Electric, Hybrid and Alternative fuelled vehicles - News and Discussion

[30801]

2 hours ago, Buhar said:

The new Zoe takes Type 2 plus another one. 

Alan 

 

The new Zoe is Type 2 only unless you pay extra for CCS.

Foregoing CCS would be very foolish but having 22kW Type 2 as a backup makes the CCS Zoe best at charging.

 

The charger in the article is a Tesla destination charger open to all vehicles and has a tethered Type 2. I'd be astonished if that Mercedes doesn't have a Type 2.

[black and decker boy]

3 hours ago, Buhar said:

Type 2 is not at all universal on rapid chargers. Many Ecotricity don't have them especially when there are two together, one will, one won't. Some recent installations eg Instavolt don't have Type 2 at all. As a Zoe owner I notice these things. The new Zoe takes Type 2 plus another one. 

Alan 

I’ve used Ecotricity points at quite a few locations and they’ve always had CCS, type 2 and often a Chademo cable

 

i can use a Type 2 or CCS.

True rapid charging has to be the CCS type connector as it can go up to 350kw whereas type 2 is limited to 50 kw (for common use).

[Buhar]

Charging speed is ultimately governed by what the car can handle.  My Zoe is a Q, supposedly a quicker charge than the R released at the same time, it'll never take 350kW.  However the underlying infrastructure for a 350kW charger may make the thing work better or more reliably, even at lower speeds. 

 

If it is a single Ecotricity unit it usually has all three, if it's a site with two units, it's generally a 3 connector unit plus a two connector one and the missing one is a Type 2.  I've had my Zoe for 2 years and done quite a few long motorway journeys.  I've sat waiting for the Type 2 to to be freed up, often by a car that could connect to either unit and I had a nightmare going down the A1/A1(M)/M1 with chargers in use or not working which, coupled with the lack of service areas (compared with the M6), meant I was 4 hours late at the airport to pick someone up.

[Joseph_Pestell]

Had an e-mail from Nissan this morning. Lots of very good deals on secondhand low mileage Nissan Leafs.

[Joseph_Pestell]

Saw a 20 reg Tesla at Morrison's yesterday. Clearly not an habitual Morrison's customer, he made an illegal right hand turn into the car park and then drove round most of the car park in the wrong direction.

Given that Tesla's can not be repaired, it could have been a very expensive shopping trip.

[boxbrownie]

44 minutes ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

Saw a 20 reg Tesla at Morrison's yesterday. Clearly not an habitual Morrison's customer, he made an illegal right hand turn into the car park and then drove round most of the car park in the wrong direction.

Given that Tesla's can not be repaired, it could have been a very expensive shopping trip.

Not understanding why Tesla’s cannot be repaired?

[Joseph_Pestell]

10 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

Not understanding why Tesla’s cannot be repaired?

 

Apparently, they are constructed in such a way that it is simply uneconomic. So they get written off.

 

There is a scrap business in Bristol that specialises in them, a great source of batteries and control systems for converting vehicles.

[boxbrownie]

18 minutes ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

 

Apparently, they are constructed in such a way that it is simply uneconomic. So they get written off.

 

There is a scrap business in Bristol that specialises in them, a great source of batteries and control systems for converting vehicles.

Well that surprises me.........

[30801]

1 hour ago, boxbrownie said:

Not understanding why Tesla’s cannot be repaired?

 

No technical reason. Tesla have a very hostile attitude to their cars being repaired by anyone else. They can and do remotely disable features from cars they deem to be no longer kosher.

 

Have a look at Rich Rebuilds on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfV0_wbjG8KJADuZT2ct4SA

[boxbrownie]

7 minutes ago, 30801 said:

 

No technical reason. Tesla have a very hostile attitude to their cars being repaired by anyone else. They can and do remotely disable features from cars they deem to be no longer kosher.

