©Giliell, all rights reserved
Some of you will remember that last year, our old diesel died several times on our way home from the holidays, until we had to have car and caravan shipped to us and get home by train. Fortunately we had already been looking into a suitable EV to replace it and were lucky to get a Kia EV6 with all the trimmings on short notice. In our daily lives, the car is just the best one I’ve ever had: I can charge at home, with my own energy in summer, but there is pretty little data on towing a caravan over long distances. There were two major issues: reach and charging and we were a bit anxious about the whole thing.
First of all we, made the most important change beforehand: we changed our expectations. If you keep comparing it an measure it by the old diesel experience, you’ll end up unhappy. The EV will not have the same reach, you will be slower, you need to plan accordingly. Since this was the trial holiday, we were happy to go along when friends proposed to go to the North Sea together. It was only 600km and within Germany and we planned to go there in 2 days, since we had zero experience. Beforehand I said that I would be OK with a reach of 150km, I would be absolutely happy with 200, but less than 100 would mean looking into alternatives.
Normally we only charge the battery up to 80% to go gentle on its life cycle, for the first part we charged a full 100%. Generally, the last 20% charge slowly as fuck, again for the sake of the battery, but that’s no problem when you charge over night. Anyway, we started our journey at home and soon got a feeling for the energy consumption. I usually drive the car around 15 kw/h per 100 km in summer, my beloved at around 18, but I’m sure there’s lots of people who regularly need 25kw/h. Towing the caravan got us between 30 and 40 kw/h. Energy consumption is much more direct with an EV, because it’s much more energy efficient. A combustion engine uses a hell lot of energy just standing there, so the increase is less steep. An EV doesn’t do that. The first leg of our journey took us through the medium mountain ranges of the Hochwald and the Eifel (Charly will know those) with lots of ups and downs. Once we were past Dortmund, everything became flat. We were pretty careful and always charged the car when we still had at least 30% left, so we made 4 stops in total each way, which gives you that 150km range. If we had very carefully planned the stops, we could have made it with three, but that would have left no margin for a non functioning charger or things like that.
We could have made it to our destination the first day, but since we only had booked for the next day, we called it a day early near Osnarbrück and enjoyed an evening of bathing in a lake and getting a good dinner. we arrived without any problems the next day and had some fun holidays. We made the way back in one day, again, with 4 charging stops and plan to make a longer voyage next year. On the way back we also planned our stops better, looking for fast chargers so charging actually didn’t take that much time. Two breaks for breakfast and lunch, and two for peeing and stretching your legs. A fast charger will go from 30% to 80% in 10 minutes, which is very reasonable.
But….
Nothing is that easy. The issue is that while there’s more and more charging stations and more fast chargers (though a Danish guy we chatted with assured us it was nowhere as bad as in Germany), they’re all made for cars only, so what about our caravan? We always had to detach it, move it somewhere we could park, sometimes do not quite legal driving manoeuvres and later hitch it again. It was annoying, but ok. The big disadvantage of all of this is that I got mostly banned from the driving seat. Not because I cannot drive, but because my beloved is really bad when it comes to all things digital, gets sick when he has to look at his phone to check out charging stations while driving and I am also really good at getting an overview quick, see where the chargers are and where we can put the caravan. This will have to change because if we really go to Spain it would be too much for him to drive alone.
Oh, and a final word on energy consumption: We needed about 180kw/h energy in total. Since one litre super fuel has 8.9 kw/h energy, this equals a bit more than 20l super or 19l diesel fuel for 600 km with car and caravan. No combustion engine is ever going to beat that.
And with that, I’m out.
I don’t want a mobile phone the size and weight of a housebrick and I don’t want my internet service to run at dial-up speeds. It’s 2024 and life would just be unacceptably, stupidly inconvenient and difficult if I were to deliberately take such a massive step backwards in the functionality of something I use every day.
Fortunately, nobody at all is suggesting that I should. In particular, my government hasn’t mandated that within a few years I won’t be allowed to buy a proper modern mobile phone or get usable broadband internet. Nobody is suggesting outlawing HD or even colour TVs.
They are doing that with cars, though. They are going to make it illegal to buy a car that’s fit for purpose. They’ve set a date. In fairness, they set a date quite a while ago, and then presumably after that they actually listened to some engineers and began, at that point and not before, to begin to have some inkling of understanding of the issues. They didn’t stop the policy, though. Oh no, they just moved the cutoff date a bit further into the future, in the laughable hope presumably that other engineers would save them by making electric cars better -- engineers who are not being paid to make electric cars better, only to make them cheaper.
So I’ll be waiting until sometime shortly before that cutoff date, buying the newest, most reliable, most up to date internal combustion engine car I can afford, and running it absolutely into the ground. I’m old enough that that might be the last car I ever have to buy.
