Electric, Hybrid and Alternative fuelled vehicles - News and Discussion

[StevieD71]

9 hours ago, Kelly said:

Sadly, component shortages are not limited by far to cars (try getting hold of something like a raspberry pi for instance) and shows no signs of ending, if anything it might yet get worse.

 

When the pandemic hit, the car makers, already on process nodes (measured in nm, the measure of how compact a process of making a chip is) that are obsolete for all else but military and nasa these days (28nm or above iirc, Intel for their CPUs are on 10nm and Apple for their iPhones on 5nm/3nm, AMD for their chips are on 7nm/6nm/5nm), found that they didn't need to make as many cars, so they cancelled their production slots.

 

They thought they'd just pick up where they left off. Those slots got sold off when the tech shortage hit. So now the car companies are scrambling to catch up, unable to source not only the chips, but capaciters and other electronic components (see the capaciter in the APT from Hornby as an example of this happening) and the chip fabs are effectively telling them a) they don't want to support those nodes anymore, so will be winding them down b) the prices are much higher and the number of slots available less due to demand. Que the car companies then having to effectively redesign a lot of their electronic equipment to account for this and put their prices up whilst not having enough chips and components to put into the cars at the levels they'd promised customers.

 

Of course, second hand cars sales have boomed as a result too.

My wife works for Kyrocera AVX, who are a major manufacturer of surface mount capacitors. When they returned to work post lockdown, they were told to be prepared for a major increase in their workload, but so far that has not happened. Probably as a result of car manufacturers holding off on bulk orders due to other supply chain issues.

 

Re the raspberry Pi, I was playing Warzone with my nephew last night and we were both in agreement that we were very lucky to get hold of our PS5's, as Sony are still inviting customers to go onto a waiting list for one.

 

I was fully prepared for some slippage in my car order, but December was a bit further than expected. It means I have to get the Ioniq serviced again and MOT'd. Thankfully the dealer told me that Motability would sort that through the Hyundai dealer.

[Hobby]

5 minutes ago, StevieD71 said:

It means I have to get the Ioniq serviced again and MOT'd. Thankfully the dealer told me that Motability would sort that through the Hyundai dealer.

 

Yes that's all they do, I had to do it with the Golf when the PIP review overran due to Covid, I just booked it in and took it along and they sorted it with Motability on the day. No hassles at all and a pleasant walk down the canal whilst they did it!

[Reorte]

3 hours ago, 30801 said:

You can buy one like that in Russia…

I also want a car that isn't a useless pile of rusty bolts...

[Vistisen]

On 04/08/2022 at 16:57, Hroth said:

 

Are manufacturers going to hold off announcing upgrades for models that there's a queue of several years production for, will they upgrade their patient potential customers, or will they insist on supplying the model that will be now a couple of years out of date?

 

Perhaps its best to either be less choosy about what to buy or step back and wait for things to settle down a bit.

 

They're worse than Bachmann, Hornby and anyone else you care to mention!

I can tell you what Hyundai have done in Denmark. A friend ordered and paid in full for an ionic 5 last October 2021. About a month ago, he received a letter saying that his order was cancelled. But If he was quick, and paid another £5000, he could keep his place in the queue (at that point in time with an unknown delivery date) 

Edited August 12, 2022 by Vistisen
spelling

[boxbrownie]

21 hours ago, Vistisen said:

I can tell you what Hyundai have done in Denmark. A friend ordered and paid in full for an ionic 5 last October 2021. About a month ago, he received a letter saying that his order was cancelled. But If he was quick, and paid another £5000, he could keep his place in the queue (at that point in time with an unknown delivery date) 

He paid the full amount before the car was delivered?   No wonder they tried it on again 🤣

[Vistisen]

23 hours ago, boxbrownie said:

He paid the full amount before the car was delivered?   No wonder they tried it on again 🤣

Remember we have negative interest on money in accounts! But I must admit it surprised me as well. I believe the whole point was that by paying the whole price up front, that this would make it illegal for Hyundai to increase the price on delivery. But they just 'cancelled' it instead. He is not alone in being treated like this. I hope Google translate can help with this page: https://bilmagasinet.dk/magasinet/spoerg-bil-magasinet/laeser-spoerger-maa-forhandleren-bare-aflyse-min-nye-bil

Edited August 14, 2022 by Vistisen

[jjb1970]

I no longer have a car and honestly don't miss it. 

