Tesla Full Self Driving - Short Demos

This is the thing really. I don’t think most people will actively go out of their way to change their commute to include charging a car. If I can jump into my petrol car, fill up in 2 mins at my local petrol station it’s likely I’ll keep doing that until electric charging is as convenient

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I think the argument here is that charging an electric car at home means you don’t have to visit a petrol station, but if this isn’t possible 30 minutes on a fast charger will give you enough juice for over 200 miles at least…so as long as you are not doing a crazy long commute each day this is more than reasonable for a good few days travel. Additionally a lot of places have chargers at work so it can be filling up as you are parked, and many shopping areas/car parks have chargers too so again a quick top up while you shop is reasonable.
It’s about changing the mindset of having to fill right up once a week…it’s possible to do quick 10/15 minute charges when you are doing the shopping, or popping to the gym which will keep the battery charged enough to do everything you need to do…I do see the barriers to mass take up though and until these are addressed the e car will be a pipe dream for some.

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In some cases the opposite would be true and a petrol/diesel car is the luxury car if we are just talking cost…

If you have a company, or salary sacrifice car (the NHS run schemes like this for most staff) it is cheaper to get an electric car at the moment than an ICE due to the 0% BIK tax. I currently drive a FIAT which with my work scheme costs £380 a month all in (I just pay for diesel), however I am going to replace it with a Tesla Model 3 which will cost £367 a month all in and I will save over £100 a month in diesel. My partner who does a 100+ commute in her Honda CRV is getting a DS3 (Etense) will be saving over £250 a month on her car costs so we will have two brand new electric cars and an extra £350 a month in our pockets :slight_smile:

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You just restated the problem…

I am not going to take 30 minutes (+ time to drive there and back) out of my day every few days to keep my car charged up. Especially as my nearest fast charger is 30 miles away so that’s already 200-(30*2)=140 mile range

Again none of this will apply to the majority of people. Lots of car parks don’t have trickle chargers, let alone fast chargers. My local Tesco has just put in one charging point in a 500 car car park. One.

Getting a brand new car is going to be a luxury to most. But people drive cheap bangers and swap them around when repairs exceed the car cost. If you live in an affluent area with driveways and lots of charging points and work for a company who will subsidise the car it’s absolutely better. But for most people that’s a distant dream, not a reality. And for most people, time is the biggest luxury they can’t give up to charge for an hour at a smelly service station

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Obviously that’s your experience, but I would argue things are changing and maybe I am lucky to be well served by chargers, but having travelled around the UK in an electric car doing thousands of miles I can state I have never had a problem keeping it topped up. I live in rural Suffolk and have a public charger 300 yards from my house and a fast charger on the way to work so I am lucky in that respect. We have chargers in most car parks in the local town too and at the park and rides. Again maybe I am just lucky.

I didn’t say for the majority and I stated “if we are talking cost”…I completely agree that time is the biggest luxury, which is why my next point was related to home chargers (but you haven’t quoted that bit)…with a home charger you save all the time you would be filling up with petrol… additionally I don’t have a driveway but have found a way to charge at home :slight_smile: I work for the NHS so the car isn’t subsidised but the cost comes directly from my wage before tax etc

My point is that we need to change the mindset that people have to sit in a smelly service stations to keep their car running. In most larger towns (and some smaller rural ones like mine) this really isn’t the case. Maybe we are just lucky in Suffolk, but I would suggest that if you look on ZapMap, or PlugShare you will be surprised at the options available.

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This might change in time. There’s a supermarket near me which has about 30 chargers.

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Oh certainly. And I will get an electric car in time, it’s just not time yet for many people.

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That’s true. It’s the right solution for some, and that number will increase over time as rules change and more second hand electric cars reach the market.

As an example of rule change, the government wants the London congestion charge zone to increase to include all of the area bounded by the north and south circular roads. In terms of car owning households, that’s probably a bigger number than in many towns and cities in the U.K.

Under the current rules, that means that all those people (and people driving into the zone) will face a daily £15 charge for driving their car (seven days a week, except Christmas Day). But electric cars are free.

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I hadn’t heard this, but as you say it will be a huge incentive to go electric. They just need to ensure the infrastructure is in place to facilitate mass take up…which hopefully it will be in the not too distant future.

I’ve been around big businesses enough to know that there is very little ideology involved in something like this and the second it is 10p cheaper for them to source electric cars (maybe for hire use first) then they will move in big numbers

How we get to the point that it is cheaper, how long that takes and whether charging facilities keep up is, of course, a different matter

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On the subject of self driving cars, here’s a proper driverless Taxi - Waymo: https://youtu.be/qAZ6tJSj9T4

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