When are you going fully electric?

Soldato
Joined
9 Mar 2003
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14,056
The main issue with battery packs on a patrol vehicle is that they also need to be charged (down time).

The issue with a generator attached to the engine is that it’s slow and isn’t a long term solution because I’d expect patrol vehicles to move to EV eventually and at least by 2040. Some kind of fuel cell system could work and be refillable quickly but also expensive.

It will be far quicker for the patrol vehicle to just tow the car to the nearest 7kw or DC fast charger. Unless they run out literally in the middle of nowhere they’ll be within a few miles of another charger even today. I’d imagine most will run out either at a charger that is broken or very close to a charger/home and they just didn’t make it.


Of those 3000 EV ‘breakdowns’ I’d put money most were due to punctures. None of them have spare tires these days.
 
Soldato
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1 Mar 2010
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21,778
From the pic, the rac charger box looks the size of a trunk, so maybe 60-70KG => 10KWhrs of charge or maybe 100Km of range they could add to typical EV, or 15miles for 5 or 6 cars; .... cost £2-3K based on powerwall cost ?
the RAC man can visit the charger himself when/if it needs refilling.
 
Soldato
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18 Oct 2002
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West Midlands
I'm pretty sure that the solution will be based on the RAC/AA etc. using BEV's (trucks/vans) that have a larger capacity battery with a DC-DC charger on-board in the medium/long term anyhow.

They could easily develop packs specifically for recovery vehicles that allows fast discharging >30kWh, to allow a CCS (or whatever connector) to provide 15 minutes of charge, given that most of the vehicles are huge inefficient transit style vans, they'll have plenty of room to facilitate this. I mean they could have a 200kWh+ pack installed, it's not like it will be hard for them to find a charger to hook up to, and I wouldn't be surprised if they installed dedicated RAC/AA chargers at places to allow them to have more points to use when they are waiting for the next call.

I also don't see why the government/highways can't/won't install emergency chargers on A-roads in lay-bys that recovery companies can tow to and allow them to charge there as well, activated by the recovery company with a card, that lasts 30mins to 1 hours for example.
 
Associate
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20 Feb 2007
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1,094
I go fully electric tomorrow. Picking up a 69 plate Ioniq 38kWh.

Pics to follow when I get it home if anyone’s interested.
 
Caporegime
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25 Jul 2005
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Canada
Top gear item on model3 last night which raised interesting point about Model3 acceleration at higher speeds; over half mile trial M3 and their 'AMG' were spitting distance- was curious about 50-70 overtaking ... the important bit -
and according to below 2.8s versus 4.1 in either a 250bhp audi/bmw automatic, or 8s in a similarly powered manual vw GTI ... manual time was a surprise
https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/acceleration-stats-performance-at-60mph.132373/
can't see what the multi-speed taycan will do.

That GTI is slow! I’d assume that was more a standard Golf acceleration. I get 4.5s 50-70mph in my pickup.
 
Soldato
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1 Mar 2010
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21,778
That GTI is slow!
yes - ok I should have read the smallprint, later, in the thread I linked
The Quattro is an automatic gearbox, so presumably they just let it auto-shift, whereas the Golf (& my non-quattro Audi) is manual gearbox, so yeah I'm pretty sure it's 6th gear which no-one would use in that situation. You can do that all in 3rd and my guess is you're looking at 4.5-5s on mine (slightly older model - 206hbp I think).

Pics to follow when I get it home if anyone’s interested.
yes ... how was the insurance cost too ? given, someM3 thread comments.
 
Associate
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Doon the watah ... Scotland
I'd be interested to see how the mini is. We have a cooper at the moment and like it.

The e mini range at 120 miles seems a little less than what I'd wish for.

On a side note, if a stated range is for example 100, how much would that be reduced by having the lights and heater and wipers on? In the west of Scotland, that's very common.
 
Soldato
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22 Nov 2006
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23,299
Like with mpg the official range figure is usually very optimistic. With the heaters etc on probably more like 80 miles in the real world. Less unless you are charging it to 100% all the time.
 
Last edited:
Joined
4 Aug 2007
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Wilds of suffolk
The sites I have seen allow you to put in a few more details as to your likely range. Teslas own site allowed this speed, outside temp, inside temp etc
Until you start getting to really cold temps it makes less diff than you would think.

Sites like this are starting to crop up. Very useful.
Things like 95% of capacity at 45000 miles. Model 3 they say should be 25% more as the cycles will be less.

https://teslike.com/range/
 
Caporegime
Joined
21 Oct 2002
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26,251
Location
Here
Wet roads reduce range more than heaters etc. No different to an ICE
Heating on a ice is effectively using waste energy from the coolant that would otherwise go to air via the radiator.

An EV needs to actively use energy to power the heater.

Completely different ! And wet roads don’t take away 3hp (2kw)
 
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