Sorry, couldnāt resist the clickbait titleā¦ but thatās what Iām calling it. My first electrical vehicle. Drives really well, lots to learn wrt charging etcā¦
14 Likes
Happy NCD Kasper. That looks niiiiiiiice.
How have your country been at installing change points?
1 Like
Congrats on your first electric. Iām gonna hold off buying one for the foreseeable future, because in 2020 I already bought a new car, though itās petrol fuelled, and the fact that the cheapest is DACIA (for 20K) here; and thereās a problem with charging stations and electricity prices. But Iām jealous of the AUDI 
1 Like
Congrats on the new EV. Looks like there is room for your gear. 
Weāve been looking at EVs as well. Unfortunately Canada is a vast country and is only now trying to get caught up with charging stations.
1 Like
Thanks!
TBH, the whole ārangeā thing was my biggest worry with EVs for the last few years. But my previous car was so old that it got unreasonably expensive to keep it running - looking at an āoptionalā Ā£1500 investment in tyres, spark plugs, air filters etcā¦ so it made sense to get an offer on it to uptrade. My wife, who is working with environmental preservation, then vetoāed any chance of a new fossil fueled vehicle. And I have to admit sheās right, so now itās about learning the ānewā way with charging stations rather than gas stations.
In Denmark there are already a lot of charge points. The main thing to learn/adjust too is that where any gas station is simple to use (just use your credit card) the charging points all have these chip/app systems where you can register to recharge for a lowered price. Takes a bit of planning and getting used toā¦
But Evs drives so wellā¦ itās really a joy to use them.
Trunk is getting āgear testedā tomorrow when I play my next live gig 
4 Likes
I remember flying over Canada at one point, and for hours it was just this empty but beautiful countryā¦ with straight roads going on and on for I donāt know how longā¦ I can totally understand why EVs could be a challenge to use there! The effective range (especially in cold weather conditions) is still rather low, I guess you would have to recharge quite frequently if you often have to travel far. I guess EVs makes most sense if you live near a big city and spend most of your time thereā¦
Kasper aka Highway Star !
1 Like
You must have flown over the prairies. They have a saying āItās so flat you can watch your dog run away for 3 days.ā
I live on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains. Lots of twist mountain road and dense forest.
Luckily most of the forest fires burning right now are North and west of us.
2 Likes
So you opted to pay 40k+ over 5 years to avoid 1.5k now 
Iām joking.
Enjoy your new car!
But this:
Is a huge topic for discusion with a lot of arguments for and against.
1 Like
āDeep Purpleā did reel me inā¦ 
Congrats on your new car! It looks so nice! 
1 Like
Very nice.
Do you have a home charger?
Iām, currently on my 3rd EV in about 8 years. I love them, and would not want to go back to an ICE car.
Cheers,
Keith
1 Like
Electricity prices have been very affected by current world events, and are ridiculously high at the moment, especially in the UK. Although itās often still cheaper to run an EV than an ICE car.
When electric prices were more normal, it was costing me somewhere between 3-5 pence per mile to run my EV on the normal tariff, compared to between 15 and 20 pence per mile for an equivalent ICE car.
A lot will depend on your usage patterns, where you live, and whether you have a home charger. Public chargers can be very expensive and I rarely use them, as I do most of my charging at home. When I do use a public charger, I tend to use slower ones which are generally cheaper, and I can charge overnight.
As an example, when in the UK, we often drive from our home near Reading to our daughters house in New Brighton. Itās around 220 miles mostly motorway driving. If we are careful and we start with a full charge (which we always do), itās possible in one go in our car.
But we always like to break the journey up, so we usually stop at the M6 toll services for a toilet break and a bite to eat. We plug the car in for, maybe, 15-20 mins on a rapid charger whilst we do that, and that gives us enough of a top-up to make the journey comfortable. That costs us a few quid. We often do the same on the return journey.
Note that, if we hit traffic, the range of the car actually goes up, so that isnāt a concern.
