Electric cars.

[Druncan]

I am an on-call firefighter, we have had a challenging experience with an Ecar in an accident.
Our training to respond to Ecar incidents is evolving, but the scenario of an thermal runaway is very real, but currently very difficult to deal with. There are also hazardous fume risks meaning full BA with Haz suit maybe appropriate. It's actually much easier to deal with diesel and petrol car fires!

Seems nobody considers this? Read then watch this it's genuine AFAIK;
https://cesafty.co.uk/news/data-reveals-extent-of-electric-vehicle-fires-around-the-uk/
Resent;

https://cesafety.co.uk/news/data-reveals-extent-of-electric-vehicle-fires-around-the-uk/
This is the Video;

 

[AlBrew]

I am an on-call firefighter, we have had a challenging experience with an Ecar in an accident.
Our training to respond to Ecar incidents is evolving, but the scenario of an thermal runaway is very real, but currently very difficult to deal with. There are also hazardous fume risks meaning full BA with Haz suit maybe appropriate. It's actually much easier to deal with diesel and petrol car fires!

Seems nobody considers this? Read then watch this it's genuine AFAIK;
https://cesafty.co.uk/news/data-reveals-extent-of-electric-vehicle-fires-around-the-uk/

The link didn't work?

 

[hoppyscotty]

Anyway, getting back to electric cars, Gul-e are offering cable runs cut into the pavement to remove trip hazards from on-street charging :
View attachment 82629

would love to see what councils have to say when people start cutting up the pavements. I wonder if someone trips on one that is poorly maintained and looks for the usual compo...will be knocking on your door.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I wonder if someone trips on one that is poorly maintained and looks for the usual compo...will be knocking on your door.

We still have these in our pavements to take rainwater from the drainpipe to the gutter they are wider than the EV ones and are uncovered, the EV ones I have seen have a cover that fills the gap so no tripping hazard as far as i know the council has never had to pay compensation for them being a trip hazard.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

would love to see what councils have to say when people start cutting up the pavements. I wonder if someone trips on one that is poorly maintained and looks for the usual compo...will be knocking on your door.

Well it would need council permission, but permission is one of those things that is a postcode lottery. In fact I first saw these being used as an example of the kind of thing that government should have been thinking about and setting national rules for, if it hadn't been distracted by Brexit and Covid.

 

[Druncan]

 

[Chippy_Tea]

In china they lost 55 busses in one amusement parks parking lot because they were all electric, they were on chargers one caught fire and it daisy chained across the rest of the parking lot.

If a petrol car caught fire in a parking lot wouldn't it daisy chain across all the other cars in the lot, what has " because they were all electric, they were on chargers" got to do with it?

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Here is part of the video cut from the one above which kind of puts it into perspective.

In the U.S in 2020 there were -

173,000 highway vehicle fires.

580 fatalities.

1,500 injuries

$1.6 billion in property damage

 

[Northern_Brewer]

VW have shown an ID.2all "concept" which looks more like a pre-production version of an electric Golf - talking about a £22k price point, wheelbase same as a Golf but shorter overall and more luggage room, 222bhp, 0-60 <7s (with hotter ones to come), 280 mile WLTP range, 10% to 80% charge in 20 minutes, several USB-C points plus a mains socket.

Also reported to be working on a £17.5k model.

https://insideevs.com/news/657415/volkswagen-id2-all-concept-previews-the-peoples-electric-car/

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Nice to see the VW is not to dissimilar to a petrol/diesel at the front i am not keen on the EV's like the ones at the bottom with no grill.

 

[MashBag]

Is there one that tows 3 ton please?

 

[Branny]

I take delivery of a Volvo XC40 Hybrid in June. I'm lucky in that I receive car allowance / option of car. The cost of an EV was extortionate and
the benefit in kind tax on petrols and diesels was prohibitive. Hybrid was the happy medium.

I currently drive a 2.2ltr 4X4 diesel - originally bought as I averaged over 22K miles per year and towed a large caravan for family hols several times per year. At the last MOT I'd done less than 6K miles, averaged 26 mpg and hadn't towed once. So it was time to change.

