WDB
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Post by WDB on Apr 20, 2022 12:31:17 GMT
‘Champagne socialist’ is tabloid whataboutery that doesn’t help here — or anywhere. There are plenty of examples where doing the right thing costs more (in money or time or trouble) than doing the wrong thing. It costs more to take your old kitchen units to the tip than to dump them in someone else’s field. It’s just that society hasn’t yet regarded excessive car use in quite the same terms.
And yes, your point about using an EV where another method might have done instead has some validity; I’ve done it myself, and I go to London in mine when I’d never have done that in a fossil car. But it’s a small effect, and it will disappear as EVs become the norm and ‘congestion charge’ finally means what it says.
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bpg
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Post by bpg on Apr 20, 2022 15:38:39 GMT
I can’t be alone in seeing the continued irony in EVs being currently best suited to those who don’t really need to use their cars all that much, and who can easily afford not to be enjoying any commensurate fuel savings. Whereas, those who most need to save money on fuel, and/or need to use their vehicles more rigorously and regularly, are still better served by old and more polluting technologies. No doubt technology will advance in due course and will become more financially accessible, but for now anyway, the occupation of the moral high ground is a function of having the means to visit it without the need. 🤔 Funny thing, in our house of three cars the BEV is the one that does the highest annual mileage. The diesel gets used when the weather is very inclement, the petrol for family holidays and my toy, the BEV keys are the keys of choice for everything else. My wife chose the BEV because it works for her. With a realistic 220+ miles range she charges it at home we've only used public chargers when we took it to Scotland. Of course not everyone has the option to charge at home. |
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Apr 28, 2022 16:46:20 GMT
Oh crikey, what am I thinking now? Wie wäre es...? ask the Germans, rhetorically. Well, how would it be if I looked again at the first EV I tried, way back in 2016: Uncle Elon's Tesla Model S? Used, of course, but there are plenty about now.
It has the presence, it (probably) has the space, it has enough proper hand-operated controls to feel like a car and not a computer game (the reason I don't want the more obvious Model Y.) And, significantly, it has the Tesla superchargers, still the most reliable and best-distributed fast charger network in the UK and Western Europe. It's probably the closest thing I could get to an electric CLS, and it would make the York trip, say, a planning-free breeze because even the back-of-brain nag about finding an available charger would disappear. The S is also about a third more efficient than the iPace, presumably in large part due to its superior aerodynamics, so whatever I charge it with will last longer and ultimately cost less too.
Disadvantages? It's still expensive, even used. And it's structurally unsuited to, and not type-approved for, a towbar - people do fit them but at the risk of voiding their insurance - which would mean carrying any bikes on the roof or (one) inside. Oh, and MrsB1 thinks they're a bit look-at-me, having followed a grey one into town yesterday. It's not Mercedes-solid inside either, but my memory is of a nicely designed and laid-out interior and an easy car to drive.
I might only keep one for a couple of years, until we're fully post-children and the mainstream charging network has had some time to mature. But it's an EV that really does offer the possibility of a long continental road trip. Worth a look, even if only to see if it's as good as I remember.
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bpg
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Post by bpg on Apr 28, 2022 17:01:14 GMT
The thought of a lightly used model S did cross my mind and then I keep coming back to Tesla supply chain.
A two week wait for a brake pad, months off the road if some clown damages your car requiring replacement parts/body panels, no wonder insurance is steep if a replacement hire car is required for months not days.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 28, 2022 17:09:49 GMT
>> people do fit them but at the risk of voiding their insurance
Does simply fitting them void the insurance even if one does not actually tow with it?
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Apr 28, 2022 18:28:09 GMT
I don’t know. Probably not if I run over a nun on a zebra crossing (not my fault, she was camouflaged) and the towbar clearly wasn’t a factor. But if my unapproved towbar comes adrift at speed and strows carrier and bike parts across three lanes of motorway, causing expensive chaos, I’d rather not be the one trying to explain to my insurer that I thought it wouldn’t matter.
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Post by dixinormus on Apr 28, 2022 20:11:59 GMT
I’d have thought bicycle-carriers would be fitted to all EVs as standard. Back-up transportation for when the battery goes flat...
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Apr 28, 2022 20:32:13 GMT
Yawn
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Rob
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Post by Rob on Apr 28, 2022 20:55:53 GMT
Some Tesla's are delivered without brake pads - so much for quality control.
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Apr 28, 2022 21:29:45 GMT
We’ve all heard the stories but I’d hope a 2018 car that I might be looking at would have received the Brakes feature update by now. 😛
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Rob
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Post by Rob on Apr 29, 2022 0:11:52 GMT
They were not stories - they were fact. But you'd hope the parts would be on a 2018 model now.
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Post by dixinormus on Apr 29, 2022 4:44:30 GMT
Tesla would still be top of my list simply because of their charging network. Yes other chargers are growing in quantity but so is the number of EVs on the road that require them.
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Post by Humph on Apr 29, 2022 7:36:05 GMT
Then again, there’s the Taycan shooting brake thing. Tad expensive mind.
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Apr 29, 2022 7:55:31 GMT
Yes, I could fancy a long trip in one of those. Might not choose to spend all my home improvement money to get it, though.
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Post by dixinormus on Apr 29, 2022 7:58:59 GMT
Meh - again all too expensive for just a set of fancy Scalextric wheels...
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