When we get there, we park overnight at the nearby supermarket which has a 7kW (slow) charger. The supermarket is about 10 minutes walk from my Daughterās house, and the charger is free. That gives us a full charge by morning.
So a nearly 500 mile round trip costs us about Ā£6-7 in fuel.
Note that we also have solar panels at home, so the cost of home charging for us is even lower.
We also have an electricity tariff where we pay a lot less for night-time charging, we just set the charge scheduler on the car.
Cheers,
Keith
Looks like a pretty awesome car. Happy NCD.
Iām a car guy, love cars, have had a few, always mod them! Australia has a few EVs but quite low penetration compared to Europe. My ideal would be a hybrid ute (pick up truck), because there are long distances here that would be a real hassle in an EV.
1 Like
For comparison, I can do 500 miles non stop at a cost of approximately Ā£70 (todayās prices) with my petrol car, motorway driving 70mph. About 550 miles when I do 50mph due to road works on the M3.
So 10 times the cost.
But how much do you value your time? 
Right now, if I changed car, Iād probably go for a hybrid, not fully EV yet.
Out of curiosity, how much is maintenance costs? You donāt have to change engine oil etc (perhaps just gearbox) but what is required in terms of maintenance and how often?
Also, what is the battery life and what happens when you hit that point?
Bonus question for everyone, Iād love to see a full life-cycle analysis for modern ICE cars and EVs (from manufacturing to end-of-life disposal).
And just to make it clear, Iām not arguing for or against anything, Iām just curious for the facts.
A half hour to an hour stop on such a journey is something I would want anyway. More than about 2 hours in a car an my bladder starts to complain for start.
Mine have all been leases with the maintenance included, so I donāt know about cost.
The first time I took my first EV in for a service the guy started to reel off a list of things they would do, from changing oil to cleaning spark plugs. I stopped him and said āitās the EV modelā. He said āOh. In that case, we plug in the computer, run a diagnostic, do any software upgrades, and you are good to goā.
One thing that is certainly true: brake wear is much, much lower on EVs.
Cheers,
Keith
There have been scare stories in the press (mostly the press with oil and gas financial interests, it should be said) about battery life.
Modern EV batteries will probably outlast the vehicle. Some manufacturers are giving very good warranties, and modern batteries are expect to last one million miles or more with minimal degradation.
Tesla has one which they claim will last 4 million miles.
Cheers,
Keith
1 Like
There have been some. I need to find some references. All I have seen have found that EVs are (currently) more polluting at manufacture than an equivalent ICE car, but after a short period (about 2 years, I think) break even, and then itās all win from there on.
Let me check when Iām not in the queue to get my hair cut and Iāll come back with some references.
Edit, hereās one: Total CO2-equivalent life-cycle emissions from commercially available passenger cars - ScienceDirect.
Cheers,
Keith
Yes I know what you mean. Thatās probably personal to all of us. Iād rather not stop unless itās necessary.
Oh I see. I own mine as when I was looking, the leasing option was MUCH more expensive for my expeted milage.
How so?
Iāve owned two cars so far and I didnāt even need to change the break pads before it was something like 5 years of driving. My current car, I have it 5 years already, almost 50k miles and break pads and disks still go strong.
I guess this too depends on driving style.
Iāll check the reference you sent me Keith. Iām really interested on the subject, thanks for pointing to it!
By the way, a hybrid (unless itās a plug-in) is just a petrol car. The name āhybridā doesnāt change that really.
Thereās a few benefits:
-
They are normally a bit more efficient than a pure ICE car, but often not that much
-
If you are often stuck in traffic or sitting idling the engine (like, as someone pointed out to me, taxis often are) they are both less polluting and more economical than a non-hybrid ICE car, although some of those have stop-start engines, so not so different.
-
When in EV mode, they can travel short distances (typically up to 30 miles) without emissions. Thatās useful for some cities with emissions policies.
Note that āself-charging hybridā is a marketing gimmick designed to deceive. By definition every hybrid and full EV on the market is āself chargingā.
Cheers,
Keith