Prices of the electricity we use to charge

[saneagle]

There's a new problem with electric cars coming to light. It has been mentioned on various car dealer forums and YouTube videos. The dealers are saying that they don't want to deal in used EVs for a number of reasons, but one reason that keeps coming up is the brakes. A lot of drivers are more or less exlusively using the regen for normal breaking. This means that the cast iron disks go rusty through lack of use. When the driver needs to do an emergency stop, the brakes are not effective enough because of the rust coating, so now there are many YouTubers warning about this issue. The reason the dealers don't like to buy the EVs is because the discs are nearly always scored and the calipers are also often seized. You can see these problems highlighted when you check the MOT history of most electric. When you look through the wheels, you can see the scored discs.

The moral of the story is that if you drive an EV, you should turn down the regen, pay for a bit more electricity and use the brakes a lot more to keep them working properly.

 

[danielrlee]

The moral of the story is that if you drive an EV, you should turn down the regen, pay for a bit more electricity and use the brakes a lot more to keep them working properly.

It needn't be a show-stopper, as issues like this can simply be engineered out at the design stage. Physical brakes could be programmed to be periodically engaged instead of regen in order to keep the braking surfaces clean. It could even be rolled out as an over-the-air update.

 

[Ghost1951]

It needn't be a show-stopper, as issues like this can simply be engineered out at the design stage. Physical brakes could be programmed to be periodically engaged instead of regen in order to keep the braking surfaces clean.

It's like what happened to my old diesel TDR.

I drove it up and down the A69 about a hundred and twenty miles a week and never gave it any beans. After about ten years the bloody variable geometry turbo was stuck and when I tried to overtake a truck on a hill, the engine went into limp mode. The dealers wanted about £1200 to replace it, but I fixed it myself and after that, I made a point of giving it the beans on a long hill. It didn't happen again. I sold it over a corrosion issue on the rear subframe that was going to cost more than the car was worth, but that engine had about another quarter of a million miles in it. I sold it for £800 to the dealer when I bought my new one and it was off the road for months, but I was really pleased to see that it hasn't been scrapped as I thought and now someone has repaired it and it is once again on the road.

 

[danielrlee]

It's like what happened to my old diesel TDR.

I drove it up and down the A69 about a hundred and twenty miles a week and never gave it any beans. After about ten years the bloody variable geometry turbo was stuck and when I tried to overtake a truck on a hill, the engine went into limp mode. The dealers wanted about £1200 to replace it, but I fixed it myself and after that, I made a point of giving it the beans on a long hill. It didn't happen again. I sold it over a corrosion issue on the rear subframe that was going to cost more than the car was worth, but that engine had about another quarter of a million miles in it. I sold it for £800 to the dealer when I bought my new one and it was off the road for months, but I was really pleased to see that it hasn't been scrapped as I thought and now someone has repaired it and it is once again on the road.

It's a common story; a blocked DPF cleared with a good old 'Itallian tune-up'. Did the stealership not advise a spirited drive when they quoted you?

 

[Ghost1951]

It's a common story; a blocked DPF cleared with a good old 'Itallian tune-up'. Did the stealership not advise a spirited drive when they quoted you?

No - it didn't have a dpf filter, but the Italian tune up was the solution. The turbo was stuck and the vanes did not move when commanded by a vacuum initiated by the computer. I drove it miles in second gear and at first the limp mode kept coming on, but I just switched the engine off and on and continued running it at about 4500 rpm. Eventually, after about twenty five miles,it unstuck and then on every hill, I gave it full throttle for three seconds and then no throttle for three seconds on and off, on and off so it got fully cleared. After that, once or twice a week I did the same again, and it had no more trouble.

There were people advocating a much more troublesome solution online which I am assured works. It involved disconnecting the exhaust side of the turbo and filling the hot side with Mr Muscle oven cleaner and then manually pushing the actuator rod in and out. At aged about 70, I wasn't going there. I crawled under the car on the street in mid winter and had a look and decided there had to be an easier way, and there was. How hard it is to get at the hot side of the turbo depends on the particular car's pipe work. On mine it was horribly buried.

 

[flecc]

There's a new problem with electric cars coming to light. It has been mentioned on various car dealer forums and YouTube videos. The dealers are saying that they don't want to deal in used EVs for a number of reasons, but one reason that keeps coming up is the brakes. A lot of drivers are more or less exlusively using the regen for normal breaking. This means that the cast iron disks go rusty through lack of use. When the driver needs to do an emergency stop, the brakes are not effective enough because of the rust coating, so now there are many YouTubers warning about this issue. The reason the dealers don't like to buy the EVs is because the discs are nearly always scored and the calipers are also often seized. You can see these problems highlighted when you check the MOT history of most electric. When you look through the wheels, you can see the scored discs.

The moral of the story is that if you drive an EV, you should turn down the regen, pay for a bit more electricity and use the brakes a lot more to keep them working properly.

Another desperate fantasy from the anti-EV crowd who, in saying this, show that they know nothing about them.

A criticism of EV cars in general is that the regen levels are poor until the brake pedal is employed as well. My Leaf is typical of this, lift off and there's a very small level of regen, whatever mode it's set to, lightly touch the brake pedal and the regen on the dashboard meter shoots up. The criticism of course is that this means the brake pads are brought into contact with the discs so a small degree of wear takes place, but it's minimal and the pads have a very long life.

The benefit of this "fault" of course is that the discs remain polished and clean at all times, all mine are still gleaming and unmarked at six and a half years old.

To complete this information, Audi tried to benefit from this "fault" by a deliberate step in the brake pedal action on one model when they introduced it, to delay pad contact, but it doesn't seem to have attracted any attention since and it course could create the rumoured problem.

Really Saneagle, you of all people should know a subject before commenting on it, based on what YouTubers say.
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[chris_n]

Another desperate fantasy from the anti-EV crowd who, in saying this, show that they know nothing about them.

A criticism of EV cars in general is that the regen levels are poor until the brake pedal is employed as well. My Leaf is typical of this, lift off and there's a very small level of regen, whatever mode it's set to, lightly touch the brake pedal and the regen on the dashboard meter shoots up. The criticism of course is that this means the brake pads are brought into contact with the discs so a small degree of wear takes place, but it's minimal and the pads have a very long life.

The benefit of this "fault" of course is that the discs remain polished and clean at all times, all mine are still gleaming and unmarked at six and a half years old.

To complete this information, Audi tried to benefit from this "fault" by a deliberate step in the brake pedal action on one model when they introduced it, to delay pad contact, but it doesn't seem to have attracted any attention since and it course could create the rumoured problem.

Really Saneagle, you of all people should know a subject before commenting on it, based on what YouTubers say.
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There are plenty of EVs with one pedal driving where you can come to a complete stop without using the brake pedal. You can of course choose not to use it but it does exist.