Initially I'll charge off mains but will invariably need to get a proper charger.

Any EV/Hybrid owners - anyone recommend a particular brand and/or know of any interest free deals/suppliers? I haven't managed to locate much in the way of the latter.

Thanks

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Is there one that tows 3 ton please?

Towing is something that EVs should be good at as they have torque to spare, it's just that EVs haven't got into all the market niches and 3t tow capability is fairly niche. But eg the prototype of the electric Ford F150 pulled 450 tonnes of railway car :
https://insideevs.com/news/361332/video-ford-f150-electric-tows-million-pounds/
Official tow weight for the extended range version of the production F150 is 4.5 tonnes, but people have gone quite a long way over that. It's not on sale here, I think the best that is would be the Tesla Model X which is officially rated at 2.25t?

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Give Toyota a look I am going to get a hybrid next they have been making hybrids so long they have it nailed.

https://www.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/

 

[Old Fart At Play]

Is there one that tows 3 ton please?

There is a list of EVs that can tow, but at the moment only a couple of hybrids can do 3 tonnes
https://electrictowcars.co.uk/electric-tow-cars/

 

[GhostDoggyWoofWoof]

Is there one that tows 3 ton please?

What, a Golf that tows 3 tons?

 

[Cwrw666]

What, a Golf that tows 3 tons?

And this is the problem. EVs seem to be designed for townies with nowhere much to go. Current vehicle is a fiat doblo, which we bought new for 14 grand back in 2014. Frequently use it for towing a stock trailer with 20 sheep in it or hay trailer with 50 bales. When it needs replacing what are we supposed to do?

 

[Old Fart At Play]

And this is the problem. EVs seem to be designed for townies with nowhere much to go. Current vehicle is a fiat doblo, which we bought new for 14 grand back in 2014. Frequently use it for towing a stock trailer with 20 sheep in it or hay trailer with 50 bales. When it needs replacing what are we supposed to do?

This is an unnecessarily disparaging reply. The fact that there isn't an EV for your use case (yet) doesn't mean that all EVs are for people with 'nowhere to go'.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

And this is the problem. EVs seem to be designed for townies with nowhere much to go.

Well no, it's just they're going for the mainstream uses first. There's a reason why the Fiesta was the biggest-selling car in the UK for years, most people just want mobility for a couple of people, they're not towing sheep. And it's towns that have the big problems with pollution, so "townies" have to have vehicles suitable for ULEZ etc, which people who tow sheep don't. Which is great for the sheep-towers, as the townies will be the ones paying for much of the R&D as early adopters.

You're just starting to see electric vans, as that's another big market, so for instance Fiat are already doing an electric version of the Doblo van, no doubt a people carrier version will come in time.

Current vehicle is a fiat doblo, which we bought new for 14 grand back in 2014. Frequently use it for towing a stock trailer with 20 sheep in it or hay trailer with 50 bales. When it needs replacing what are we supposed to do?

Depends on the timing - next couple of years you may well find yourself buying a ICE or hybrid. But I note that most Doblos are rated for towing 1000-1300kg, with a handful at 1500kg - that's certainly doable by EVs (as I say, torque is not the problem), something like a Kia EV6 does 1600kg. Yeah, up-front pricing is a problem, but that will come down, and you need to look at total cost of ownership.

These transitions are never easy and take time - no doubt there's folk round your way who can still remember ponies being used to move stuff around....

 

[Druncan]

We run a 4 year old Citroen Dispatch 1.6 blu van it has 17K on the clock. This years service/MOT was £1,600 as the soot control system needed replacing after engine warning etc. Turns out the engine needs a damm good regular motorway 'thrash' to prevent the adblu and soot from clogging up.

Love diesel's but they are a disaster with the added *hite tech gubbins to make them fit emission controls. Probably need the system replacing again unless I can hurtle around the island on single track @ 60 mph for an hour,,,,,

An E-van may be an answer when the sodium lithium batteries come through?