Everything you always wanted to know about electric vehicle (but were afraid to ask)

Sabre Man · 19-09-2020 9:49am

In this video, Guillaume attempts to drive the Ring of Kerry in the new electric Renault Zoe ZE50 without charging along the route, and also while ignoring the risk of engine failure!

NIMAN · 19-09-2020 9:51am

BENDYBINN wrote: »

What’s the difference between the141 leaf and the142 leaf?

6 months?

BENDYBINN · 19-09-2020 10:28am

NIMAN wrote: »

6 months?

What I’m asking are all 142 the upgraded version and how can you tell?
Can one tell from the log book?

KCross · 19-09-2020 11:52am

BENDYBINN wrote: »

What I’m asking are all 142 the upgraded version and how can you tell?
Can one tell from the log book?

No difference between 141 and 142 in technology terms.

The changover happened around 131/132 where they introduced a new battery chemistry.

BENDYBINN · 19-09-2020 11:54am

KCross wrote: »

No difference between 141 and 142 in technology terms.

The changover happened around 131/132 where they introduced a new battery chemistry.

Thanks, how can you tell if your buying?

KCross · 19-09-2020 11:59am

BENDYBINN wrote: »

Thanks, how can you tell if your buying?

Tell what? The 141 and 142 are the same

The changover occurred when they started producing Leaf's in the UK(2013) and they all had an Eco button on the steering wheel. So, if you have an Eco button you have a UK built car and it has the newer battery chemistry but that will be all 141/142's anyway.

Sabre Man · 19-09-2020 3:22pm

In the beginning of the video below, we cover a brief history of the Nissan Leaf and give you an overview of the different versions/trims and how to spot the differences.

Sabre Man · 26-09-2020 9:38am

Gael23 · 26-09-2020 2:23pm

When looking at a Leaf do you want the 40kw or 62kw?

Sabre Man · 26-09-2020 2:26pm

Gael23 wrote: »

When looking at a Leaf do you want the 40kw or 62kw?

The bigger the battery the better, unless you never do long journeys.

Sabre Man · 03-10-2020 10:14am

Sabre Man · 10-10-2020 10:10am

Sabre Man · 17-10-2020 10:22am

In this episode Guillaume is heading to France via Irish Ferries from Dublin to Cherbourg. He's running a bit late, so he considers skipping the Ballacolla supercharger, as he has booked a charge point on the ferry.

Guillaume also has a headwind, so his Tesla Model 3 Standard Range is telling him to reduce his speed and go through the Dublin Port Tunnel.

Going via the city centre may also be an option but before he gets to Dublin, he encounters an accident. Can you spot the other EV caught up in the tailback?

neddynasty · 20-10-2020 5:43pm

How do electric cars handle floods?

With an ICE car you can go in so deep before doing damage. We've all been through flooded roads. With an electric car, can you go in as deep or not at all?

beauf · 20-10-2020 5:58pm

Info here...

https://www.greencarfuture.com/electric/driving-through-flood-water

Sabre Man · 24-10-2020 10:13am

beauf · 24-10-2020 11:02am

Nice cars. I like the idea of a basic car. But I think that is maybe a little too slow to be useful. Even in a city you might have to hop on a 80 road occasionally. Thanks for posting.

Sabre Man · 24-10-2020 11:05am

beauf wrote: »

Nice cars. I like the idea of a basic car. But I think that is maybe a little too slow to be useful. Even in a city you might have to hop on a 80 road occasionally. Thanks for posting.

The Ami can be driven by 14-year-olds in France, so it's perhaps meant to be an alternative to scooters and bikes.

beauf · 24-10-2020 11:09am

I totally accept that. Its a big step up in cost over a scooter though.

paleoperson · 26-10-2020 7:14pm

Just saw an ad for a new Lexus hybrid "self-charging".

huh? I thought that was the entire point of hybrid cars, they are self charging... what kind of eejits do they take us for?!

AndyBoBandy · 26-10-2020 7:46pm

Or what about the Toyota ‘Self Charging’ Hybrid ad where they have wind turbines in the background....

Sabre Man · 28-10-2020 10:38am

Sabre Man · 31-10-2020 11:18am

Sabre Man · 07-11-2020 10:54am

Sabre Man · 14-11-2020 11:16am

On Saturday 7th November 2020, the Irish EV Owners Association hosted their first virtual event of the winter season.

