I’m no car expert, but is it really possible to drive to Morzine on one tank of diesel
In theory I could if:
I drove all the way at 60 and was careful accelerating from the toll booths, tunnel and everywhere else.
Prepared to drive the steep bits even slower, say 40.
Wasn’t fully loaded with at least one bike on the roof.
In reality it’s 800 miles so I stick to the speed limit of 80 in France, loaded up with a bike on the roof I’ll get about 40mpg if I don’t boot it from the booths. Typically I leave home with a half a tank or whatever, fill up at the supermarket in Calais and I’m set for the rest of the trip.
But I’ve only got a 60Ltr tank, lots seem to have 80ltr tanks now, do it easy with that.
As for the whole EV to Morzine thing, the last time I tried to make a EV work the only really affordable I could find was the Leaf, they have a slightly better ‘average’ range now of 155 miles (I think that’s the current one) but when I was looking it was around 110 miles, but that was a claim filled to the brim with caveats.
In fact I asked the Leaf Expert in my local Nissan place if I could drive from home (Cardiff) to Afan and back, a pretty short drive for me compared to some of my usual working days. It’s 75 miles there and back, range is 110 (or was) easy then? Not really, it’s a theoretical 110 miles if:
You don’t drive quickly, like more than 30 – motorway speeds, even if you drive at 56mph behind a lorry for a bit of aero help means it’s more like 80.
It’s not too cold, below 15c and the battery isn’t as efficient, again a 5c day (which it is today) means 110 becomes about 90.
Don’t have a bike on the roof, because again that hurts range.
Don’t have to drive up hills, which near me there are very many.
So, if I was to get up tomorrow morning and decide to head down to Afan, it’ll be about 5c in the morning, none of it is flat and I’ll need to put my bike on the roof I won’t get there and back, I’d have to drive to the services in Sarn (about half way) and see if the charging station is a) not taken up by someone desperate for a parking space b) working – I checked a few times in 2012 and it wasn’t always free and working and if I couldn’t charge I’d have to give up and head home, because I wouldn’t have the range to get there and back.
Telsa give you a good idea of how different conditions effect their cars. For example their S model with the basic 75D battery has a range of 400 miles at 20c and 45mph, but drive at 70 with the AC on and it’s 200.
I wouldn’t mind driving from home to Morzine in an EV, if I had one of those fancy Telsa cars, They seem to have charging points in most, if not all of the service stations in France and 20 mins isn’t too bad, it’s probably about as long as it takes to convince my family to get out, have a pee and return, but it would take a long time in a Leaf, even in summer you’d be lucky to see 100 mile range on the motorway loaded up.
The problem of course is the Tesla S is a £70k car, which is a lot and with my super cynical hat on, is it really that efficient, or have they just shifted the energy creation to the most tax/cost efficient end.
Really, I am absolutely certain that by maintaining my 7 year old, 80k mile car to keep it on the road for as long as possible for me and the next owner(s) is far better for the environment than having a brand new EV made.