Enough to do a weeks commute and travel to the charger twice plus a little spare.... I don't even have any of the infrastructure near me so it would need to be quite long or rely on the home charging system..... that's why I prefer hybrids where they can also run on petrol/diesel.
200 miles would be ample. That would do me a couple of commutes, just in case I missed an overnight charge. Can't see that I'd need to use a charging station more than a couple of times a year (holiday trips),
Can't really see the reason for the obsession with having charging stations everywhere - in a few years time mid-range electric cars will be on 300-400 mile range so you'd really only need to charge away from home on motorways and major routes. The idea of having public charging points that are as common as current petrol stations will become ludicrous in the medium to long term.
Last edited by Rad77; 14-10-2017 at 10:24 AM. Reason: Typical cockups
300 miles at least.
400 miles is the tipping point for me, OR 300 miles if sub 5 minute charging or battery swap out is available.
Until that point, an electric car is only really going to be suitable as a second car used exclusively for short trips. I think we're sadly a while off that sort of reliable range though..hopefully it will be in place by 2025
It'll cost you several thousand when it packs up butOriginally Posted by tomthum
a) The useful (in a car) lifetime is around 10 years and your IC car's engine, transmission and ancillaries would all have been packing up around then anyway.
b) The reduced capability but still functioning battery can then be sold on or used by you as a home storage battery. There's increasing demand for these.
Last edited by Rad77; 14-10-2017 at 10:34 AM. Reason: Missed out the quote!
you don't need to charge things up with a perpetual generator, you need a few batteries for a buffer, and to be able to start the car up, then after that, a 1MW direct drive wind turbine without all the maintenance chasis etc is the size of a V8, which will give you 1 million watts per hour, so its just about working out the
1,000,000 / 60 minutes / 60 seconds > ( ( 1,000,000 / 60 ) / 60 ) which is 277 watts per second which feeds into the batteries, with the perpetual generator only need to spin at 20 RPM for industrial use
About 75% of our car usage is getting to work and back, my wife also uses her car for site visits while at work, but she normally works at home 2 days a week.
Car 1: 60 miles a day (3 times a week), peak would be 80 miles in one day with site visits.
Car 2: 50 miles a day (5 times a week)
There is no provision for free charging at work for either of us, so on the above numbers we would be fine with overnight charging at home, possibly having to alternate due to infrastructure (not sure on that).
The other regular journeys are around100 miles each way with overnight stay. So we would both be more than fine with 150 -200 mile capacity cars.
When it comes to car changing time (current cars are 7 and 10 years old), we will consider a small electric for my wife, and possibly a large plug in hybrid for me. This is assuming prices come down, and 2nd hand values stabilise, we are hoping to get 5 more years out of our current cars. There is probably a 75% chance that the wifes car will be electric, I am more likely to get an LPG or diesel Landrover due to the high cost of hybrids. I want a larger vehicle to support my hobbies, but its also handy when you want to move kit around.
So to answer the question 150 is just about ok, 200 would be fine.
I think battery swapping could be a promising route, should car manufacturers allow easy access and also parity across batteries. Pull up to a petrol station like building. Pay £x and have your battery swapped for a fully charged one. Only issue here is how good the batteries you're getting are. You could easily be conned by a dodgy garage into some old batteries that no longer hold their charge.
I think you have to relieve the 'change anxiety' pressure which will of course mean different things to different people. For me it's the point where I think/feel I can make it to a local holiday destination without being stranded on the motorway, family in tow and charge at my target hotel/resort destination
Well, curently I have three cars older than 1 years, one being 40 years and ALL are on original engjne, transmission, etc. Sure, an occasional component goes. I had to replace an akternator about two years ago. But nothing of the order of magnitude you suggest, with new engine and transmission. Of course, it does depend on average annual mileage .... which is another factor in the overall viability of electric cars.
Someone else mentioned leasing, which might be a viable route for some users, but not me. Wgen I buy a car I tend to buy outright, and then keep it a long time. If I enjoy the car, why change? And it's FAR less expensive, long-term, than changjng every 2 or 3 years.
Lease? Not me.
Hydrogen is the only way forward, waiting around for your car to be charged will become a joke, even a quick charge will be 30mins. Run out of fuel fill up carry on works. Charging cars still burns away fossil fuels.
From the pub to my home.
If main roads came with a fast charging wireless system built in to them, then even a 100m is generous, only need enough to get you in and out of housing estates or local routes.
300 miles or 350 ideally. And capable of charging 50% in 30mins.
Pretty much this. Average range on a full tank of petrol for my car (depending on how I drive it) is about 300-400 miles and I can refill anytime I like. The problem with electric cars is the charge time, Hydrogen fuel cells becomes the best of both worlds here.
And yet I got the impression that LPG which is both cheap as a fuel and AFAIK both denser and easier to refuel than hydrogen has never taken off.
I would have thought that LPG would be fairly easy to synthesise as well from biofuels. Aught to look that up, but I'm sure someone will put me right
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