QOTW: Will your next car be electric?

[directhex]

Diesel cars are rubbish to drive (especially if your journey doesn't start and end at 70mph on the motorway, but actually involves towns at any point), and are driven by people who hate driving. I would never willingly go back to a diesel, and even the best petrol isn't even in the same league when it comes to driving experience.

My plan right now is to buy a used Model S as soon as some of my assets liquidate, then maybe trade it in for a new Model 3 next year.

[directhex]

Sadly not.

In Denmark we have a tax called "registreringsafgift" which is a 150% tax on cars.

So if the car costs 100k, you have to pay 250K for it.

And electric cars arnt among the cheapest cars to begin with.

Until 2016, electric cars were exempt from this - making a tax-free Tesla comparable in price to a """cheap""" petrol car like a Focus.

[chj]

Absolutely not, but if we get stuff with Hydrogen Fuel cells and the likes am all game for it.

I'd of thought hydrogen would be easier to update the infrastructure to since it can be stored so there's no issues with the grid's capacity to generate it like with electrictiy. But i dont know the pros and cons.

[pegasusuk57]

Nope - just changed my car from diesel to petrol, and similar specc'd hybrids were 10k more, and all electric just ridiculous, plus there are so few charging points for them, and charging takes forever!

[lumireleon]

Nissan Leaf not a good looking car but the price is favorable

[Flibb]

I want to, but too expensive at the moment. Have looked at 2nd hand where you rent the battery, but the savings are just not big enough at the moment compared to the up front costs. I tend to buy cars that are 5 years old, then run them for another 5 years, will be interesting to see what happens to the 2nd hand market over the next couple of years. Battery aging is a bot of an issue for 2nd hand cars in the age range I tend to purchase, the some data on the leaf points to the battery <70 after 8 years based on UK temperatures. Need to do some more reading on that though.

I am considering a bit of a change when the wife's car is up for replacement, that will be in around 3 years (hopefully), I will seriously look at an electric for her, she drives to SE London 70 miles a day but only 3 days a week. Unfortunately the council she works at has no charging provision.

[nar53]

As a retiree I don't do huge mileages anymore so I'm in no rush to change my car, but five years down the line who knows.

[Wozza63]

Nope - just changed my car from diesel to petrol, and similar specc'd hybrids were 10k more, and all electric just ridiculous, plus there are so few charging points for them, and charging takes forever!

If you are doing a long distance journey in the UK, you are guaranteed to have one along the way. And most cars support fast charging which is 80% in 30 minutes. Enough for a loo break and a quick drink or meal.

[outwar6010]

Ha, when the National Grid says you can't boil a kettle while charging your car at home then no. What am I supposed to drink while waiting for the thing to charge?

Hybrid - yeah. Electric - only when they have the infrastructure sorted and a better battery system with better storage/efficiency and recharge times.

The kettle story is nonsense....

[peterb]

Cant understand why more people dont have them. The cost savings cover the cost of the car, to a point where I have a car with no mot, covered under warranty for around £100 per month.

Is that on a lease plan, and if so does that include the final payment? The problem if you hand the car back is that you then have to find the deposit for the next one.

Charging times aren't that long now and you can get from one end of the country to the other end with the current charging infrastructure and range of the cars.

Depends on the battery temperature, too hot or too cold and the charge time is longer - fast charge is generally to 80% as the rate of charge drops off significantly at that point.

Diesel cars are rubbish to drive (especially if your journey doesn't start and end at 70mph on the motorway, but actually involves towns at any point), and are driven by people who hate driving.

Depends on the car! I quite enjoy driving my diesel in town or in the country - although in town I'd prefer an automatic gearbox. (but thats true regardless of the powerplant)

However, I have shared my experience of driving a Nissan Leaf here: http://forums.hexus.net/automotive/3...ml#post3854639

[adidan]

The kettle story is nonsense....

Yeah, that has been established.

[me-yeah]

if i bother, then mine will become perpetually powered over the first weekend of having it

[alpha channel]

I don't think so, not in the foreseeable future anyway. Aside from the fact that I've just changed my main car in May going from a diesel 159Ti (nice car but modern diesel engines are fast but soul sapping) to a 4.2 V8 XK (worth putting up with a weekly increase in fuel bills for frankly).

There's no doubt about the way things are heading as there's a number of Leaves and Tesla's punting around my way but I'll be sticking to petrol for a number of reasons not least of which is sound and interactivity (the sound of the V8 compensates, just, for the lack of manual gears in the XK... still looking at swapping it for an S2 Elise though, while the old Rover 200 Coupe has a zingy 1.8VVC and a manual gearbox which still puts a smile on my face thirteen years down the line). I can't see electric cars coming with a H pattern gearbox.

The other main reason is simply down to up front cost plus, depending upon model/manufacturer, battery rental, I don't want to have bought a secondhand car only to still have to cough up a monthly bill to the manufacturer as well.

I'd possibly consider Hydrogen though as it's far more convenient and petrol like (low? nip in to the fuel station three minutes later you're off) while hydrogen production has the possibility of being more environmentally friendly if they can perfect its large scale production via green algae (sucking up carbon dioxide as it grows and releasing oxygen). In addition to hydrogen though it's also capable of producing oils which can be used in diesel and jet fuel.

[QuorTek]

Absolutely not, but if we get stuff with Hydrogen Fuel cells and the likes am all game for it.

I'd of thought hydrogen would be easier to update the infrastructure to since it can be stored so there's no issues with the grid's capacity to generate it like with electrictiy. But i dont know the pros and cons.

You pour in hydrogen... ignite it in the combustion motor or have it drive a generator for then transfering by using electric means the power to the wheels.. you get H20 as exhaust... electric cars that need to charge a batter polutes in other ways by just the construction of the amount of batteries...

[peterb]

The problem with hydrogen is the storage - it doesn't liquify easily so it needs to be stored at high pressure or in some form of metallic matrix.

This article explains some of the problems/solutions

http://www.fsec.ucf.edu/en/consumer/...cs/storage.htm

This one from 2012 promised a breakthrough - its all gone quiet! However I'm sure research continues.

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/0...rogen_storage/

Other potential technologies are fuel cells, typically using methanol or hydrogen to provide electricity. The IEEE published an article about Hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles

http://spectrum.ieee.org/green-tech/...-by-fuel-cells

[tomthum]

what happens in 3/5yrs when the batteries pack up you will have to spend £3000/4000 on batteries I don't think so