Random EV Thoughts 2 - The Jimnying

Unmodified Jimny has ground clearance of 210mm. That should be good enough for a lot of mountain trails surely?

Somewhere a monkey's paw has curled.

I see EU relaxation of emissions rules so now car manufacturers have 3 years 2025 to 2027 to get into better shape for EV transition. I think the biggest incentive for would- be EV car buyers is ramping up the pace and extent of Charging infrastructure across the EU. Range I think is the biggest question/concern remaining for people considering EV purchase for their next car.

I do think that a lot of people are very worried about potential battery replacement costs. I know that many trade their car well before 150k km but it impacts the second hand car market. If I’m paying north of 20k for a used car with less than 50k warranty on a battery, that’s a killer, and it directly affects new buyers who have to worry what their car is going to be worth after 100k km.

We need to see enough electric cars out there with 300k on the battery before fears start to dissipate.

The 1st episode of the Nevo EV News Podcast has just launched. Tune in wherever you get your podcasts.

That was me. Post Covid there were some people mad to buy a new EV but there was a supply issue in 2022 so they had to wait until 2023 which inflated the normal yearly EV sales. In 2024 it went back to normal but looked like a massive drop on 2023 which was an abnormally high year. This year is a steady growth as per normal adoption rates seen in other markets

anyone know anything about this lad - Tommy Macken

https://www.teemcars.com/car-listing.php

400 miles or 700km from 100kwh requires 7km per kwh or 142wh/km. Ioniq28 levels of efficiency. Not likely possible in the real world from a heavy saloon.

Putting these unachievable ranges and then not getting near them in the real world does nothing for EVs. I think it instills range anxiety.

I think it's less the actual range that's important there, more the speed of the charging.

I feel personally like my EV (2024 Mini Countryman SE) has already surpassed that point of charging quickly enough where I never have to worry about stopping somewhere for ages — and the improvements in the charging network have helped that a lot too.

But for a lot of people they still haven't reached that point, so the more improvements there, rather than raw range, could be the real gamechanger

For proper off roading they will need a way to simulate or include diff lock and low range.

I have a very good friend drives a RAV4. Thinking of changing next year to a RAV4 phev as apparently EV range is good up to 100km or more as he does most of his driving around Dublin. Then he says to me for the occasional trip down the country he has the petrol. What's wrong here! - he is making the assumption that he can't charge en route or it is too difficult/troublesome/risky- take your pick. We need to see I think more charging plazas/multi unit chargers so that if you do go full EV you can be CONFIDENT that you will be able to stop for a charge en route and get charged up relatively quickly (say 20 mins) with no hassle and no queueing needed.

Nothing wrong as far as I'm concerned, if he does 98% of his driving on electric then he'll probably just go full EV for his next car

Does the new RAV4 have DC charging? It's a way to try out the fast chargers and route so he'll be used to that as well

Yes they do but not enough of them yet IMO- for example on a regular run I do Sligo- Dublin- I stop in Kinnegad on my way up as my charge will be down in the 50 % range and hence it's a good place to stop (rest and toilet break as well) I have found Kinnegad getting busier and with 4 cars using chargers on the RHS then it can get tricky waiting etc - where do you queue? Driving back from Dublin (at 100%) ideally would want to be charging around somewhere like Carrick on Shannon but that has just 2 chargers that seem to be busy a lot of the time. It's great to see so many lower cost EVs coming on to market leading to higher sales and removing cost as a significant obstacle. However I think we would benefit a lot if somehow more and larger charging hubs could be brought on stream more quickly.

Well Sligo is one of those unfortunately neglected spine routes — both in terms of charging infrastructure, but also just the quality of the roads there too.

Same with Dublin to Donegal, although if you route via Belfast that one isn't too bad.

The charging coverage on most of the motorway routes is pretty great at the moment though (although you can really feel usage and EV ownership hitting another level too)

Oh and here are the 4+ CSS2 stations that are marked as coming soon: