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[Nick W]

I've recovered three Leafs so far; one that wasn't charging and two that were flat. All three owners said that anything over 100miles was asking for trouble, and bad/cold weather reduced it further(heat, wipers etc are all of the batteries). That's bad enough, but a full recharge takes several hours, and can't be done off a normal 3-pin plug.

Whilst it's a clever bit of engineering with pragmatic use of existing parts, it proves that battery tech isn't up to the job. Which is exactly why electric cars went out of favour 100 years ago.

[Abiton]

But if you only used one for a five mile commute twice a day, and charged it up each night, I see no problem.
So everything's electric, on these electric cars? I'm surprised. 

[Nickbat]

But if you only used one for a five mile commute twice a day, and charged it up each night, I see no problem.
So everything's electric, on these electric cars? I'm surprised. 

But they are expensive to buy, even with the taxpayer subsidy, so why bother? A cheap petrol runabout would cost less to buy and not much more to run.

[aaronjb]

But if you only used one for a five mile commute twice a day, and charged it up each night, I see no problem.
So everything's electric, on these electric cars? I'm surprised. 

But they are expensive to buy, even with the taxpayer subsidy, so why bother? A cheap petrol runabout would cost less to buy and not much more to run.

And probably be more environmentally friendly taking manufacturing into account..

[Abiton]

Oil resources are finite, why use them for things that there adequate alternatives for?
It's not all about cost, it's about using resources wisely.  Most people won't care.

[Nickbat]

Oil resources are finite, why use them for things that there adequate alternatives for?
It's not all about cost, it's about using resources wisely.  Most people won't care.

See aaronjb's comment above.

[Abiton]

So you're saying that it uses more oil to build and run an electric car, than a petrol/diesel car?  I doubt that.
You're all just old in your minds and afraid of change.

[Sir Tigger KC]

In principle I don't think it's a bad idea, as the infrastructure will be in place if and when electric cars become viable. 

In a few years time we could be looking back and thanking the Coalitian government for it's good sense and foresight.....   

[Nickbat]

So you're saying that it uses more oil to build and run an electric car, than a petrol/diesel car?  I doubt that.
You're all just old in your minds and afraid of change.

Of course, you seem to overlook the precious metals like cobalt that go into electric car batteries. There's not an infinite supply of those things, either.

I'm not afraid of change at all. My whole house will shortly be illuminated solely by LEDs. How many others can say the same? I have a brand new eco-green condensing boiler, too.

No, it's just that electric cars are essentially useless for the majority of the population and only seem to exist to assuage the guilt of tree huggers. When they become sensible alternatives (in terms of cost, range, speed, ease of recharge), I'd be happy to buy one. But we're looking at least a decade into the future. the current crop of electric vehicles are frankly rubbish.    

[Entwood]

How's about looking at it from the other direction ??

At the moment very few charging points so no incentive to improve anything.

Get the charging points out there and the incentive for the producers to produce what the customer needs will rapidly rise ??

All to do with supply and demand .. if the demand exists the supply will follow ... and without recharging points there will never be a demand.

[Abiton]

Batteries can use lots of different substances, many of which are very abundant.
Petrol and diesel are extremely difficult to create from anything but oil.


"electric cars are essentially useless for the majority of the population"  - but not all, by any means.
"and only seem to exist to assuage the guilt of tree huggers" - it's your choice how things 'seem' to you. 

[Nickbat]

How's about looking at it from the other direction ??

At the moment very few charging points so no incentive to improve anything.

Get the charging points out there and the incentive for the producers to produce what the customer needs will rapidly rise ??

All to do with supply and demand .. if the demand exists the supply will follow ... and without recharging points there will never be a demand.

For the majority of city/town dwellers, the option to have a secure charging point is nowhere near to viable. Millions of us do not have their own driveway and park on the street where we can. I suppose one day there may be meters everywhere where you swipe your credit card in and then plug your car in. By then, though, it will probably be cheaper to buy a tankful of petrol than pay for twelve hours of leccy! 

[Rods2]

How's about looking at it from the other direction ??

At the moment very few charging points so no incentive to improve anything.

Get the charging points out there and the incentive for the producers to produce what the customer needs will rapidly rise ??

All to do with supply and demand .. if the demand exists the supply will follow ... and without recharging points there will never be a demand.

For the majority of city/town dwellers, the option to have a secure charging point is nowhere near to viable. Millions of us do not have their own driveway and park on the street where we can. I suppose one day there may be meters everywhere where you swipe your credit card in and then plug your car in. By then, though, it will probably be cheaper to buy a tankful of petrol than pay for twelve hours of no leccy where the wind wasn't blowing! 

There you go Nick I've fixed that for you.   

[Nickbat]

How's about looking at it from the other direction ??

At the moment very few charging points so no incentive to improve anything.

Get the charging points out there and the incentive for the producers to produce what the customer needs will rapidly rise ??

All to do with supply and demand .. if the demand exists the supply will follow ... and without recharging points there will never be a demand.

For the majority of city/town dwellers, the option to have a secure charging point is nowhere near to viable. Millions of us do not have their own driveway and park on the street where we can. I suppose one day there may be meters everywhere where you swipe your credit card in and then plug your car in. By then, though, it will probably be cheaper to buy a tankful of petrol than pay for twelve hours of no leccy where the wind wasn't blowing! 

There you go Nick I've fixed that for you.   

  Cheers, Rods! 

[Marks DTM Calib]

Anything car with a battery primary power source is a non starter (excuse the pun).

Batteries, even the most advanced, have no where near enough energy storage ability to meet the needs of cars.

Hydrogen fuel cells on the other hand.......

......its just a shame they create the hydrogen from natural gas.