Electric Cars

Good write up L3nny but sorry to hear about the problems. Electric in the real world can be very impractical and I wouldn’t shout from the roof tops about how great they are because everyone’s circumstances are different. I have the home charger so do most of my charging at home, I drive 18 miles a day to drop kids at school and get to work and back so fits in with me for what I need it for. I usually get a weeks worth of miles from a single charge.

I’ve only completed 1 long range trip which was without a drama but even the EV forums have people with the same sort of experiences as you.

Yes, it is known, although I have a Zoe. Motorway driving needs to be between 55 – 60 mph to get any match of miles to range. Using the cruise control or speed limiter is also a “no no” I’ve since found out.

I can’t speak for BWM as I don’t know but both my Zoe’s have had the battery management system firmware updated which has helped improve charge times and also range. So getting 90+ miles a charge now it’s getting cooler and more 120 range in the summer so it might be BMW have the same thing because the charging times you mentioned do seem a bit long than I would expect.

Anyway, at least you can say you’ve tried it and yes, traffic light grand prix is always fun. No one expects that sort of acceleration from a dinky Zoe.

[ophic]

Originally Posted by L3nny

The only solution I can see is valet parking where people move your car around once it's full. The technology is there for cars to do this themselves so I imagine this will be implemented soon.

Holy **** i already have enough of a problem remembering where I parked, and I've got a huge top box on top of my car. If they re-arrange themselves I'd be completely lost.

[timwilky]

Another thought from me is that most people round here have on drive parking for two-three cars and the rest of the family have to park on the road ( we are a family of 4, = 4 cars, 2 vans and **** the neighbours off). Where there is terraced housing there is no off street. How the feck are these people who park on the road outside their homes supposed to charge with a cable dragged across the pavement?

Originally Posted by timwilky

Another thought from me is that most people round here have on drive parking for two-three cars and the rest of the family have to park on the road ( we are a family of 4, = 4 cars, 2 vans and **** the neighbours off). Where there is terraced housing there is no off street. How the feck are these people who park on the road outside their homes supposed to charge with a cable dragged across the pavement?

At the moment Renault won't sell you a Zoe unless you have off road parking, first thing they asked when I bought one. But lamp post charging is a thing being looked at https://www.zap-map.com/lamp-post-ev...ched-by-rolec/

[Luckypants]

Originally Posted by ophic

Holy **** i already have enough of a problem remembering where I parked, and I've got a huge top box on top of my car. If they re-arrange themselves I'd be completely lost.

[PyroUK]

Do BMW still do the long journey courtesy car thing?

If you have an i3 they did a rental program so you can borrow a regular fuel car for long journeys

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

[ophic]

Originally Posted by timwilky

Another thought from me is that most people round here have on drive parking for two-three cars and the rest of the family have to park on the road ( we are a family of 4, = 4 cars, 2 vans and **** the neighbours off). Where there is terraced housing there is no off street. How the feck are these people who park on the road outside their homes supposed to charge with a cable dragged across the pavement?

We might well end up with a completely different model. Car hire pools or such like. I'd imagine an electric car doesn't matter so much how it's driven or maintained, and with the electronics available you could easily charge each user for exactly the amount of energy used.

Still, the vast majority of polluting road traffic is probably commuting and if they can reduce the emissions from this, then all good, so long range isn't necessarily required. It doesn't mean it has to be a solution for every road user. Even the govt commitment to electric vehicles doesn't rule out hybrids.

Wouldn't a diesel/electric hybrid tick all the boxes? apart from perhaps upfront cost? You commute on electric, longer journeys can use diesel, and if you have to recharge from the engine, you can - and it's proven that burning fuel to charge a battery to drive an electric engine is actually significantly more efficient than burning fuel to drive wheels directly.

[ophic]

Oh and with self drive, the car(s) wouldn't have to live outside your house. So there'd be big charging/storage stations somewhere. #nimby

[L3nny]

I too struggle to find my car but the BMW connected app on your phone shows you the location of the car and enables you to flash it's lights to find it. You can do this on all modern Beemers, not just the I range.

[NTECUK]

We have plenty of customers who have leaf and are quite happy with their 90 mile range.
I can only see more converts when the new leaf arrives.
https://youtu.be/H9Megx8hBBo