Who would drive an EV ?

[millimole]

Another 'green' issue with BEVs related to the weight is additional tyre wear, leading to particulate pollution in run-off from roads. Electric vehicles are, currently, heavier than ICE vehicles because of battery weight, which is linked to both current technology and range anxiety.
Both Citroen and Dacia seem to have recognised that lighter cars have advantages and are working towards addressing the weight issue.
I'm not convinced that China will be a source of smaller, lighter BEVs because the Chinese export market appears to be targeting the mid-upper end of market, because that's where the quick money is, along with building brand recognition for long term growth, and a long term foothold in Western markets.

[mattsccm]

Keep your ICE car. It will be worth a fortune as long as the fuel is ouit there. Anything useful and unobtainable holds its value. I was offered more than the new price for my 57 plate Land Rover 90.
Thinking about it, older diesels can run on cooking oil. Pricey nowadays but possible.

[pete75]

Keep your ICE car. It will be worth a fortune as long as the fuel is ouit there. Anything useful and unobtainable holds its value. I was offered more than the new price for my 57 plate Land Rover 90.
Thinking about it, older diesels can run on cooking oil. Pricey nowadays but possible.

Yep. I remember when diesel first went up a lot to £1.12 a litre. I had a Daihatsu Fourtrak back the, Tesco were selling rapeseed oil at 56p a litre. Guess what I was running on.

[sjs]

i think the change to EV's is a lot more straightforward for those in the population who buy or lease new cars as a matter of course.

^^ This. When you’re not paying for the car yourself, have big tax breaks for an EV or have limited liability the use of EV’s becomes much more a viable choice. Some folk have plenty full funds but for those that self fund from limited funds an EV is, I think, hard to justify - not impossible but you really have to think about things so much more closely and my own conclusion is to leave them alone for some years.

Yes. I drive a Tesla, a company lease car. Considering the tax situation and the (then) price of electricity, I would have had to provide, insure, tax and maintain a car for around £100 per month to come out ahead, had I taken the cash instead of the car.

[MikeF]

Scary stuff here...

But real or fake?
Hope you didn't drive a petrol car as petrol is very hazardous too - only needs a spark to ignite the vapour.

[Bmblbzzz]

Keep your ICE car. It will be worth a fortune as long as the fuel is ouit there. Anything useful and unobtainable holds its value. I was offered more than the new price for my 57 plate Land Rover 90.
Thinking about it, older diesels can run on cooking oil. Pricey nowadays but possible.

Yep. I remember when diesel first went up a lot to £1.12 a litre. I had a Daihatsu Fourtrak back the, Tesco were selling rapeseed oil at 56p a litre. Guess what I was running on.

Something smokey you collected from the local chippy or maybe Olleco?

[pete75]

Keep your ICE car. It will be worth a fortune as long as the fuel is ouit there. Anything useful and unobtainable holds its value. I was offered more than the new price for my 57 plate Land Rover 90.
Thinking about it, older diesels can run on cooking oil. Pricey nowadays but possible.

Yep. I remember when diesel first went up a lot to £1.12 a litre. I had a Daihatsu Fourtrak back the, Tesco were selling rapeseed oil at 56p a litre. Guess what I was running on.

Something smokey you collected from the local chippy or maybe Olleco?

No, 56p rapeseed from Tesco.

[francovendee]

Talking to our local fireman he said they are called out about eighteen times a year to car fires. He said the majority are caused by faulty electrics.
He didn't remember any being in an EV.

[pete75]

Talking to our local fireman he said they are called out about eighteen times a year to car fires. He said the majority are caused by faulty electrics.
He didn't remember any being in an EV.

If the majority are caused by faulty electrics there's far more potential for it to happen in an EV. Probably not when they're reasonably new but when they're getting on a bit and fall into the ownership of those who can't or won't pay to have them properly maintained.

What sort of ages are the cars involved in the fires - quite elderly I'd guess.

[Biospace]

.. and then you have vw who built flat 4 engines, put the carb' above the engine block and stuck them in the rear of their vans and cars.... (which explains why occasionally you see one burnt out on the motorway)... even early 2cv had cardboard heating tubes leading away from the engine barrel cowlings)..

I'm not seeing how a boxer engine, a carburettor above an engine (most were) or having the engine at the back is somehow conducive to cars catching fire.

What was dangerous about the original VW Beetle was its mass distribution together with its stolen design (the Germans didn't fully grasp why some Czech cars had rear suspension as they did), which created unusual handling in anything less than perfect conditions away from the straight bits. With a fuel tank mounted ahead of the cabin, this wasn't ideal.

Despite 'cardboard' heating tubes and a carburettor above a boxer engine, the 2cv never had a reputation for catching fire. The company was once the Henry Ford of Europe and the cars were widely used in temperatures much hotter than British ones, without any problem with fire. Over 7 million cars of the 2cv/type based on the 2cv were made.

[Jules59]

Keep your ICE car. It will be worth a fortune as long as the fuel is ouit there. Anything useful and unobtainable holds its value. I was offered more than the new price for my 57 plate Land Rover 90.

