Interesting article on EV ownership

[megamac]

Article on the Daily Mail about long trips and the EV

 

[Whiskery]

Yep, I read that too. It's something I think we all know. The infrastructure just isn't up to it yet.
What's the answer? I am not sure we can rely on the Government (any Government) to up their game so maybe private equity/investment is something that might happen.

 

[hmadsen]

Honestly, if he drives the car to near empty and then just leaves it overnight, and want to charge it the next day, offcourse he is going to have a problem.

Had he found a hotel, that had, even a 7 KWh slow charger, his car would have been charged to almost full before he was even awake.

As an EV owner i would actively select to stay at a hotel that had a charger for my car and, atleast here, most of the larger hotel chains do actually already offer EV charging for staying costumers.

 

[neilp7865]

Yes, in an ideal world every charger would work and be readily available. In practice they aren’t so experienced EV owners have to plan around this.

However, he’s a recent EV adopter. With an ICE, you can rely on getting to your destination with just enough fuel and trust that nearby fuelling stations will be available and functional.

 

[JohnInFrance]

Article on the Daily Mail about long trips and the EV

His summary to whether an EV is a good choice: "Yes, if you don’t do many long journeys. No, if you do.", is exactly the use-case that led us to the MG - over 95% of our journeys are under 200 kilometers (indeed, most are under 50), but we had never even thought about this before considering an electric car.

After looking at just about every EV available here that was under 60k, we decided that the MG was the perfect EV for us - enough niceness and toys to make it a nice place to be as our plan is for it to become our 'daily' over the next 12-18 months, enough range in the event that we do need to make a longer journey.

However, (and I apologise in advance if this sounds a little crass) most importantly, the MG is set at a price point that we were happy to put a toe in the water to try out EV ownership without having to sell our current daily to fund it - it means that for trips back to the UK, road-trips into Spain, Italy, Portugal and Belgium (which have become more frequent as flights are still reduced, expensive and subject to last minute cancellations) we can still use the dino-burner with no range anxiety or, tripling the travel time due to charging stops/issues.

In time, things will get better, but yes, for those of us who had to do lots of long distance driving, especially with tight deadlines, I can't yet see how an EV could be a viable, reliable option.

 

[Gadget Geek]

It's the kind of article I've come to expect from the Daily Fail.

I'm sorry, but doing a road trip in a car he was not familiar with, and hadn't adapted to with local journeys is asking for trouble. He made some valid comments, but he also made some inaccurate ones and regurgitated some of the urban myths and anti EV fake arguments.

 

[CuriousIslander]

Interesting... I admit to a little anxiety. So far I have driven my 5SR only around the Isle of Wight, and have been very pleased with the range achieved. Various ways to estimate, but I seem to be getting somewhere between 220 and 240 miles to a full charge equivalent. I think this is due to relatively short journeys at relatively low speeds. At the moment, the warmer weather is giving me 4.6 mpkwh, so potentially around 4.6*48.8 = 224 miles or thereabouts. This seems to be consistent with other ways of calculating. Hopefully I can keep up this rate .......
........However I am shortly to undertake 2 longer mainland journeys, and these will be trips into the unknown as far as range is concerned. It appears from various reports that I can expect only about 180 miles to a full charge (due to driving at higher speeds over longer times?), so I need to plan carefully. The first is a round trip of approximately 240 miles, via Wincanton, Cheddar area and Bath before coming back home. I see from Zapmap that there are a couple of Instavolt/Osprey chargers in Wincanton, and a couple in Shepton Mallett. I plan to top up at one of these (distance from home to Wincanton is about 90 miles and to Shepton Mallett about 120 (via Wincanton) so I should have plenty "in the tank" if I charge to 100% before I leave home), before visiting family. Hopefully one of these will be working. If neither of these work I can granny charge at my daughter's house, and then will have enough to get me the 120 ish miles I need to get to Bath and home again. However I do see that the Bristol area generally does not appear to be well served with Instavolt/Osprey/Gridserve/MFG chargers, which I gather are the most reliable and accessible. This will be my first foray on a longer journey and hopefully will pass off OK
My second planned excursion is a straight 200 mile journey to mid-Staffordshire, and return, this time with a full carload of 4 adults plus holiday gear. My intention is to charge at Banbury (130 miles from home) and then to top up again at Hilton Main motorway services or at West Bromwich (Astle retail Park), and again at Banbury on my return leg. The distances all look very comfortable, even if the range is only about 180 miles.
If I do get the 180ish miles from a full charge, then my plans for these journeys should all be OK, but as they are trips into the unknown, it will be interesting to see. As I said at the outset, I do admit to a little anxiety. Cross fingers....

 

[weedavemac]

It's the kind of article I've come to expect from the Daily Fail.

I'm sorry, but doing a road trip in a car he was not familiar with, and hadn't adapted to with local journeys is asking for trouble. He made some valid comments, but he also made some inaccurate ones and regurgitated some of the urban myths and anti EV fake arguments.

The day I got my MG5 I went from Glasgow to the Highlands on holiday for a few days. All went well. It just takes planning.

 

[hmadsen]

It's the kind of article I've come to expect from the Daily Fail.

I'm sorry, but doing a road trip in a car he was not familiar with, and hadn't adapted to with local journeys is asking for trouble. He made some valid comments, but he also made some inaccurate ones and regurgitated some of the urban myths and anti EV fake arguments.

And also as i stated earlier, if he runs the battery down to "nothing" and then go to sleep, expecting to charge the next day, he is not very clever.