Of course, it’s possible that by then, EVs may have advanced far past their current state, and might, possibly, be fit for purpose, at which point I shall with a spring in my step and a song in my heart buy and run one. I’d rather not have to keep a machine with so many moving parts in good order, EVs in principle should be better. But I know several people who have one, and in the ten years or so that I’ve known people who run them, I’ve not seen any advance in the things that put me off them. If anything, like every other damn thing in life, they appear to be deliberately getting worse even as they become more common.
And you stating upfront that you simply cannot compare the experience with an ICE without being disappointed satisfies me that my policy is, for now at least, the right one.
I’m wondering if you read all of the post, because I explicitly said that in every day use, this is the beat and most convenient car I’ve ever had. The problem only occurs once a year when towing a caravan for the holidays.
Make sure it has some “dirty coal” extras, because heavens forbid that you be a tiny bit inconvenienced in order to save the planet.
Congratulations. It sounds like you have had good success, even with the most challenging week of the year for travel. As you imply, your normal usage is easily handled by the gentle overnight charging at home. Plus, you don’t have to take the car in to change the engine oil every few months.
😊
I did read the whole post, and if the only thing I needed a car for was to drive to and from a fixed place of work 20 miles or less away, or the shops, I really would have an EV in a heartbeat because it would fit that use case and I *want* one. It seems it fits your use case -- great. But YOUR experience related here demonstrates handily that it does not fit my everyday use case, because work, family commitments and my hobbies all involve doing more than short hops between places with guaranteed charging points.
I don’t really know what that means, and I assume it’s an insult implying I’m some sort of “fuck the environment” redneck. I want an ICE car because it works -- it’s a mature technology -- and as an engineer and non-millionaire I want one that is, as my current ones are, as fuel efficient and clean as possible. And if you think I’m some sort of truck-hugger, the newsflash -- my daily ride is a Honda Jazz (you may know it as a Fit). My wife says it’s a pensioners’ car, and I agree -- that’s why I like it.
Except:
(a) it is, as you yourself pointed out, more than a tiny bit of inconvenience even if you’re only doing it once a year -- and as I said, I’m not -- I need range, flexibility and reliability that I can’t get from an EV every week.
(b) I’d argue that by running an ICE car for in excess of 150,000 miles (i.e. not turning over to a new one every 30,000 miles or so like many of my friends) I’m saving the planet by not consuming more resources than I need. My carbon footprint is slightly higher (show me a fully-zero-carbon method of generating the electricity and I’ll show you an energy company hiding something), but my lithium footprint is near zero.
(c) this plays into the lie that the fossil fuel companies have been working on for decades, that “saving the planet” is something individuals should be taking personal responsibility for. If you really want to save the planet, lobby for greater taxes on fossil fuel profits. Hell, lobby for the nationalisation of fossil fuel reserves. But don’t try to gaslight me (pun intended) that individuals (even a lot of them) can have a measurable impact on climate change by switching which billionaire they give their money to to remain mobile. Saving the planet is the job of governments.
For me, an EV would be supremely suitable but I simply cannot afford one so I must run my ICEV until it breaks, and after that, I don’t know what I will do. It is a bummer that at this time an EV costs two to three times as much as an equivalent ICEV. And the EU is pushing protectionist tariffs that make importing cheaper EVs from China impossible (a policy I am not a fan of). We need a charging infrastructure and enough cars to make a difference. Although robust public transport that would reduce the overall need for cars would be better.
I hope you had a wonderful holiday! I don’t have much to say about EVs, but the photo invites a game of ‘where is Giliell’?
My guess is Norden Strand. It looks very windy. Is it a good place to swim, or is the sea too cold? We wear wetsuits here as some lakes are always too cold for recreational activities.
For the last couple of years, I’ve been using a Zero DSR electric motorcycle for commuting.
At a speed of 100 km/h, it consumes around 8 kW. At 80 km/h it is only 4 kW. So if the weather is nice at the end of the day I often take the country roads (with lower speed limits) instead of the highway. It only takes a couple of minutes longer and it is much more fun.
Depending on things like temperature and wind I can get 120--150 km range on a full battery. Generally sufficient for 2--2.5 commutes, although I tend to charge it in the garage every other day. I’ve never even bothered to get a subscribtion for fast chargers, because I can charge it in couple of hours from a standard household 230 V socket.
The DSR is direct drive, so there’s no clutch and gearbox, which makes driving simple. Regenerative braking is also a nice plus. And it’s very light on tires and brakepads. The original tires and brakepads had to be replaced after 20900 km, which is a lot more than I’m used to on other motorcycles.
And because of the electric motor, instant accelleration is available at any speed up to 100 km/h or so, with accelleration from a standing start being especially impressive. :-)
Engineer’s rant; energy is expressed in kWh, not kW/h.
