gg1
Established Member
Nothing wrong with that if the driving is being shared by more than one person, which is fairly likely for a family trip across Europe.As I've said before, if EVs prevent people doing the latter, good.
Nothing wrong with that if the driving is being shared by more than one person, which is fairly likely for a family trip across Europe.As I've said before, if EVs prevent people doing the latter, good.
Nothing wrong with that if the driving is being shared by more than one person, which is fairly likely for a family trip across Europe.
Everything is wrong in that! Sitting in a car that long is just bad for you.Nothing wrong with that if the driving is being shared by more than one person, which is fairly likely for a family trip across Europe.
If driving is being shared then you aren't doing it "non-stop"
But yes, if you are sharing driving then the one not driving is resting, provided you are not driving through the night having not adjusted to a night shift, something which is very dangerous and nobody should really be doing (and the coach industry does to far too great an extent).
I made a decision years ago that trips & holidays should be enjoyable and the journey should also be so.But sometimes you have to drive at night, like getting to the airport for an early morning flight etc
Maybe if you do it every day but doing it in a once in a blue moon trip across Europe really doesn't do any harm. And it's not LITERALLY non stop, there will be the occasional stops for driver swaps and a toilet break when you can stretch your legs.Everything is wrong in that! Sitting in a car that long is just bad for you.
But sometimes you have to drive at night, like getting to the airport for an early morning flight etc
There is a high blood pressure epidemic and a diabetic epidemic in this country just because of such silly trips!
reddragon said:
There is a high blood pressure epidemic and a diabetic epidemic in this country just because of such silly trips!
I think that's slightly hyperbolic - there certainly are such "epidemics" but they are caused by poor diet and insufficient exercise, not by one-off long drives, much as I am opposed to them for reasons of road safety.
I know someone who always drives a night to "avoid the traffic" and every other weekend jets of to another destination on his tick list. He eats well and is active but its caused him lots of health issues.
Another who did the same died of DVT from long trips sitting down, an unspoken consequence of these long trips.
That rather defeats the purpose of an EV! You'd just drive a plug-in hybrid instead.Or you could tow a trailer carrying a motor generator set and charge whilst moving.
Early EV adopters took a Genny on long trips for the charging gaps with their short ranges. Not needed these days!That rather defeats the purpose of an EV! You'd just drive a plug-in hybrid instead.
Or you could tow a trailer carrying a motor generator set and charge whilst moving.
Wow! which vehicle is that? That's a bit overkill IMO - I think somewhere around 300 miles is likely to be the sweet spot for utility/affordability ratio.The longest range EV is now 520 miles. Bladder range anyone?
Wow! which vehicle is that? That's a bit overkill IMO - I think somewhere around 300 miles is likely to be the sweet spot for utility/affordability ratio.
Lucid Air electric car: 520-mile EPA range rating ousts Tesla from top spot
Lucid's 520-mile range rating—from a 113-kwh battery pack—will likely make it the longest-range EV on the market and one of the most efficient.www.greencarreports.com
Going back to the original question, i have sat back for some weeks now and read the somewhat heated responses on both sides, as well as the more thought out ones and i am still firmly in the corner of yes, electric for city use, the weekly shop or school run; BUT petrol power for the car enthusiast, before we are controlled so much it is illegal to have such a wonderful car. I ought to have shares in super unleaded the way my Dodge drinks it and/but it still brightens my day every single time i drive it or even just start it. A massive V10 with a sports exhaust and no turbos revving to 7,250 rpm is just heaven-sent. 2,000 miles a year is all it does on average. I've just invested in another classic sports car, a restored and beautiful 1974 Chevvy Sting Ray 7.4 litre V8 pushrod. Just 56,000 mostly sunny Nevadan miles from new and way less than the price of a new VW Golf electric. Easy choice!Just created a new thread to discuss this as I think it's quite interesting.
Indeed. Governments and car manufacturers have been foolish in the way they have portrayed electric cars as a "knight in shining armour" that will solve transport issues.
They solve point-of-use emissions, and reduce carbon footprint by means of whatever proportion of the national grid's generation comes from renewables, but they are still inefficient in terms of space and still use resources to produce, especially the batteries which are probably worse than petrol engines. They also still cause a lot of noise and road building/maintainence is still disruptive. And they're still expensive, more so than petrol cars.
Society needs to accept that while EVs are definitely an improvement they are NOT the be-all and end-all of environmentally friendly travel. EVs undoubtedly have a place, outside of cities and towns where providing public transport to everyone would be impractical. But we still need to be pushing people towards public transport where possible, especially if we're also electrifying that public transport. And - even more importantly - walking and cycling.
I do not agree.
The Nissan LEAF has a short range, slow rapid charging and the inability to be rapid chargers multiple times. I didn't stop me driving a 40Kw LEAF to Portugal, but it did take longer than I would have wanted. 11 instead of 8 hours.
