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As i am a Dinosaur i remember milk floats some are still around all you do is press the Accelerator and off you go you have to use the brakes though. Now with press and go upgraded milk floats dressed up to look like a proper car there are at present no EC with gears which makes it easy to drive with no sound and boring enough to fall asleep when we get the self driving car that would be relaxing but again boring they maybe fast as a hot hatch but no sound so very boring.By the way i do have a mobility scooter so i know the word boring.
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Not sure what you’re talking about, there are EVs with multispeed gearboxes, and they all have a certain sound. Some of which sound actually proper cool, like the Taycan. Which, at over 1000hp, doesn’t need it to feel exciting in the first place.
But yeah, EV bad, we get it. I didn’t get that impression after test driving a few, but each to their own i suppose.
Prior: SEAT Ateca Xcellence Lux 1.5 TSI DSG MY19, VW Golf GTE PHEV DSG MY23
Current: Hyundai Ioniq 6 Ultimate
Next: we'll see what's available in 2028.It’s your opinion daveblue and you’re entitled to it. I personally find the lack of gears and noise a plus not a minus.
You can’t get tyres to squeal going round corners either and winding on opposite lock to correct massive oversteer is a thing of the past. Like double delutching – lost skills…
I am a little fascinated by electric cars, I have my head turned when I see one on the road, they are still a novelty to me. I don’t think the boring nature of cars is down to the power source but the evolution of traffic management. However I would still rather do a steady 50mph than do 80mph then have to sit in a tailback for an hour. I guess progress is always a little boring.
I blame the fun being taken out of driving on Maurice Gatsonides, the inventor of the Gatso camera, it all started to go downhill from there.
You make a good point WMC. The increasing amount of traffic management and speed enforcement make semi autonomous and eventually autonomous car control systems inevitable. We have to accept that cars and driving methods are changing irrevocably.
I was a proper petrolhead when I was younger and the thought of an electric car would have horrified me.
But as I’ve gotten older and more in need of a vehicle to suit my mobility restrictions by opinions have matured with me.
I still want something that I find pleasing to my eye but performance and sound are no longer on my priority list.
I’d love an EV as most of my journeys these days are relatively small but as I have no off road parking it’s a non starter. I weighed the cost of charging at my local supermarket and it worked out about the same as I pay in petrol.
If I seem a little strange, that's because I am.
Skoda Karoq SEL.
Took my stepsons Mini Cooper S convertible out for a blast recently. Burbling exhaust, whining supercharger, wind in the hair. What a great fun car that is and 16 years old. For sale if anyone wants to relive what motoring was and still can be…
I quite like the concept of EV’s especially their instant torque. I can imagine the boy racer within me sat at traffic lights or coming of a roundabout next to a hot hatch would be fun. However I would feel rather embarrassed if it ran out of puff at 88mph and the fellow boy racer came sailing past just as he was changing up to 4th gear ??
A variable speed EV that you could manually select similar to how you can with Auto’s would be nicety in mainstream.
As i am a Dinosaur i remember milk floats some are still around all you do is press the Accelerator and off you go you have to use the brakes though.
Did you know Ernie really did drive the fastest milk float in the west. Well Rob Gill did in 2014.
Lack of gears is a positive to those who use hand controls. It’s one of the many benefits of EV’s. How many discussions have there been on here regarding higher AP’s for automatics? If all EV’s are automatic they’ll be no more price difference for those who need them.
Enyaq EV
As i am a Dinosaur i remember milk floats some are still around all you do is press the Accelerator and off you go you have to use the brakes though.
Did you know Ernie really did drive the fastest milk float in the west. Well Rob Gill did in 2014. https://youtu.be/BDrgfcZHmos
Yo yes and i remember Fred Scuttle HA HA
Not sure what you’re talking about, there are EVs with multispeed gearboxes, and they all have a certain sound. Some of which sound actually proper cool, like the Taycan. Which, at over 1000hp, doesn’t need it to feel exciting in the first place. But yeah, EV bad, we get it. I didn’t get that impression after test driving a few, but each to their own i suppose.
I like the sound of that Rene but i have not seen any with gear boxes unless it is a Super car out of our league.
I was a proper petrolhead when I was younger and the thought of an electric car would have horrified me. But as I’ve gotten older and more in need of a vehicle to suit my mobility restrictions by opinions have matured with me. I still want something that I find pleasing to my eye but performance and sound are no longer on my priority list. I’d love an EV as most of my journeys these days are relatively small but as I have no off road parking it’s a non starter. I weighed the cost of charging at my local supermarket and it worked out about the same as I pay in petrol.
I think if Self driving car i could have a sleep on a journey would be great and in city with loads of traffic.
Lack of gears is a positive to those who use hand controls. It’s one of the many benefits of EV’s. How many discussions have there been on here regarding higher AP’s for automatics? If all EV’s are automatic they’ll be no more price difference for those who need them.
Good post Jojoe. The premium addition required to lease an ‘auto’ instead of a ‘manual’ has long been a frustration for many disabled drivers. As you mention, EV’s solve that problem.
