Diesel & petrol alternatives? Your thoughts please

Here's an answer and explanation regarding some of the charging questions I've read on CT on this and other threads.

see here

What car has an article comparing an Audi Q5 Diesel to the Volvo X60 Hybrid, taking into account the prices the Volvo does`nt really shine out to me.One interesting point was the usual suspect claim of 28miles on a charge is nearer 20miles in real life. Once the petrol engine cuts in on a car that heavy your MPG goes out the window solo let alone towing. 

This is an issue I have talked about a few times. It's all well and good talking about EV being the future. But the infrastructure needs to be in place. Nobody has yet explained how EV will work in houses with no drives or garages. 

On the contrary, there have been many discussions on this topic, you just have to be interested and search them out. How many people have a petrol filling pump at home?

At present recharging is a lengthy process but battery research indicates that it is quite likely that very rapid chargers (5 - 10 mins) will become available so that you can drop in at your nearest petrol station which in future will become your local recharge station. Of course, this may be further in the future than anticipated in which case the transition away from hydrocarbon fuels will take longer.

Pure Electric Cars and Public Transport are fine and almost viable in Cities and Large Towns, BUT very many people in rural areas have only in the last 50 years or so been connected to mains electricity, and broadband, superfast will still bypass upto 10% of the total population.

Making sweeping 'one size fits all'  rules, like banning diesel vehicles in the remote Scottish Highlands is absolutely potty, 

The infrastucture is poor already, and getting worse with all the austerity cuts. I have a feeling that the internal combustion engine will still be the main source of transport in this Country's rural communities way beyond 2040. Or horse driven transport could make a comeback ? It would make more sense than electric cars. 

We live in a rural community and run our EV without problems, there are also a few horses and carts around, so we have a choice....

There are  problems with electric cars as I see it.

The first is can it tow. Very few can and the Tesla loses out badly on range when you do. It can tow trailers on short journeys but for trips over 100 miles it will not do it as I understand

When you get to the charging point you are going to have to wait at least an hour for it to charge although if you plan things well then you might eat then.

The real problem after that is that no charging point I have seen in car parks, parking bays or motorway services has room for a car and caravan. This means you would have to unhitch and hitch up again after charging which would be far too much for most of us.

Hybrids look more like the future in the short term at least but as Lutz says they still have their drawbacks. There seem to be some newer ones that look possible but there is very little evidence to say which are worthwhile.

I always try to point out that it's highly unlikely that anyone with an EV (much the same as a fossil fuelled car running down to zero fuel) will run their battery down to nothing. So much of the time it would be a case of topping up, fast chargers can do this in 15-20mins or less depending on how much charge is needed. See my post above and links to charging. 

The better EVs also run on regenerative systems where the battery is boosted by braking, slowing down etc. With the addition of a REX  (range extender) the battery is also regenerated whilst moving.

However you are quite right to point out that towing has not been added to full EVs yet except the Tesla. Homologation is still in the offing.

I read yesterday that Porsche are discontinuing production of diesel powered vehicles.

A neighbour of mine is in the market for a new company car for which he has a very generous allowance from his American employer. He would dearly love an EV for environmental reasons and has done a lot of research into what is available.

He frequently has to travel to Newcastle which would mean he had to charge the car at least a couple of times on the round trip, possibly more in winter. Although he has identified about 30 possible charging points en-route not all of them are particularly convenient and, as he pointed out, he would be relying on the charging point being vacant when he needed it. With the lengthy charging times currently available and the number of charging points nationally a pure EV is just not a practical solution for him. Reluctantly he has had to go for a BMW hybrid of some description but this will only give him a range of about 30 miles on electric.

It would seem that even where people have a strong will to change to an EV it just isn't a practical possibility in the foreseeable future for many people.