EV (electric vehicle) News and Discussion

Forums › Transport (cars, bikes and boats) › EV (electric vehicle) News and Discussion

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Mad Scientist
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#2747070 20-Jul-2021 11:30

jarledb:

Batman:

also i can't live with doing everything on the ipad. i need dials and buttons.

Tesla is pretty out there when what you have to do via the screen, but other manufacturers are going that way too. So soon you won't be able to deal with a modern car if you have to have physical dials and buttons.

luckily a car is just being made that doesn't need you to use an ipad to move the seats or turn on the wipers

RobDickinson

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#2747072 20-Jul-2021 11:31

Except with a tesla you have actual seat controls, on the seat. And a button on the stalk to activate the wipers.

TBH I dont see the point in having the actual seat controls on the seat and not the screen. you use them once to setup your seat position and then its saved to your profile.

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#2747116 20-Jul-2021 13:20

Getting used to not having physical controls does take a bit; I had to pull over just after getting off the ferry in Picton as the auto wipers were going flat out even though it was completely dry and my attempts to navigate to the wiper section to turn them off while driving failed.

I am also having to hunt through every menu to try and find the setting I want, though this is because I am not familiar with the car/settings yet more than an issue with having everyone on the screen.

WyleECoyoteNZ

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#2747325 20-Jul-2021 20:11

Batman:

luckily a car is just being made that doesn't need you to use an ipad to move the seats or turn on the wipers

I watched this earlier today, nice car. Does anyone know if the Kia EV6 is it's twin?

Batman

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#2747326 20-Jul-2021 20:15

nzkiwiman:
Getting used to not having physical controls does take a bit; I had to pull over just after getting off the ferry in Picton as the auto wipers were going flat out even though it was completely dry and my attempts to navigate to the wiper section to turn them off while driving failed.

I am also having to hunt through every menu to try and find the setting I want, though this is because I am not familiar with the car/settings yet more than an issue with having everyone on the screen.

How do you even see your speed when driving?

RobDickinson

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#2747329 20-Jul-2021 20:16

It's on the top right of the screen it's easy to see.

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Obraik

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#2747330 20-Jul-2021 20:16

Batman:
nzkiwiman:

Getting used to not having physical controls does take a bit; I had to pull over just after getting off the ferry in Picton as the auto wipers were going flat out even though it was completely dry and my attempts to navigate to the wiper section to turn them off while driving failed.

I am also having to hunt through every menu to try and find the setting I want, though this is because I am not familiar with the car/settings yet more than an issue with having everyone on the screen.

How do you even see your speed when driving?

I dunno about you, but my eyes can move to the left 😉

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jarledb

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#2747331 20-Jul-2021 20:31

Obraik:

I dunno about you, but my eyes can move to the left 😉

Do people drive looking at the speedometer at all times? I don't.

And if you want you could always add a head up display. Lot's of those around to retrofit.

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WyleECoyoteNZ

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#2747336 20-Jul-2021 20:47

I enjoyed this video, and the frank honesty of it.

And it does highlight some of the downsides of EV ownership:

- Public chargers

- EV Chargers being out in the open (at the moment)

Whether his numbers he quotes are accurate, I haven't checked and won't be.

What I'd like to know, if it has happened, is have NZ EV owners experienced instances of Public chargers not working\being faulty. Back in the summer on a road trip back from Rotorua to Wellington, I did see an instance where the public charger at the Waiouru Army Museum was offline, and a user was having to wait until it became available again.

And the point on chargers being out in the open is semi-valid, for instance the new Tesla Superchargers in Johnsonville are in the corner of the car park, a decent distance from any shelter.

I'm not bashing on the EV, we all know the benefits, I want to know and hear about the downsides, if any.

Obraik

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#2747337 20-Jul-2021 20:48

jarledb:

Do people drive looking at the speedometer at all times? I don't.

And if you want you could always add a head up display. Lot's of those around to retrofit.