 

Have a look at Rich Rebuilds on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfV0_wbjG8KJADuZT2ct4SA

OK so they can be repaired, but like the i3’s CRFP tub only BMW is the approved repairer, that makes more sense 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 25, 2020 by boxbrownie

[black and decker boy]

I trialled the auto pilot feature recently, On a quiet road (Pre lockdown btw) , a bit unnerving at first as the car steers round bends and slows for hazards all by itself. Clearly it’s the future for us all but needs more refinement I think.

 

An Unexpected part is the driver reminder built in, you have to twitch the steering wheel every few minutes so it knows you are alert (legally your hands have to be in wheel i understand).

 

Tesla have just offered out their Full Self Drive mode, a cool £5800 for those who feel the need (not me). By the looks of it, you can remotely drive the car from the App (Smart Summon mode) to get out of tight spaces etc - James Bond has arrived!!

Edited March 25, 2020 by black and decker boy
Price corrected

[Joseph_Pestell]

There's a new electric Bentley (VW) pictured on the front of one of the motoring mags. Looks stunning.

[Ron Ron Ron]

1 hour ago, black and decker boy said:

I trialled the auto pilot feature recently, On a quiet road (Pre lockdown btw) , a bit unnerving at first as the car steers round bends and slows for hazards all by itself. Clearly it’s the future for us all but needs more refinement I think.

 

An Unexpected part is the driver reminder built in, you have to twitch the steering wheel every few minutes so it knows you are alert (legally your hands have to be in wheel i understand)..........

 

We have auto pilot on our Volvo SUV.

I've used it a lot, but Mrs. Ron won't even try it, but then again, she's always been afraid of using cruise control.

It is indeed a bit weird when you first use it and see the steering wheel turning on its own, as the car drives itself around bends.

Mind you we're used to having automatic parking on 2 of our other cars, but the experience of using that function is totally different to bowling down the road at speed, with the car driving itself.

 

On our Volvo, auto pilot is just a lane following and lane keeping system (it also changes lanes when you initiate the manoeuvre), but in the event of an impeding collision, even with a small obstruction, it's supposed to steer around it at the last minute.

I wouldn't like to be in that situation though, as the system clearly has limitations and certainly needs some refinement for its normal function.

 

I've found it works best and is more useful on motorways and major trunk roads, where the combination of auto pilot and adaptive cruise control make longer journeys less tiring.

Occasionally the system will "hunt" for the lane, when the road markings are unclear or missing.

It has also misjudged a few sharp bends, reacting far too slowly and would have taken me off the road if I hadn't realised what was happening. Which is a sobering reminder that the driver still has to be fully alert and in control of the vehicle.

Otherwise it's a clever system and a taste of things to come. 

 

As with the Tesla and other manufacturers systems, there's a visual a reminder if you don't have your hands on the wheel.

It triggers if you take your hand(s) off the wheel for more than about 20 seconds.

If you don't put your hand(s) back on the wheel within 5 seconds, then an audible tone sounds and a red warning flashes up, threatening to disconnect auto pilot, within a few seconds if you don't react immediately.

Just keeping a hand resting on the wheel, or a light touch or squeeze is enough to keep it happy.

 

This was all Sci-Fi only 10 years ago.

 

 

.

Edited March 25, 2020 by Ron Ron Ron

[raymw]

1 hour ago, Ron Ron Ron said:

If you don't put your hand(s) back on the wheel within 5 seconds, then an audible tone sounds and a red warning flashes up, threatening to disconnect auto pilot, within a few seconds if you don't react immediately.

That sounds a bit off - when nobody is steering, it gives up?

[Ron Ron Ron]

13 minutes ago, raymw said:

That sounds a bit off - when nobody is steering, it gives up?

 

Yep !

Well that's what seems to happen.

I've never waited to find out what happens if you do nothing.

I don't have any ambitions to become a crash test dummy.

 

I believe on some other cars, EV's in particular, the auto pilot function would bring the car to a halt in those circumstances.

 

.

[Ian J.]

