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ArishMell · 70-79, M
No.
Certainly not a battery-only one.
I could never afford it.
They are far, far too expensive new, and despite reputedly low servicing costs replacing the battery every few years will probably be far too pricy as well. Prices are not likely to fall significantly - they will still be for the well-off.
Second-hand battery-electrics might become quite cheap but because their first or near-future need would be a new battery-pack, costing many thousands of £££.
I would be totally reliant on finding public charging points where with luck I might have less than two hours' wait before I can drive away again. I am one of the very many Britons whose home has no have any parking area of its own, making charging at home out of the question..
... and with luck finding a charging-point with connectors compatible with my car and with a card-reader for payment (as on many petrol-pumps).
I do not believe their ranges match the publicity claims. There is a standard range-rating test but it does not account for real-life driving, especially when you might need make a long journey in cold weather.
No good, by range, for some of the journeys I make; and in Winter a fraught expedition in a travelling ice-box.
They are OK for short local trips, but I have no faith in them otherwise.
'
Electrity for BEVs in the UK is, [i]I think,[/i] presently free or if from your domestic 13A supply, costs only your normal rate. This is to encourage motorists to switch to BEVs, but as and when the liquid-fuel demand drops significantly, the lost tax revenue on its sales will probably have to be applied to the electricity. Already, I am told by a friend who owns a BEV, if you have a high-rate (7kW) charger at home it has to be installed professionally, via a so-called "smart"-meter of its own. I don't know the costs but I would expect a few hundred ££. A "smart"-meter would allow ready collection of any such "fuel" tax, via the electricity supplier.
'
Ironically we are going back 100 years. In the early years of the 20C motoring was only for the rich, but they could buy battery-electric cars, at least in the main British, French and American cities. At the same time, commercial operators could buy battery-electric lorries for local deliveries.
'
I don't know the truth of this but a friend who'd been reading car reviews said one leading BEV maker places a deliberately untenable guarantee on its batteries. Lasting for only three years, he told me, the car's electronics logs the charging history, and any discharge <30% capacity or re-charge to >80%, annuls the guarantee immediately.
Certainly not a battery-only one.
I could never afford it.
They are far, far too expensive new, and despite reputedly low servicing costs replacing the battery every few years will probably be far too pricy as well. Prices are not likely to fall significantly - they will still be for the well-off.
Second-hand battery-electrics might become quite cheap but because their first or near-future need would be a new battery-pack, costing many thousands of £££.
I would be totally reliant on finding public charging points where with luck I might have less than two hours' wait before I can drive away again. I am one of the very many Britons whose home has no have any parking area of its own, making charging at home out of the question..
... and with luck finding a charging-point with connectors compatible with my car and with a card-reader for payment (as on many petrol-pumps).
I do not believe their ranges match the publicity claims. There is a standard range-rating test but it does not account for real-life driving, especially when you might need make a long journey in cold weather.
No good, by range, for some of the journeys I make; and in Winter a fraught expedition in a travelling ice-box.
They are OK for short local trips, but I have no faith in them otherwise.
'
Electrity for BEVs in the UK is, [i]I think,[/i] presently free or if from your domestic 13A supply, costs only your normal rate. This is to encourage motorists to switch to BEVs, but as and when the liquid-fuel demand drops significantly, the lost tax revenue on its sales will probably have to be applied to the electricity. Already, I am told by a friend who owns a BEV, if you have a high-rate (7kW) charger at home it has to be installed professionally, via a so-called "smart"-meter of its own. I don't know the costs but I would expect a few hundred ££. A "smart"-meter would allow ready collection of any such "fuel" tax, via the electricity supplier.
'
Ironically we are going back 100 years. In the early years of the 20C motoring was only for the rich, but they could buy battery-electric cars, at least in the main British, French and American cities. At the same time, commercial operators could buy battery-electric lorries for local deliveries.
'
I don't know the truth of this but a friend who'd been reading car reviews said one leading BEV maker places a deliberately untenable guarantee on its batteries. Lasting for only three years, he told me, the car's electronics logs the charging history, and any discharge <30% capacity or re-charge to >80%, annuls the guarantee immediately.
