 2024 cars. Most are 400+ real world.

It's technically better for battery life to keep it in the 20%-80% range to optimise performance long term but charging to 100% is not a big deal. You would have to be filling and draining the battery on a daily basis for quite a while before it made a difference. That would be driving Dublin-Galway return each day and very few people do that mileage.

The true battery problem is leaving an EV idle for long periods of time at 100% but leaving an ICE car unused can cause problems too.

Most EVs allow you to set a limit on the car itself or on the car app, so it just stops at 80%. If you need 100% then you just increase the limit with 1 tap. In real life it's not a big deal any more than hitting boost on your thermostat when you need a bit of extra heat.

Overall its not at the realistic stage to expect people to embrace EVs , in the Celtic Tiger days people had to move along way from Dublin to afford a house and became very dependent on their cars for work , we are back in that same dilemma today with the housing market being so messed up and its really simple that today just as in the Celtic Tiger an awful lot of people just cannot get to work any other way then in their cars and if you take it that some people have 4 hour round trips to work in Dublin they just cannot afford to gamble on an EV .

Most trips by car in Ireland are very short distances. As mentioned before:

70% of daily car trips are shorter than 10km. Average commutes vary from 7km in Dublin to 17km nationally. Even the highest county average (Laois and Roscommon) is only 27km. That means an overnight charge at home once a week.

People who need to do long trips regularly are the outliers and should stick with ICE.

That is the reality that the Green Party will never face upto ... there is no real alternative right now . If that changes then most people will embrace something that works and serves them well .

Environmentalists and urban planners don't want people driving EVs at all! They want as many people as possible on public transport, walking, cycling. Private cars regardless of engine type take up a lot of space, are dangerous for drivers and pedestrians, and are bad for public health. EVs really are not a solution or end goal, they are just the lesser of 2 evils.
 
300km range is conservative for 2024 cars. Most are 400+ real world.

It's technically better for battery life to keep it in the 20%-80% range to optimise performance long term but charging to 100% is not a big deal.
That's exactly what I do. I only charge to 100% if I know I have a big journey. Otherwise, 80% is plenty for my 170km round trip commute.
 
That's exactly what I do. I only charge to 100% if I know I have a big journey. Otherwise, 80% is plenty for my 170km round trip commute.
Is that 170km daily 5 days per week?
Sounds like you doing serious mileage with your car.
 
Leo, if the overall market increases but sales of a particular product stagnate, that’s a relative decline. Nevermind the fact that one month is less relevant statistically than three months.
But you said it was a collapse!! There is no collapse. China are struggling to get EVs off-shore to meet demand, so much so that they have accelerated indigenous options, with 47 car transport ships currently in production, a 120% increase over their current fleet.

As @arbitron has demonstrated, a decline from a large spike in sales is not an indicator of collapse. iPhone's US market share took a 50% hit back in 2010, no one is calling that a collapse now.
 
Are people waiting for new models and pricing changes
That's my sense. With CATL and the likes rolling out batteries with 15-20 year warranty & zero degradation over 1000 recharge cycle batteries that weigh and cost less, and the increased competition that has only started to force profit margins down towards motor industry standards, better and cheaper is coming soon.
 
That's my sense. With CATL and the likes rolling out batteries with 15-20 year warranty & zero degradation over 1000 recharge cycle batteries that weigh and cost less, and the increased competition that has only started to force profit margins down towards motor industry standards, better and cheaper is coming soon.
That's my view as well. I wouldn't buy an EV now because I think the technology is changing too quickly for it to be a worthwhile investment in the medium term. I generally buy cars 3-5 years old and keep them for 5 years or so. I'm way too fond of holidays and good wine to waste money on an expensive car. Therefore over that timeline I don't think EV's are a good purchase at the moment. Technology will make new ones cheaper and make older ones much cheaper. The market isn't mature enough yet to know how much cheaper.
 
EVs are ok for city driving
I would take the opposite view. I do circa 90% city driving and spend between 1,000 to 1,500 euro per year on fuel. Financially, an EV doens't make sense for me - even if I got free lecky, the savings wouldn't come close to offsetting the additional purchase cost (unless I wanted to drive a car from a much smaller segment). I would think that those with long commutes (safely within battery range) would save a lot in fuel. I think that's why taxis are using them - they drive them close to their ranges and save heaps on fuel....
 
That's my sense. With CATL and the likes rolling out batteries with 15-20 year warranty & zero degradation over 1000 recharge cycle batteries that weigh and cost less, and the increased competition that has only started to force profit margins down towards motor industry standards, better and cheaper is coming soon.

That's like waiting for years to upgrade a computer because the next one will be better and cheaper.

Buy what you need (or want) today.
 
That's like waiting for years to upgrade a computer because the next one will be better and cheaper.

Buy what you need (or want) today.

Hi - an EV is a lot more expensive than a computer though. Also, with the possible advances in solid state batteries etc, the improvements could be considerate..
 
I would take the opposite view. I do circa 90% city driving and spend between 1,000 to 1,500 euro per year on fuel. Financially, an EV doens't make sense for me - even if I got free lecky, the savings wouldn't come close to offsetting the additional purchase cost (unless I wanted to drive a car from a much smaller segment). I would think that those with long commutes (safely within battery range) would save a lot in fuel. I think that's why taxis are using them - they drive them close to their ranges and save heaps on fuel....

Not entirely sure why you'd think fuel saving was the only reason to buy an EV.

I'm 97% city driving and I think it's a vastly better experience in that environment.
 
That's like waiting for years to upgrade a computer because the next one will be better and cheaper.

Buy what you need (or want) today.
That's true to a point alright, but when there are still faster alternatively powered computers for less money, I don't need or can't justify the cost of the best money can buy.

Some of my view is based on not seeing massive savings on fuel given my low mileage, but more so that I have a certain size and feature set I want, and the ICE/hybrid options that tick those boxes are more within my budget.

I still feel the premium being charged for most current EVs is too much to sway me right now. With Tesla still achieving margins of 17% margin, I feel increased volume and competition from China will drive those margins down. So perhaps that's playing a role too, the thought of paying the early adopter tax :D
 
If your o
Hi - an EV is a lot more expensive than a computer though. Also, with the possible advances in solid state batteries etc, the improvements could be considerate..

Theres people still waiting for hydrogen cars, even as their promise fades away.
 
I'm 97% city driving and I think it's a vastly better experience in that environment.
I drive an older E class. For an EV for the same money, I would be looking something like Leaf, which would be far from a vastly better experience to me, especially as I rather enjoy the cacophonic roar from farting into heated, leather seats :D
 
Back
Top