Diesel & Petrol Cars Banned

[SCP440]

What will happen to Classic Le Mans? I dont know if any of you have ever been but it usually one of the biggest collection of classic cars at the track, if no fuel is available for them to get there that could kill this amazing event.

While we are talking about motorsport does that also mean no Internal engines in that as well? Electric car racing might be fast but part of it for me is the noise and smell.

I feel sorry for our great grandchildren, probably no V8 engines and or if there are probably only at special events like steam engines these days, can you imagine it some classic V8 cars being driven slowly around an arena? What a shame.

[Dallas]

Originally Posted by derekosb

Thanks for the heads up on this thread Mark.

I'm just going to sleep now as off on holiday in the morning. I'll contribute soon as I find this a fascinating thread.
Derek

Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk

I look forward to hearing your views regarding your Vauxhall Ampera Derek, it would be good to hear from someone who already owns an EV, and how they find each day running and maintaining this type of vehicle.

I myself seriously considered buying an EV only last month, we decided against the idea in favour of staying with petrol. TBH you could say we were slightly anxious in making the change to Electric, bailing-out seemed to be easier than taking on such a big change.

[derekosb]

Originally Posted by Dallas

I look forward to hearing your views regarding your Vauxhall Ampera Derek, it would be good to hear from someone who already owns an EV, and how they find each day running and maintaining this type of vehicle.

I myself seriously considered buying an EV only last month, we decided against the idea in favour of staying with petrol. TBH you could say we were slightly anxious in making the change to Electric, bailing-out seemed to be easier than taking on such a big changed.

Happy to talk about my experience. (my wife complains regularly that once I start I never shut up....)

Bought (well pcp) my Ampera in March 14. For those that don't know how it works it is an Extended Range EV. It works a bit differently to the now more common PHEV's out there which are like a more traditional hybrid (HEV) with a bigger battery for better pure EV range. The problem with most PHEV's though is that they need their engine for anything over mild power. The Ampera (and i3 Rex) are different in that their engines only re-charge the battery to keep you mobile.

The Ampera has a 35-40 mile range before needing the engine. You can just drive 300 miles if you need to (as I have) but for daily use the majority of my motoring is as a pure EV. I have now put 60k on the car and my lifetime MPG is at 225.

I absolutely love the way an EV drives as it is so smooth and torquey. I'll never buy another diesel and will only buy an engine (if I have to) connected to a big battery.

I have loved it so much that when we went to change my wife's car the obvious choice was an EV. Deals on the Nissan LEAF were too good to pass up and we have had a LEAF as our other car for over a year now.

Nissan, and to an extent BMW, get that you have to try an EV for a few days to be sure you can live with it. They also know that once you've tried one you're likely to be hooked.

The usual point I highlight when talking to someone concerned about that thorny issue "range" is would you be concerned if you woke to up a 1/4 tank of fuel in the morning? The usual answer is no. Well that's the equivalent with a fully charged EV on home charging.

Now there is a huge debate to be had over how people in apartments, terraced houses etc. (without their own driveway) will charge, but if you have the ability to charge at home then an EV is a revelation.

I would say it costs about a 1/4 of the running costs of a petrol/diesel and servicing is also reasonable. Particularly for the pure EV where there is little that actually needs looking at.

All I say is try one, there's a reason most EV drivers say they'll never go back.

The discussion about power source, renewable energy, hydrogen, battery technology development, autonomous driving, zero emission zones in cities, charging provision, legislation etc. is a much deeper subject.

The appeal of an EV as an everyday driver is much simpler. It is the way forward and the next few years will see some major strides made.

Suffice to say that every major motor manufacturer is working hard on developing an EV. The exciting part is the electric superclass in the pipeline.

Porsche
Aston Martin
McLaren
Jaguar
Rimac

All of these are developing an electric sports car.

Derek


Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk

[murphyv310]

My friend from Newcastle bought a Mitsubishi PHEV. He was far from impressed with it and traded it in 14 months later. In that time its range on electric dropped from 30 to 25 miles and he never got over 45mpg average with it. He traded it for an L200, yes worse fuel consumption than the PHEV but it lost space due to all the additional gubbins, so due to it not being massively great on fuel and as I say lost space it went.

