Electric Vehicle: Will you buy one

Forums › Transport (cars, bikes and boats) › Electric Vehicle: Will you buy one - if not why not?

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1402 posts

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#1773643 1-May-2017 16:13

frednz:

... how about the battery of the BMW i3, would you consider this is "repair friendly" and an improvement on the Nissan Leaf situation?...

No. You have the same concept - you need to lift that car to get the heavy battery out. In comparison - Prius traction battery can be changed on the beach without lifting the car - one man job.

Size and weight of EV traction batteries would also require quite a spacious storage and workshop to deal with.

I am already anticipating owner's expectations that someone would be willing to swap "one failed cell" and she'll be fine... for a few bucks. Not going to happen.

Rikkitic

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#1773659 1-May-2017 16:44

I have always been a late adopter of new technology. Partly this is due to cynicism as I never believe latest and greatest claims. Partly it is due to a surprisingly conservative streak in me, that makes me reluctant to try new things just for the sake of it. And a big part of it is simply cost. I have spent my life living well off of very little. This involves some creative corner cutting. New ideas are wonderful if someone else tries them out first. They always involve high costs. So I wait until the technology is proven and the costs have come down, and even then I may put it off if what I have is serving my needs adequately.

What all this means is that my first electric car may be 20 years away, or maybe never. By the time I can get one with the specs I want for the price I am able to pay, it will be just like the 14 year-old ICE I currently drive, which has low mileage, still looks good, works perfectly, and breezes through the WOF inspections. The only reason it isn't worth anything (and therefore within my price range) is that it is old and out of fashion. But it still runs just like it did when it was a state of the art luxury business sedan which I could never have afforded in my wildest dreams, and I still get just as much pleasure from driving it as I would have when it was new. I just had to wait a few years for the experience.

By the time an EV becomes part of my reality, the battery issue will have been solved with a 10 minute drive in, up on the rack, swap battery bank, drive out, a lot like currently replacing a faulty exhaust. By not having been a new adopter, I will not only have saved a ton of money, but also bypassed all the hassle of early non-swapable battery technology. It is win-win. It would be fun to have a Tesla now, but it will be just as much fun in 20 years when I can get something that is much better for a fraction of the actual cost of making it because all the early adopters have moved on to something else and no longer want it.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

frednz

1467 posts

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#1773787 1-May-2017 19:55

Rikkitic:

I have always been a late adopter of new technology. Partly this is due to cynicism as I never believe latest and greatest claims. Partly it is due to a surprisingly conservative streak in me, that makes me reluctant to try new things just for the sake of it. And a big part of it is simply cost. I have spent my life living well off of very little. This involves some creative corner cutting. New ideas are wonderful if someone else tries them out first. They always involve high costs. So I wait until the technology is proven and the costs have come down, and even then I may put it off if what I have is serving my needs adequately.

What all this means is that my first electric car may be 20 years away, or maybe never. By the time I can get one with the specs I want for the price I am able to pay, it will be just like the 14 year-old ICE I currently drive, which has low mileage, still looks good, works perfectly, and breezes through the WOF inspections. The only reason it isn't worth anything (and therefore within my price range) is that it is old and out of fashion. But it still runs just like it did when it was a state of the art luxury business sedan which I could never have afforded in my wildest dreams, and I still get just as much pleasure from driving it as I would have when it was new. I just had to wait a few years for the experience.

By the time an EV becomes part of my reality, the battery issue will have been solved with a 10 minute drive in, up on the rack, swap battery bank, drive out, a lot like currently replacing a faulty exhaust. By not having been a new adopter, I will not only have saved a ton of money, but also bypassed all the hassle of early non-swapable battery technology. It is win-win. It would be fun to have a Tesla now, but it will be just as much fun in 20 years when I can get something that is much better for a fraction of the actual cost of making it because all the early adopters have moved on to something else and no longer want it.

That's certainly a very cost effective point of view, but I can see from people who own EVs that they are really enjoying the experience of being early adopters and contributing towards the inevitable growth of EVs in this country. Yes, it's true that some EV owners could be regarded as "enthusiasts", but there are also many EV owners who just enjoy all the advantages that EVs have to offer, even if the EV market is still in its infancy here.

However, I'm a bit disappointed that there aren't many brands of new pure electric vehicles available here yet and that the prices of these vehicles is very high, which no doubt reflects the recovery of the research and development costs of these vehicles. It seems that pure EVs are ideal for people who are prepared to own two cars, an EV for local running around and an ICE for trips.

But, I can also see the merits of plug-in hybrid EVs and even if their electric range is very limited, they certainly help owners to avoid range anxiety and reduce fuel costs. My own preference is for a BMW i3 with range extender, but the price is very high at the moment!

