1,000 km Electric Car by Mercedes

[luv2spd]

Originally Posted by trollbait

It tends be easier getting low drag coefficients with longer cars as you have more material to work with for cleaner 'tails'.

Air conditioning is one of the biggest loads in a house. Most EV charging happens when the A/C isn't running at high demand.

The grid needs upgrading whether or not there is plug ins on the road.

When it comes to drag coefficiency, there is one more huge advantage that electrical cars have. The hoods can be designed to be a lot lower, also lowering the windshield height. The regulation for pedestrian safety requires car manufacturers to have space between the top of the engine and the hood to absorb an impact; that's why most new cars look terrible. EVs have front trunks, therefore the designers have a lot more freedom to design the car.

People have been saying that driving a Tesla Model 3 is similar to mid-engine sports cars, the visibility from the inside is amazing because there is no engine in the front and the hood height is very low.

[JockoT]

Last year, in the UK, more than 25% of new cars sold were electric in some form (Self-charging Hybrid, PHEV or BEV) and the sales of BEVs was more than the previous 5 years put together.

[Draigflag]

That's mainly because the covid pandemic made the poor even poorer and the rich even richer. Those who were fortunate enough to still have jobs and be able to afford a new car, opted for electric if possible. Overall car sales are the lowest they've been for 30 odd years.

[LDB]

Personally, a vehicle has to be able to get me to my daughters in the event of an emergency with no more than a few minutes stop to pump fuel, something no electric vehicle can do. So while that crossing Texas scenario isn't a weekly thing, it has to be a possibility if required.

[trollbait]

Why is it in these EV vs ICE discussions that the existence of PHEVs are forgotten? They do make it possible to shift most of your miles to electric while being as convenient as an ICE when it comes longer trips.

[Draigflag]

A PHEV would suit me perfectly as most of my miles are short trips, I'd only fire up the ice once every 3 weeks or so for food shopping. I like the performance focused ones, but it really bug me loosing 100+ HP every time the hybrid battery became depleted, and fuel economy would take a huge dive dragging around a dead battery, and heavy motor/hybrid system.

[JockoT]

The new Honda Jazz/Fit (not available in the US) is a great hybrid. It has electric traction and uses the engine, running at optimum, to charge the battery. The only time the engine actually drives the car is at higher speeds (no gearbox). The guys I know with them get between 60 and 80 mpg in mixed driving.