The Car Thread ... !

[Apple fanboy]

Why would they need to charge on the street? They don’t today. The London flat I had had underground parking, and valet parking. The concierge team can charge the cars and move them around as they do today.

I don’t think most people living in London have that. Not in Tower Hamlets or Hackney.

 

[Apple fanboy]

We are still looking at this “problem” in the wrong way. Why does everyone in London need to have their own car? A town with great public transport links and lots of Uber drivers.

I’m normally for a small government with as little as possible interference. But this is where brave government policy is required. It can be really simple; unless you have off-road parking, you need a permit to park. No more than one permit per residential address. And yes you have to pay for the administration of the permits.

Then expand on it; any new car not already on order with immediate effect has to be an ev. Any already registered vehicle, pre-owned, got to be Euro 6 diesel compliant or Euro 4 petrol. And from three years from now any purchased pre registered vehicle also has to be Ev only.

just need to be brave, people will adapt.

Not until the prices are affordable. I usually buy a car 2-3 years old. So I’m not going to be able to get an electric car at an affordable price for years. Then of course the PX price you get for your old petrol car will be significantly lower.

 

[cyb3rdud3]

I don’t think most people living in London have that. Not in Tower Hamlets or Hackney.

And? so what? Plenty of other charging points, when out and about. We need to get away from this concept that car ownership is a right of some sort, or that charging on your doorstep is a right. It’s a choice, and the choice is available.

 

[cyb3rdud3]

Not until the prices are affordable. I usually buy a car 2-3 years old. So I’m not going to be able to get an electric car at an affordable price for years. Then of course the PX price you get for your old petrol car will be significantly lower.

It will be for a while undoubtedly. But perhaps you need to change your affordability/willingness level and adapt accordingly.

ICE car prices have gone up as well. I remember buying a nearly new Golf GTI with lots of options for about £19K. Nowadays you won’t get much of any change from £30K if that. We all have to adapt be it by generating more income, change our ways, change our willingness level to part with money for the car. What ever it may be. It’s not unique to EV.

 

[Apple fanboy]

And? so what? Plenty of other charging points, when out and about. We need to get away from this concept that car ownership is a right of some sort, or that charging on your doorstep is a right. It’s a choice, and the choice is available.

I live in the country. Not owning a car means I’d not be able to work or shop.

 

[Apple fanboy]

It will be for a while undoubtedly. But perhaps you need to change your affordability/willingness level and adapt accordingly.

ICE car prices have gone up as well. I remember buying a nearly new Golf GTI with lots of options for about £19K. Nowadays you won’t get much of any change from £30K if that. We all have to adapt be it by generating more income, change our ways, change our willingness level to part with money for the car. What ever it may be. It’s not unique to EV.

Well I’m happy to earn more money, but my boss might not see it that way!

 

[cyb3rdud3]

I live in the country. Not owning a car means I’d not be able to work or shop.

I doubt there are many high rises in the country side without any parking

I also live in the country side, there is not viable public transport nor Uber alternatives. As such we made certain our property can accommodate alternative modes of transport. ?

its anyone’s choice ?

 

[cyb3rdud3]

Well I’m happy to earn more money, but my boss might not see it that way!

Exactly. So you have a few choices to make ??

 

[Apple fanboy]

Exactly. So you have a few choices to make ??

No choices to make anytime soon. I’ll keep my petrol car 1.4 litre TSI VW Golf for a few more years. Better for the environment than scraping a perfectly good car to go all electric.

 

[Apple fanboy]

I doubt there are many high rises in the country side without any parking

I also live in the country side, there is not viable public transport nor Uber alternatives. As such we made certain our property can accommodate alternative modes of transport. ?

its anyone’s choice ?

I have a nice garage. But people don’t all have the choice. Depends on their finances.

 

[cyb3rdud3]

No choices to make anytime soon. I’ll keep my petrol car 1.4 litre TSI VW Golf for a few more years. Better for the environment than scraping a perfectly good car to go all electric.

Agreed, we have three second hand cars in our household with a combined age of 44 years. We make good use of them. And funnily enough they are pretty clean and ULEZ compliant ?

I have a nice garage. But people don’t all have the choice. Depends on their finances.

I disagree, there are always choices. And we can't guarantee we choose well all the time, gosh I've made my bad choices as well. But there is always a choice, won't always be an easy one, a choice nevertheless...

