Electric Vehicles!

badger

badger

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I'm not particularly 'green', but have always had an interest in electric vehicles.

Electric cars are wickedly expensive, and even tiny micro-electric cars can cost from £7000-12000.. For two decades a little two seater electric car has been seen whizzing around the London streets, called the Riva G-Wiz and although the older 'direct current' models can still be purchased for about £2-3000 my wife investigated their crash safety record and after seeing lots photos of G-Wiz remains, all flattened on road surfaces I was banned from getting one.

But thirty years ago we used to scoot all over London on Sunday afternoons on a Vespa scooter which she didn't mind at all, and so when (last year) I saw an Indian make of 'vespa-like' electric scooter advertised on ebay I was given permission to make an offer for it.

Its owner was the IT director of a London City corporation who had bought one to experiment with city commuting, but his wife had not liked him riding it and so there it was on ebay, only a year old and offered at half the showroom price with only 240 kms on the odometer..

A friend with a van took me to collect it and I've been riding it for several months now. When I got it home my wife agreed to be taken around the town on a test ride and when we returned she told me that 'Yes, I could take her on it when necessary'. We don't look quite the same picture on it together as we did thirty years ago, but as a second vehicle it is wonderful.

Has anybody else entered the world of EVs or Hybrids, please?

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I don't own any vehicles, not even a scooter or a bicycle. I'm a shut-in and work online. I order my groceries to be delivered to my door.
 
Ella S. said:
I don't own any vehicles, not even a scooter or a bicycle. I'm a shut-in and work online. I order my groceries to be delivered to my door.
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Lots of folks around here have Tesco, Co-op, Sainsburys and other deliveries direct to their doorsteps.
On Wednesday mornings we go to the superstore to do our weekly shopping ...it's just something that we do together. But during the last ten years I have purchased over 1000 items through IT which I couldn't find easily in local shops, and my wife loves virtually wandering around Amazon and buying bargains. She doesn't have or need an account with Amazon because we buy Amazon gift vouchers at the local Tesco and she always has a credit which she can draw from.

I do walk, cycle, and drive my wife's Suzuki jeep but have sold my own car and now use the EV...... it's ok. :)
 
Namaste Jesus said:
Not yet, but I'm seriously considering one of these, if and when it becomes available this side of the pond.
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What a machine, eh? I have not seen a VW EV yet but that one will cost over £30000, I reckon. Far beyond our little budget. :)

Here is a little EV that I covet..... 55 years ago I owned a little Izetta bubble-car with a bmw single-cylinder motor in it. I loved it but it was stolen, smashed up and I could never afford to buy another. But now a French company has developed an electric bubble-car for local travel, a two-seater with room for shopping. I can't wait for machines like this to gain dealerships around here..... but in the meantime I feel very lucky to be experiencing an EV on a smaller level.
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I think I need something a little more substantial. Wish I was young enough and had the energy and money to convert my old heap. I'd do it in a heartbeat. As is, if I do get an EV, probably be a secondhand Nissan Leaf or something. I like the VW Buzz a lot, but that's a ways off yet.
 
Namaste Jesus said:
I think I need something a little more substantial. Wish I was young enough and had the energy and money to convert my old heap. I'd do it in a heartbeat. As is, if I do get an EV, probably be a secondhand Nissan Leaf or something. I like the VW Buzz a lot, but that's a ways off yet.
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Now if we had the funds.......... :D
I haven't driven myself out of Canterbury/Whitstable/Herne Bay in months. About once a year we drive 40 miles to see relatives on Boxing Day, that's the limit of our travel in recent years. For that reason a small EV with a limited range and speed would fulfill all our needs, as long as the weekly shopping can come home with us.
I'm guessing that you have an ancient and much loved VW camper....... am I right? If so, don't they just guzzle fuel! I had one about 50 years ago but it had 6v circuitry and could hardly turn over the engine on cold mornings. But I did like it.
 
Never owned a VW camper, just always like them. My everyday car is actually a 58 year old Chevrolet, Corvair Convertible! Another rear engine car. Gets about 15 miles to the gallon on what's currently available at the pump, but I don't drive that much anymore.
 
Namaste Jesus said:
Never owned a VW camper, just always like them. My everyday car is actually a 58 year old Chevrolet, Corvair Convertible! Another rear engine car. Gets about 15 miles to the gallon on what's currently available at the pump, but I don't drive that much anymore.
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I have just googled chevrolet corvair..... most unusual! A 6 cylinder air cooled engine...is that right?
15 miles to gallon is better than I would have guessed.

