Electric Cars - a ridiculous product

Gordon Gekko said:
The fact that journeys need to be planned in advance illustrates the ridiculous nature of the product.
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It more-so illustrates the state of the public charging network in Ireland at the moment.

I drove around the UK years ago in an EV with pathetic range (100km) and did no planning, just drove until I needed to charge and pulled in at the next motorway services, each of which had plenty of chargers so I could just plug in and grab a coffee.

The government screwed the pooch on the charger network rollout here and it is now slowing EV adoption. Once it catches up though this will be a non-issue with modern EVs having enough range to do 350-400km between stops.
 
If you run out of fuel, it takes around two minutes to fill the tank and pay.

Versus sitting around waiting for a charger to become available and then for a battery to charge, ridiculous stuff.

EVs are an overengineered answer to a question that didn’t need to be asked.
 
Frank said:
Yeah

I think try to charge at work when I can, free at the mo, but only one charger

I may consider solar too to flatten the day rate a bit

Must water and feed the money tree again.
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Reading this thread, it’s fascinating how much of an expense and palaver these cars entail besides the cost to buy.
Surely no cost benefit at all compared to just filling up at a garage by the time people have finished paying for and installing all the extras to get the thing moving?
 

Oh no, EVs are fantastic!

Extra cost, collapsing values, and a military plan everytime you want to do anything other than nip around to the shops.

What’s not to like?

They’re a ridiculous concept that do nothing better than a regular vehicle already does.
 
Getting the sense that it’s a bit of a Saipan debate on AAM, you’re either one side or the other and no in-between!
 

Exactly what extras?

People without EV install solar. That you can charge an EV is value added for Solar not a requirement for an EV.

Not sure what's difficult about that.
 

If someone needs a military plan to get to the shops they have spent too long inhaling fumes.
 
Have you ever driven one? Thanks.
 

Except you have to get to garage. Modern cars get air locked and might not even start once you get fuel into them.

The EV just needs to plugged in anywhere.

When my local garage has queue at the pumps which it seems to have every Saturday and during peak traffic in the evenings, I just wait there also, or go to the next pump.

I've only needed to use a public charger on one trip in the last 6 months. How many times have people been to petrol station and how much did it cost.
 
AlbacoreA said:
Exactly what extras?

People without EV install solar. That you can charge an EV is value added for Solar not a requirement for an EV.

Not sure what's difficult about that.
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Home chargers, smart meter plans, varying charge rates and subscriptions to pay or wait at charging stations and whatnot . It’d make your head spin.
 
mustang01 said:
Home chargers, smart meter plans, varying charge rates and subscriptions to pay or wait at charging stations and whatnot . It’d make your head spin.
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Does working out your home energy rates and subscriptions and smart meter make your head spin. Because it's literally exactly same thing. If you're paying 30c per kWh for using your cooker or washing machine.

Plug in at the 3 pin. Does that need explaining? Or buy a faster home charger. Less than the cost of most peoples new iPhone or TV.

Have you used a fuel card for petrol. Credit card for petrol pump. Same thing with public chargers. Just remember not to use a square plug in round hole, don't put diesel in your petrol car. Same sort of thing.
 
I've had an EV for 5 years, first one held for 4 years, one year into second one. I haven't used a public charger in the last 3 years, that was on a trip to Belfast. Didn't take much planning, a stop was planned anyway as the drive was more than 3 hrs.
Most owners will charge at home, read somewhere that 90% of charging is done at home.
I have a smart meter, didn't request one, we'll all have them eventually. So picked the tariff that suited me.
I can get 450 km for about €15, about €3.33 for 100 km. By aligning the charging with the lowest tariff, I could get that down to €1.50 for 100km.

Like choosing any car, choose one that suits your needs. If you only do school runs, don't buy a 2L diesel. How many people jumped onto diesel because the tax was cheaper, only to do short runs and then had DPF issues.
If you regularly drive long distance (300km+), pull trailers etc, diesel may still be the better option.
If you can't get a home charger, I wouldn't bother with an EV.

If an EV doesn't suit you, don't get one. Doesn't mean they don't suit anyone else or that anyone else is wrong for buying one. It seems the most anti EV are people who have never owned one.

I'll worry about depreciation in 3-4 years time. I think of it as the cost of changing, not how much it has dropped by. If new cars have dropped by 15k, second hand will also drop, cost of changing will probably be the same.
 
If you don't like new tech, don't get one.

I thought once I got one the other half could take that and I'd be left to my manual petrol, which I much preferred over the diesel auto we had previously. Instead the EV is car we both prefer. I've filled the petrol twice in 5 months.
 
Electric cars are a fantastic idea.

Using a ton of batteries for energy storage is a ridiculous idea.
 
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What will happen the government targets if ev sales are not matching their 2035 cut off date for new EVs? Given that the government were forced by eu to abandon the 2030 date, I'd say they are glad now, it saves them embarrassing backtracking. I'd say the political environment with greens likely wiped out will say alot
 
In China with your electric vehicle you drive to the garage and they swap out your battery for a charged one in 2/3 minutes. Just like getting a fill of fuel. No one has a home charger. Maybe this is the way Ireland should go, as the countrywide charger network is not happening quickly enough?
 
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