Aredwood

3885 posts

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#1773949 1-May-2017 23:33

Would love to buy an EV. But I have to replace my Van soon, and EV vans are definitely not suitable for my use case. So that just leaves short trips like popping over to friends houses or the supermarket. Sure an EV would be perfect for that, but would be no more than approx 2000Km per year. So no point in buying an EV for such a small amount of driving. As the $15K or so cost would have to be on finance. So it just won't stack up compared to buying a secondhand ICE car for no more than $5K. Or just keeping my current Van after I buy the new one. At least until something major fails on it.

I would love to get an EV as I get cheap power with Flick Electric. And my switchboard is in the garage, so installing a high current charger connection will be easy. But at the moment for me the maths just doesn't work out.

BlinkyBill

1443 posts

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#1773964 2-May-2017 04:01

I owned a Tesla, in Sydney. It was novel, but ultimately it wasn't a very well put-together car and I got sick of the range anxiety/stress. So I sold it. My NZ-based Porsche is a much much better assembled car; and to be honest the build quality of the Tesla got to me.

So that's got nothing to do with EV or not, just the build quality.

I won't consider a Tesla again on that basis alone; maybe I'll look at Tesla again in, say, 10 years time. I haven't looked at any of the other EV's.

In the meantime, I love my Porsche sport exhaust and the noise, the stupid fat wheels, manual changing, and all that - that is a factor for me. I won't be moving to EV until I have to, when petrol becomes too scarce to run cars.

alasta

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#1773973 2-May-2017 06:55

Those of you who would like occasional access to an EV but can't justify buying one might want to consider this option:

https://mevo.co.nz

frednz

1467 posts

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#1774038 2-May-2017 09:34

BlinkyBill: I owned a Tesla, in Sydney. It was novel, but ultimately it wasn't a very well put-together car and I got sick of the range anxiety/stress. So I sold it. My NZ-based Porsche is a much much better assembled car; and to be honest the build quality of the Tesla got to me.

So that's got nothing to do with EV or not, just the build quality.

I won't consider a Tesla again on that basis alone; maybe I'll look at Tesla again in, say, 10 years time. I haven't looked at any of the other EV's.

In the meantime, I love my Porsche sport exhaust and the noise, the stupid fat wheels, manual changing, and all that - that is a factor for me. I won't be moving to EV until I have to, when petrol becomes too scarce to run cars.

Fair enough, I suppose it's not worth keeping an EV if you aren't enjoying owning it!

But, aren't you just a little bit worried about the health of our planet if people will only switch to electric vehicles when petrol becomes too scarce to run cars?

I'm sure that many EV owners really do think they are helping to reduce carbon emissions and almost feel guilty when they have to drive a petrol engine vehicle!

There hasn't been much emphasis given in this thread to the fact that the use of EVs helps to reduce carbon emissions. Don't we ALL have to play our part in trying to achieve this and start now to move over to EVs?

Deep down, don't you feel just a little bit guilty when you continue to drive your gas-guzzling monsters when all the evidence points to global warming now being an absolute reality?

(p.s. I'm not a "Greenie" or member of the Green Party, just someone who believes that global warming is a reality!)

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WyleECoyoteNZ

1049 posts

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#1774200 2-May-2017 12:24

Interesting review on the Tesla P100D out of the UK

On the DriveTribe channel, by a journalist who previously was with EVO magazine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E9MHajPfJU

Coil

6614 posts

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#1774213 2-May-2017 12:29

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVkJjt_Peg0

I'd own this!

sonyxperiageek

2958 posts

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#1774225 2-May-2017 12:43

Are EVs still allowed on bus lanes etc in Auckland?

Sony

old3eyes

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#1774232 2-May-2017 12:52

sonyxperiageek:

Are EVs still allowed on bus lanes etc in Auckland?

I thought that that was only a proposal and never went anywhere.

Regards,

Old3eyes

Coil

6614 posts

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#1774233 2-May-2017 12:52

sonyxperiageek:

Are EVs still allowed on bus lanes etc in Auckland?

"Enabling road controlling authorities to allow electric vehicles access to special vehicle lanes

The Government agreed to an initiative to enable road controlling authorities (RCAs) to make bylaws to allow electric vehicles access to special vehicle lanes (including transit, high occupancy vehicle, priority bypass, and bus lanes). Changes to the Land Transport Act 1998 and Land Transport Rules are required to implement the initiative."

Appears NZTA made this policy national for local authorities to control bylaws.

