Electric cars still need a lot of work

[Mazbar]

The aaa in America has just done a test on electric cars in freezing conditions and found the range dropped on average by 41%. This was across Tesla, bmw and vw. At least with a petrol, diesel or hybrid you can just fill up in cold weather. Losing 41% on a 250 mile range leaves you with a 150 mile range or a 75 mile round trip very poor.

[Mr Tom Morrow]

I know little about them but thats not a great accolade ref such a reduction in their range.

I think we are still a huge way off with this. Plus I see Tesla is not financially that stable.

[youre-nicked]

We had a marked electric BMW i3 on Demo for a few weeks and whilst it has a really fast acceleration there were no other good points.

On a cold day when you had to have the heater on to stop yourself misting up and when you parked on a Dual carriageway with the blue lights on we ended up getting less than 80 miles out of a full charge.

Its a few years off them having really good batteries that give a decent range, a friend has one who loves hers but she only travels a few miles around town, large distances are a no go unless you are willing to stop off every now and again and wait a few hours whilst you charge it.

[mental4ever]

At the moment I would only consider a ‘hybrid’ car as there are definitely insufficient charging points in the UK but I would still like to do my bit for the planet.

[Procrastinator]

Imo Tesla will either go bust, or end up the largest car company in the world. I have put a chunk of my pension in them so I am hoping for the later!

In the end it will be economics that drives it. Tesla are not that far away and are always moving closer to a more standard car and standard price. When they can do a car with a 200-250 mile range for £25k people will start to convert en masse. Especially anyone who does a lot of miles. The cost of filling up is significantly lower, the costs of maintenance are lower. They appear to last longer - some taxi companies have used Teslas for 250-300k miles with minimal battery changes.

Yes there are things to learn amd develop, but electric cars cost less to run and less to maintain. The sticker price is always falling. It is only a matter of time until an electric car is financially a no brainer to someone making a new car purchase.

[SimonB]

Problem with electric is that once people convert in mass, the loss of tax revenue will be plugged by the government of the day by imposing some extra taxation on them.

[YorkshireT]

I have an order in for a Tesla, they are light-years ahead on the tech. I can't wait.
All lithium ion batteries lose capacity in colder weather. I know the Jag has heat pads in, I think the Tesla might too.
My e bike on a warmer day I get 40 miles, drops a quarter in cold weather.
The Tesla will get a real world circa 300 miles. It also has supercharging at a network throughout the UK (fully charge in about 30 mins, tells you in the app when done, pop in and have a coffee) but in reality on a long run you'll top it up where it can charge half up in about 10 mins.
The US low temperatures are way below what we will ever see here.

[WhereIBelong]

Problem with electric cars is that the environmental damage is just shifted away from petrol/diesel pollution in our local neighbourhood to gas/coal pollution in a power station and Nickel and Lithium (and graphite) mining pollution.

electric vehicles can generate more carbon emissions over their lifecycle – from procurement of raw materials to manufacturing, use and recycling – than petrol or diesel cars.

The big elephant in the electric car future is what we are going to do with the estimated 11 million tons of spent lithium ion batteries in the mid 2020s - it costs MUCH more to recycle and extract the Lithium than it does to mine it afresh.

This will probably all come to a head over the next few years - we will be getting rid of petrol/diesel for electric only to be told we have dramatically worsened the whole environmental pollution situation.

And the big car manufacturers can then make us buy hydrogen cell cars (or insert whichever is the flavour of the month) next... and then something else and something else... ad infinitum.

[myaquarium]

I wonder how people will charge these cars who live in terraced streets. Walking around London I see the parking spaces are at a premium and if you arrive home too late you would never get a space. Some families have 3 or 4 cars so need more than the space outside their home. The same goes for the majority of cities in the uk. Brighton Manchester Liverpool would all have the same problems and not everyone has a driveway. There would literally be chargin point wars.

[Moz]

Cheaper on company car tax...hence my reasoning for getting one...I do charge up when I can but a charge gets you approx 20 miles I think

I asked for a Tesla S and the monthly payment for the company car was £1150...so that put paid to that..! ... I got a BMW 330e for less than half that