Will be very interesting to see the reaction of more established brands like VW, Hyundai and Kia whose prices have skyrocketed in recent years.
They'll want to be very cheap to have a chance against Tesla... Interesting times lie ahead.
BYD coming this year.
Feck, the corpos win again 🙄
Its 97% uptime as reported by the operator. Useless.
Our charging networks are now less regulated than the US networks:
Just to emphasise, the free market loving USA, where a corporation has the same or greater rights as a citizen, now has actual government requirements around fast charging
Needless to say, I'm a bit shocked
Most important bits of the regulations are IMO the requirements for minimum number of chargers per site and the minimum if 97% uptime per site
They didn't say how they're going to track it, hopefully it's something better than getting the networks to self police themselves.
IMO this is something that the Irish government really needs to get on top of.
They need to put EV charging under the domain of the CRU, and while they're at it put some people in charge of the CRU who will actually do something about the problems we're facing with charging networks
Worth doing your research on a 2014 Model S - Its one of the few EVs that there is long term data available on. Lots of reports that are fairly encouraging of the long term viability of the battery itself also. But there are others here that would be able to offer specific knowledge in relation to that model - best asking in the MS forum if you are serious.
There's already a network of independent EV repair garages. It's HEVRA - hybrid and electric vehicle repair association. The garages get training, certification, and support. For example if they get a car they've never worked on before or a fault they can't figure out - the organisation provides a sort of tech support for them.
I've used one of the garages on my EV which was out of warranty. Dealer didn't have a clue but indy garage was excellent. Replacement part was OEM. Big cost was labour though as is usual on these things.
From what I hear there's a new one in the process of getting signed up as a member. They're around North Co. Dublin area.
Indys are the solution but getting the experience will be the key. Many ICE indys came through dealerships and would have been trained on all aspects some at the factories. In terms of the knowledge filtering through do any of the current OEM's work at cell / pcb level on packs or do they just swap in a replacement?
I see guys in the states doing it so its all possible but as with all things in Ireland its a small market so could take a long time for it to be financially viable even working accross multiple platforms.
I think the key to this is your comparison with an old Merc that you buy cheap but spend big on repairs. You wouldn’t go near a Merc dealer and would keep it on the road using a merc specialist or a good local mechanic. EV’s like this one need to be repaired independently from Tesla/Main Dealers to keep them financially viable. We’re just not there yet in Ireland as there is very few independent garages willing to get involved with EV’s. Hopefully this will improve as more of these cheaper used EV’s hit the market.
Those posts about ticking time bombs were specific to that make/model of car.... i.e. early Tesla's, which had design faults and lots of them failed and were replaced under warranty.
Its not a general statement of all EV batteries. e.g. There are still plenty Nissan Leaf's tootling around without the battery dying. Degraded, yes, but not dead and needing thousands in repair costs.
So how do you think this will play out long term. For me, that car at 12-15k would be on interest if I could install a new high capacity pack as its still a good car with a lot of life but its not a 40k car if you buy at 25 and install a 14k refurbed pack especially when compared to the M3 prices.
Retrofitting batteries (whether new or refurbished) will become a thing in the same way that people refurbish ICE. Its just that the market isn't big enough yet and it requires a different set of skills so its a rarity yet in this country.... maybe in another decade or so.
I didn't want to clutter up teh EV bargain thread and thought it better here. This relates to a 2014 Model S thats out of battery warranty and a ticking time bomb as per some posts. I'm not adverese to buying a car that has the potential to bankrupt you but I understand the ICE market costs and values much better hence this post.
This whole battery warranty time bomb is interesting. Everyone here is pro EV yet there seems to be a significant concern of risk as battery warranty end approaches or has expired.
What is the long term view on this in general? How do you value the car? Is it a bit like electric forklifts that bascially get treated as a rolling chassis and buy based on that price.
Is that 27k Tesla Model S more like a 15k car? I just did a search on donedeal for 2014 Mercedes C Class and the majority are in the 27k price bracket which is 10-12k above a 2014 E-Class. I think the model S is somewhere between the two but not really sure.
