Graham Butcher

But I'm not talking about car being left a few months over winter, I'm talking about cars being left so long that they be classics and things like new batteries just will not be available as I mentioned before, it seems as if each car uses different battery packs, and physical sizes, connections attachments etc.

Now here is a question, I wonder if anyone can seriously answer it and this is a serious question that could have some serious consequences later on and if you're like me, interested in cars then you will probably also be into old barn finds and there are loads of videos of peoples old abandoned private collections being discovered and sold off for restoration and likewise there are loads of "Will it start after X years" etc, where they come along with fresh fuel, plugs, hoses etc and get them running again and then into restoration. What will be the chances of getting old barn find EV's in the future and getting them up and running again and even full restoration? I mean, by the time they are discovered, the batteries are likely to be beyond recovery, no two cars use the exact same batteries and even if they did, it would be impossible would it not to swap them over in situ etc? So would be the likelihood of such finds just being to being confined to being a car destined for the scrapyard and ultimately crushed?

The manual does indeed state that you should whenever possible fully charge to 100% as it has the newer models have the LFP battery but however their website says otherwise (apparently) and the new recommendation is to charge it to 100% once a week and not each time. A full charge is only required to help calibrate the car's computers to calibrate the expected range. Continually charging to 100% will lead to battery degradation.

The Telsa is still seen as an aspirational car by most I think, even though the Superb is more affordable in its lower trim levels and I feel back up my thoughts that the modern trend towards digital integration of controls for a clean uncluttered look leads people to the Telsa. The Superb has a certain ring of an old mans car about it. It is undeniable that there are far more Telsa's on the UK's roads then there are Superbs which might also be explained by its appear to the younger driver and also companies buying them in order to appear greener and as well maybe better BIK on tax laws?

Agreed, it's no luxury car according to the tax rules, but it is still seen by many people as a premium car and is outside many people's budgets. At the time of that video being shot, it did indeed get upto 175kWs, but it is also true that he did say that there was only 1 other car there charging, the real test would be if almost all the chargers were in use, what the charging speed be then? I wonder?

Ha, social media is crap especially when it comes down to car brands in the US having nightmare sales of EV cars, they all have some form of hidden agenda that they want to push. It strikes me as a miracle that they have not yet been hauled through the legal system for sprouting pure rubbish, you name them, they have nearly all supposed to have quite EV production and yet are announcing new models??? Voice activation is part of the entertainment system on the Superb and also on the TomTom, neither of those work very well either, so I don't use them. My Alexa indoors does work pretty well, but sometimes it is just rubbish because you need to phrase things just right for it. 😃

I only said that because usually it is the younger person who is almost joined at the hip to the latest models of smartphones and tablets and therefore more at home with the digital screens and controls that are of the touch type. I personally find that even with my current car which does have some touch controls, that I have noticed that I have to look at what I'm doing in order to correctly operate the correct thing. However, in my earlier Superbs and indeed other cars before them even, I could locate the control I needed without looking and just go by the feel and know that I had the right switch etc, all without compromising safety. The same is also true, but to a lesser degree, with early mobile phones for instance as they had physical push buttons that were highly tactile and also often had different contours on some of them so it was easy to identify which button does what without needing to look at it, i.e, I used have one of these Nokia phones, fitted in a cradle, hardwired to the car and it was possible to answer calls and hang up without taking eyes of the road because the buttons almost "told" you by their feel what one you needed. The same with vehicle controls, there were no menus to navigate because a switch only had a single function to do.

Not being liked too much is it. I'll say it again, in my view, cars that try so hard at minimising the number of physical buttons, knobs and switches in a car are really pandering to the younger driver / owners who it seems rather like the touch controls, I don't and it feels far too much concentration is required to operate them and navigate through the menu system/layers, coupled with such blistering acceleration is going to lead to many accidents I feel. When you factor in as well that many countries are banning the interaction with a hand held mobile while the ignition is active because of the accident rates / risk, then the designers of cars like this are not really helping much are they?

I think Harry sums this car up pretty well, and did you notice how much of the time he had to take his eyes off the road and look at the controls and the screen in order to do things that could have been done with simple switches. There is an accident in the making and the insurance on cars like that is climbing skywards like a rocket and the insane acceleration compared to normal ICE powered versions is not going to do it any favours in that area either. People will be getting themselves in all kinds of uncomfortable situations as a result. It is as he states a very heavy, expensive and inefficient and the ambient lighting and digital displays with their ever-changing displays and colours etc are, for me, one distraction too many. Harry also said about how much extra power you actually have to pay for in order to put X KWh into the battery is staggering and is that normal that you have to pay for around 10% extra power that does not make it into the "tank" so to speak. He likened it to actually spilling 10% of the liquid fuel being pumped into an ICE car each time when being refuelled.

I also hope for and expect honesty and integrity from such people. Sadly though it is not always what we get though, for example look at, The Post Office, Horizon and Fujitsu.