I quite like the idea of an EV, no gears to worry about etc and (at the moment), cheaper running costs. My issue comes with all the other problems of owning one, namely charging.
I don’t have off road parking, I have space for it but it would require a very large outlay to do it (we have to stick to certain rules here on who we can use, materials, look of it etc). Without off road parking, we just don’t have the infrastructure locally, I shop online for groceries but even if I didn’t, only one of the supermarkets has charging points….2 of them to be precise and they are either always in use or not working.
To charge a vehicle would mean a special trip to the next nearest town over 10 miles away, something I have neither the time nor the health/energy to do even once a week as it would need a stop of a good couple of hours to get enough charge for a week (if that was even possible), just sat in a bay waiting for the car to charge…or I would have to pay for someone to do it for me which would pretty much negate any savings made over ICE running costs.
What is needed to allow everyone to be able to drive in future, is fast charging, as in really fast charging, as in the time it would normally take to put fuel in a car and with the same capacity as fuel stations now. Too many people are unable to charge at home or at work for it to be viable for the masses and I can’t see that really changing massively in the next 8 years.
Looking ahead to next year when I’m due to change cars I’ve just send off an enquiry to my housing association.
I have sufficient space in front of the front bedroom to park a car, the area is currently covered in gravel with a small fence around it. This would be ideal as I could then have a charging point, at present I can’t charge as I would have to run the cable over a footpath.
I’d need a dropped curb, my next door neighbour has got a larger area which is covered in concrete so he can park quite easily, I wonder if he fancies swapping houses? 🙂
Please excuse spelling/typos. Apart from being a clot it turns out I had one on my cerebellum that's now causing various problems!
The red line for many people is the ability to charge at home. Simple, cheap compared to fast chargers, and convenient.
I have an Ev.
2 necessaries for me are home charging and 90% of daily journey’s within the batteries capability.
If the above was not fulfilled then from real experience I would not have an Ev
Usually the people who Diss EVs are those who don’t have one, haven’t driven one & are suckered in by all the BS online.
Driving an EV can be as exciting as you want it to be, personally I don’t yet in a car to be excited that’s what cinema is for. It’s for getting from A to B safely that’s it & well maybe the odd sleep whilst the wife is hunting round charity shops.
Look I have a ZS one of the cheapest EVs out there. It still has 3 driving modes & in ‘sport’ mode despite being a big heavy car it is pretty damn quick. I’m currently driving a courtesy car 1.5 petrol 5 door hatch & despite having gear (yuck BTW so unsophisticated) you have to rag the butt off of it to get it toove & even then it is slooooooooow vs electric.
I’m not trying to convert anyone I really font care if Mr x wants to stick with Dino pop as long as possible. There are lots of EVs out there with gears pretty much all the conversions done have gear stick, clutch & gearbox still so if you want that then you’ll need a conversion but a gearbox on an EV is an unnecessary waste of space & weight as you get 100% of torque throughout the rev range so there’s zero need to have any kind of reduction to get the car moving
Replying to Sue and Phaedra, many councils allow a charging cable to be run over a pavement as long as a high visibility cable protector is used – check with your Country Council.
Motability will actually pay for the cable protector (they offered to pay for ours), but you need to ask them to use an installer who would be happy to install a charger that isn’t off-road: we found that Ohme would be happy to do this (Motability use a number of partners for installation, and only Ohme were willing to take this on, though they will probably want to do an assessment of where you would have the charger installed).
Ensure you have written permission from your County Council before approaching Motability and their installers, but it can be a route to greener and much cheaper motoring!
Replying to Sue and Phaedra, many councils allow a charging cable to be run over a pavement as long as a high visibility cable protector is used – check with your Country Council. Motability will actually pay for the cable protector (they offered to pay for ours), but you need to ask them to use an installer who would be happy to install a charger that isn’t off-road: we found that Ohme would be happy to do this (Motability use a number of partners for installation, and only Ohme were willing to take this on, though they will probably want to do an assessment of where you would have the charger installed). Ensure you have written permission from your County Council before approaching Motability and their installers, but it can be a route to greener and much cheaper motoring!
Which would rely on being able to park outside the house, something that is not guaranteed. Not sure they would be quite so willing to have a cable running across the pavement, over the road and down to the green where my car tends to end up 3 or 4 nights a week.
I’ll probably keep getting ICE cars until I can no longer drive, even if I have to go via the second hand market, the rate I’m going, it will be a race to see which happens first – the deadline coming in for selling only EV cars or me having to give up driving!
Either that or I win the lottery and move somewhere with a driveway….
I realise it isn’t the answer for everyone but it may help a few.
Most commutes/journeys are less than 20 miles, meaning that the average EV has enough battery capacity to cover several days; as long as you can occasionally park outside your home, it may be a sustainable practise. Only you will be able to judge whether this works for you.
If you have a garden; social services may put a driveway in for you. Our first house (30 years ago) was a council house with a garden, the council dropped the kerb and installed a hard standing for my partner. Not suitable for everyone, but maybe worth speaking with social services if you have a garden or patch of land.
Enyaq EV
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