I'd say the EV thing pointed a very valid issue with electric vehicles and the infrastructure they need to reach conventional vehicles. Whether that's a dig or a serious issue that needs to be resolved probably depends on your view of TG.
I'd like to know what the toilet facilities were when those chillis kicked in. Presumably a nice warm hotel room nearby.
Top Gear has been doing silly stuff among the serious stuff for years. These three are actually doing it pretty well.
Any bit of wonder we have a chip shortage when wing mirrors are now 2 cameras and 2 internal screens!
This episode was okay, I quite like that little Mink camper trailer.
TG has a wide and varied target audience. This week with the chillis was to keep Beavis and Butthead happy. Last week during the Eddie Kidd piece they'd have been mostly scratching their nuts looking at the ceiling.
TG has a wide and varied target audience. This week with the chillis was to keep Beavis and Butthead happy. Last week during the Eddie Kidd piece they’d have been mostly scratching their nuts looking at the ceiling.
I managed to enjoy both. Sometimes I enjoy scratching my nuts as well though....
Sometimes I enjoy scratching my nuts as well though
Just don't do it after eating chillis.
Any bit of wonder we have a chip shortage when wing mirrors are now 2 cameras and 2 internal screens!
I'm actually surprised it's not more common on cars, there's plenty of trucks have them nowadays and it must make a measurable improvement on fuel economy/EV range.
Are we not done with raising concerns over an EV's range yet? We all know that but if you had one you would make adjustments and not just head out knowing you havent got enough range to get where you're going.
Wasn't going to be bothered with the Lambo but the engine sounds so good. In GT3 form they are immense.
Best bit was Fred having a seizure after eating that chilli. How far will he go to win? Nutter
Are we not done with raising concerns over an EV’s range yet? We all know that but if you had one you would make adjustments and not just head out knowing you havent got enough range to get where you’re going.
I didn't realise that EVs would go into limp mode at some point before hitting zero range. That's just as relevant as the range itself, if true.
I’d like to know what the toilet facilities were when those chillis kicked in. Presumably a nice warm hotel room nearby.
Pssst! They didn’t actually sleep in the caravans but don’t tell everyone it’s not real.
I didn’t realise that EVs would go into limp mode at some point before hitting zero range. That’s just as relevant as the range itself, if true.
Yup some reduce the power being produced, acceleration speed and other things.
Are we not done with raising concerns over an EV’s range yet? We all know that but if you had one you would make adjustments and not just head out knowing you havent got enough range to get where you’re going.
Yes and no.
So far, by and large, EV converts have had the easiest lifestyle conversions. That range issue is going to become thornier as we get closer to 2030. Those without off street parking, those without deeper pockets to afford the higher range EV but currently live a life that 'necessitates' longer range driving. But it's not a bad idea to highlight that those that tow caravans, boats, trailers etc for leisure or work are going to have a tougher times finding EV love.
What struck me more than the dismal range and practicality of these cars was the question: if you do run out of juice, what do you do?
You can’t get a taxi to the local gas station to buy a Jerry can of electricity can you?
Praying some sensible successor to ICE is in the offing…..🙏🏼🙏🏼
Maybe there's a business in a portable battery on wheels to recover flat EV's? Or just plan ahead because if you run out it'll get really costly quickly.
Just tow a trailer behind your EV loaded with batteries, job jobbed!
There’s an EV thread that will answer these questions.
Just tow a trailer behind your EV loaded with batteries, job jobbed!
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Maybe there’s a business in a portable battery on wheels to recover flat EV’s? Or just plan ahead because if you run out it’ll get really costly quickly.
Whoa there , its almost like you know something 😉
https://www.topgear.com/car-news/electric/zipcharge-go-new-portable-charger-your-ev
The problem with top gear raising "valid" quesions about EVs is that they are, er, not very valid:
1) Caravan sites, where you legally can er, caravan, have electrical hook ups. Those nice high current sockets are perfect for, er, charging EV's. Have a go at driving to the top of a random hill and parking your caravan, you'll get arrested/shoot/dissed on social media (delete as appropriate) before you've even got your jockey wheel down.