Charly
Yeah, I mean European car manufacturers have said for ages that no, they cannot make EVs, and now they’re crying because the Chinese can. The reason we didn’t get a Chinese EV is precisely the geopolitical situation. We did not want to be cut off from spare parts or simply have the car disabled remotely because the EU and China are at loggerheads. Instead we got the Kia which, in that segment, wasn’t actually much more expensive than a comparable diesel.
I mean, in the end, we need less cars, but right now I don’t live in a world where that’s feasible.
Thetys
We were at the North Sea at the Butjardingen peninsula, which nobody ever heard of except for the people who go there on a holiday. It’s across the Weser from Bremerhaven. Swimming is actually extremely difficult, since the tide makes such a big difference with about 6m between high and low. Even when the water is high, you have to wade quiet a bit until you can swim and it’s actually rather warm because the water is warmed by the sand and mud that has been baking in the sun. It’s one of the reasons the area is popular by families with small children: little chance of drowning, lots of mud for playing. The smart people there solved the swimming issue by building a saltwater swimmingpool. It’s basically a big hole with pumps and some filters, but there’s algae, fish and everything else.
rsmith
My oops ;) Never ridden a motorbike, but yeah, I find a lot complaints about EVs to be motivated reasoning. Oh no, I need an 800 km range even though my commute is 25km return!
Our car included a one year subscription, but we’ll only buy monthly ones when it’s over because I usually charge at home. I do freely admit that we’re pretty privileged fuckers with house and solar panels and an 11kwh (see, I can learn!) homecharger, so I understand that our solution isn’t feasible for everybody.
I bought a 2013 Leaf in May for 6000$ with tax, and have been thrilled with it. The range is limited, but I still have a gasoline car for longer trips, though I haven’t driven it since May. I haven’t fast charged it and I may never do so, LeafSpy tells me that it’s only been fast charged 21 times in it’s life. I think that more people should consider a older used EV, even if I had to pay the 8000$ Nissan charges for a new battery pack in 10 or 20 years it would still be a good deal because the car would feel like new.
It sounds like you are satisfied with the tradeoffs, but for the one or two times a year you need to tow a caravan, why not simply rent a biggish IC vehicle?
@#8 Todd McInroy
Are you making sure the battery in your gas car is getting recharged since you are no longer driving it? There are still active electronics even when the car is turned off which will drain the battery, and once that battery is dead, the battery/ies that power the airbags will go next, and I think they can only be replaced by replacing the entire airbag.
sonofrojblake
It’s such mature technology that wastes 80-90% of its energy. It’s the mature technology of an old lightbulb.
You know, two or more things can be true at the same time: individual acts of change won’t save the planet, but the planet will also not be saved without individual change.
moarscienceplease
We could, but that would make the holidays excessively expensive, especially when taking the car out of the country. We tried to rent one short term last year when the diesel died and it was simply impossible. We could have borrowed my parents’ car, but honestly, it’s ok like this. I’m 45 now, I’ve had enough of “fast paced” and am happy with “relaxed”.
Are you making sure the battery in your gas car is getting recharged since you are no longer driving it?
It’s a 1996 Civic so that’s not a problem (nothing draws power when it’s off). However, I did have that problem with the leaf, the 12 volt battery is probably due for replacement. I am retired, and often don’t drive for days at a time (I ride my bicycle 2 to 4 hours most days).
By the way the energy cost of my Leaf is around 2¢ a mile, my 1996 civic costs about 10¢ a mile. I expect lower maintenence cost with the leaf no regular oil changes, no belts, a simple motor and transaxle. The coolant even has a recomended replacement interval of 120,000 miles.
Ooh, an artificial tidal pool!
I’d love to observe the animals of a proper tidal ocean shore with rock pools during the low tide. Baltic Sea doesn’t have tides or (due to the low salinity and ice in winter) much littoral animal diversity.
All while hauling a trailer full of bricks in -30C weather!
Todd McInroy @13
It’s a problem with all modern cars. There’s little computers for all kinds of things that draw power even when the car is “off”. I’ve had issues with the 12V battery in my Toyota hybrid. It’s very small because it doesn’t need to deliver the amps for starting; the chonking big hybrid system battery does that. It’s mainly there to wake up the hybrid system and for parasitic loads like keyless entry. So I’ve talked to the dealer about it, and when I know I won’t need the car for weeks, I either put the 12V on a charger or I decouple the negative lead. The latter is the only known way to prevent the parasitic loads from flattening the 12V battery. :-(
@14; Definitely a plus for electric vehicles. Tires, brakepads and brake fluid are the main wear items. I’ve noticed that the rear brake pads on my Zero motorcycle practically don’t wear at all, because that’s where the regenerative braking happens.