BBC FUD Fest: Mini-E London to Edinburgh

[Kevin Sharpe]

one more;

http://yfrog.us/13qzvz

 

[Kevin Sharpe]

and another;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4G92fa33kFg

 

[Kevin Sharpe]

this is fantastic!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kL3zCMVSnV8

 

[vfx]

this is fantastic!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kL3zCMVSnV8

It really is great.

 

[Kevin Sharpe]

we need YOUR help #electriccarrevolt RT @emileage: London to Edinburgh by #electric car: it was quicker by stagecoach http://bit.ly/f1W8xG

 

[doug]

we need YOUR help #electriccarrevolt RT @emileage: London to Edinburgh by #electric car: it was quicker by stagecoach http://bit.ly/f1W8xG

Kevin's link from above:

London to Edinburgh by electric car: it was quicker by stagecoach - The Telegraph

In its obsessive desire to promote the virtues of electric cars, the BBC proudly showed us last week how its reporter Brian Milligan was able to drive an electric Mini from London to Edinburgh in a mere four days – with nine stops of up to 10 hours to recharge the batteries (with electricity from fossil fuels).
What the BBC omitted to tell us was that in the 1830s, a stagecoach was able to make the same journey in half the time...

Ironic that this guy views the BBC stunt as pro-EV.

 

[Dragon]

I don't care.
Nice vid.

 

[dpeilow]

Thought you guys might appreciate this:

We saw a dealer and couldn't resist :biggrin:

 

[TEG]

http://electric-vehicles-cars-bikes.blogspot.com/2011/01/tesla-roadster-drives-to-scotland-in-1.html

http://wot.motortrend.com/500-mile-trip-takes-mini-four-days-tesla-roadster-makes-one-23779.html

 

[qwk]

These guys are just as bad as BBC.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/01/18/bbc_tesla_edinburgh_e_car_shenanigans/page4.html

 

[dpeilow]

Yeah the Register used to be a good read, now they are just obnoxious (I thought that before this story, by the way).

I responded. Let's see if they have the bottle to publish my comment uncut:

A little bit jealous Mr Page?

So as a reader of this site for more than ten years, I finally made it into a story! I never thought it would be on this topic back then, though.

Mr Page seems to have an issue with the £90k car I just took on the *428.2* miles to Edinburgh (on my route). Like the high price is a reason not to like the technology. I can remember my old man's first PC costing £4000 in 1983 money. Now look at them...

For the record, this one was a non-Sport basic model Tesla.

Yes we had to stop for a while at the second location due to the smaller socket that was there (and yes I got 40 winks), but I can tell you it was a damn sight less stressful and I arrived more refreshed than the usual 7 hour trips that I regularly do on that route.

I have to declare an interest here: My Mrs is from Edinburgh and I'd really like to see this become practical on a regular basis so that we can drive up there by EV. At less than £10 of electricity, what is not to like about that?

That 70 Amp High Power Charger I charged on at the first stop costs £2k. £2k! The government is spending £30m on charging infrastructure at the moment and all we have to show for it are the silly jumped-up 13 Amp domestic sockets that the BBC man used in a few carparks, which are useful for G-Wiz drivers and not much else. WTF?!? I could use £4k worth of Tesla chargers and get to Edinburgh in under 11 hours. That's maybe 7 hours on the road and 4 to have a couple of decent meals en route. After next year it will be back close to 7 hours when someone (who knows it could be me) does the same trip in a Model S with DC fast charge. For £30m we should be seeing thousands of these chargers - where are they?

What makes it even more of a joke is that the Mini-E can also fast charge. In the USA, BMW even supplied the same type of fast charger as Tesla uses to trialists. The BBC man never mentioned that, I bet.

What your story also doesn't say is that I then went on from Edinburgh to Armagh, Northern Ireland for a birthday party, before taking the Tesla back via Dublin (where I saw a DC fast charger, by the way), Wales and down from Stafford to my place on Sunday night. That's right - a real trip to see real family - not PR stunt followed by return trip to London on a trailer like the BBC. We covered nearly 1200 miles in five days, including two rest days.