 

[jeyf]

so say the media
2015 electric cars become cheeper than gas vehicles

reference

Report: Electric cars will be cheaper than gas models by 2025

It's clear that an electric car revolution is brewing and that it's going to shake up the auto industry. Beyond that, however, details about the revolution are hard to come by. For example, how will the auto industry deal with the issue of range anxiety: better batteries? Faster charging...

www.thecarconnection.com

 

[JohnR]

With that said, with dealerships plentiful for the major brands, you also have ready access to service when something goes wrong, and it will go wrong no matter who makes the car. Fundamentally, too, an EV is still a car, and there's a lot more than just the powertrain that makes the car. Other companies have had 100+ years to practice it.

I just think it's funny that you say this, while at the same time posting about your MG and all the issues you have been having fixing it up.

 

[JohnR]

That’s an interesting point. What will electric car owners do when there isn’t a garage or drive at home?

My coworker bought a Model Y and they live in an apartment. His choices are: run cable from apt to car (very slow recharging process) and running to the supercharger and charging it up. They mainly drive around town so don't use much battery.

 

[jeyf]

they said the internet would collapse if everyone worked at home

 

[JohnR]

The biggest drawback to almost all EVs except for Tesla is the charging network. The supercharging network covers the majority of the US now and there are very few (if any) issues. I have taken trips and never had to wait for a stall to open...granted, I am on the east coast, so my experience is limited to that.

What's nice is that you can see ahead of time if a charging station is full or almost full, just by tapping on the icon on your screen. Plus, if we needed to, we can use other charging stations that aren't Tesla. But those are incredibly slow.

Tesla has offered other manufacturers the ability to use the Tesla supercharging network. None that i know of have taken them up on it. Why? Perhaps because of the mentality of "we didn't invent that" or whatever mindset, or maybe Tesla wants a % of whatever, which in my mind, would be a fair thing since they did set it up and all.

Anyway, I think they (Ford, GM, etc) are foolish not to embrace the supercharging network and adopt a single charging interface.

Want to see how the Taycan did on a cross country trip? It broke the cannonball record, but look at the issues they had:

As for Hydrogen, perhaps when Nikola comes out with the Badger people will see how good that fuel source is.....oh wait.

 

[jeyf]

just a guess
you need a Tesla compatible battery to use their quick charge station

 

[Apple fanboy]

The biggest drawback to almost all EVs except for Tesla is the charging network. The supercharging network covers the majority of the US now and there are very few (if any) issues. I have taken trips and never had to wait for a stall to open...granted, I am on the east coast, so my experience is limited to that.

What's nice is that you can see ahead of time if a charging station is full or almost full, just by tapping on the icon on your screen. Plus, if we needed to, we can use other charging stations that aren't Tesla. But those are incredibly slow.

Tesla has offered other manufacturers the ability to use the Tesla supercharging network. None that i know of have taken them up on it. Why? Perhaps because of the mentality of "we didn't invent that" or whatever mindset, or maybe Tesla wants a % of whatever, which in my mind, would be a fair thing since they did set it up and all.

Anyway, I think they (Ford, GM, etc) are foolish not to embrace the supercharging network and adopt a single charging interface.

Want to see how the Taycan did on a cross country trip? It broke the cannonball record, but look at the issues they had:

As for Hydrogen, perhaps when Nikola comes out with the Badger people will see how good that fuel source is.....oh wait.

A single charging network would make sense. But the manufacturers would all have to agree on who gets what slice of the pie for that to happen.

 

[cyb3rdud3]

The biggest drawback to almost all EVs except for Tesla is the charging network. The supercharging network covers the majority of the US now and there are very few (if any) issues. I have taken trips and never had to wait for a stall to open...granted, I am on the east coast, so my experience is limited to that.

What's nice is that you can see ahead of time if a charging station is full or almost full, just by tapping on the icon on your screen. Plus, if we needed to, we can use other charging stations that aren't Tesla. But those are incredibly slow.

Tesla has offered other manufacturers the ability to use the Tesla supercharging network. None that i know of have taken them up on it. Why? Perhaps because of the mentality of "we didn't invent that" or whatever mindset, or maybe Tesla wants a % of whatever, which in my mind, would be a fair thing since they did set it up and all.

Anyway, I think they (Ford, GM, etc) are foolish not to embrace the supercharging network and adopt a single charging interface.

Want to see how the Taycan did on a cross country trip? It broke the cannonball record, but look at the issues they had:

As for Hydrogen, perhaps when Nikola comes out with the Badger people will see how good that fuel source is.....oh wait.

Totally agree. It’s the same around Europe. Their infrastructure is unbeatable. I had put a deposit down on an Jaguar iPace, but there are only 2 “fast” chargers for it in the whole of the UK. And at the time they weren’t even build. Getting three phase power for a non commercial property is also very difficult; so you are limited at home as well. But for the majority of journeys that wouldn’t matter too much.

