Talk Morgan Forums Community Vehicle Talk (non-Morgan) Any MINI EV owners?

Actually I believe it's the speed that's the crucial factor, as we discussed a few threads ago.

The amount of energy needed to overcome aerodynamic drag increases with the cube of the speed, so a car that needs 10bhp to go at 50mph needs needs around 20bhp to do 60, 30bhp to do 70, and 45bhp to do 80. You can calculate this for yourself: Cd x cross-sectional area x 0.5 x speed in m/s**3 = KW requirement.

This is why EVs tend to have poor reported range on motorways. People tend to bat along using twice as much energy as they need to. I haven't yet worked it out, but I wouldn't be surprised if overall journey times would be significantly reduced by doing 50mph rather than 80, because of the reduction in charging time needed.

It's difficult to see how they will be able to make any money from servicing, since there's nothing that really needs to be done to the engines or transmission, and the cycle parts (mainly the brakes) can be serviced by anyone, so they would be immediately undercut by backstreet garages or non-franchised service centres.

I think the ultra-modern glass palaces like the one in Cheltenham where we went to buy the Mini will soon be a thing of the past. They'll be simply too expensive to maintain.

I must have missed that one, it makes total sense and of course nothing has really changed.
The fact that on the Motorways there are refuelling station probably every 30 miles roughly, quick stop and away you go we were not so aware of the facts.
Charging opportunities being somewhat limited at present (Tesla excluded) it makes it more of a planning event attempting a holiday I imagine, so a new learn is needed I guess is the answer.

I have followed Shooters distant business travels with his Tesla's and found them very interesting reading especially as he goes to Geneva and the car seems to manage his coffee and lunch breaks with charging times .
The only thing that doesn't seem quite so green is that he is on I think his third car now, which from a battery life I totally understand.

There are over 44,000 charging points available in the UK, with over 550 added in the last 30 days.

The Mini navigation system shows you a circle denoting your current range, the locations of all charges, indicates whether they are currently free or not, and has a selectable option to route you via the chargers to give the most efficient travel. No need to plan, the car does it for you.

There are an lot of rather outdated myths surrounding EVs which really need to be dispelled.

All good features, I think once they get the unit cost down to a realistic level for the average working person they will show real headway but until then it will be a zero option for most.

We specifically chose Heather's Polo GTI as it is a relatively clean sporty engine with a manual gearbox as neither of us like the automatic cars, I'm hanging on for hydrogen if I have to go this route, it's only a matter of time really before both events and I believe by 2030 there will be something viable around for us.

A hydrogen powered CX would excite me

You do realise that a hydrogen powered car is electric, don't you mate? There's no engine or anything, the hydrogen is just an energy storage medium just like batteries. Apart from the well to wheel efficiency drawback, there's a long way to go before they can get decent life out of the fuel cells.

I'm afraid you won't be making any V8 noises unless you buy yourself one of those gizmos

Well of course I do mate, it would be very difficult not to know that with the plethora of information being pushed around these days .

I fancy an onboard power source is my point and not to be solely reliant on batteries, having had a lifetime of working in and around them I am less than impressed with all the claims currently "floating" around.
They still haven't matched the performance of the old Nickel Iron cells from 1910

I'll make a sound track of my Plus 8 before that day arrives synched to the revs of the motors.. Meantime I'll carry on enjoying the real thing roaring around Dartmoor.

Don't forget that Hydrogen powered Fuel Cell vehicles also need a reasonable size lithium battery to capture regenerated electricity and to provide additional power for short bursts when the fuel cell can not provide enough electricity. They are not battery free, they are similar to a current hybrid vehicle except the IC engine has been replaced by a fuel cell.

Exactly, I would be far happier with that arrangement and it's what I imagine will be a viable reality come 2030 when I may need to step into the marketplace.

JCB have developed a hydrogen powered piston engine.

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/industry-news-tech%2C-development-and-manufacturing/jcb-unveils-hydrogen-fuelled-combustion