When are you going fully electric?

Nasher · 12 Jun 2019 at 09:15

This is always a risk with hydrogen, but it's also a risk with high voltage equipment and lots of batteries. The up side is H2 doesn't give off toxic gases when it burns.

bimbleuk · 12 Jun 2019 at 09:53

From the pic it looks like they had a big transformer so was probably generating hydrogen onsite rather than ship it in. I believe that was the cheaper safer way to do it but not in this case unfortunately.

Eurofighter · 12 Jun 2019 at 10:11

I will get an electric car when I have a house with a drive so I can charge it, or there is a way of charging it very close to my house that I can leave overnight or they make cars that can charge up in a few minutes at a more remote charger.

sovietspybob · 12 Jun 2019 at 11:22

Eurofighter said:
I will get an electric car when I have a house with a drive so I can charge it, or there is a way of charging it very close to my house that I can leave overnight or they make cars that can charge up in a few minutes at a more remote charger.

Yeah they already exist, a Tesla will do most of a charge in less than 30 mins and soon to be less than 20 minutes. That'll give you say 250 miles of range so you'd probably only need to do that once a week if that?

Nasher · 12 Jun 2019 at 11:26

bimbleuk said:
From the pic it looks like they had a big transformer so was probably generating hydrogen onsite rather than ship it in. I believe that was the cheaper safer way to do it but not in this case unfortunately.

If they are going to do that, the thing generating and storing the hydrogen needs to be in a big field well away from anything. Can't just have it in a petrol station type setup:/

jigger · 12 Jun 2019 at 11:29

Bug One said:
You realise EV's aren't autos?

Can you link me to a manual electric car (production car) that you would buy.

jigger · 12 Jun 2019 at 11:32

Alibaba99 said:
Why won't your wife drive an auto? Does she still think that they drive like they did in the early '70s?

She just hates them.

jigger · 12 Jun 2019 at 11:37

Psycho Sonny said:
What if your local city / town introduces laws banning them? Where you get a daily fine for driving into said town/city?

I know from next year I won't be able to drive my petrol car into Glasgow any more.

I'd have no problem buying an electric car. Though I think some of the exclusion plans are not very well thought though at all.

bloodiedathame · 12 Jun 2019 at 11:50

jigger said:
Can you link me to a manual electric car (production car) that you would buy.

It's technically not an auto because it has no gears. https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-ca...-electric-cars-have-multi-gear-transmissions/

Her 'hatred' is irrational but 'not being able to change gear' will be unavoidable.

sovietspybob · 12 Jun 2019 at 11:55

Can a car even be classed as manual or auto when it doesn't really have gears as such? It's more of a final drive rather than gears as we know them from ICE cars.

Either way she'll need to deal with it sooner or later as there is no choice, there is absolutely no benefit in having to use a clutch and row though gears.

jigger · 12 Jun 2019 at 11:58

bloodiedathame said:
It's technically not an auto because it has no gears. https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-ca...-electric-cars-have-multi-gear-transmissions/

Her 'hatred' is irrational but 'not being able to change gear' will be unavoidable.

Well a CVT has no gears, electric cars are auto's as far as I'd consider it. Driving a manual car is not irrational or unavoidable if you don't want/like driving an auto.

bloodiedathame · 12 Jun 2019 at 12:04

jigger said:
Well a CVT has no gears, electric cars are auto's as far as I'd consider it. Driving a manual car is not irrational or unavoidable if you don't want/like driving an auto.

I know what you mean, I'd consider it an auto too, ie you drive it like an auto. If there were no more manual cars in existence (which may be the case in 20 years time) then it would be unavoidable.

jigger · 12 Jun 2019 at 12:06

sovietspybob said:
Can a car even be classed as manual or auto when it doesn't really have gears as such? It's more of a final drive rather than gears as we know them from ICE cars.

Either way she'll need to deal with it sooner or later as there is no choice, there is absolutely no benefit in having to use a clutch and row though gears.

I'd have to think about that... If I converted a couple of my car's to auto they would definitely loose a lot of the appeal.

bloodiedathame · 12 Jun 2019 at 12:08

Most of my driving is stop start in traffic so I'd never go back to manual.

jigger · 12 Jun 2019 at 12:09

bloodiedathame said:
I know what you mean, I'd consider it an auto too, ie you drive it like an auto. If there were no more manual cars in existence (which may be the case in 20 years time) then it would be unavoidable.

I think she will just refuse to buy a new car at that point.

jigger · 12 Jun 2019 at 12:11

bloodiedathame said:
Most of my driving is stop start in traffic so I'd never go back to manual.

I don't really care too much. Manual or auto is fine in traffic. I'd probably lean toward a manual for the full time launch control.

sovietspybob · 12 Jun 2019 at 12:18

jigger said:
I'd have to think about that... If I converted a couple of my car's to auto they would definitely loose a lot of the appeal.

In an ICE car yeah i can see the appeal and point of a manual in keeping it on the boil etc, but in an electric car there just isn't any, there is no power band to keep the 'engine' in to enable good acceleration at any given speed it just simply works all the time with instant torque.

jigger · 12 Jun 2019 at 12:32

sovietspybob said:
In an ICE car yeah i can see the appeal and point of a manual in keeping it on the boil etc, but in an electric car there just isn't any, there is no power band to keep the 'engine' in to enable good acceleration at any given speed it just simply works all the time with instant torque.

Those cars I drive for enjoyment, and a lot the enjoyment comes from things like holding them them in gear and letting the power build. To some people cars are more than just a tool for transportation. Most electric cars won't give you all the available power all the time, but that's another topic.

PCM2 · 12 Jun 2019 at 12:57

jigger said:
Those cars I drive for enjoyment, and a lot the enjoyment comes from things like holding them them in gear and letting the power build. To some people cars are more than just a tool for transportation. Most electric cars won't give you all the available power all the time, but that's another topic.

Have you driven a (high performance) electric car? The instant torque and jolt forwards is fun, addictive and instantaneous. You can be cruising along at 20mph and suddenly jump up to 50-60mph with nothing more than a firm press of the pedal. To some this is too simple and uninvolving, but others enjoy the sheer responsiveness that you simply don't get from a normal ICE car.

Going from driving a nice EV to an ICE vehicle is somewhat like going back to an HDD after using an SDD. Or a 60Hz monitor after a nice 144Hz one.

jigger · 12 Jun 2019 at 13:46

PCM2 said:
Have you driven a (high performance) electric car? The instant torque and jolt forwards is fun, addictive and instantaneous. You can be cruising along at 20mph and suddenly jump up to 50-60mph with nothing more than a firm press of the pedal. To some this is too simple and uninvolving, but others enjoy the sheer responsiveness that you simply don't get from a normal ICE car.

Going from driving a nice EV to an ICE vehicle is somewhat like going back to an HDD after using an SDD. Or a 60Hz monitor after a nice 144Hz one.

I've drove a couple of Tesla S's, the new leaf and a BMW i3. Even the Nissan and BMW had impressive ish performance, but weight of the Tesla's was very obviously it's weak point and driving any of them hard would drain the batteries. The Tesla S i'd look at more along the lines of an AMG merc, big heavy, too much grip but seriously quick. The Nissan and BMW more town/second car options.

I'd say you could buy better petrol cars that are a lot more performance focused for a lot less money.