(A series of articles highlighting this new technology.)
It seems that something is being announced almost every day at the moment in the world of electric vehicles, with mainstream internal combustion engine (ICE) manufacturers giving details of new models and upgrades to existing units, so we want to keep you up to date with all this new-fangled electrickery techy thingy, as only your dedicated newsletter team can!
Hello readers… Something a little different this month. Normally we like to bring you all the latest details of what’s new and happening in the world of electric cars, after all, in only 7 years’ time you will not be able to buy a brand-new car that is powered by Petrol or Diesel. So, as you might imagine the rush is on from almost all manufactures to bring out alternative powered vehicles.
However, as a few members have recently pointed out, what happens when things go wrong, so in this issue we are going to look at some of the “reported” downsides of owning and running an electric car.
Now as we all know, history is a great teacher, and the number of times I have said, this cannot be the first time this has happened, runs into, well hundreds! But, we still have the old questions and comments popping up time and time again.
How about the old chestnut... Range? Yes, it’s true, in general an electric car will not go as far as one that is powered by a fossil fuel. The maximum range for any EV will be around 300 miles, but, if you accelerate quickly, use the heater or aircon then that range will drop, exactly as the mpg will do in its petrol equivalent. Plus, if you think about how many times you do travel over say, 250 miles in one drive.. it’s not that often, if you have the ability to charge at home or work, then this obviously will help... Try filling up your petrol car at home, it will be a bit more difficult than plugging it in!!
Recently an article appeared in “The Sunday Times” written by Giles Coren. He is the restaurant critic for the paper, he bought/leased (who knows) an electric car. It was a Jaguar i-Pace. The article was well written, as you would expect it to be, but he has just given it back to the dealer saying he wants to go back to a petrol/Diesel car. Why? Because the the i-Pace has been so unreliable. In fact, it has gone faulty so many times leaving him and his family stranded that he has now lost any confidence in the car. Yes, I have a lot of sympathy with him, paying around £70,000 for a luxury car and it proving to be almost useless. But I know someone who has a almost new Range Rover Evoke (petrol) and that is in his words useless as well. We have all had experience of an unreliable car. In fact, it could be said that is how the growth of the Japanese car industry occurred, due to them producing reliable cars, compared to European ones that were available at the time.
Next lets think about the second hard market, or pre-owned or pre-loved as some marketing folks put it. Lots of people run what are called “Bangers” - cheap cars that have high mileages, and some MOT. They run them on a shoestring till they are no longer roadworthy. Post 2030 what are they going to do, buy a cheap electric car if there is one? Well, for a long time to come, there will be petrol available, for over 20 years at a guess - that’s up to 2050. And by that time, we will certainly know what fuel is the preferred one to use, be it electric, hydrogen, synthetic fuels, or something yet to be designed.
Finally, let’s look at public charging, the cost of electricity has risen dramatically, yet regularly over 50 per cent of the UK electricity generation is via renewable sources - like Wind power, Solar farms and Nuclear. The price of electricity is directly linked to gas (you can Google “why is the price of electricity linked to gas”). So, yes charging at a public charging point is going to be more expensive.
However, many have said the there are not enough public chargers, it’s true the infrastructure has not kept pace with the demand for EV’s but next time you are at Middlebrook, have a look at how many EV’s are being charged, the most I have ever seen is two. Maybe more chargers are needed in petrol stations, take out some pumps and put in chargers? Maybe a coffee shop and proper toilets. I am sure a link between a fast-food outlet and a petrol station operator could be organised. Oh. Hang on a moment... it is happening... but yes not fast enough.
Lets just leave you with a couple of interesting links.. This first one is The Fully Charged Show’s list of all the new EV’s due to be released in 2023.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWtofbHt97Q
The second is the link to the Sunday Times article referred to above:
https://m.facebook.com/timesandsundaytimes/photos/a.212406988788591/6453955751300319/?type=3
If you are looking for some interesting stories to read, how about this one where a council is hiding it’s EV’s
https://uk.yahoo.com/news/york-council-electric-powered-bin-wagons-191333453.html
If you’re thinking of “upgrading” to electric, please let us know, we would love to hear what you are thinking of changing to, plus if you have any questions, just shout out!
Well, that’s it till next month, hope you like “Electric Avenue”, please let us know. Plus if there is anything you would like to comment on or have questions to ask, then again, just let us know.
Barry Sloan – Publicity Officer