The Electric Car Thread

And the reason I opened this thread…….

We have a NissanTownstar van at work which apart from it being too small (compared to the Ducato it replaced) has been well received. Question though (which I could probably Google), at what point do the brake lights come on when using regen braking? It has 3 levels with #3 being quite sharp/heavy braking and the default being very mild.

I’d expect it to be linked to the deceleration rate, rather than the regen setting (it is on my car).

There are multiple systems that can request a deceleration (adaptive cruise, collision avoidance, even the driver), with higher regen levels your really just getting more “engine breaking” (in an ICE sense), before having to press the brake pedal. Even when you press the brake pedal, the demanded deceleration may be achieved just by regen breaking, without the foundation brakes (disks and pads) having to get involved. Foundation brakes usually come in as you come to a stop, as they’ll be needed for auto-hold type features.

There may be some variance between different cars depending on how well they’ve tuned the brake blending algorithms.

Pop out door handles: is there any actual benefit?

Aero, that’s about it. We’ve been chasing the next 0,1% of drag reduction since i started in the industry.

The aero stuff you have now on a stock family saloon would have only been found on a very economy focused car (Prius sort of thing) 15-20 years ago. Pop out handles apparently look cool as well, according to the styling guys…

I’d expect it to be linked to the deceleration rate, rather than the regen setting (it is on my car).

It is. 3 years ago, industry guideline was 1.2 m/s2 deceleration for brakelights on with vehicle instructed deceleration. 200ms timer for driver instructed (after detection of pressing the brake pedal). Most manufacturers hit the lights around 1m/s2 for all the auto deceleration systems.

Makes no difference to what braking system is actually used, just the input (pedal/automatic) and the net rate of deceleration.

I think regen braking is better on snow or ice , as is anything else that stops sudden acceleration, deceleration

What car is that @B.A.Nana?

Model3 so ignore me, I’ve since re-read what you wrote and realised I initially misunderstood the context of what you wrote. So yes the model3 / Y is a manual handle that has some advantage when frozen. TBH They’re a love/ hate design, it looks nice having clean lines, but you’re forever having to open the doors for people who’ve never used a Tesla door handle before.

TBH They’re a love/ hate design, it looks nice having clean lines, but you’re forever having to open the doors for people who’ve never used a Tesla door handle before.

About 25 years ago I owned a TVR cerbera , they didnt have door handles at all, just a small button under the wing mirror that when pressed would pop the door open. That confused everyone…

@Mert

Most manufacturers hit the lights around 1m/s2 for all the auto deceleration systems.

Would our Townstar have a decelerometer? Or is it as simple as setting #1 no brake lights, setting #3 = brake lights.

Its regen braking feels inline with a coasting ICE engined car in setting 1 but setting 3 is like using the discs&pads brakes and is fairly hard braking/regen.

Would our Townstar have a decelerometer?

No idea, it’s definitely got a speedo though. It’ll just measure rate of change of wheelspeed.

(Some cars do measure using accelerometers though.)

@Convert

“I’m sure I read many pages back reference to avoiding the Jaguar I Pace. Anyone care to expand why?”

I’ve just got an I-Pace, one of the very last Jags before they become JaGUar..

A friend of mine had one and it was a nightmare, for the reasons @Julians has covered. I chose mine because I got a great deal on a new one, time will tell whether I’ve made a massive cock-up, but it’s on a 3 year lease so I can get out of it if needed. It’s a great car with some very nice features, definately feels special to drive.

Decided on a Hyundai Kona. Will collect it on Saturday. Looking forward to the heated steering wheel, blind spot detectors and adaptive cruise; all things that my e-Tron doesn’t have.

Good choice. What battery?  I don’t use my heated steering wheel but the other features are gold. Assuming your adaptive cruise is the same as mine, it does full start/stop traffic crawling, which is the best feature this side of self driving.

Agreed on adaptive cruise in stop/start traffic, couldn’t do without it now. In fact, that plus general smoothness and quietness of EV driving make it a completely calmer and much more relaxing experience.

Quick comment on first big negative tick against ID.Buzz – the stupid R21 Grand Prix car width tyres in 104/108 load rating for the heavy beast have zero All-Season tire options. Maybe one full winter that I can find, but that is disappointing. Summer tires and back up socks it is.

101/105 yes, but given how heavy the buzz is, especially if loaded up for a big trip, I am not keen on playing with tyres with a lighter load rating.

Yeah I am not a fan at all of big wheels.  You might get lucky looking for used VAG wheels with the right offset in a more sensible size.

Quick comment on first big negative tick against ID.Buzz – the stupid R21 Grand Prix car width tyres in 104/108 load rating for the heavy beast have zero All-Season tire options. Maybe one full winter that I can find, but that is disappointing. Summer tires and back up socks it is.

Can’t even find many full winters in those sizes and load ratings (3 for the fronts and 2 for the rears), and no all seasons at all.

Might be time for some winter wheels…

500 mile round trip to do on Friday (Coming back early saturday).

Googled Tesla charging points on route.  Found 1 in stoke.  Sent location to car.  Job jobbed.  I reckon a 30 min charge on the way there and a 30 min charge on way back and i will be golden.  Total cost about £40 for the entire journey.

In fact, that plus general smoothness and quietness of EV driving make it a completely calmer and much more relaxing experience.

So today I had my first go in an EV and the big takeway from it was that it was just such a calm experience!
That and just how cheap it is to run 🙂
Did around 50 miles on all sorts of roads (motorway, A and little country roads) and it averaged out at 36kWh/100 miles apparently…… and it was in a car that’s not exactly supposed to focus on economy!

Getting back into MrsSB’s Boxster was quite a shock!  I now get most of the stuff about EV’s – it’s not perfect for me as I can carry more in my current car and the other one doesn’t allow towing, but it definitely ticks most of the boxes.

Very interesting.

Yeah I am not a fan at all of big wheels

Nor am I. The tyre options for the original BMW i3 weren’t great and around £250 each, so that put me off the i3.

Googled Tesla charging points on route. Found 1 in stoke

I used the Trentham gardens Tesla chargers a few months ago. Busy at the weekend when I called in.

Any thoughts on the likely outcomes of the reported “fast track” consolation on EV sales?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c98dzyy850jo

I’m hoping for some strong incentives for private buyers but expecting it’ll end up as a way for manufacturers to fudge the figures so they get appeased while the government doesn’t have to back down on its targets.