Road Trip EV Journalism

[yessuz]

Exeter looks to be turning into a pretty big hub now (they need queue management..) - aside from that Tesla has decent coverage up the M4 and M3/A303 (less so here). Not sure about up the M5. M40 Banbury is there for everyone too.

So realyl that leaves the leg of Cornwall. Tesla has Lifton and cambourne so you have a handy 'last mile' stop you can use for local travel if you're heading deep. So for non-tesla 'all' they really need is a couple of equivalents to those two deeper into cornwall.. hopefully soon?

but there are some. not sure how reliable.

 

[yessuz]

What I always tell people is forget all the charging stuff its fine so long as you have a driveway and aren't a rep. The reason to get an EV is so that you never have to get into a hot or cold car ever again and never have or de-ice. Even if you forget to pre-heat. Instant heat when you set off.
I take a road trip a few times a year. I do one of those things multiple times a day much of the year. It was 46 degrees inside the car today when I turned on the ac from my desk this afternoon. You never hear that talked about outside of places like this.

just a comment - I could do exactly that (heating/cooling) in 330e... nothing new or special

 

[Mrklaw]

just a comment - I could do exactly that (heating/cooling) in 330e... nothing new or special

its fairly special - the 330e was a PHEV with a pretty big battery? I hear people in the US talk about remote start so maybe they are allowed to start engines to deice but I don’t think you can in the UK

certainly I’ve never had a car before my EV that let you do that - the closest I got was also a BMW - 330Ci I think - which let you activate the ventilation remotely. Didn’t cool or heat just vent outside temperature air. Barely worth using

 

[Jason71]

just a comment - I could do exactly that (heating/cooling) in 330e... nothing new or special

So my best reason for getting an EV is not a good reason to buy an EV because you had a car with that feature........ That was an EV. OK

 

[yessuz]

So my best reason for getting an EV is not a good reason to buy an EV because you had a car with that feature........ That was an EV. OK

fair, but what I am saying is that people give it as somewhat novelty or something new fantastic and never heard of (not you, others) while it is nothing special. don't get me wrong - it is a nice feature to have, for sure, but then it's there with others as well

 

[Zilla91]

If making a programme about EVs why is that they choose a presenter who has had no experience of driving an EV?

Because the vast majority of the population has no experience of driving an EV, so it's a much more accurate reflection of what the reality would be like

But if you had been going on a trip to Scotland you would therefore spend a few minutes looking up the most common charging options…

If it was me, I'd assume it would be exactly the same as it would be south of the border. Unless anything has changed recently, you lot still haven't achieved independence yet

 

[yessuz]

its fairly special - the 330e was a PHEV with a pretty big battery? I hear people in the US talk about remote start so maybe they are allowed to start engines to deice but I don’t think you can in the UK

certainly I’ve never had a car before my EV that let you do that - the closest I got was also a BMW - 330Ci I think - which let you activate the ventilation remotely. Didn’t cool or heat just vent outside temperature air. Barely worth using

I think all and any phev can do that.
in essence, all hybrids can start heating/cooling remotely (if internet connection is there) as they use HVAC

 

[Jason71]

Because the vast majority of the population has no experience of driving an EV, so it's a much more accurate reflection of what the reality would be like

That is true they don't, but they are also unlikely to just be parachuted into an EV one day with no knowledge of them and be told to go on a road trip. Its not like you are going to turn up at Hertz and be told sorry we only have EV's deal with it ( not yet anyway)
So most people if they do go on a road trip in an EV it will be after a long process of acquiring it through which all but the dumbest will do some kind of learning like finding out Charge place Scotland exists. and then maybe some planning for the actual journey.

This I'm going to see if I can "rent" an EV and then set off exactly as I would in an ICE journalism is so pointless because that is not what real people would do.
I mean its not like we get someone who has never even visited a zoo and send them off to Africa to report on the wild life. No we send David Attenbough with 80 years of knowledge and experience to educate and inform us.

So why can't they get someone to present one of these programs on EV's from a position of knowledge to educate people about the right way.

I mean there is a market for sending people with no knowledge into situations on TV but that is usually considered comedy and involves comedians either in groups or with one of their parents.
And yes there are also stories in the press telling the alleged horror stories of members of the public who try to do a 1000mile journey with no planning in a mini electric and get stranded but those stories should be a reflection of the idiocy of those people and their bad choices not the car.

You don't see any stories about how bad ICE cars are because 800,000 (yes 800K) people driving them run out of fuel each year

 

[Jason71]

And another thing

how can you do a program like the panorama one without mentioning Tesla? you would not do a program about the impact of smart phones without one mention of Apple.

For a program focusing on charging as much as this did surely you have to mention the gold standard which lets be honest ( no fanboysm required) is the supercharger network. And say these cars are expense most people can't afford them right now but look how this works hopefully by the 2030 ban it will be this easy for everyone?

