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Electric Cars !
Bucko:
Electric cars..Yeah, to say I haven't been thinking about it would be fibbing. Will it save me money in the long run? Will it be reliable? Like everyone my situation is more or less different to others. Cost will vary depending on the location your in.
My requirements: I'll still have to have a vehicle to tow a van. I also have a small hobby block around 150ks from home. I cart small loads of wood during the winter months for our city wood heater. I've been averaging around the 15,000ks per year but this could change to more later this year. One or two trips to the coast in the van per year. (averaging 10.37l/100ks, includes towing)
Mrs Bucko requirements: Currently only driving short distances of around 40Ks round trip. Average usage of around 7000ks maximum a year. Her current car is a 2006 C4 Citroen (5l/100K's) with just over 200,000ks.
So really in the current EV offerings Mrs Bucko's car could be replaced with an EV or maybe hybrid. We do a have 5KW solar system but our house orientation is not really solar friendly. We would also need to charge outside as the garage is currently my workshop. And really do I want to charge an EV in a garage which is under my house? Maybe not. Would I be happy with replacing a battery pack after 8-10years? Not really and the cost of replacement is only to go up. I gather hybrid's also have the same battery pack replacement requirements but the costs should be a lot lower one would think. Hybrid's also have an increased requirements of ICE servicing and fuel costs.
This article might also explain some of the servicing requirements of EV's.
https://www.whichcar.com.au/advice/ev-servicing-costs-explained
Might have to do a little moar reviewing and number crunching. But at first looks Mrs Bucko next runabout might be a cheap ICE or Hybrid.
Safe motoring everyone. :icon_thumleft:
maweida:
Hi all,
I've updated the original assessment above with your comments. I'm not an EV hater, in fact i think they would be excellent with a few tweeks (but yes, i do love diesel, the smell, the combustion, the spirit, the sound!!).
My friend recently bought a BMW EV ($100k) and was skiting how much fuel they were saving. I just wanted to know (all things considered), if it was indeed a saving. Clearly a big NO as the purchase price is too high, and fuel is not that dear!
Much better to spend the $100k on ETFs and make 10% per year ($10,000) and be happy to spend $1400 on petrol per year.
maweida:
--- Quote from: applemaxvic on Mar 26, 2024, 09:44:14 PM ---
Coal fired power stations can extract better the 95% of the energy potential of the coal.
An ICE engine, petrol or diesel, barely can extract 30% of the energy potential of the fuel they burn.
4x4 EV are available now but pricey, car companys are pretty focused on city cars for obvious reasons.
--- End quote ---
Power stations are less than 30% efficient, minus transmission losses, so maybe 90% loss by the time the power reaches your house!!
VALKIE:
I was reading an article some time ago about EVs and their applications.
One thing stuck out at me, There are fast chargers, but these things pull a hell of a lot of current.
The article, if i can find it, stated that it was around the same as that of 50 to 80 houses normal drain.
Put 10 in a street and it gets interesting.
In my street, every house has 3 to 4 cars, it starts adding up rather quickly.
We won't need streetlights, the glowing power lines will solve that.
Then, as someone pointed out, the infrastructure isn't close to being enough yet.
Imagine living in a suburb in Sydney (I lived in Marrickville for 30 years).
There was only one house in my street that had a driveway, and that was typical for many streets in the area.
Where does the extension cord run?
So its either hang around the charging station every couple of days, or fight with people to run an extension cord to your car, far from practical.
Then we have the elephant in the room.
We currently have a grubberment hell bent on going carbon free (yeah right)
We all know that with this fanatical exuberance will come power shortages until the "planned" infrastructure and renewables come on line.
By adding additional power drain from thousands of EVs charging up when "the wind don't blow and the sun don't shine" we is gonna be in a bit of trouble.
Most people will want to charge over night, wow, this is gonna be fun.
Huge batteries will be required to charge up the car batteries and run heating and cooling for our homes, oh and one dim witted premier wants only electric cooking as well.
Now, Im only a lowly engineer, but my math tells me something is going to fail.
and its gonna be a huge fail.
Im all for advancement, the more the better.
But common sense says that before you start tearing down infrastructure that is working, before replacing said infrastructure that is barely meeting demands.
And then introduce an additional drain on the less than adequate system, you should really have a plan.
EVs are nowere near where they need to be.
Infrastructure is nowhere near where it needs to be
and punishing everyone who sees this by heaping on taxes, fines and additional charges is simply stupid.
Im keeping my MUX until this is all sorted out....IF.
Bob:
My D-Max has just ticked over 10 years and 100,000km and I have ticked over 71 years.
I feel I only have another year or 2 of caravaning in me, it is just so much work to pack and unpack and we have been just about everywhere we want to go a couple of times.
My thoughts are to sell the rig and trade my wifes car in on a new EV. I don't see us doing many more country trips and only venture out of home to go shopping or visit the kids so charging an EV at home will be about all we need and using our 5kw of solar and charging during the day (setting a time switch for daylight hours means that we are not paying for power to charge the EV.
This will likely be our last car so want to make the correct choice a and EV seems a good option to me.
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