There are now many EVs with long ranges that are affordable as a new car.
You would get that for a car club!Going back to the original question, i have sat back for some weeks now and read the somewhat heated responses on both sides, as well as the more thought out ones and i am still firmly in the corner of yes, electric for city use, the weekly shop or school run; BUT petrol power for the car enthusiast, before we are controlled so much it is illegal to have such a wonderful car. I ought to have shares in super unleaded the way my Dodge drinks it and/but it still brightens my day every single time i drive it or even just start it. A massive V10 with a sports exhaust and no turbos revving to 7,250 rpm is just heaven-sent. 2,000 miles a year is all it does on average. I've just invested in another classic sports car, a restored and beautiful 1974 Chevvy Sting Ray 7.4 litre V8 pushrod. Just 56,000 mostly sunny Nevadan miles from new and way less than the price of a new VW Golf electric. Easy choice!
I asked people on a car forum i frequent a question last week. If you won a car to own, run and use for 3 years and had to choose between a Tesla electric sports car and a Ferrari 5.5 litre V12 coupe which would it be? OK it only got 196 replies, but just FIVE, yes FIVE said the electric car. A very telling result.
So THERE we have it pretty much sewn up. Yes electric cars by law one day sadly, yes electric cars for quietness and chores, but a screaming petrol sports car for fun, excitement, sound, character, street cred., everything else that gives motoring pleasure.
To be fair to you, the EV world is moving so fast that a 1 year old model is old tech so you would have got that impression.To be fair I did say in my original post that the EVangelists would likely not agree.
But the reality is not quite (yet) as good as the theory in terms of EV use, that is a fact borne out by my own experience so far, and is not intended as a criticism of those pushing for greater adoption of the EV at all, but merely a reflection on why it is that there is still much progress to be made.
The coach industry more or less everywhere in Europe and the UK are complying with the driving hours that are prescribed for professional drivers by the EU. This is already very heavily regulated. That's very different from what you feel safe with as an amateur driver having generally had one skills asessment several years ago and by and large no medical assessment at all.If driving is being shared then you aren't doing it "non-stop"
But yes, if you are sharing driving then the one not driving is resting, provided you are not driving through the night having not adjusted to a night shift, something which is very dangerous and nobody should really be doing (and the coach industry does to far too great an extent).
The coach industry more or less everywhere in Europe and the UK are complying with the driving hours that are prescribed for professional drivers by the EU. This is already very heavily regulated. That's very different from what you feel safe with as an amateur driver having generally had one skills asessment several years ago and by and large no medical assessment at all.
To be fair to you, the EV world is moving so fast that a 1 year old model is old tech so you would have got that impression.
It is easy today to hack 100 miles each way without a charge on an EV. In the winter you will need to slow down a bit and only have the heating on 16C & use heated seats when the weather is really cold / wet.Indeed so, luckily I have another year or so on my finance (non-EV) car before I'll be in a position to have to carefully consider my next vehicle, and I'm hoping during that time the improvements continue such that the decision will be made very easy Probably made easier still by virtue of the fact that my work commute will hopefully have halved in distance.
Maybe if you do it every day but doing it in a once in a blue moon trip across Europe really doesn't do any harm. And it's not LITERALLY non stop, there will be the occasional stops for driver swaps and a toilet break when you can stretch your legs.
It's certainly better than spending 10 hours+ in a far more cramped airline seat which is probably far more common.
I asked people on a car forum i frequent a question last week. If you won a car to own, run and use for 3 years and had to choose between a Tesla electric sports car and a Ferrari 5.5 litre V12 coupe which would it be? OK it only got 196 replies, but just FIVE, yes FIVE said the electric car. A very telling result.
Like button pressed!This is market research of the very worst kind.
The Tesla is £75k new and although quick is nothing compared to the 812 (which costs quarter of a million. To be honest I’m surprised that 5 people chose the Tesla.
Go back and ask them: “if you won a car to own, run and use for 3 years and had to choose between a Porsche Taycan Turbo S or a Nissan Juke, which would it be?”
Tax and insurance not included, obviouslyGo back and ask them: “if you won a car to own, run and use for 3 years and had to choose between a Porsche Taycan Turbo S or a Nissan Juke, which would it be?”
Tax and insurance not included, obviously
I can’t imagine there is any more than 0.01% of the car owning population who have ever driven a trip of 600miles + without stopping for at least 45 minutes.
The conversation was about splitting a 6 hour drive between 2 people, which realistically is 3-400 miles, and likely closer to the lower end of that range.
But 300 miles is within a full charge range of many EVs.
Again, correct but not relevant to the conversation which was about doing a 6 hour drive (almost) non stop by splitting the driving between 2 people.
But as I said, very few people do that.