The theme was used electric vehicles. If you missed it, or want to watch it again, here it is in a lightly edited version with time codes.

BKtje · 16-11-2020 9:04pm

Hey folks, got a question on charging which I thought was fairly straight forward but I guess I was mistaken.

I wasn't sure where to put this so please let me know if I can find the answer elsewhere or if I should ask the question in another thread.

The car:
Mercedes A 250 e (hybrid) with a 15.6KW battery (12.6 useable).

AC 22KW socket: Max rate 7.1KW
DC 50KW socket: Max rate 22KW.

The DC was the expected charge speed but is it possible that the car is limited to 7.1 KW of power over AC while DC is 3 times that?

I haven't been able to test another plugs (quarantined) but this has been bugging me while im sitting at home. My confinement ends tomorrow so will try again but was hoping that someone knowledgeable can set be straight

Thanks

kanuseeme · 16-11-2020 9:29pm

7.1 is the limit of the AC on board charger, most phevs are only 3.6kw AC. if you plugged into a 100 kw AC power supply all you get is 7.1 kw

22 kw DC max seems right, the outlander has a max of 17 kw

The max rate on AC/DC will taper down as the battery fills up

Black_Knight · 16-11-2020 9:31pm

BKtje wrote: »

Hey folks, got a question on charging which I thought was fairly straight forward but I guess I was mistaken.

I wasn't sure where to put this so please let me know if I can find the answer elsewhere or if I should ask the question in another thread.

The car:
Mercedes A 250 e (hybrid) with a 15.6KW battery (12.6 useable).

AC 22KW socket: Max rate 7.1KW
DC 50KW socket: Max rate 22KW.

The DC was the expected charge speed but is it possible that the car is limited to 7.1 KW of power over AC while DC is 3 times that?

I haven't been able to test another plugs (quarantined) but this has been bugging me while im sitting at home. My confinement ends tomorrow so will try again but was hoping that someone knowledgeable can set be straight

Thanks

Yes. The battery is DC, so when you're charging via AC it goes through an AC to DC converter, which in your car is rated for 7.1kW. 7.1kW is pretty standard for AC. Some newer cars are coming with 11kW onboard AC chargers, sometimes as an optional extra.

The battery being DC, means it can charge in DC at the rate the BMS (battery management system) determines (limited to protect the battery life).

BKtje · 17-11-2020 9:19am

Thank you for the explanation.

Sabre Man · 21-11-2020 12:23pm

Sabre Man · 28-11-2020 11:07am

Sabre Man · 05-12-2020 11:37am

Black_Knight · 05-12-2020 1:39pm

Sabre Man wrote: »

No, to the eye tracking "stabilising" software.

Sabre Man · 05-12-2020 4:49pm

Black_Knight wrote: »

No, to the eye tracking "stabilising" software.

Yes, that was a mistake. It should have been off.

Sabre Man · 12-12-2020 12:14pm

Sabre Man · 10-01-2021 11:23am

Sabre Man · 16-01-2021 11:32am

In this video, Guillaume goes for a long and scenic drive to test his 'winter' range. Mind you, this is winter in France, so it's not that cold, although we pretty much had the same temperatures here in Ireland recently.

AndyBoBandy · 16-01-2021 7:34pm

That was a drive down memory lane on the road from Nantes to Saint Nazaire!!

I must have done it about 30 times in the space of about 9 months....

Sabre Man · 23-01-2021 11:13am

In this video, Peter The Scrum Doctor reviews the VW ID3 with particular focus on it's suitability for tall people and rugby equipment.

eagerv · 25-01-2021 6:27pm

From the little I know so far it appears that free parking for EVs vary from county to county. (Not sure about PHEVs)
I know that in my two local towns Waterford offers free parking whether charging or not and Wexford free parking when charging.

Not sure about other counties, but can check on their websites or by calling them (if they answer atm:))

Edit. No registration required as far as I am aware..

Sabre Man · 26-01-2021 2:45pm

It varies from place to place but when it applies, it also applies to PHEVs. EasyGo charger points at many Lidl stores are also free.

Gumbo · 26-01-2021 11:27pm

correct horse battery staple wrote: »

I read here that city/county councils offer free parking for electric cars that are charging up

Is this still case in Galway in particular if topping up battery? (I know city is dead atm but eventually things return normal I hope)

^ this if true, also apply to plug-in hybrids?