Now if you bought a 27k high mile S-Class run of the mill S-Class you could spend 14k on it over the next 5-7 years with maintenance and unforseen non standard failures but unlikely to replace the engine.
So how does one value these older EV's, not just Teslas. This is obviuously a recent problem as many models are now only starting to reach this point in their lifecycle so data is very limited.
IMO EV's are a better proposition for longer life cycles due to their simplicity. I see no reason why that Model S could not complete two or three battery cycles before its realistically a parts car. Ford alluded to this a little while back as cars as a service and how suited EV's were to it.
The new electric vehicle was built by Offaly based Wilker Group, which has more than 50 years' experience in the design, build and delivery of ambulance and specialist vehicle conversions.
world’s first DC-to-DC rooftop solar-powered hybrid bidirectional EV charger.
The thing with Solar is there's no one size fits all solution, you're better off designing the system around your needs
If you're not at home during the day then there's no point is designing a system a system with extra capacity to charge the car, better to spend less and get a smaller system to meet the house's needs
What a battery gets you is flexibility, you don't need to watch the output and turn washing machines and dryers on when the sun starts to shine. It also lets you shift day rate usage over to night rate when there's less sunlight
The caveat here is if you have a smart meter. Then you'll be paid for the amount you export to the grid, so it might make more sense to install a bigger system to make as much from exporting as you can
Might be easier to ask if you could work all night and sleep contently all day knowing the EV is charging free from the sun
You could always buy a trailer instead of batteries :)
slight tangent, wilst people are arguing about how great solar panels are for cars.
Suppose I have an EV for commuting, and solar panels - what use are the solar panels for charging the car when I am at work (10, 20 or more kms away) ?
In the morning you get a bit of charge maybe, then youre gone from 7am or whenever, and back at 5 or 6pm when the sun is either completely gone or quite low in the sky.
You'd really need to shell out 1000s more on a domestic battery in order to harness the energy wouldnt you? On top of the 10s of thousands on an EV and 5 to 10 grand on solar panels ?
Cheaper to charge from solar panels or night rates, and probably quicker too since you'd need a large enough generator to charge at 7kW, and you can forget about a 50kW charge
The idea of charging from a generator really only makes sense if electricity is extremely expensive compared to diesel, or the grid doesn't exist
So basically, the Sahara desert, the Australian Outback or Texas would be your target markets
Its right up there with Nissan's e-power bollox.
I think i heard it advertised along the lines of "all the advantages of electric without the worry".
...all the advantages...except the ones that relate to the environment.
He didn't, but it just got me wondering.
I suppose that a lot would depend on the cost of the diesel, the efficiency of the generator vs the time of day that the EV is charged at home or the cost of other charging methods.
Did he give any figures? Unit prices in the UK are a lot higher than here, I don't know how much red diesel costs but our green diesel isn't cheap enough to justify it.
Yes but most people who need rideon mowers generally have a jerry can of petrol on site as you have to refill at least once during a mowing.
Not. Even running my 6kva generator on agri at 1.1Euro/L is still multiples more expensive than plugging in at home.
I guess it depends on the price of the diesel and the price of home electricity.
I doubt it would pay based on Irish prices anyway and obviously its not environmentally friendly since its 100% fossil based whereas our grid is 30% renewable.
And legal to use it in this manner!
The point being red diesel is a fraction of the price of derv fuel for road use
Would it not be a cost effective way of charging the EV?
A bit silly really as an iCE is an ICE regardless of what fuel it burns and at best it would be no more than 30% efficient…
I was watching Guy Martin's new show on energy, Sunday night on C4. He charges his EV using a generator burning red diesel (Green here I think). A clever but a good idea or not?
It's pretty interesting the difference between the US and here, seemingly in the US the main buyers of ride on mowers are homeowner's, whereas here it's probably mostly commercial operators
I wonder if that would count for Accelerated Capital Allowance like an EV or charging equipment, might be enough to swing some operators over
The article claims it can mow the same as the petrol version before needing a recharge, but a hot swappable battery would definitely be an ask for commercial use
It'd be nice as well if you could charge it on the trailer while being towed by an electric van
