Electric Cars - Home Powering.

[Farnorthsurfer]

I would agree. It’s not sustainable that vehicles from which less fuel tax is extracted are also charged less vehicle tax. Whilst I realise that these taxes are not hypothecated, there should surely be some correlation between road use and the contribution to its cost. Some form of road user charging would do this.

Before everyone cries out in horror, this doesn’t of course have to be an additional tax, rather the alternative charging methodology.

Mileage based road charging sounds like a just and equitable way of raising tax for the infrastructure.
Sadly it’s also a total vote killer for anyone who tries to get into power and change things.
It’s also a problem that the ones that do get in to power don’t spend VED on the roads anyway

 

[RedUn]

No, I don't need one, there's petrol stations everywhere with 4-14 pumps per station and it takes me 5 minutes to fill up. That's to fill to the brim, not just enough to get home.
I shall have an EV at some point, they're getting better and better and the infrastructure is improving, but we have to be sensible when making claims.

You missed the point slightly... If you charge at home you never need to charge anywhere else...unless you doing a big trip and then you'd stop anyway if you were in the van or whatever...

Overall for a year it'll save time if you added it up, no longer waiting for Mandy to do her weekly shop on a Tuesday morning at 7am while she blocks the entire petrol station, drives me insane but that's a different part of the T6 pub I need to visit so I can complain about it

 

[DXX]

When you can charge an EV fully in 5 minutes that'll be a useful and relevant fact.

Surely the way forward with electric vehicles is to have an exchangeable cassette of battery of just several standard configurations. The service station robot changes the battery cassette and you are on your way again.
You don’t own the battery, the car manufacturer provides them on lease as an incentive to buy EV’s.
Every exchange is debited so importantly the initial cost of the EV is lower as you didn’t purchase the battery and the more miles (cassette changes) you do the more you pay. This would also reduce heavy right foot action.
The Gov could also recoup a tax on the battery cassette changes to replace the current fuel duty.
The battery integrity (safety) would also be monitored during the exchange and sub-standard batteries removed for service.
Too easy???
Betamax just sprung to mind.

I think it will need to be the opposite. Pull into the service station and the depleted standard battery cassette is removed and replaced with a charged / tested unit by a full automated robot taking no longer than it would take to fill with Diesel.
No sitting about waiting for a charge. You may own the vehicle but the battery is leased. Probably the only sure way to ensure that batteries are maintained in a safe condition as EV’s age. The Gov’ can also charge a levy on every battery exchange.
No need to install charging points in every car park and deteriorating batteries can be repaired / recycled before they cause reliability / safety issues.
That doesn’t mean the local scrote can nick your battery.

 

[DaveD]

When you can do that then the EV has no downsides, delivery drivers doing hundreds of miles a day can use one with no issues, it would make EV's more suitable for use by emergency services too, no issues around range to worry about because you'd always plan on a battery swap before running out of juice.

 

[Ali-G]

There are more chargers than petrol stations already, been that way for a few years now. 8,380 Petrol Stations versus 15,935 charge stations.

Wow, that is a surprise. I know of several petrol stations where I live but no electric charging stations.
Maybe that’s because I don’t use them or maybe because they aren’t as visible as a huge petrol station.

 

[Loopdreams]

Wow, that is a surprise. I know of several petrol stations where I live but no electric charging stations.
Maybe that’s because I don’t use them or maybe because they aren’t as visible as a huge petrol station.

Note that some of this includes charge stations that aren't rapid. Okay if its somewhere you'll be for several hours but fairly useless otherwise.

You can see where they are on here, though:

Map of electric charging points for electric cars UK: Zapmap

UK-wide map of electric car charging points allowing EV drivers to find EV charge points and plan electric journeys to the nearest charging point.

www.zap-map.com

 

[Mike Dean]

I have 4 free chargers with 3 miles of my house.

 

[Alby42]

As a confirmed petrolhead. ( 964 and e36m3 ) I just love my EV. For the vast majority of my normal journeys it’s much easier and quicker.. no waiting in supermarket petrol stations for people to finish their shopping and free up the pumps.. at home I just plug in and my solar PV tops up the car. There are thousands of fast chargers about and millions of 13amp sockets that can be used ( if you have the time )
A recent trip of 180 miles ( my nominal range is 180 . So knock off 30 ) motorway and country roads… stopped midway at mway service station, plugged in, walked in, defueled and topped up with coffee, picked some flowers and wine back to car.. fully charged…. Whole journey took same amount of time as normal. Journey back in warm weather managed to get home without a stop and 20 miles in battery.
I know it’s not for everyone.. no access to off-road packing or power points. It’s not the solution but it helps a bit.
and you get to win the green light Grand Prix everyday
and of course I’ve got the t6 just in case

 

[Mike23864]

Wow, that is a surprise. I know of several petrol stations where I live but no electric charging stations.
Maybe that’s because I don’t use them or maybe because they aren’t as visible as a huge petrol station.

Is that because it’s counting apple and pears? If it was comparable you’d be counting ‘pumps’ (of which my local petrol station has 8, each with 4 nozzles) it also doesn’t take into account how long is spent by each vehicle at each filling point. Takes me 10 mins to fill up with diesel

 

[Mike23864]

I have 4 free chargers with 3 miles of my house.

I have a free charger within 50 yds of my house. The neighbour doesn’t know though

 

[Sackmycook]

Domestically, EV's are fine even if you can't charge at home, my Bruv has an EV and for ages, he didn't charge at home, he charged at work and considered his commute was from work to home and back to work.
The average office commute is well within the range of most EV's these days and if you have a special occasion or a holiday where range might be an issue, you can always hire something else.
Working from home these days, and with no driveway, we just need more chargers on the street.

I want a Rivian

Tesla rival Rivian in talks with UK government to set up factory in Bristol

Electric vehicle manufacturer, Rivian, a US-based Amazon-backed rival to Tesla, is in talks to set up a factory in Bristol, with a potential £1 billion investment.

www.driving.co.uk

Bring it on!

Looks like VW and Rivian are getting in to bed with each other. Could be interesting for VW's larger EV offerings

BBC News - German car maker VW to invest up to $5bn in Tesla rival Rivian - BBC News

German car maker VW to invest up to $5bn in Tesla rival Rivian

Shares in the US-based electric truck and SUV maker jumped by almost 50% after the announcement.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[t0mb0]

Looks like VW and Rivian are getting in to bed with each other. Could be interesting for VW's larger EV offerings

BBC News - German car maker VW to invest up to $5bn in Tesla rival Rivian - BBC News

German car maker VW to invest up to $5bn in Tesla rival Rivian

Shares in the US-based electric truck and SUV maker jumped by almost 50% after the announcement.

www.bbc.co.uk

In terms of tech, Rivian look amazing, I hope this investment from VW keeps them up and running.