My wife drives a Suzuki Jimny auto 'jeep' which we think is a guzzler, and the government charges extra on such vehicles for road tax, but she loves it so much. I have fitted a raised deck with screens in the back for our little dachshunds..... my wife explains that since this is her joy, that she'll be glad to pay for it no matter what. Fair enough, but I'm hoping to get a tiny EV for us so that this Jimny sits on our driveway pleasingly but inexpensively. :D
 
Namaste Jesus said:
Yeah, Corvairs were never exported so few outside of Canada and the US have ever heard of them. Here's a recent pic of mine.
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Very nice motor indeed. A neighbour of mine would love to add that to his collection.
Who is in the driver's seat?
 
Living in a terrace house without off-street parking, charging an electric car is a problem.
Owning a caravan, even our weeny one, and wanting to tow it, is another problem.
The disproportionate high cost of electric vehicles is another problem.

We'd like to go electric, but just can't solve the problems at the moment. I'm waiting for the legal test-case of someone tripping on a charging cable on the pavement and suing the householder ...
 
Thomas said:
Living in a terrace house without off-street parking, charging an electric car is a problem.
Owning a caravan, even our weeny one, and wanting to tow it, is another problem.
The disproportionate high cost of electric vehicles is another problem.

We'd like to go electric, but just can't solve the problems at the moment. I'm waiting for the legal test-case of someone tripping on a charging cable on the pavement and suing the householder ...
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On street charging is a big big worry...you are right. A telly program focused upon this, and it's just a huge risk at present, imo.
One small ev car, the Citroen Ami, is offered with a smaller battery for those who wish to remove it for charging in the home from a three pin socket, but it's range is reduced to 45kms at 30mph. It's just a local runabout but great for some people.
 
Well we have a Jaguar X-type estate, which replaced our much-favoured Saab 95 estate (written off).

We also have access to a Ford Focus, my daughter's car but she's not driving at the moment.

Historically, various Jaguars (never an E-type, although I've driven a class-winning concours rebuild), a couple of Jensen Healey 2-seaters, a 68 Plymouth Barracuda ... 'our car' is a Daimler V8 250, although all our kids remember is the thing breaking down ... we live in London, father-in-law in Norfolk. I swear, if I erected a semaphore station at every place we broke down on that route, you could send signals between London and Norwich! But we did do London to Loch Ness once, without a hitch (except I'd jammed so much in the boot we couldn't open it, that was fun, until I got it open).
 
Thomas said:
Well we have a Jaguar X-type estate, which replaced our much-favoured Saab 95 estate (written off).

We also have access to a Ford Focus, my daughter's car but she's not driving at the moment.

Historically, various Jaguars (never an E-type, although I've driven a class-winning concours rebuild), a couple of Jensen Healey 2-seaters, a 68 Plymouth Barracuda ... 'our car' is a Daimler V8 250, although all our kids remember is the thing breaking down ... we live in London, father-in-law in Norfolk. I swear, if I erected a semaphore station at every place we broke down on that route, you could send signals between London and Norwich! But we did do London to Loch Ness once, without a hitch (except I'd jammed so much in the boot we couldn't open it, that was fun, until I got it open).
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Oh my goodness! Jags, Jensen Healey (!!) and V8s!! I do love to hear a V8 slowly accelerating away from lights, etc..... as wonderful a sound as a Harley Davidson cruising through a tunnel.

Us? Since 1990, a pair of fiat cinquecentos, and then fiat 4x4 pandas until my wife chose a jimny in 2010, but she had a knee injury in 2014 and couldn't work the heavy clutch. We now have an auto Jimny with amazing electronics, previously owned by a senior prison official in London, and she filled it with amazing security and convenience gear. It locks down and then starts remotely, has the most amazing sound system under the passenger seat and the key won't start it.... the idea is that if the owner is caught between safety and vehicle the keys can be handed over or thrown down but these will not start it, in fact the wrong sequence of actions with the key simply locks the car solid and sets off a horrible screamer.
 
There are a couple of issues concerning the greenery of electric/hybrid vehicles. Of course reducing fossil fuel use is good but... electric cars (especially the batteries) may not be produced in an environmentally friendly manner. Secondly, the electricity that is used to charge the car battery is not generated via green technology.
 
Snoopy said:
There are a couple of issues concerning the greenery of electric/hybrid vehicles. Of course reducing fossil fuel use is good but... electric cars (especially the batteries) may not be produced in an environmentally friendly manner. Secondly, the electricity that is used to charge the car battery is not generated via green technology.
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Yes, I understand that.
Of course, my interest is to do with future legislation where I live, as well as having a second vehicle which uses an alternative power source. When filling stations run out of fuels I conserve the fuel in our jimny as much as possible and I use the e-scooter as much as possible during those times.
 
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