Leccie Cars

[fabulicious]

So not sure if this is off topic or not but anyways thought I would share this frightening experience

Went over to the local Renault dealership today to collect my oe back box (again) and decided to venture into the sales room to have a snoop around the "mint" cars.
Sales chap ask's "have you anything in mind" and I say electric
Oh he says I've been running a Kango for the past few months and find it interesting.
So I ask him when will the new electric renault which is currently on the tv adverts be coming out and he says next year. He does have a fluence on the forecourt and if I would be interested in going for a test drive. Sure I said lets go.

On the outside it looks like a normal car and the doors open like car doors generally do and fitting a seat belt is the same. But that's where the similarities stop. So in goes the ignition key and I'm waiting..and waiting to hear some sort of rumble,engine note cough anything.Nothing. Not even a blip. So I turn to him and say " when are you going to start it"? He replies..it already is.
Fook me that moment I don't think I will ever get over.

I'm not going to say anymore really about the driving as you's will see for yourselves but all I can say is that petrol heads the world over are gonna cry and hearts will break if this electric business really does take off.
I know to you and I it hurts to experience this but I predict the kids of the future who grow up with leccie cars saying when they hear a combustion engine "whats wrong with that car?"

To end on a positive note..They don't have an exhaust.

[chip]

I really hope they do take off, will mean that the government needs to look somewhere other than petrol to raise revenue so hopefully they can stop raping those of us with petrol cars as a toy to occasionally use on weekends while we all commute around in boring electric cars.
Not to mention it should bring oil prices down as demand will be so much lower, so the underyling petrol price may drop as a result too.

I think electric cars as a daily are going to be good for petrol cars owned by enthusiasts overall.

[2 live]

when they can get a decent range out these cars they will take off. but a couple of hundred miles before a full on 24hr+ recharge is not gunna cut it.

lets be honest here. the options of other fuelled cars, be it hydro, electro , mixture of the 2, which already exist and can be used perfectly well, will never see mainstream until the arabs have run out of oil.

its like the guy who developed the ceramic engine, ford bought the rights, this will never see mainstream usage as the profits to certain parties will cease to exist therefore the technology will never become mainstream. until the arabs run out of oil. electro/hydro is a con. i mean look at the prius ffs. its cheaper in the long run to run a petrol powered car. which suits the arabs down to the ground.


the technology to run vehicles on a multitude of fuels is there , and is perfectly viable, but the greed of aforementioned people wont allow this to become a daily viable occurence.

[chip]

Even a couple of hundred is way more than most can manage still.

[fabulicious]

I suppose with the infrastructure in place it may work for smaller countries such as Ireland, Denmark etc. The UK is a big area to cover so it would be a big ask to refit charging points but there are enough forecourts about to manage that. In an urban area such as say a small city like Dublin 30 miles and your out in the countryside.

Just to give you a break down on costs. £3 gives you a full charge and in the fluence which is fully electric (and charges itself whilst driving) you can achieve a range of 120+ miles.
There is the option of fast charging them in 10 minutes, swapping out your battery at a "Quick Drop" point or the standard charge time of 6 to 8 hours at home.
The batteries you don't actually purchase. You rent them. Cost about £55 per month to rent.

Then the sweetener is the government here give you a cash grant on the car and no vehicle registration tax is paid on them.

My take on this whole concept of owning an electric car is that we use mobile phones, laptops and so many other gadgets on a daily basis which require charging every 24/48 hours that owning an electric car is actually not going to take that long to get used to.

But god I will miss the smell of an engine and the sound of one also. At least if they make them powerful enough we still might get to smell burning rubber

[2 live]

it makes me laugh at how these are seen as a 'green' option tbh. unless they can recharge themselves fully whilst getting used, some kind of dynamo or similar, they still need a power station to produce the electric lol.

i saw an electric car at snetterton, not sure what the hell it was tbh, but it was absolutely rapid....and oh so quiet. could only hear it cutting through the air lol

[chip]

it makes me laugh at how these are seen as a 'green' option tbh. unless they can recharge themselves fully whilst getting used, some kind of dynamo or similar

WTF? How would that work? lol


They already have regenetratrive breaking anyway on a lot of them, but if you had a dyno running while you were sat on the motorway for example it would just drain the battery massively quicker than not running it.

Solar panel to charge would be a nice option but sadly we dont really have the weather for it and the roof area isnt massive on a car either.

[stevie_b]

unless they can recharge themselves fully whilst getting used

WTF? How would that work? lol

Technically it is possible via induction. The costs of burying the loops to cover the road network would make it unworkable though. I suppose you could put one under the road near traffic lights so cars take on charge whilst they are waiting, but I don't think it would be enough to extend the range by much and who would pay to put them all in?

[chip]

unless they can recharge themselves fully whilst getting used

WTF? How would that work? lol

Technically it is possible via induction. The costs of burying the loops to cover the road network would make it unworkable though. I suppose you could put one under the road near traffic lights so cars take on charge whilst they are waiting, but I don't think it would be enough to extend the range by much and who would pay to put them all in?

He was on about a dyno or similar mate, to try and charge via induction would be a logistical nightmare, especially charging for it.

[stevie_b]

especially charging for it.

Yes, that's true