Gutted its not BUS ONLY hahaha, Wouldnt mind using that lane sometimes.

https://www.nzta.govt.nz/media-releases/auckland-electric-vehicle-special-lane-access-trial-gets-go-ahead/

Appears it was more of a trial though. Since ended march 20.

sonyxperiageek

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#1774238 2-May-2017 12:57

Yes, I saw the trial signs go up then take them down again hence wasn't sure if it was still on. Didn't see anyone using it on the North Western in peak hour traffic though haha so I guess not a huge uptake so far or possibly many didn't know it was available for EVs to use.

Sony

Rikkitic

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#1774408 2-May-2017 16:47

frednz:

BlinkyBill: I owned a Tesla, in Sydney. It was novel, but ultimately it wasn't a very well put-together car and I got sick of the range anxiety/stress. So I sold it. My NZ-based Porsche is a much much better assembled car; and to be honest the build quality of the Tesla got to me.

So that's got nothing to do with EV or not, just the build quality.

I won't consider a Tesla again on that basis alone; maybe I'll look at Tesla again in, say, 10 years time. I haven't looked at any of the other EV's.

In the meantime, I love my Porsche sport exhaust and the noise, the stupid fat wheels, manual changing, and all that - that is a factor for me. I won't be moving to EV until I have to, when petrol becomes too scarce to run cars.

Fair enough, I suppose it's not worth keeping an EV if you aren't enjoying owning it!

But, aren't you just a little bit worried about the health of our planet if people will only switch to electric vehicles when petrol becomes too scarce to run cars?

I'm sure that many EV owners really do think they are helping to reduce carbon emissions and almost feel guilty when they have to drive a petrol engine vehicle!

There hasn't been much emphasis given in this thread to the fact that the use of EVs helps to reduce carbon emissions. Don't we ALL have to play our part in trying to achieve this and start now to move over to EVs?

Deep down, don't you feel just a little bit guilty when you continue to drive your gas-guzzling monsters when all the evidence points to global warming now being an absolute reality?

(p.s. I'm not a "Greenie" or member of the Green Party, just someone who believes that global warming is a reality!)

These issues are often presented in excessively simplistic black and white terms. As I have explained earlier in this thread, I am not currently in a position to own an EV. Worse, I drive an overpowered petrol-hungry ICE. But I rarely go anywhere in it. I don't commute and I sometimes I don't even make a shopping trip more than once in two weeks. As a result, my total motoring carbon footprint is very low, much less than someone who owns both kinds of vehicles and only uses the ICE for weekend jaunts to the bach. For that reason I do not feel guilty about my occasional trips into town, and would appreciate not being judged for them by the disapproving cyclists I pass.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

RUKI

1402 posts

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#1774494 2-May-2017 18:30

frednz:

........ But, aren't you just a little bit worried about the health of our planet if people will only switch to electric vehicles when petrol becomes too scarce to run cars?

....... p.s. I'm not a "Greenie" or member of the Green Party, just someone who believes that global warming is a reality!

When others see the "problem", can I suggest a solution? How about this simple one:

Stop creating useless "jobs in the office". Let smart people who are disciplined enough, motivated enough and geared for success - let them work from home. They do not need to be supervised at the office, they do not need to pretend that they are busy 8 hours a day in the office as they can do in 4 hours what others do in 8. They would not be required to stuck in the traffic jam but instead the time others are wasting by driving their cars to work and polluting the air - those smart cookies will complete their daily routine and will enjoy the rest of the day with their family or design/ create / invent /develop / code something great.

I think that is applicable to many Geek/IT/Developer/SysAdmin jobs. Don't you think, boys :-)?

I know in person very many talented individuals who can but "not allowed to work from home", as otherwise their "boss" will stay alone in the office with absolutely nothing to do ..... :-)

Of course there are jobs where presence "in the office" is mandatory - e.g. nurse, surgeon, brick layer or a bread maker :-) or "Office" have to drive around burning gas - e.g. Firefighters or St Johns.

Unfortunately that is not going to happen in so many companies where mediocre "manager" would feel so insecure without having set up 8 useless meetings each and every day and engaging as many people as possible continuously wasting other people's time. Those mediocre ones would organize meetings so many people "must have to" attend even if they have to drive to the other side of the city polluting the air.

You can easily spot those ones by observing absence of the meeting agenda, no indication of who is required to present what, no time allocated for those speeches and discussions, no indication of the input expected from participants, absence of any material being distributed prior to the meeting being sent with the invite. What's more - those "time wasters" are usually driving SUV in the city - the most expensive gas burner money can buy and would only consider EV if ever and only if that EV is more expensive and prestigious than their Jag, Audi, BMW or Lexus.

Save the Planet (and your nerves) by finding the job or creating your own business where you can work from home and do not need to drive daily in a traffic jam!

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