I’m really surprised how nobody else has infrastructure that comes close to what Tesla has done.

 

[D.T.]

If I had the ability to charge at home, I would be seriously looking at a Tesla 3 or Model Y as well. No other EV comes close right now to what Tesla is doing. The Bolt is boring, I won't even look at the Nissan. The Mach E is decent though ignoring the staining of the Mustang brand.

Home charging isn't too big of a deal to get installed, it's mostly just getting a 50a box wired off the 240v, and heck, our 240 is on a 30a fuse already, so we could literally just use a plug adapter and charge from the outline in the utility room (which is right off the garage. I guess there's a bit of logistics in terms of parking vs. power supply, our main comes into the garage, so we've got a box, open wall, it's pretty perfect for an install that would be convenient for a port on the left or the right (depending on car orientation).

Based on an installers friends have used locally, I'm looking at just a couple of hundred.

I have [what I'd consider] an oddly high number of friends/acquaintances with a Tesla, must be the mix of industry, demographics, nerdiness, etc., so I have a terrific set of personal resources to plumb for info

My coworker bought a Model Y and they live in an apartment. His choices are: run cable from apt to car (very slow recharging process) and running to the supercharger and charging it up. They mainly drive around town so don't use much battery.

I suspect over the next few years quite a few Apartments/MHDs are going to at the very least get some 240 out to the parking area, if not fully implemented charging stations.

The biggest drawback to almost all EVs except for Tesla is the charging network. The supercharging network covers the majority of the US now and there are very few (if any) issues. I have taken trips and never had to wait for a stall to open...granted, I am on the east coast, so my experience is limited to that.

What's nice is that you can see ahead of time if a charging station is full or almost full, just by tapping on the icon on your screen. Plus, if we needed to, we can use other charging stations that aren't Tesla. But those are incredibly slow.

Tesla has offered other manufacturers the ability to use the Tesla supercharging network. None that i know of have taken them up on it. Why? Perhaps because of the mentality of "we didn't invent that" or whatever mindset, or maybe Tesla wants a % of whatever, which in my mind, would be a fair thing since they did set it up and all.

I've read that a few talks about non-Telsa manufacturers using their chargers have opened back up recently, and also some Tesla compatible connectors at AE stations (just the west coast for now), plus like 60 AE locations are using Tesla supplied powerpacks, so maybe a little progress with some charging tech unification - but clearly, that's a huge plus for Tesla at the moment. I understand with an CHAdeMO adapter a Tesla can get up to 50kW at most AE location, not super fast, but plenty to get a 10-50% in ~30 minutes (I've seen 0-80% takes ~1 hr on a 50kW). The latter point being: there's some "alternatives" if the stars align against you (which, at least according several of my friends, hasn't really happened to them - see first post).

 

[bunnspecial]

I just think it's funny that you say this, while at the same time posting about your MG and all the issues you have been having fixing it up.

Apples and oranges.

The MG is a hobby car. When it was new, it was positioned as an affordable sports car but with a lot of 1950s era British engineering built under the umbrella of a parent company that managed over 400 walk-outs across their various plants in one particular year, and a parent company that really wanted to kill the MG brand anyway but couldn't justify it because it sold so well(they finally killed it by neglect).

Aside from that, a lot of the issues I've been having are things that quite literally can, did, and still do happen to most any car of any make of that general age. People are spoiled now by the fact that once you take delivery of a new car and get the kinks worked out, they pretty much run forever without much trouble. Keep your oil changed, your brakes in good shape, and keep good tires on it and you're pretty much good. About the only thing that routinely causes a "breakdown" anymore is a bad battery.

I knew what I was getting when I bought my MG. Right now I'm dealing with breaking in a rebuilt engine that was rebuilt after an honest hard working life-50 years and over 100,000 miles(which was about the expected life of every other engine in the days before fuel injection and other modern goodies). The rest of the stuff I've been posting about comes down to two things-screw ups by a careless and stubborn mechanic, and throwing a whole bunch of routine maintenance at it at the same time.

BTW, I'll mention that I drove it just fine to the shop that spent 9 months working on it, and that was with 75psi of compression in two cylinders. The engine is fairly primitive and rough design, but they are remarkably durable with the fact that despite being "worn out" it was still perfectly driveable.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Apples and oranges.

The MG is a hobby car. When it was new, it was positioned as an affordable sports car but with a lot of 1950s era British engineering built under the umbrella of a parent company that managed over 400 walk-outs across their various plants in one particular year, and a parent company that really wanted to kill the MG brand anyway but couldn't justify it because it sold so well(they finally killed it by neglect).