 

[Mrklaw]

"are EVs crap" isn't even a very interesting subject.

"what are the challenges ahead of a planned 2030 ban on ICE cars" sounds more like it. EV ownership would then only be a fairly small part of that, charging infrastructure looked at a higher level (get Gridserve, DNO, government comments), Talk to the grid for the classic 'will the grid fall over' and let them talk about decarbonising generally and the rapid rollout of renewables. Maybe a comparison of extremes - someoen with solar/battery/off peak tariff costing 2p/mile to run a tesla LR with all chargers available; vs someone with no offstreet parking so relying on public charging. Just to show it can be easy but there are also challenges.

Their approach was lazy as hell

 

[Medved_77]

Its not like you are going to turn up at Hertz and be told sorry we only have EV's deal with it

When I rented a Tesla from Hertz recently they sent me 13 emails introducing the car and explaining the differences between EV and ICE. Mostly how to use certain features, how and where to charge, how to pay for charging.

I'd be surprised if they didn't issue similar communications for the other EVs they offer, like the Polestar and Niro.

 

[Mrklaw]

When I rented a Tesla from Hertz recently they sent me 13 emails introducing the car and explaining the differences between EV and ICE. Mostly how to use certain features, how and where to charge, how to pay for charging.

View attachment 946499

I'd be surprised if they didn't issue similar communications for the other EVs they offer, like the Polestar and Niro.

thats more than I got from Tesla when I bought one. Got a text this mornig 'hey you pick your car up tomorrow, here's a URL but its self-service, help yourself' lol

 

[thewishy]

Panorama isn't the right platform for this sort of content, it doesn't need investigative journalism. An education approach would make a lot more sense. We all know you *can* make EVs work for you, but there is a learning curve. Otherwise people end up on an ecotricity charger, or an AC charger intended for park and ride usage, and report that it takes them 8 hours to charge

 

[Zilla91]

That is true they don't, but they are also unlikely to just be parachuted into an EV one day with no knowledge of them and be told to go on a road trip.

That is also true. It's all very exaggerated but the fact remains unless you do your homework, which lets face it, the overwhelming majority of people will not do, you're going to run into these problems.

I've been driving an EV for over a year now, I've done journeys up and down England but I knew nothing about Chargeplace Scotland until it was mentioned earlier. If someone who joins a forum and has more of an interest in this topic than your usual punter didn't know about it, what chance does anyone else have?

how can you do a program like the panorama one without mentioning Tesla?

Because the vast majority of EVs out on our streets are not Teslas and the Supercharger network is not an accurate reflection of the state of the charging network in this country.

 

[spdpsba]

Because the vast majority of EVs out on our streets are not Teslas and the Supercharger network is not an accurate reflection of the state of the charging network in this country.

The last 6 months data

 

[Mrklaw]

That is also true. It's all very exaggerated but the fact remains unless you do your homework, which lets face it, the overwhelming majority of people will not do, you're going to run into these problems.

I've been driving an EV for over a year now, I've done journeys up and down England but I knew nothing about Chargeplace Scotland until it was mentioned earlier. If someone who joins a forum and has more of an interest in this topic than your usual punter didn't know about it, what chance does anyone else have?


Because the vast majority of EVs out on our streets are not Teslas and the Supercharger network is not an accurate reflection of the state of the charging network in this country.

Any new car you’ll spend time getting to know. If you’re going somewhere unfamiliar you should also check - even if I had an ICE I’d probably be careful with something like the NC500 in case there are spots with poor fuel options.

Although even with ICE people have issues
AA issues £200 warning after hundreds use wrong fuel to refill their tanks

 

[Konicom04]

just a comment - I could do exactly that (heating/cooling) in 330e... nothing new or special

no as fluently or intuitively as in a tesla.
I could do preheat/precool in my other cars but it always was dependent on factors, or the app didn't work

 

[pgkevet]

Any new car you’ll spend time getting to know. If you’re going somewhere unfamiliar you should also check - even if I had an ICE I’d probably be careful with something like the NC500 in case there are spots with poor fuel options.

Although even with ICE people have issues
AA issues £200 warning after hundreds use wrong fuel to refill their tanks

You'll be fine with a spare can of sparks in the boot

 

[Konicom04]

Its not like you are going to turn up at Hertz and be told sorry we only have EV's deal with it ( not yet anyway)

HA! - exactly what happened to my friends on their recent visit in California,

 

[Jason71]

When I rented a Tesla from Hertz recently they sent me 13 emails introducing the car and explaining the differences between EV and ICE. Mostly how to use certain features, how and where to charge, how to pay for charging.

View attachment 946499

I'd be surprised if they didn't issue similar communications for the other EVs they offer, like the Polestar and Niro.

nice