On my previous trip I took a boot-full of adapters because I didn't know what I would find or what to expect. That trip gave me the confidence in the car to know that it will go as far as it says it will. This time it was much easier because we just had to get to Edinburgh. And yes, I did install a 32 Amp socket in the garage before. At a total cost of £15 (£8.50 for the socket from Screwfix, £3.50 for a breaker and £3 of cable), there is no excuse for every new house, hotel or pub not to have them.

As for your jumping to conclusions about whether Tesla's fans can afford the car - I bet you have no idea what a satellite engineer earns and I'm certain you have no idea what my household income is. But that's beside the point because I will be getting a Model S when it hits the showroom. Why? Because being in the right place at the right time three years ago got me a 5 minute spin in a Roadster prototype and the rest is history. I was a committed petrolhead until that date and I still love all sorts of cars, but it showed me what an EV could be and I never looked back. I expect most naysayers have never even sat in one.

This site was regular reading back in the day, but I must admit that these days a story has to be pretty interesting for me to come here. I think the quality of stories from Lewis Page recently has something to do with that.

 

[mpt]

I think the Registers' M.O. is to take any story, find the champion then vilify them. It's just what they do "Bite the hand that feeds". I used to read it years ago when it was new and fun but these days it's a bit passé.

Good circulation though; should bring the whole story to a lot of new people; they'll draw their own conclusions and, as I suspect many are techies they'll get the right end of the stick.

 

[kgb]

What the BBC omitted to tell us was that in the 1830s, a stagecoach was able to make the same journey in half the time, with two days and nights of continuous driving. This did require 50 stops to change horses, but each of these took only two minutes, giving a total stopping time of just over an hour and a half.

However, if the BBC were to do the trip by stagecoach, they would use a prototype stagecoach that uses miniature ponies and arrive a week after they left to show that ICE cars are also superior to stagecoach.

 

[dpeilow]

Check this out and you'll probably get a good idea of the type we are dealing with here: http://lewispage.blogspot.com/

If we all drove EVs, his pals would have no excuse to go hunting for WMDs...

 

[Jaff]

Nice reply David...a solid (verbal) drubbing for Mr. Page!...

 

[TEG]

http://motoring.iafrica.com/newsbriefs/699151.html

 

[dpeilow]

Well they eventually published.

I liked this one, a few posts down

Story from The Register, 17th January, 1897 #
Posted Tuesday 18th January 2011 20:58 GMT

This 'motor car' is all very well, but what does the travelling gentleman do when it runs out of gasoline? Sending one's driver to the nearest respectable house and asking to use some of theirs is so slow and unreliable. By contrast, the gentleman travelling post can take advantage of the wide network of establishments at which to change horses, and complete his journey in a fraction of the time! Surely such a network could never be established for the supply of such a hazardous material as gasoline, required in such considerable quantities as it is for the purposes of motorized transportation! We confidently predict the 'motor car' will be looked back upon as a mere historical curiosity by our readers a hundred years hence.

 

[doug]

Though they seem to miss the point, I'm surprised the Register article is so detailed. Even if they got a lot of those details wrong, it seems like they at least read this forum.

I've wondered why everyone assumed David was driving a Roadster Sport. It's RHD and a 2.5, but not Sport. Even Nikki assumed it was a Sport.

 

[TEG]

I've wondered why everyone assumed David was driving a Roadster Sport. It's RHD and a 2.5, but not Sport. Even Nikki assumed it was a Sport.

I didn't (no sport badge on the side), but I could see why some would:
#1: It has the higher end wheels often associated with the sport.
#2: Many of the store demo models seem to be Sports as it would make sense to offer the slightly quicker model when trying to impress potential customers on test drives.

I bet if you counted all the Roadsters with the big Tesla banner along the side, a high percentage would be Sports.

I wonder how much quicker (t-(X*.02secs)) he would have gotten to Scotland with a Sport ;^}

Anyways, sport or non-sport isn't really important to any of this.

 

[TEG]

I liked this one, a few posts down...

Funny. If you were visiting a relative in a far away town I bet you would have better luck asking "Can I plug my car into a spare outlet while I visit?" compared to "Can I have 8 gallons of Petrol?"