2) In reality you'd plan your trip around available chargers, not just set off randomly and hope
2) Probably best not to spend your holiday racing around hill tops ripping up the grass. Not good for the environment and not good for your battery / state of charge
3) They mentioned that going up the big hill was bad for the range of an EV, but conviently forgot to mention that unlike an ICE, you get most of the PE back when you go down the otherside, ie your range goes back up again. Without gears, practically zero parasitics and of course truely bi-directional powertrains, EVs really don't mind hills as such. if the road load goes up by "X" percent going up the hill, then go down it at the same average speed as you went up it, and the road load goes down my "X" percent.
And of course, literally no one who can afford a £65k to £100k EV is going to hook a tiny caravan to the back of it at any point...........
maxtorque
Full MemberThe problem with top gear raising “valid” quesions about EVs is that they are, er, not very valid:
1) Caravan sites, where you legally can er, caravan, have electrical hook ups. Those nice high current sockets are perfect for, er, charging EV’s.
Totally agree with your other points but on this point: not always (e.g. my favourite campsite which is why caravans often have leisure batteries) also the electrical hookup where present is often limited to e.g. 5 or 10 amps.
1) Caravan sites, where you legally can er, caravan, have electrical hook ups. Those nice high current sockets are perfect for, er, charging EV’s.
Sadly a bit of ignorance fail there. As said, most have a capacity significantly lower than a single electrical socket in your home. If you are going to use it for, "er", domestic stuff; there's not much left for charging an EV. No doubt sites will by necessity be digging up there supply cables to may ev charging possible but it's not going to happen tomorrow. A site with a hundred EVs all charging simultaneously is going to need more than a tweak of its connection to the grid too.
Also
Plenty of small sites don't have electric hook up.
And try finding an ev for much less than £60k that can actually tow a caravan at all.
Anyway, another fun episode - I particularly enjoyed PMcG being run over by the zorb.
The only thing that EV segment showed, was that JUST LIKE ICE vehicles, if you don’t fill them up, you run out.
Looking at Zap-Map, there’s loads of chargers in the area they stayed. Any normal person would have stuck the car on one before parking up for the night. Just like any normal person would have filled up with petrol before undertaking a journey where there isn’t any fuel.
Having ridden a motorcycle with a 100 mile tank range all over this country and Europe, I’ve zero patience for the range argument against EVs. If you know your vehicle isn’t going to make it to your destination in one hit, you fill up, and figure out where you’re going to next get fuel. You can’t always rely on dead dinosaur stations to be open, have fuel as we’ve seen recently, or even exist.
So as part of personal cars becoming greener we may lose a few caravans or savvy caravan sites will be investing in chargers. In the big scheme of things I don't care which one happens but top gear were still trotting out the EV cliches and ignorance.
I never watch Top Gear, especially the new one but watched the Eddie Kidd feature after reading what folks said above.
I remember all that happening at the time. The Bulldog Bash is(was) only down the road from me and I went to it years back.
I just can't believe that he would ever agree to even consider doing a jump to an up-slope like you had on that drag strip.
Terrible tragedy but really heart warming to see his smile.
Looking at Zap-Map, there’s loads of chargers in the area they stayed.
There’s one just along the road, they were there for 3 days filming that segment so had a big generator unit. The generator was also for the production team in the bottom of the valley where the farms have no mains electricity.
Some people are taking this EV thing way too seriously.
Top Gear is car based entertainment. It's not a documentary.
And yes, most people would have charged up before going into the wild. Most people top up with petrol before going into the wild. But a large number don't, and run out, and get stuck, and block roads and need recovering. Idiots will be idiots in an EV or a conventional vehicle.
Well said ^
I’m sure JC and Co. Did a couple of segments of how much fuel you had left to finish the challenge on ICE cars too, but they get conveniently forgotten about.
Especially the concept of racing electric cars round a short moorland grass track while eating chillis. WTF was the concept behind that?
The concept was entertainment. Lots of us found it entertaining.
^ just to add to that. It was three men cocking about in cars (like old top gear). The fact they were electric cars was irrelevant. Thats a good thing and counters the range anxiety feature. Just treating them as ordinary cars.
3) They mentioned that going up the big hill was bad for the range of an EV, but conviently forgot to mention that unlike an ICE, you get most of the PE back when you go down the otherside, ie your range goes back up again. Without gears, practically zero parasitics and of course truely bi-directional powertrains, EVs really don’t mind hills as such.
