Charging electric cars
- Thread starter Gubbins
- Start date
Years ago I commuted from the Dunstable Downs to Epsom every day for a couple of years in one of those. Foot to the floor flat out every trip, but it never let me down.
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Someone gave us one when we were students at design school. After checking we found someone had emptied a bag of sugar into the petrol tank (ah the days when filler caps weren't locked...) so it being a quiet sunday afternoon we cleaned the tank and rebuilt the carburetor. We towed it down to the petrol station filled it and inflated the tyres and headed for the beach.
It was an Australian 103E so older than any of us
It was an Australian 103E so older than any of us
And look how far we have come.Someone gave us one when we were students at design school. After checking we found someone had emptied a bag of sugar into the petrol tank (ah the days when filler caps weren't locked...) so it being a quiet sunday afternoon we cleaned the tank and rebuilt the carburetor. We towed it down to the petrol station filled it and inflated the tyres and headed for the beach.
It was an Australian 103E so older than any of us
http://www.fleetpoint.org/fleet-industry-news/news-by-date/first-delivery-new-nissan-leaf/
Looks a bit big to me, better off with something like this: https://www.electricclassiccars.co.uk/?lightbox=dataItem-j2z4ev7n
Yes, the new Leaf is larger than it looks.
Nearest e-car to those old Fiat 500s and 600s is the VW e-Up:
Indeed, especially when we have seen the damage done by a small bike battery fire.. Does this suggest that the battery didnt ignite? For those that didnt see the program the crash happened after the race and wasn't filmed by the crew so was picked up from YouTube vids shot by spectators. It does look to be well on fire tho..
Hard to say, but my suspicions were aroused. I've seen a very large number of car fire outcomes, since for a couple of decades around here the theft of cars for joyriding and then setting them alight was a recognised youth sporting activity. I was one of those taking part in the removal of the wreckages from three nature reserves.
In all but one case the cars were upright so the fire mostly above wheel level, but the tyres were invariably fully burnt out with nothing of them left. Here all four tyres are alongside or above the fire but appear virtually untouched. Even after counting the fact that no petrol was present, that seems almost impossible.
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normal car fires include petrol which unlike a battery doesnt stay in one place. a fuel tank exploding would spread burning petrol over a wider area igniting anything it touches.. Not sure how a big battery would burn, if in fact it did ignite in this case..
I've mentioned the petrol absence element, but this still doesn't make sense. Just look at the wheels at the front of the photo. The rear one on its side is up against a part of the car that's been severely buckled and destroyed into unrecognisability by fire, but that hasn't even melted the tread pattern on the tyre.
The front one is similarly right next to a badly burnt area of the car but appears untouched.
When it comes to publicity seeking showbiz types I'm always a cynic.
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If it was a Li-Ion battery fire they tend to have flames that shoot out of the battery box through the vents sort of like a flame thrower. In the photo of the Tesla higher up you can see the flames aren't touching the rear of the car. I think the passengers may have left the doors open when they escaped so the battery fire has spread to the interior but the boot and rear tyres are intact.
The launch of the new Nissan Leaf has caused me to look again at electric cars. Cost, range and battery life being the main factors which have put me off buying one.
Initial cost is moving toward a point where I am interested.
Range is better & probably ok for > 80% of my journeys.
Battery life? I’m not sure and don’t really know how much a new 40 KWH battery will cost.
For me to invest in electric cars, there has to be a saving and I think the battery life / depreciation could wipe out any money saved.
From a purely financial point of view, I think it’s better to continue burning diesel and petrol. So I’ve decided that is what I will do. In the future, the differential may diminish due to either cheaper & better batteries or increased taxation on ICE powered vehicles. I’ll review again in a couple of years time.
Going by the Zoe, a 40 kWh battery will cost some £5000 to replace.
The Leaf battery is warrantied for 8 years to 75 % capacity minimum. No other details at present.
Renault have a mixed battery picture since they commonly rent as well as sell batteries and rental is the best bet.
With rental the car costs £5000 less, so as little as under £13000 to buy one. Rental starts at £45 a month for a 4500 miles per annum user, but that incudes 8 year warranty to minimum 75% capacity. Any drop below that capacity in the term and they instantly replace the battery with a new one.
Things aren't so good when buying the battery, the warranty is only 5 years to 65% minimum capacity before they'll replace.
The e-car warranties are good though, typically 8 years and 100,000 miles, so much better than ic cars ones. In fact Renault have just dropped their ic car warranties by a year from 4 years, but have also greatly reduced the annual servicing costs to £99 each. They say this change isn't due to greater warranty costs but reflects user patterns better. It seems so many change their ic cars by three years that warranty claims in the fourth year were extremely rare.
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So about 12p per mile plus the cost of electricity. I'm not sure how that compares to the petrol equivilant.
Our 2.0 litre Golf Bluemotion covers about 10000 miles per year. Without looking I reckon I put about £80 to £90 worth of diesel in it per month, road tax £20 a year. If the battery rental is £45/month per 4500 miles per year plus the electricity charge (quite small I know, but a factor), the savings are not evident. That’s without the inconvenience of charging and the anxiety of effectively constantly driving around with the diesel gauge 1/4 full, or less. I can’t make a case for switching to electricity.
I don't think there is any economic case for a e-car, buying one is mainly an environmental decision, though they do have some very beguiling characteristics when driving. That's especially true if most driving is done in urban and suburban situations.
Of course the environmental decisions will be progressively enforced on us, in London it's already started.
P.S. Monthly battery rental on the Renault Zoe is up slightly now:
Annual Mileage, ZE40 battery,
<4,500. . 6,000. . 7,500 , , 9,000. . 10,500.. Unlimited^
. . £59 . . . . .£69 . . . ... £79 . . . . .£89 . . . . . . .£99 . . . . . .£110
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