Hmm, some being the operative word.

Then that is surely enough heat to heat the car's interior, is it not? If so, why don't they make use of that heat for that purpose. I see lots of people saying that they consume about 2KWh of energy from their battery to heat their car, and many of you just seem to use heated seats and maybe the heated steering wheel sparingly because anything else just eats away at your range. All very confusing.

OK, clever clogs, I always knew that there has to some oil to lubricate the reduction gears, but cay you please explain to what the point was that the GM spokesman was making about their electric van fires could have been causes by an oil leak? For that to happen, something was very hot that the oil was dripping onto, yes or no? If yes, then what was it, EV are thermally very efficient are they not?? Could it possibly be that the spokesperson was trying to deflect attention, knowing that it was possible for an engine fire to started in this fashion with ICE vehicles. Geez, on this flipping occasion I'm actually defending EV's and yet you're still attacking.

Precisely my point, pure clickbait 👍 There is no video evidence of the traction battery causing the fires, or even being involved that I could see in the video.

Oh I can't recall at the moment, but it has been pointed out on a couple of occasions in relation to overall costs of running an EV v ICE. Anyway, it still begs the question of what it was that was so hot for an oil leak on these GM vans to cause a fire, it has been claimed that EV's are so much more efficient that there is hardly any heat generated and hence why they use electric for heating and its negative effect on range.

Pure clickbait in my view, no supporting evidence of the numbers? Interesting point, they mentioned the GM parcel van fires and GM are supposed to have said that it may be due to an oil leak? That sounds odd to me, it has been claimed before by members here that EV's don't have any oil, therefore servicing is less. Also, oil leaks have been blamed for fires on ICE vehicles, where it drips onto hot exhausts etc, that's feasible, but on earth is getting so hot on an EV that if indeed there is oil, that it catches fire, I think this is pure BS. Did anyone even notice that there have been no less than 3 electric buses caught fire in less than 14 days in London, prompting the withdrawal from service of their electric buses while checks are carried out? Now here's the thing, out of the 3, 1 was burnt right down to chassis and I didn't see any video of the actual fire, but it is fair to say that the batteries were involved in the fire but maybe not the cause. The second one was in Wimbledon and that judging by the location and way the flames were behaving, the batteries may or may not have started it, but were involved in the fire. The third, was in a garage in Putney was a single deck bus, the batteries are located on the roof at the back and the fire was behind the front grill at the front, so is unlikely the fire was caused by the batteries. So sorry to burst anyone bubble if they thought I was totally opposed to EV's and that they were always the cause of fires, I'm, not anti EV at all.

I didn't think that where any modern cars these days on narrow tyres, it seem to be the trend for low profile fat ones now, I have 235/45 R18s.

@RootedNo, I don't have a dog with me, but the car is normally with either 2, 3 or 4 people in it and the temperature set at default, 22oC with the AC ON and on freezing mornings it does take a while for the engine to get warm enough for the stop/start to kick in so on days like that in city driving in the rush hour dropping everyone off at the places of work the MPG can really suffer, round about 26 to 29 MPG. If however, I'm going in the opposite direction towards the edge of the city where the traffic is lighter, then under the same conditions the MPG is around 36 to 38. On days when I have to take my son all the way to his work place, 12 miles away with 2 miles @ 60mph the rest of the trip is 30 to 40 mph I get around 46 to 48 MPG and in the summer that goes to 52 to 54 MPG.

I couldn't believe how heavy your car is, given that it does not have a huge diesel engine or gearbox and is almost 80cm shorter than mine, but it is, according to the specification 1563kg without the driver and 408.7cm long. Mine is 486.1cm long and weighs in at 1520kg including the driver and tank full of fuel. I thought a small electric car should be far lighter than a big ICE car, but it seems not. Does it feel heavy to drive?

If you have the windows down a bit and the AC turned up, surely thats counteracting the AC and costing you some range? My AC keep the car nice and dry, never any need to open the windows.

With absolute pleasure.

I've just watched this BBC programme about electric cars, and its very interesting and also eye-opening. Some may have already watched it but for those that haven't, I give the link below and there are other programmes in the series as well but there really is a massive mountain to climb yet if we are to meet the deadline and even more importantly, retain some resemblance of a car industry in the uk, which is currently one of our biggest earners. In the programme, they show new street chargers being installed that are flush in the pavement, which I can foresee will be problematical with water ingress over the years and potentially knocking out many chargers at the same time, what are your thoughts about this programme and the chargers? BBC iPlayer - What They Really Mean for You - Series 1: 1. Electric Cars

There is a car coming that people could afford??

Geoff Buys Cars has just made a public apology for his part in the collapse of the European car industry and knocking of EV cars.

Hmm, I don't think that was the case with the Cybertruck, if memory serves me correct, that came out with a massive £15,000 hike in price?