No, I certainly don't. Once I've had the car for a while I get a sense of how fast the various speed limits feel and don't need to monitor the speedo. At the same time though, I don't think looking down at a speedo gives you any more visibility of the road ahead vs glancing across to the left

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WyleECoyoteNZ

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#2747338 20-Jul-2021 20:50

And this is worth a watch too. JCB and them getting a conventional ICE engine (effectively) to run on Hydrogen. Not a fuel cell.

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RobDickinson

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#2747339 20-Jul-2021 20:54

Superchargers always work basically, and chargenet is pretty good too there all mostly online and you know if it's working beforehand and they havre good support.

Obraik

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#2747340 20-Jul-2021 20:55

WyleECoyoteNZ:

And it does highlight some of the downsides of EV ownership:

- Public chargers

- EV Chargers being out in the open (at the moment)

Whether his numbers he quotes are accurate, I haven't checked and won't be.

What I'd like to know, if it has happened, is have NZ EV owners experienced instances of Public chargers not working\being faulty. Back in the summer on a road trip back from Rotorua to Wellington, I did see an instance where the public charger at the Waiouru Army Museum was offline, and a user was having to wait until it became available again.

And the point on chargers being out in the open is semi-valid, for instance the new Tesla Superchargers in Johnsonville are in the corner of the car park, a decent distance from any shelter.

I'm not bashing on the EV, we all know the benefits, I want to know and hear about the downsides, if any.

Yeah I'd agree with the chargers being out in the open complaint. In the case of Tesla Superchargers in NZ, when they are covered they're inside mall carpark buildings so getting access after hours means calling the security guard to let you in. I want some of those charging stations starting to pop up in the UK that are covered like a petrol station. I'm sure this will become less of an issue as the petrol station companies start switching pumps to chargers to continue to attract people into their stores.

I haven't had any problems with public chargers yet. I haven't come across any that have been broken and I also haven't had to wait. Broken chargers do happen though and are especially annoying for people stopping in towns that have only the one DC charger. But as with the above, this is becoming less of an issue as many towns and cities start to gain more than a single charge spot.

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Technofreak

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#2747351 20-Jul-2021 21:57

WyleECoyoteNZ:
And this is worth a watch too. JCB and them getting a conventional ICE engine (effectively) to run on Hydrogen. Not a fuel cell.

Very interesting. If the manufacturing costs quoted for an EV are close to correct then this technology could kill EVs.

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MarkH67

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#2747353 20-Jul-2021 22:04

The real problem is that EV drivers are a fairly small minority, whereas drivers of diesel & petrol powered cars are the huge majority. It shouldn't surprise anyone that the infrastructure caters better for the vast majority of drivers, rather than the small minority. However, as the numbers change over the next few years, I would expect very noticeable improvements to the EV charging infrastructure. There will end up being more charging stations and more chargers per station. BP will realise that their Wild Bean cafés will be more profitable if there are half a dozen EV drivers with nothing to do for half an hour while their cars charge and might as well enjoy a nice coffee and maybe some food while they wait.

Currently I don't experience any of the hassles, I only really use my Leaf for commuting (coupled with home-charging) and honestly I think that a 24kWh Leaf is only good for short trips anyway. As time goes on and the EVs on the road have better and better range, there will be less reliance on public charging unless doing a longer trip.

So far I've put about 65,000km onto my Leaf with almost all of that from charging done at home. I've driven to work & back hundreds of times. I've also driven over to Hamilton to pick up stuff (like computer gear using click & collect from PB Tech), which is a similar distance. I'd love a longer range car that could do even longer trips without needing to use public charging, it would be great to go from Morrinsville to Auckland to Morrinsville - all on one charge. My total costs for running the Leaf have been a LOT less than for even the most economical petrol car. I've only spent money on wipers & tyres as far as repairs & maintenance goes. The energy cost has been around $50 less per week than if I was getting that energy from burning petrol. The more I could do with an EV from a home charge the more cheap driving I'm getting out of it.

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