Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Electric Cars

TBM, you highlight all the reasons that led to me selling the Tesla.... Even if the Tesla had been a hybrid it would have gone.
EVs are appliances, nothing more. A Morgan, or a Porsche is a car to enjoy driving.

I'll stick with petrol for as long as it is available.

Read recently that in the US Ford and now Toyota are moving to the NACS Tesla charger system.

Think charging might be also be a problem on camp sites that offer electric hook ups for caravans etc - saw a sign that asked EV owners not to attempt plugging vehicles into the electric system as it is not designed for EV charging.

Good review TBM. It aligns with what others have experienced for daily use.
Infrastructure not up to scratch. Insufficient charge points and non standard connectivity. Charge points not working. Fast charge ( if your car can take it) expensive.
Cost of car too high as a private buyer. (says he who just bought a new Plus Four! OOPS
I could go full EV for most mileage done but baulk at the cost of getting an EV. Buying the car plus the extra for charging point. I tried a self charging hybrid but not impressed due to a VERY limited E range. A PHEV would have been better but as our mix of journey length errs to lower distance a bigger E range would be better. A range extender version with decent E range and ICE for range extension for the fewer long journeys fits better.

And yet some people get on with them extremely well. My Tesla cost less than the cheapest Morgan (Plus 4), I rarely travel over 300 miles in a day (if I do the Tesla charging network is very reliable) and it costs about 5p a mile.

I don't need to drive like Lewis Hamilton on every journey - quite happy driving normally - I am not looking for a more 'involving' drive to Sainsbury's or the office.

So far I've done 35,000 trouble free, cheap, quick and silent miles... no service required either.

I often wonder when I read these conversations and their focus on range, just how many posters have done any serious analysis of how often they actually will exceed say 200 miles in a day and need to rechanrge on the run so to speak. And when they have done this have they offset against the wait at a public charger with the much larger number of days when they set off from home with a car fully charged overnight. In other words 5 longer journeys per year - extra charge time 5 x 30 mins. No weekly petrol station - 52 x 10 mins saved.

I dont have a leccy car so I am not an evangelist for them. But it seems to me that for most people the range really isnt the issue its talked to be.

Let me guess.... er, none.

My MG cost £4K, and I pay no tax

Neither of my vehicles are really able to be driven in a 'Lewis Hamilton' style, in fact I'm much more of a 'bimbler' - rarely get above 60mph on the journey to work and back. However, no matter what rubbish the working day throws at me, I now look forward to getting in the MG or the Mog and enjoying my drive home.

I'm a bit anal about petrol costs and mpg etc and have a number of spreadsheets that I use to work out weekly/,monthly and yearly running costs, tax, insurance etc.....Helps me budget and balance the books at the end of the month.

With regard to 200mile + day journeys - My Mrs does 2 to 3 a month for business. We do at least one day trip to Worcester a month to visit my elderly parents. Then we have a number of citybreaks and holidays a year that are 200 or more (we did 350 miles on Friday). And it certainly doesn't take 10 mins to fill up a petrol vehicle - more like 3 mins. This gives me 300 in the MG, 350 in the Mog or 450 in the Golf.

A Tesla would tick most of the boxes - great range, large charging infrastructure and fast charging. However the massive initial cost would outweigh any savings on fuel and it would be a number of years before I saw any benefit, And I can't afford one and although I was rather impressed when I first travelled in one, these days probably wouldn't buy one if I could.

My trips for the last month.

Visit my mother 20km return.
Drive to band job 80km return.
Drive to band practice 40km return.
Go to Sydney with Granddaughters for a concert 800km,
Drive to airport to fly to Funeral 80km return.
Drive to band job 80km return.
Go to Sydney to see my car and start it up 700km return.

Generally I will drop in to my mums house on a bike ride. I seem to do about 5 short trips a month and one or two long trips. Certainly over 3/4 of the KM's are long trips. I generally fill up on the way out of town and the way back in at the cheap petrol station and don't need to fill up in between for my small trips.

My big concern is the Skoda Octavia 6 speed manual is a lot of fun to drive but the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV seemed very boring on the test drive. The only thing it has going for it is the 4WD for doing more bike riding in national parks and wanting to drive into the bush. when I said the Outlander seemed boring to drive I was told by she who is supposed to be obeyed your MGB will be finished soon and that is your fun car, you don't need two fun cars. Not sure if i should be obeying her or not on this decision.

I agree that Tesla ticks a lot of boxes but the box Tesla does not tick is their lack of a wagon, no way could I use one for band jobs carrying guitars, amplifiers speakers, lights etc. in a Model 3 or Y and Tesla doesn't sell anything else down under. Why they don't make a wagon/hatch version of the # and Y to me is crazy.

Exactly… urban use is clearly the main use case for EVs which is why the ~cheapo 150mile claimed range Dacia Spring will be far more relevant to many folk versus ETrons, iPaces, iXs and other battery sheds on wheels.

Plenty of evolution yet to come in EVs. The petrolhead in me is awaiting reports on the new Wankel REV Mazda (how cool - EV plus Wankel power!)… and liking the idea of a 2nd hand large-battery E-up / CitigoE for local use, plus a more conventional small car for long range trips.