[boxbrownie]

2 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

I no longer have a car and honestly don't miss it. 

You must have great public transport 👍

[jjb1970]

3 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

You must have great public transport 👍

 

Yes, living in a city state with superb public transport really does make it a bit senseless to have a private car if people have reasonable mobility. The Singaporean government has very car hostile policies and tightly regulated the number of car on the road. To buy a car you have to buy a 'certificate of entitlement', a document which lasts ten years and allows you to own a car. The going rate for a CoE is currently over S$80,000, then cars are very expensive on top. However, like I say, the public transport is so good I really can't see the point.

[BR traction instructor]

Probably the steepest learning curve with the ID3 so far yesterday. Silloth to Dumfries to dispose of the venerable Corsa, then all into the ID3 for a coastal run to Kirkcudbright and visit to the beach/seaside pub…all windows open to give plenty of ventilation in the scorching heat. The combination of not topping up the charge to 90 or 95% before departing, having all of the windows open (creating drag) and taking the longer coastal route in each direction compromised our ability to complete the journey without recharging. Booking a pub meal for our journey back imposed a further deadline. Wariness of the Friday teatime rush hour traffic around Carlisle had me seeking out one of the Instavolt quick chargers on the A75 in Dumfries to give the shortest top up. This was 50% and we had to locate the 2nd installation behind the health club to get an available quick charger. A call to the pub to delay our meal time, needing/tracking down a quick charger at possibly the busiest time and an otherwise avoidable battle with rush hour traffic all underlined the need to plan ahead, carry out the initial extra charge above 80%, limit avoidable extra mileage and remember the lost range with all of the windows open.

 

All worked out in the end but it could have been so much easier.

 

BeRTIe

Edited August 14, 2022 by BR traction instructor

[Ian J.]

That's why my personal minimum BEV spec is for 500 miles regular driving style range, with quick recharge to 80% in 30 minutes. It seems excessive, but it means there's far less likelihood of having a struggle when unforeseen events occur. Current total range and recharge times are still nowhere near it.

Edited August 14, 2022 by Ian J.

[Hobby]

11 hours ago, BR traction instructor said:

all windows open to give plenty of ventilation in the scorching heat.

 

That sort of comment, as I've said before, completely puts me off an EV, there is no way, in this heat, that I'd consider doing that, Climate Control is on and running and doesn't go off until I leave the car. I'm not going back to my early motoring days of sticky and uncomfortable motoring thanks. We've come a long way since those days i see no reason to turn the clock back.

 

12 minutes ago, Ian J. said:

That's why my personal minimum BEV spec is for 500 miles regular driving style range, 

 

I'm with you on the increased range but 400 would do me if it was realistic and not the manufacturers/Gov test figures.

[BR traction instructor]

We are happy with a 260 mile range and will adapt to using it as efficiently as possible. Getting the planning right for our longer journeys will closely match expectation with reality and keep everyone informed/happy.

 

The fundamental importance of the two home chargers at the locations where the car spends most of its idle time cannot be overstated.

 

BeRTIe

Edited August 14, 2022 by BR traction instructor

[boxbrownie]

2 hours ago, Hobby said:

 

That sort of comment, as I've said before, completely puts me off an EV, there is no way, in this heat, that I'd consider doing that, Climate Control is on and running and doesn't go off until I leave the car. I'm not going back to my early motoring days of sticky and uncomfortable motoring thanks. We've come a long way since those days i see no reason to turn the clock back.

 

 

I'm with you on the increased range but 400 would do me if it was realistic and not the manufacturers/Gov test figures.

There is absolutely no reason not to use the AC, ours is NEVER turned off and turning it off makes about 5 miles range difference, hence we never bother, in fact running at speed with the windows o-em is probably reducing the range more than the AC running!