Just sold my 1982 Series 3 for 3 times what I paid for it (factoring inflation in as well).

[cycle tramp]

.. and then you have vw who built flat 4 engines, put the carb' above the engine block and stuck them in the rear of their vans and cars.... (which explains why occasionally you see one burnt out on the motorway)... even early 2cv had cardboard heating tubes leading away from the engine barrel cowlings)..

I'm not seeing how a boxer engine, a carburettor above an engine (most were) or having the engine at the back is somehow conducive to cars catching fire.

Despite 'cardboard' heating tubes and a carburettor above a boxer engine, the 2cv never had a reputation for catching fire. The company was once the Henry Ford of Europe and the cars were widely used in temperatures much hotter than British ones, without any problem with fire. Over 7 million cars of the 2cv/type based on the 2cv were made.

Out of the box neither cars present any problem...

However in the case of the vw there were several issues - the fuel inlet tube to the carb, could creep off the carb (if you check the Internet vw forums there's discussions about stop it) the second issue was that in some cases replacement fuel hoses would be the wrong type and fail. In both instances with the carb above the engine, any spilt fuel would fall directly onto the hot engine causing the issues.

I used to run a 2cv owners club. So I know the engines vibrated alot. If the cardboard tubes became unfixed from their mounting, then there was a chance they would fall against the hot engine cowling. Alot of owners swapped the cardboard tubes with foil ones. It was like an easy twenty minute job.
The other issue was the sound proofing in the bonnet - it was material glued to the underside of the bonnet. It was fine when the cars were new, but over time the material would be ripped or torn. With a bad enough tear the sound proofing would hang down into the engine bay against the engine cowling - which could cause another fire.

Take some time and Google vw engine fires and 2cv engine fires and they'll be online discussions about the situations and more importantly how to prevent them..

[Biospace]

.. and then you have vw who built flat 4 engines, put the carb' above the engine block and stuck them in the rear of their vans and cars.... (which explains why occasionally you see one burnt out on the motorway)... even early 2cv had cardboard heating tubes leading away from the engine barrel cowlings)..

Out of the box neither cars present any problem...

However in the case of the vw there were several issues - the fuel inlet tube to the carb, could creep off the carb (if you check the Internet vw forums there's discussions about stop it) the second issue was that in some cases replacement fuel hoses would be the wrong type and fail. In both instances with the carb above the engine, any spilt fuel would fall directly onto the hot engine causing the issues.

I used to run a 2cv owners club. So I know the engines vibrated alot. If the cardboard tubes became unfixed from their mounting, then there was a chance they would fall against the hot engine cowling. Alot of owners swapped the cardboard tubes with foil ones. It was like an easy twenty minute job.

Poorly maintained cars with incorrect parts fitted are a liability, no matter what the make and model. I have heard of uninformed mechanics and owners fitting imperial sized fuel hose to metric sized fittings, the perfect example of how dangerous a little ignorance can be.

The cardboard tubes you talk of were made of foam with a card/foil outer binding and they were fitted to later models, not early ones which were an entirely different material. In order to deliver engine heat to the cabin they were fitted to the engine cowling, I imagine a problem arose if these parts we allowed to grow so old and disintegrated that they could fall onto a brake disc. They take a few seconds to replace.

No doubt a 2cv engine will vibrate a lot more than others if it has been 'looked after' by the sort of person who fits the wrong size of fuel hose to their Beetle, but whenever I've driven cars with horizontally opposed engines they've been super smooth because of their inherent primary balance.

Yes, I can find anything online. I see Volvo owners discussing fires in their cars and the recall by Volvo of some of their S60, S80, S90, V40, V60, V70, V90, XC60 and XC90 models to address this issue.


It's an interesting point about fires and EVs. I imagine the utmost care is taken with their wiring, both by design and if worked on by mechanics. I can see the possibility for problems if high voltage wiring is disturbed and not replaced exactly as from the factory. What happens in a crash is another matter.

The only make of EV I've been aware of spontaneously catching fire is Tesla, but very much doubt they're the only BEV brand to have done so. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-44511200

[cycle tramp]

However.. if the development of electric vehicles were to continue in this direction, I could very well be tempted..
www.etukfactory.com
https://www.moveelectric.com/e-world/me ... ng-tuk-tuk

[PT1029]

Thread drift. Not only would you drive one, but would you park one?
In the Times yesterday(?) (paper copy) I saw an article about multi story car parks. Someone from the car parks owners and/or maintenance owners club (I para phrase whatever the correct name was) saying that EVs are typically 500kg heavier than non EVs, and car parks are currently built to guidance (standard?) written in the 1970s, so vehicles are now heavier than what the car park designers had in mind. Putting all the EVs in one place (charging station) would not help either. He also said that a lot of existing multi story car parks were built prior to the 1970s guidance/standard.
I only briefly read the article (visiting a friend's house), so don't reall the full details.
If any collapse, it will probably be a Grenfill Tower type "wasn't my job guv" senario.