Random EV thoughts.....

Meanwhile Toyota are threatening to stop producing cars in the U.K. if the U.K. government bans hybrid cars from 2030 onwards…..

what a company…..

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/07/30/toyota-warns-government-may-stop-manufacturing-uk-bans-hybrid/

I picked up my first ever full EV last week (MGZS EV Exclusive long range), left behind the phev that served me well for 4 years. Tipped around at home on short runs and this is my first longish trip away.

Just a trip from Galway to kilkee for a few days, add a few small trips back and forth to the beach etc. And home again tomorrow. I Will be home with about 34%. So not the full "living with an EV" experience that needed charging stops.

That is later in the week when I head to cork, I reckon I'd make it home, but a quick top up just to be sure I get home will take the edge off.

But I did get my first taste of the charger situation. Two 22kw chargers at the beach. Arrived to see an outlander plugged in and an MG5. Outlander was plugged in at 1:30 and stayed until almost 7pm.

It was a 2014 one so only a 10kw battery. So they just used it as a parking space for the day.

Luckily I didn't need to charge, but I was still annoyed for anyone that did. had I been stuck, three kids in the back and the next charger a good 30mins away, it would have been very frustrating.

But so far first week was great. 260 km around at home before it went under 50% (I did a tiny top up on the first day at home to make sure the charger worked, and another 3kw at an ESB station to make sure that worked). This weekend about 300km driving and still plenty in the tanks.

It's actually surprising how much of Ireland you can cover on round trips without charging.

But what I did notice is my change in opinion of the amount of charge at either end.

I got here using 25%. So I know to get home it will need 25%. But still when the route planner said you will arrive home with 34% to spare, my first reaction was phew that's cutting it close 🤣

Reap what you sow. In most counties (not in Dublin) parking is free when you are charging and the EV charging spots usually are in the best locations. And there is no penalty for charging for a long time on destination chargers. It's a big ask to expect the Outlander owner to interrupt his day, come back to his car, move it to another spot (if they can even find one) and then having to pay for parking.

Ah now, you're making far too much sense with that kind of talk 😉

I'll leave the article below to truly get your blood boiling

Despite the title, and just to be clear, that's 10,000 charging points for Stockholm, from one company, on top of the 5,000 they already provide...

It is in a pay and display car park right beside the beach, so you do still have to pay, and they were likely only a 30 second walk away. And while it was busy, there was a constant movement. I drove in at 4 and got a spot right away.

I drove an outlander for 4 years and rarely used a charger, let alone blocking one while not charging. A 0-100% charge on the 22kw would only take 3.5 hours. So at minimum they were not charging for 2 hours while parked.

My own approach is take what you need and move on. A outlander never needs a charge.

I plugged in at that charger before in winter, other one was free and I still left a note in the window for anyone that was stuck to ring me and I'd move it.

It doesn't need a charge in the way that no PHEV needs a charge and can be driven in ICE mode. But it is better if they are charged and driven in EV mode, no?

Well often with a PHEV you'd want to maximise EV range, so you're forced to graze at every available charger to do so. It's one of the things that I don't like about them as you actually end up charging more often than an EV

The owner really should have moved their car after it was charged though, that's somewhat inconsiderate not to do so

The thing is, this problem is entirely solvable by just adding more chargers. 2 AC units for a busy seaside town is an absolute joke. There should be more like 20 chargers

I kind of feel that's too complicated. 7kW AC should be enough for most destination chargers. 22kW is nice but the majority of cars don't make good use of it, and unfortunately there isn't much sign of that changing soon

There should just be lots of chargers, banks of a dozen at a time. For cars that need more, there should be a 50kW hub nearby

The whole free parking thing needs to go, too open to abuse. IMO, for the AC chargers the parking should be paid but the kilowatts should be free, no advantage then to blocking the chargers, and if one is blocked then there's lots more beside it

Big difference this morning, was over to the pool and there was 2 EVs plugged in on the way in. Then 2 more on the way out. So 4 cars charged in half the time one phev was there.

Got home anyway tonight, over 120km left on the range. 5 hours of driving, 300km done including some motorway and AC on to clear the foggy windows.

Off again midweek to cork. This will be 407km on so this one might need a top up just to be sure. Car does 450+ but that's cutting it fine.

Going back to 2003 when Toyota started cheating. Wow, that must have been many years before VW. I wonder did they sell any of those cars / trucks in the USA? If so, VW paid a $15 billion fine over there, Toyota could be next up on the block. I'd say at this stage it is more likely than not that Toyota will not survive long term as a major car company unless they are rescued somehow.

In a generation or two people will laugh at us, silly people who thought they could make dirty combustion engines clean. We certainly did try every trick in the book, invented ludicrous systems like start stopping of the engine all the time, exhaust gas recirculation, tiny engines with turbo chargers, catalytic converters, particulate filters and when none of it really worked, we had no option but to cheat.

Hino has an annual production of 130000 units, VW 8 million or so, fines per rata probably will be small change for the largest car maker in the world.

Honestly, I do not think that Toyota is going to lose out that much given the perceived reliability of the brand, their successful self-charging gimmicks, while on the other hand, nearly every EV brand has battery replacements ( 4 OMG I cannot believe that.) or degradation of some sort.

I heard some commentators saying that emissions cheating was basically standard practice in the industry. Could be just hearsay but I imagine the mistake VW made was getting caught

Even for the ones that play by the rules, the test cycles are hopelessly open to abuse

That was one very early tesla and is not representative of cars that are 10 years newer.