There was supposed to be new technology for making batteries but not sure what happened to it, but if people are going to buy these all electric cars they need to do something about restarting some of the old powerstations

I think they should just carry on improving hybrids, batteries have a long way to go yet

Cant you check how much power it uses by the meter ?

Edited by bolt on 01/08/2015 at 21:10

While pure battery electric cars and vans are likely to remain a niche market for the forseeable future because of range, electrically driven cars in the form of range-extender plug-in hybrids will, I think, become the norm. Drive for 50 miles or so on battery then engines starts up to drive generator. Engine works at optimum constant speed, unconnected mechanically to drivetrain, so a compact 3-cylinder diesel would do the job.

So whats the difference, having an electric car supplied by electricity from a coal fired powerstation or nuclear, If there are enough electric cars we will need a lot more to power them, wind power or solar wont be anywhere near enough....

As mentioned hybrid is the way to go for a while untill batteries improve

The trouble is if no one is buying the current technology there won't me any money to invest in better technologies so you need companies building, selling and investing in these cars whilst at the same time they are investing in btter technologies.

The hybrid cars have already come a long way from where they started out and will only continue to do improve as time goes on.

Well I 'm reading this as a CZero owner and laughing at the ignorance on offer for those who clearly have no idea anout EV ownership.

My wife wanted a small automitic for local pottering about. Afteer finding most were useless, unreliable or thirsty (and unsually all three) I was drawn to a used CZero.

We found on that was four years old. New it would be arounf 27k - agreed it is a ridiculous sum. But the motor trafe dont know what to do with these, Ours had 11k on the clock, was initiially 8995, reduced to 7995, and we haggled it to 7500.

Weve had it a year now and done 10000 miles. Its nothing short of brilliant.

The battery holds 16kwr on a full charge. The "fuel guage" is 16 LCD segments, each representing 1kWhr. So its easy to monitor the charge and how much it will take from that. Using on street chargers and rapids (all free round manchester !) we can monitor how much goes in . The subsudised home charger also monitors electrcity fed to the car.

There is an android app (Canion) which with a bluetooth odb reader, can be used to report on many aspects of the car, including the traction battery. This is still in great health and all celles hold their expected charge. The cars electronicers only allow you to use a "sweet spot" in the battery so it never gets trully fully charge or fully flatteend and it seems to work very well.

The lingest we have gone is 78 miles before needing a charge - and even then it could have gone further. Like all batteries, when cold in winter it doesnt go as far, but 65 miles is readily achaivanle. Yes, mway use does sap the charge but it will whizz to as limited 81mph without probelm when needed. Around town it excels - there is very rapid acceration and it embarrases many other cars. Its way more faster then an equivalent petrol or diesel runabout.

I've kepty a careful record and i reckon all that motoring would ave used 180 quid of electri at our rate, but i've reduced my cost to about 115 as ive recharegd a lot on public - free - charger. Our SUV would have drunk about 1440 pounds worth for the sdasme mileage.

Its perfect for the school run, going to the shops, and my 40 mile commute in and out of mancheester - the type of use that would clog a diesel and harm a petrol. Theres no engione to warm uo for a start,

Braking is great too - its mostly done wiht the motor regenerating into the battery, with fristction brakes there as abackup. Consequelty brake wear si negligible - as is maintenance of the car in general.

It suites most of our motroing needs. We have a large diesel auto for long trips and to haul a caravan, but we hardly ever used that - possibly 4000 miles a year. Its does have a drawback - with no engine to generate heat you need to used the range sapping electric heater in winter, but we get round that byusing two cheap 12v seat heaters. problem solved. the air con removes condesation and hardly affects range.

The Czero hold a family of four without trouble ans is a great well kept secret.

i ought to keep quiet as i fancy another one in addition to this one, but i can't. Open your minds and you'll be impressed.

I've been pretty sceptical about hybrids and electric cars but I'm totally changing my attitude now, to the point where I'm about to change my petrol SUV for a Toyota Prius.

I would have opted for a pure electric if the range was better, but my daily commute is 50miles - which is borderline the maximum range if you include heating/lights and unexpected extra delays, so a hybrid makes sense for me.

Why the change in attitude? Pretty much sucessive government and council anti-car policy has resulted in most of my journeys being more of a chore. Apart from the usual congestion extra problems like poorly organised roadworks, census points etc have meant a quiet, automatic car is my best option.

Hopefully if things go to plan I'll run the Prius for a few years, then switch to pure electric when the development has matured.

And notice I never mentioned 'green' - as I am not convinced about the global warming evangelism I'm going hybrid to work around the laws and taxes in place. So effectively they have won, I've been beaten down!