Does one have to register with corporation and or council?

Apologies if this was discussed already...

Depends on the county. In Dublin City, you have to pay for parking and pay for the charging.

Sabre Man · 30-01-2021 11:20am

In this video, Guillaume goes back for another speed test at a V3 supercharger in France. Will he do better than in his previous attempt?

Sabre Man · 06-02-2021 10:11am

In this video, Inge tells you everything you need to know about running costs and maintenance of his Tesla Model S 75, as well as issues he has experienced during 3 years, 4 months and 26,875 km of Tesla ownership.

Black_Knight · 06-02-2021 3:03pm

correct horse battery staple wrote: »

Alrighty, rang Galway corporation no free parking in Galway for electrics

Anyways now need to figure out which of the public charger apps to get, there seems to be a bit of fragmentation in market

Interesting. Contradicts what other posters have said previously, though that was perhaps over a year ago.

Sabre Man · 13-02-2021 10:12am

On Saturday 6th Februay 2021, the Irish EV Owners Association hosted their second virtual event. The theme for this webinar was charging infrastructure in Ireland.

lordgoat · 14-02-2021 7:53pm

Hey all, didn't want to start a new thread but feel free to split out Mods if it's off topic.

Looking to but an EV, this year in a few months time, will have a 161 Fiesta 1L to trade and will have around 15k to go with it. Could maybe stretch a little more but don't really want to.

It's mainly for a commute which is 20km-60km a day, depends on the day.

Just wondering what the best options would be?

Black_Knight · 14-02-2021 8:02pm

lordgoat wrote: »

Hey all, didn't want to start a new thread but feel free to split out Mods if it's off topic.

Looking to but an EV, this year in a few months time, will have a 161 Fiesta 1L to trade and will have around 15k to go with it. Could maybe stretch a little more but don't really want to.

It's mainly for a commute which is 20km-60km a day, depends on the day.

Just wondering what the best options would be?

Any other criteria?
Is fiesta size still suitable for you? Any regular long drives? Have you access to home charging?

2016 fiesta? Around 8k? So 23k total.

New there's nothing, but the e208 and Corsa-e are mid 20s money as far as I know.

Second hand you've the Nissan leaf and Hyundai ioniq primarily. Both will do that range easy, and both will leave you money to spare. Both should still have a few years warranty too.

lordgoat · 14-02-2021 8:49pm

Adding a home charge point will be the plan as soon as it's ordered. No real regular long drives, but would like the option to fast charge as best as possible when out. Basically minimise the amount of time charging when not at home, realistically this could be once a month if we had to pop somewhere at short notice.

Black_Knight · 14-02-2021 9:04pm

lordgoat wrote: »

Adding a home charge point will be the plan as soon as it's ordered. No real regular long drives, but would like the option to fast charge as best as possible when out. Basically minimise the amount of time charging when not at home, realistically this could be once a month if we had to pop somewhere at short notice.

From my personal experience, the Hyundai ioniq is a great car. 160km range is pretty much guaranteed, up to 230km in summer on slower roads. It's got a pretty small battery (but it's efficient, hence the range) yet it charges pretty quickly (up to 70kW) meaning a 20 minute stop would give you about 3/4 a battery*.
It holds plenty too, and it's pokey enough.
Price wise there's a 2016 UK model from a reputable used EV cars seller going for 14k I think. Absolute bargain. 2017 models (no difference in spec or style) are ~17k.

If you're ready to drop money now, get that ioniq, you won't regret it.

*EVs have a charging curve. 0-70% in the ioniq will charge around 70kW, but it drops of to about 30kW at that point. So 20 minutes will charge the first 3/4 of the battery. The last 1/4 could take another 20 minutes.

By contrast (from what I know, I've no experience) the leaf charges at a max 50kW on the old CHAdeMO socket. There are plenty of these plugs around, but CCS is the new standard, so expect less CHAdeMO plugs installed Vs CCS going forward. The leaf is also known for not being great at motorway speeds, hitting it's range quite hard. They also appear to suffer much more with battery degradation Vs the ioniq (rare to see an ioniq with reported battery degradation).

Everything you always wanted to know about electric vehicle (but were afraid to ask)

Comments