No, they didn’t. Several times Freddy mentioned the regeneration going down hill, but it can’t generate enough to fully top up a battery, unless it’s a downhill that goes on for miles. Chris seemed to be having trouble getting any regeneration, and he was quite vocal about.
Did you go and make a cuppa and miss that bit!
TBF, cocking about racing on the top of a hill eating chilis was:
A: Childishly amusing - Fred
2: drained some juice from the batteries on all the cars, adding jeopardy to the following days journey.
Didn't one of them say that they charged fully before going up the hill? Not much entertainment on them just driving to Barnards Castle with 3/4 of a 'tank' of electricity...
Chris seemed to be having trouble getting any regeneration, and he was quite vocal about.
He only had to click the left hand paddle twice for max regen, he’d got a lot more range but of course for TV he didn’t.
I didn’t realise that EVs would go into limp mode at some point before hitting zero range. That’s just as relevant as the range itself, if true.
It’ll be engineered in. And will be for two purposes - one to hep extend the last few miles it mainly to give a hard warning to the driver so that they don’t just stop somewhere dangerous e.g. in the fast lane of the motorway or on a corner of a narrow dangerous country road etc.
Modern fossil fue cars do something similar - as you get very low on fueL the very commonly introduce a misfire as a warning to the driver- entirely manufactured.
Well, I thought tonight's (episode 4) was terrific.
Bonkers Aston Martin.
Excellent piece on Freddie getting his racing license.
Good, nostalgic, informative piece on the De Lorean.
Really good episode I thought.
Yeah another cracking episode.
Agreed although the DMC back story has been done to death was still a good bit of telly. Cracking episode this week, loved that Aston!
Really good episode I thought.
Same here, Flintoff getting his license was very illuminating, I learned a lot from that, and I was impressed with just how focused he was. A real shame the car died on them, he was clearly improving lap on lap, it would have been interesting to see just where they ended up.
The AM was insane!
They could’ve stretched that out over 2 shows I reckon. Was quite a jump to go from zero to GT4. Licence and a lower level race in one episode, followed by the bigger race with Harris in the next could’ve been really good. Still enjoyed it though
It was like an actual car show rather than people with a dodgy script pissing about in caravans. More what I am after in a car show but not as much fun for others I suppose.
Yep another good episode. My kids will find the Delorean piece informative I think, nonsense like that needs to be kept alive.
I thought the last two episodes were poor vs the previous ones of the series (personal taste but I have no interest in what it takes to become a racing driver, or the inevitable outcome of the exams he took - he wasn't going to fail it was he?). The Aston though... I've always said if I won the euro millions I wouldn't bother with a supercar even though I'm a petrolhead but I think I'd make an exception for that thing...
Enjoyed last night’s. Would like to see Fred have another crack at a race or two with Harris.
Since I was a kid, even before Back To The Future, I thought that the Delorean was a great looking car. Kind of sad that it turned out to be junk though. A speedo that only went up to 85mph? How fast could it actually go? Could it make it to 70? My 1981 Austin Metro could, just.
If I had the money I’d still have one.
I didn't know all the backstory of DeLorean, as I was only 6 in 1981 and I've obviously never been bothered to look up or watch anything specifically about the subject, so that was informative for me.
That was weird about the speedo going to 85. Back in the 80's me any my mates assumed that the speedo indicated the top speed of the car. IIRC, someone's dad had a Renault 25 that was good for 170mph!
Well it had the Renault 25 engine
Tbh I didn’t know that lotus were involved on it and that it was based on the esprit,although I knew it was fibreglass with a stainless cladding but to take something like the esprit and make it handle like a pig 🙂
Still to get a car from 0 to production in 2 years is stunning.
Colin Chapman and Lotus didn't like the Delorean. It used the metal and composites the wrong way around (plastic chassis and metal body). They reengineered it to use the Esprit chassis and essentially doubled up.
Chapman hated the doors as they were style over substance and the antithesis of his "simplify and add lightness" philosophy.
Lotus wouldn't do any work on the Delorean unless they had nothing else to do and would only pull the dust covers off the prototypes and get the blueprints out if Delorean was paying a visit to Hethel.
Chapman resented the govt investing in a foreign car company instead of his.