Even just using cruise control, I feel disconnected from control of a vehicle. It makes me feel there are really only two states for automatic car control - fully on and fully off. We're nowhere near the fully on state being good enough yet, so for me I'd rather have full control of everything and be connected to what's happening both in the car and on the road around me.

[30801]

1 hour ago, Ian J. said:

Even just using cruise control, I feel disconnected from control of a vehicle. It makes me feel there are really only two states for automatic car control - fully on and fully off. We're nowhere near the fully on state being good enough yet, so for me I'd rather have full control of everything and be connected to what's happening both in the car and on the road around me.

 

That's the approach Google are doing with their self driving cars. All or nothing. The problem with assistive autopilots is that in tricky situations they give up and return control to the human who suddenly has to wake up and deal with a tricky situation.

[boxbrownie]

11 hours ago, Ron Ron Ron said:

 

Occasionally the system will "hunt" for the lane, when the road markings are unclear or missing.

It has also misjudged a few sharp bends, reacting far too slowly and would have taken me off the road if I hadn't realised what was happening.
 

This was all Sci-Fi only 10 years ago.

 

 

.

And in another ten years it’ll work properly......and safely 

 

 

The autonomous systems are getting there but it still feels like we the public are proving the systems for the manufacturers a lot of the time.

[30801]

6 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

The autonomous systems are getting there but it still feels like we the public are proving the systems for the manufacturers a lot of the time.

 

You are also programming them, indirectly. One of the things the Tesla autopilot does is look at the telemetry from what the humans did for a particular stretch of road when deciding how to drive it.

[John Harris]

21 hours ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

Saw a 20 reg Tesla at Morrison's yesterday. Clearly not an habitual Morrison's customer, he made an illegal right hand turn into the car park and then drove round most of the car park in the wrong direction.

Given that Tesla's can not be repaired, it could have been a very expensive shopping trip.

 

There is a fascinating (to me anyway) video here that explains the problem with Teslas and repairs.  

 

In short, whereas Toyota, VAG, Ford, GM, etc. have been making cars in volume for years, Tesla have not and while their cars are technical masterpieces of design and innovation, they seem to lack the teams of production engineers with experience. 

 

Obviously, this will change and probably quite quickly, but their current cars are not so easy to repair compared with similar models from other manufacturers.

 

jh

[Joseph_Pestell]

35 minutes ago, John Harris said:

 

There is a fascinating (to me anyway) video here that explains the problem with Teslas and repairs.  

 

In short, whereas Toyota, VAG, Ford, GM, etc. have been making cars in volume for years, Tesla have not and while their cars are technical masterpieces of design and innovation, they seem to lack the teams of production engineers with experience. 

 

Obviously, this will change and probably quite quickly, but their current cars are not so easy to repair compared with similar models from other manufacturers.

 

jh

 

That report very much in line with what my friend Jack, who retrofits EV technology into Classics, said to me. He finds the Tesla battery pack, motors and control gear way ahead of anything else.

[Enterprisingwestern]

40 minutes ago, John Harris said:

 

There is a fascinating (to me anyway) video here that explains the problem with Teslas and repairs.  

 

In short, whereas Toyota, VAG, Ford, GM, etc. have been making cars in volume for years, Tesla have not and while their cars are technical masterpieces of design and innovation, they seem to lack the teams of production engineers with experience. 

 

Obviously, this will change and probably quite quickly, but their current cars are not so easy to repair compared with similar models from other manufacturers.

 

jh

 

Presumably then, Tesla car insurance is somewhat higher than mainstream manufacturers?

 

Mike.

[30801]

EVs enter rusty old banger territory...

 

 

[Joseph_Pestell]

12 minutes ago, 30801 said:

EVs enter rusty old banger territory...

 

 

That is shockingly rusty for a 10-year old car, even one that has lived near the sea. Not normally economic to repair at that point.

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

Looks like piss poor rust prevention methods when built haven't helped?

 

Mike.