Gilbertd wrote:

StrangeRover wrote:

I dunno, but to be fair EV charging points are more plentiful than LPG points!!

But at least we don't clog them up for an hour at a time......

Yep that is true, the pile up of cars at charging points will be an issue.

I've had people point and moan when I spend 3mins filling up my 22gall tank on the P38 I can't imagine what it would be like if I was there for 10mins charging a tesla or even longer for a lesser car.

I do find it funny how they advertise a 350mi range in 15mins as impressive, I can get twice that range out of my Mondeo in 2mins LOL

StrangeRover wrote:

Taxing the fuel will be mandatory though, once you remove the free fuel and tax what benefits do you have to driving electric?

Lord High Elon is predicting that he'll have self-driving tech so well sorted "soon" that you'll be able to send your Tesla off to be part of a driverless fleet of Ubers (except, not Ubers but Teslas) when you're not using it. This will mean you earn money from your car while you're at work or asleep. He's so confident that he has put the price of Autopilot up to about £6k even though is isn't ready yet.
Will he be right? Who knows. I can't imagine they'll plug themselves in to recharge though.

Morat wrote:

StrangeRover wrote:

Taxing the fuel will be mandatory though, once you remove the free fuel and tax what benefits do you have to driving electric?

Lord High Elon is predicting that he'll have self-driving tech so well sorted "soon" that you'll be able to send your Tesla off to be part of a driverless fleet of Ubers (except, not Ubers but Teslas) when you're not using it. This will mean you earn money from your car while you're at work or asleep. He's so confident that he has put the price of Autopilot up to about £6k even though is isn't ready yet.
Will he be right? Who knows. I can't imagine they'll plug themselves in to recharge though.

Yep some/most of the stuff he says seems rather odd.

I wouldn't send my car off to do stuff like that regardless.

just to add to the costs , hybrids will be charged at 2 cents a km.
IMHO i think their is a place for EVs , and that is the city and heavy populated areas . they are not suitable for long hauls or towing period. the hybrids are better but still have their short comings, weight, price, etc. we are a long way from this becoming a real thing unless things change. the materials for there construction is a big issue , copper and lithium are just not available in the quantities required and to have different plugs is just plain dumb
the governments should be pushing that EVs will improve the health of people that live in heavily populated areas to reduce the grey haze that covers cities and drop the ridiculous carbon rubbish as this is just lies and people know it . they dont say anything because they dont want to be attacked by wankers who think the world is going to end

I don't like the way that gov policy has swung all round the compass from crowning Diesel as the next Messiah - until they realised that it spread PM10 and NOx all over the shop and kills people by the thousand every year in the UK. Then pushing LPG half-heartedly until they realised that the motor industry had no interest in refitting existing cars (the greenest option, surely) and only wants to sell whole new cars with a percentage improvement in fuel economy per generation. This shouldn't have been a shock, because car companies couldn't give a flying one about the planet, they literally exist to sell people new cars every few years with a marginal improvement (And shiny new paint).

Then it was Hybrids, starting with the Prius. I loved the ep of Top Gear when they drove the nuts off a Prius round their track until the tank ran dry and followed it in an M3. They recorded better Mpg over the test in the M3 because it wasn't stressed (but moving at exactly the same speed). The true value in a hybrid is understanding that it makes driving economically the goal of owning the car. Driving like a 90 year old on mogadon is the way you feed that comforting confirmation bias that tells you that you made the right choice and YES you are getting something for nothing, unlike those other schmuks.

After that it was the turn of plug in hybrids - most of which ran around as pure petrol cars with dead batteries because there was no incentive to charge at home.

And now.. powered by unicorn farts and rainbows it's the turn of the EV. They sound terrible. Well they sound exactly like the old milk floats, minus the chinking of glass bottles. I don't think there's any way round that but they do have the advantage (in some cases) of being truly and ridiculously fast. A sub 2.0 second 0-60 time and sub 9s quarter mile is bonkers* There are more of them arriving by the week as ALL the traditional car companies scramble for EV ranges before the various cut-off dates for Fossil Fueled vehicles. This means it's an exciting time to watch the market, but it's a particularly rubbish time to buy because this year's Best Buy could be totally out-Top Trumped in 6 month's time and depreciate like a Kipper on a Sunbed.

Let's be honest here, the biggest cost in motoring is depreciation so I'll be stretching out my fleet of dino fuelled vehicles as long as I can (brake bolts notwithstanding!) but it's still an interesting time to play fantasy garage, especially if you're the kind of car nerd who really likes computers. Teslas are rammed packed with computers with premium gaming and streaming services that would actually make me want to flick the autopilot switch and kick back for a couple of hours :)

I'm sure they won't be alone for long, and I'm sure that the other manufacturers will contribute their own flavour (err communicate their Core Brand Values) to the whole EV theme over the next few years. Sadly for Aston Martin, their beautiful exhaust notes are heading to the great Dodo perch in the sky, which is a crying shame.

*Some fast quarter mile times: https://blog.dupontregistry.com/features/top-10-fastest-quarter-mile-times-production-cars/
**Some really fast quarter mile times. Possibly. https://www.carscoops.com/2020/09/tesla-model-s-plaid-60-in-under-2-seconds-quarter-mile-under-9-seconds-200-mph-top-speed-520-mile-range/

Never really liked Aston Martins, only the UK and some Euro shitholes are doing this manic switch to EV and even so it isn't rapid so i'm guessing there is still a massive market for some nice sounding performance vehicles LOL

As for Tesla and their 0-60 times yes 0-60 is their main advantage if you stripped that away what you got left to enjoy?

As I said i've driven one, a 2017 Model S and while it was nice to drive there was absolutely no excitement from behind the wheel it was exactly like a nissan leaf normally noiseless souless etc

the 0-60 is great but I wouldn't want to matt it too often, I do recall that in ludicrous mode it does warn you that excessive use will damage the vehicle lol

I wouldn't send my car off to do stuff like that regardless.

And in a COVID world, I think many would abstain to send their cars off to have someone else they don't know leave some sticky goo oever every surface for you to catch something afterwards ... lol

dave3d wrote:

There is a gap in the market now disposing of EV batteries in an environmentally friendly way, if you are wanting to diversify Lpgc.

I've wondered if I should diversify into EV's in some way. As an 8 year old kid I knew I wouldn't be able to drive a car until I was older but I was always using my dad's tools to build 'trolleys' and imagined making an electric soap box / trolley / buggy I'd be able to drive on the pavement powered by car batteries. I think I'd find it interesting to get into the electric conversion of old cars scene but the price of EV drive trains and batteries from scrap cars is very high and I expect some of the second hand batteries will already be a bit worn out. Why is it always old classic cars that get converted to EV's anyway, e.g. why is it always something like a 1970's Triumph Stag and not a 2010 Mondeo, is this to avoid type testing or something?

I wonder if a 7.2kw generator running off LPG in the back of an EV would be viable, if so some owners might be interested in an emergency charging system to avoid getting stranded and help ease range anxiety... buy a frame model and see which EV's it could be made to fit in. Before EV's I wondered about fitting a little genny to a disability buggy ;-) My dad's mate had a stroke, got a disability buggy and used to come the 5 miles from his home all uphill to visit, always needed a charge to get home. If he'd had a genny onboard he could have gone any distance he liked without running out of charge, would only have to be a 300watt job ;-)