Aside from that, a lot of the issues I've been having are things that quite literally can, did, and still do happen to most any car of any make of that general age. People are spoiled now by the fact that once you take delivery of a new car and get the kinks worked out, they pretty much run forever without much trouble. Keep your oil changed, your brakes in good shape, and keep good tires on it and you're pretty much good. About the only thing that routinely causes a "breakdown" anymore is a bad battery.

I knew what I was getting when I bought my MG. Right now I'm dealing with breaking in a rebuilt engine that was rebuilt after an honest hard working life-50 years and over 100,000 miles(which was about the expected life of every other engine in the days before fuel injection and other modern goodies). The rest of the stuff I've been posting about comes down to two things-screw ups by a careless and stubborn mechanic, and throwing a whole bunch of routine maintenance at it at the same time.

BTW, I'll mention that I drove it just fine to the shop that spent 9 months working on it, and that was with 75psi of compression in two cylinders. The engine is fairly primitive and rough design, but they are remarkably durable with the fact that despite being "worn out" it was still perfectly driveable.

I think most things we buy today won’t be working 60 years in the future. I think most cars will be melted down long before that!
Would you use your MG as a daily driver? No not in this day an age. But as a project that you enjoy working on (well mostly!), then long may your ownership continue.

 

[bunnspecial]

I think most things we buy today won’t be working 60 years in the future. I think most cars will be melted down long before that!
Would you use your MG as a daily driver? No not in this day an age. But as a project that you enjoy working on (well mostly!), then long may your ownership continue.

That is exactly my point. I DO drive the car a lot-I enjoy driving it(no point in having it if I didn't drive/enjoy it) and there have been plenty of times where it's been pseudo-daily transportation for me. In fact, during one stretch of especially nice weather a couple of years ago, I didn't drive my Lincoln for about 3 weeks. The battery was marginal in it already, and I hopped in it one morning needing to run a quick errand before work a half hour away(it was an interstate trip and I didn't relish coming into work with my hearing off, as top down wind noise at 70+ in that car is bad enough that I wear earplugs if I have them). In any case, my Lincoln wouldn't start, so I just ran over to the MG, fired it up, and made the 60-mile-round trip in a bit over an hour that I needed to make.

In general, though, if I get up one morning, decide I want to drive the MG to work or wherever that day, and for some crazy reason it didn't run, I can grab my other car.

Something else too-more than once I've been on the road and had issues. I keep a "tool kit" in the car with a couple of screwdrivers, a cheap socket wrench and socket set, a couple of wrenches(2x 7/16, 1/2", and 9/16", which covers the vast majority of fasteners, and two in case I need a backing wrench for something.), a test light, and a points file. I also keep a couple of parts-radiator hoses, fan belts, some loose wire and connectors, fuel hose, and a few sizes of hose clamp. A lot of those I've never touched. My roadside repairs have primarily been whacking the carbs to fix a stuck float, filing and/or setting points(once I found good quality ones and got them bedded in, I've not needed to do that), and a couple of times a touchy headlight switch(fixed now with quality replacement+relay). I did once replace some fuel plumbing after a bad tank of gas(that haunted me for a while), and one-the hose that links the two carbs together-was long overdue anyway and was shedding inside and causing my sticky needle valve on the rear carb.

I've had exactly one tow. I wrote it up back in this thread when it happened-August 2019 for reference(BTW, September 2019 was the month where I drove the car almost everywhere and ended up changing my Lincoln battery). That was my own stupid fault for leaving something under the hood that bent the fan blade and carved a hole in the radiator. Every other breakdown I've been able to fix it at least well enough to get it home, and in some cases fix it permanently.

Now that I have a freshly rebuilt distributor, fresh carbs, a new tank and new gas lines and a bunch of other new parts that will wear after...well...50 years and 100K miles...a lot of that pesky stuff that went out of adjustment went away.

 

[JohnR]

just a guess
you need a Tesla compatible battery to use their quick charge station

I don't know but I'm sure it's software and the actual charging cable that determines who can use what. For example, Ford's Mustang EV has to be able to accept the charging speed of the supercharger. I don't know if it can or not. But if you watch that Youtube video of the Taycan cross country (US), you would see that the Taycan can't accept certain speeds when charging or something.

 

[JohnR]

People are spoiled now by the fact that once you take delivery of a new car and get the kinks worked out, they pretty much run forever without much trouble. Keep your oil changed, your brakes in good shape, and keep good tires on it and you're pretty much good. About the only thing that routinely causes a "breakdown" anymore is a bad battery.

In the case of an EV, the only maintenance is rotating tires and replacing when needed