Any Electric Car Owners?

[brainiac]

I see that The Mail are giving an electric Hyundai away today, and it got me wondering how practical electric cars are. You can't recharge them from a domestic socket (impractical, takes way too long) and you need a special wallbox fitted - one I looked at was about £600. Also the constant problem of range anxiety if making anything other than shortish trips.

Any ABers own an electric car, and would you recommend one if you do?

[bednobs]

whats the range on it zacs?

[Zacs-Master]

130 miles. Means my wife can easily get to work and back.

[Tilly2]

Is she used to driving an automatic, Zacs?

[Old_Geezer]

Not everyone has a garage. So unless it's going to be embedded under the pavement and road ...

[Zacs-Master]

Tilly, no! Gulp. I’m sure she’ll soon get used to it.

[Baldric]

No way would I buy an EV, too many limitations.

[Prudie]

The only people I know who have one also have a second normal car as well.

[barry1010]

Ha ha, driving an automatic is like driving a dodgem car. Point and go.

[Zacs-Master]

Luckily we’ve got my car for long-haul journeys.

[Zacs-Master]

Strictly speaking, electric cars aren’t ‘automatic’. Automatic refers to the automatic changing of gears and electric cars don’t have gears. Just sayin’.

[bhg481]

The advice I always give to people driving an automatic for the first time is "tuck your left foot underneath your right leg". That, with any luck, will stop you diving for the clutch with your left foot; the brake pedal on 2-pedal cars is usually wider than that on 3-pedal cars and there is a danger of hitting the brake with your left foot and stopping VERY quickly.

[Zacs-Master]

When I was taught to drive an auto, the person teaching me slapped my left leg really hard and said ‘don’t use that one’. The sting lasted Long enough for me to get used to it.

He was Only in hospital for a couple of weeks and the bones healed fairly quickly.

[Ryzen]

Bednobs...you can still get a 2020 model 4 if you're lucky...we will be waiting till around April for a 2021 model.

[Baldric]

Still got the Beemer Zacs?

[Mexican18]

" Most people have a battery charger in the boot!"
I would suggest that they don't!

[KARL]

The range of cars being offered these days (fully electric, not hybrid) is in the main of the order of 200-450km with prices reflecting that spread. In some countries fully electric cars are in top or second place when it comes to sales in the first half of this year. Mind you, not only do they have a fairly good spread of charging facilities in some places abroad but up to now lots of them have been fully free. I was talking to someone just in the last hour who was driving an electric car in Spain last week and a 450km range charge cost €10 from a public charge point (not a Tesla rapid station) - that is a fraction of what it would cost to cover the same distance in a small petrol or diesel car (this was a large Tesla). Regarding silence or not, Mitsubishi vehicles emit a low frequency hum/droning sound which is very distinctive, some others are silent and yet others emit their own hum or something of that sort. The UK was slow to accept motor cars and required a man on foot to precede each vehicle carrying a red flag. The UK is notoriously suspicious of any change and acceptance of electric cars will quite possibly also be slow - charging stations are around (in the UK) but not that frequently found.

[Tilly2]

I know there are no gears, Zacs. I don't know what to call it apart from automatic. You go in to Drive or Reverse and just... go. Or you go into Park...and stop. :-)

[Hymie]

Zacs-Master said – ‘Swapping our electricity provider to Octopus who only get electricity from renewable sources.’

How does that work, do you have an electricity meter which prevents electrons generated by non-renewable sources entering your house?

[DTCwordfan]

They make for great vibrators.

Hybrid with the tricity coming from my engine (plus a DRS) is the only way I would go.

Or Hydrogen - when they solve the dilemma of how to store a gas that can leak from almost every known 'cannister' bar lead.

[Hopkirk]

I guess if you turn the heater on full in a bitterly cold winter, your range would plummet.