To leccy or not to leccy - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: PerranOak
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 14, 2021, 03:48:58 pm
content: I want a leccy (electric) car but do I go hybrid or full leccy? I’d prefer the full as the environmental benefits are higher, I guess.Where I am and for how I’d use it there should be no problem charging a full leccy.The issue I can see is if I do run out of charge: what on earth do I do?Here in southern UK if three flakes of snow fall in a one hour period everybody abandons their cars in the middle of the road and walks home! We then get huge unmoving queues that, because they’re unmoving, eventually get properly snowed-in.This happened to me once and because of constantly inching forward, I ran out of petrol. Not a huge problem as I walked to a petrol station and brought back a can full.If this had been a full leccy car what could I have done? Take a super-cap (terra-cap?) to a charging point? Do the RAC (auto rescue) bring round a massive truck full of Duracells?Has anyone experienced anything like this scenario?

author: richard.cs
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 15, 2021, 09:48:30 am
content: That didn't happen to be on the A31 two years ago did it?Generally running out of charge is avoidable in the same way as running out of petrol, it either happens because you screwed up your planning or because of some unforeseen serious event like that. One thing that is nice is that the chargers are nearly all available 24/7, so you don't get the "where can I find an open petrol station" question if you're driving around on a Sunday evening. EV's are much more efficient in inching traffic, but you could I suppose flatten the battery if you're stuck there for many hours with the heater on full.If it does happen then all the major breakdown places just tow you to a charger. There have been rumblings of the AA getting portable chargers but I don't think it's happened yet. If you end up with a battery lease (which I wouldn't particularly recommend) then some of them, at least the Renault ones, include breakdown cover.I've been driving an EV for 3 years and not run out of charge, but then I've never run out of petrol either.

author: Gyro
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 15, 2021, 11:25:53 am
content: Posted yesterday

author: f4eru
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 15, 2021, 11:37:22 am
content: Hybrid is already obsolete.Needs too much maintenance, and it's resell value will plunge in the coming years, just after the same plunge coming for ICE cars.Suggesting pure EV.

author: Siwastaja
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 15, 2021, 01:10:38 pm
content: A really complex and opinionated subject, but it really still boils down to these fundamental questions:Do you need the reliability to drive very long stretches, possibly including In The Middle Of Nowhere? Do you do this frequently, or unexpectedly?Or are you mostly commuting and driving short trips, or making predictable/plannable longer trips where charging stations are available?These questions have been the same since early EVs, the threshold numbers for going for EV are of course slowly shifting in better direction, but it will take quite long time still until these questionscompletelydisappear.

author: PerranOak
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 19, 2021, 04:51:04 pm
content: Cheers all.

author: guenthert
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 19, 2021, 05:10:40 pm
content: "I want a leccy (electric) car "Ah, I thought this would be about LeCroy Oscilloscopes."Hybrid is already obsolete. Needs too much maintenance"Wut? I'm not going to argue pro or contra full electric (or car at all), but I don't see the maintenance cost. Different models will fare differently, but in my own experience (yeah, data point of 1), I invested in my 2008 Prius II which I bought in 2018 with ~100kmi in exactly one oil change andnothingelse.

author: DenzilPenberthy
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 20, 2021, 12:15:40 pm
content: How often do you get stuck in snow in Cornwall? Or are you a Cousin Jack in exile 'upcountry'?

author: PerranOak
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 20, 2021, 01:08:18 pm
content: I’ve only been stuck in snow actually in Cornwall twice in my life.However, I do venture over the Tamar once in a while and, sod’s law, it’s often in winter so I could get stuck somewhere in England.

author: Howardlong
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 20, 2021, 01:51:36 pm
content: It very much depends on your circumstances and use case.The two big considerations for me are (1) ease & availability of charging and (2) long trips.I live in central London where it's pretty much all on street parking, so charging from your own electricity supply isn't going to happen. However there are a number of charging points within a one or two minute walk, but they're horrendously expensive. I can charge for free at the supermarket if I can find an unused charge point, but those spaces are often either hogged by EV chauffeur drivers on extended breaks watching Netflix box sets, or ICE vehicles. Irrespective, I'm rarely in the supermarket for more than 20 or 25 minutes, so I don't get much of a charge, but usually enough to make the trip free. It doesn't help that there are several different suppliers to sign up for. Public chargers used to be highly unreliable, there didn't seem to be much interest in repairing them to the extent where I completely gave up using them when I had the Prius PHEV, but in recent times I've noticed my hit rate is far better in this respect.Occasionally I do do long trips, where a single charge on an EV just wouldn't be sufficient.In the end I went for a new plug in hybrid, a Hyundai Ioniq PHEV. This is my second PHEV, the last being a Prius. I've only filled the Ioniq up with petrol once, on the day of delivery ten weeks ago, and it still has half a tank. I plug it in at the supermarket and on street occasionally. I've done four trips that took it beyond the PHEV EV range (~30 miles). In town I typically run it on EV mode and switch to hybrid on the open road.In short, if you have your own charging facilities and do relatively short trips, I'd go for a straight EV. It'd be a good option for a second car. I wouldn't want to rely on it for those long trips.

author: Neilm
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 20, 2021, 07:40:51 pm
content: I drive an electric car and have done for 18 months now. I also do a reasonable number of miles a year (unless there is a global pandemic that locks the country down). Covid has ment I have only driven 20 k miles in that time, about 2/3 of what I would do normally. My commute it 47 miles each way so it is a reasonable distance mostly on the motorway.I would say that if you have somewhere to charge at home then making the transition is easy enough - just remember the ABC. Always Be Charging (or plugged in).If not then it is a bit harder. You have to plan how you are going to charge the car.I have been in snow in the UK a couple of times. First was about 15 years ago, I was aware that it had started to snow so I made sure I fueled the trip home from work and a couple o fyears ago - again I made sure I had a reasonable full take. Now I have an electric car, if I think it will snow tomorrow I tell it to charge up more. A range of a couple of hundred miles means I can sit in the car with the heating on without too much of a worry. But lets be honest - in the south UK you may see 2 days with snow a winter if you are unlucky.One thing I have found is how cheap it is to fuel. I calculate that for every 10 k miles I drive I save over £800 in fuel over my last car (hybrid that did get about 50 MPG).So if you could charge at home (baring in mind you can get a grant to install a charger if it is on private land) then electric cars are fine. Just remember to plan. Also, some breakdown plans will tow you to a charger and there is talk of having vans with batteries in the back to allow you to put a small charge in.

author: Fred27
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 20, 2021, 10:19:37 pm
content: It's probably worth mentioning that if you inch forward in an electric vehicle you're using hardly any battery and your range will remain the same. There's no idling losses.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 20, 2021, 10:38:37 pm
content: Quote from: Fred27 on January 20, 2021, 10:19:37 pmIn the winter there will be heater losses and on a hot summer day you'll want to keep the airco on...Either way you have to be well prepared when you go onto the road in more extreme conditions like hot and cold weather. Keep the car fueled / charged, bring food, water and (when it is winter) a blanket and a shovel.

author: Fred27
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 21, 2021, 12:17:33 pm
content: Quote from: nctnico on January 20, 2021, 10:38:37 pmNot on my electric motorbike.