[Hobby]

Perhaps you need to tell Bertie! ;)

 

58 minutes ago, Balgrayhill said:

• People leaving cars all day plugged into fast chargers

 

I don't get this, surely the owners of the charging point could put a limit on the time and if the car owner does that charge them a fortune for doing it. It's just the same as overstaying in a car park, you get penalised for doing so. Or is that beyond their capabilities?

[BR traction instructor]

…the independently owned fast/rapid chargers are usually monitored by CCTV and for obvious reasons. The 7kWh council sponsored ones do seem to be a different matter.

 

BeRTIe

Edited August 14, 2022 by BR traction instructor

[BR traction instructor]

1 hour ago, boxbrownie said:

There is absolutely no reason not to use the AC, ours is NEVER turned off and turning it off makes about 5 miles range difference, hence we never bother, in fact running at speed with the windows o-em is probably reducing the range more than the AC running!

 

Quite likely we’ll end up with that conclusion. Just now a middle ground option of having only the front windows open a couple of inches is satisfying our desire for fresh air, as against air con and isn’t reducing range significantly.

 

BeRTIe

Edited August 14, 2022 by BR traction instructor

[boxbrownie]

30 minutes ago, Hobby said:

Perhaps you need to tell Bertie! ;)

 

 

I don't get this, surely the owners of the charging point could put a limit on the time and if the car owner does that charge them a fortune for doing it. It's just the same as overstaying in a car park, you get penalised for doing so. Or is that beyond their capabilities?

Not sure exactly whether the OP meant fast chargers or rapid chargers, with fast chargers you could be plugged in all day getting a full charge (5-8 hours depending upon vehicle) with rapids a few have overstay charges, our local one (Geniepoint) has a £10 per hour overstay after one hour.

[Vistisen]

51 minutes ago, Hobby said:

Perhaps you need to tell Bertie! ;)

 

 

I don't get this, surely the owners of the charging point could put a limit on the time and if the car owner does that charge them a fortune for doing it. It's just the same as overstaying in a car park, you get penalised for doing so. Or is that beyond their capabilities?

I think that public fast chargers should start draining the battery from cars that are left there more than a advised inteval after they are fully charged. People have to learn the hard way that they are being selfish. For the same reason I never charge my hybrid at public chargers unless I know that there will not be a queue behind me.  This typically means only at the office, where I move the car when the app says it is full. About 90% of my charging is done at home, mainly from my own solar cells. I know that this is not possible for everyone.  Charing infrastruktur is the man problem that needs to be overcome. I think that NIO has the right idea with their battery swap stations. I know that some EV owners are skeptical about the idea. And the main argument that they are not scalable is negated by the statistics. There are now over 900 stations in China, and as of last April, they have swapped 7.5 million batteries. The other great advantage of this system is that it solves one of the other major arguments against Ev of battery lifespan. You do not have to buy the battery, you can lease them, so a defective battery is not your problem. You can even have a smaller battery (75 kW) in normal use and swap it in under five minutes, for a 100 kW (soon 150 kW) battery if you are planning a long trip. I think this is a game changer. Nio are also opening up for other manufacturers to use their batteries, and charging network.

[boxbrownie]

I cannot imagine any EV owner being against a battery swap technology that works, why would they that puzzles me?

[Hobby]

Are they of a standard design or is every car got a different shape/size?

[Guest]

1 hour ago, boxbrownie said:

There is absolutely no reason not to use the AC, ours is NEVER turned off and turning it off makes about 5 miles range difference, hence we never bother, in fact running at speed with the windows o-em is probably reducing the range more than the AC running!

 

Mythbusters did the AC vs Windows Open thing a few years ago. On the cars they tested AC was more economical above 50 MPH

Daughter does horses and the amount of time we've spent sat in the car on hot days with the AC running without an engine chugging away was worth buying an EV for in itself. Likewise the same with heating in winter.

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, Hobby said:

Are they of a standard design or is every car got a different shape/size?

 

Hahahaha!

All different. Look how long it took to settle on one plug standard!

[Hobby]

Thought that might be the case. So how does the swap work in China?

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Hobby said:

Thought that might be the case. So how does the swap work in China?

 

It's a single make solution. If you don't have a Nio, no battery swap for you.