[mbev51]

Hi, I dislike spending a lot of money on cars, plus I like to do my own car mechanics. At 66, I have perhaps 20 years of driving left. I would think diesel cars will be my choice for the whole of that period. I'll be after a 'new' first car in about 3 years, my current Kia creed sw will be on about 190k by then. I would think I could pickup a good ex-lease diesel estate for peanuts. I don't like adblue systems so would be fairly restricted in my choice.

[topman]

Hi derek thanks for the report, is there any aspect of ICE that you prefer to EVs? How reliable have you found the EVs since you bought them?

[guru]

I would say that if you've never driven an EV before then try one before dismissing them. I've driven a couple of Tesla's and can honestly say they're the most astonishing cars that I've even driven, The acceleration is unbelievable and they're so quite and refined.
Funnily enough I'm having a similar conversation with Mrs Guru at the moment. I'd like to move to an all electric fleet (ignoring the Sterling for a moment!) however she's very reluctant. Her daily commute is a round trip of 55 miles so well within the range of most EV's now and she would never have to go to a petrol station again but she's still very reluctant to make the switch. There is no logical reason she's just a committed petrol head!

[Lancpudn]

Originally Posted by guru

I would say that if you've never driven an EV before then try one before dismissing them. I've driven a couple of Tesla's and can honestly say they're the most astonishing cars that I've even driven, The acceleration is unbelievable and they're so quite and refined.
Funnily enough I'm having a similar conversation with Mrs Guru at the moment. I'd like to move to an all electric fleet (ignoring the Sterling for a moment!) however she's very reluctant. Her daily commute is a round trip of 55 miles so well within the range of most EV's now and she would never have to go to a petrol station again but she's still very reluctant to make the switch. There is no logical reason she's just a committed petrol head!

Ditto I cant wait to get one.

[SCP440]

I was lent an Ampera for a couple of days just after they were released. A friend used to work for Vauxhaul and spun som etail to his bosses I could possibly be interested in buying a load of them. Being a petrol head I expected to be very underwelmed by the hole experience but I must admit I was quite impressed.

I think over the two days I managed high 50mpg and the performance was impressive. What left me cold was it had as much soul and character as my Fridge or washing machine. I found while I was on the motorway I was jus sitting in the slow lane doing 60mph wondering how much longer my journey would take. I rarely do that when I am in my petrol car.

I enjoy driving and though the Ampera would do the miles easily and probably help the enviroment life is too short. Sorry to the enviromentalist but I will stick with my straight petrol engines as long as my pocket alllows. I am sure eventually we will be taxed or legislated out of internal combustion engines but until that day I will keep burning petrol.

On a different note same theme what is going to happen to aircraft when oil runs out? Electric aircraft? A weekend in Spain will be highly unlikely going by air ballon. What do we have left? 100 years of oil, maybe 150 if they find some new oil fields? I am glad I wont be around when that happens as I supect there will be huge troubles and possibly wars.

[Lancpudn]

Originally Posted by SCP440

I was lent an Ampera for a couple of days just after they were released. A friend used to work for Vauxhaul and spun som etail to his bosses I could possibly be interested in buying a load of them. Being a petrol head I expected to be very underwelmed by the hole experience but I must admit I was quite impressed.

I think over the two days I managed high 50mpg and the performance was impressive. What left me cold was it had as much soul and character as my Fridge or washing machine. I found while I was on the motorway I was jus sitting in the slow lane doing 60mph wondering how much longer my journey would take. I rarely do that when I am in my petrol car.

I enjoy driving and though the Ampera would do the miles easily and probably help the enviroment life is too short. Sorry to the enviromentalist but I will stick with my straight petrol engines as long as my pocket alllows. I am sure eventually we will be taxed or legislated out of internal combustion engines but until that day I will keep burning petrol.

On a different note same theme what is going to happen to aircraft when oil runs out? Electric aircraft? A weekend in Spain will be highly unlikely going by air ballon. What do we have left? 100 years of oil, maybe 150 if they find some new oil fields? I am glad I wont be around when that happens as I supect there will be huge troubles and possibly wars.

I fear this will be the scenario exactly, especially if it's left to local authorities to implement these pollution charges, we all know how cash strpped they are. I've already read in my local rag recently that the council is thinking about these measures on congested routes.