Electric car thread

[octave]

10 hours ago, onetrack said:

Octave, you should have read to the bottom of the Drive article - where it says....

I did read the whole article. My point stands that EV sales (BEV, PHEV) have not "fallen off a cliff"  The proportion of BEV to HEV has shifted recently, whether this is permanent or temporary, time will tell. 

Remember the Channel 7  story about Tesla graveyards in Melbourne that they suggested was growing at 40000 cars a month?  This "graveyard" must be enormous by now. 

 

The automotive market (all cars) for August was down by 10.6 percent on last August.    change is not usually linear but there will be ups and downs

[red750]

https://au.yahoo.com/news/aussie-tourist-stunned-by-ev-street-detail-on-holiday-its-possible-after-all-232553646.html

[Jerry_Atrick]

I think I mentioned ages ago the use of lampposts as charging stations over here. Isn't Sweden rolling out wireless charging lanes? https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/sweden-building-worlds-first-permanent-ev-charging-joseph-mucheru-zrkbf#:~:text=Highway Details&text=Construction began in 2023 and,sensors that trigger power delivery.

 

Quite often, Aus does not get the latest gear for a while; the market is small compared to the USA, Europe, and Asia.

Edited September 9 by Jerry_Atrick

[spacesailor]

No council in Australia will give FREE electricity..

Especially to the wealthier end of town .

My granddaughter bought a ' Hybrid ' solely because she can't put a ' charging point ' , in a " state housing "

building .

spacesailor

[octave]

6 minutes ago, spacesailor said:

No council in Australia will give FREE electricity..1,300 street lights converted to EV chargers in London

These lamp post charging points are not free electricity.

 

http://1,300 street lights converted to EV chargers in London

 

 

[spacesailor]

Who pays for that modification. 

spacesailor

[octave]

11 minutes ago, spacesailor said:

Who pays for that modification. 

I imagine whoever pays for the conversation recoups their investment in charging fees like any other business.

[Jerry_Atrick]

Councils may not give free charging, but some do. When was the last time you regularly  got free petrol or diesel? I'd wager never.

https://carpart.com.au/blog/are-there-free-ev-charging-stations-in-australia

 

There are two or three companies that provide lampposts and bollard charge points. This appears to be the bigger one: https://ubitricity.com/en/charging-solutions/ac-lamppost/

[spacesailor]

Were talking about councils .

Who have easy money from ,

" Ratepayers " .

spacesailor

[Jerry_Atrick]

 In terms of who pays, the lampposts and bollards charging is public (council) owned. They can get a grant from Central government and seek private investment. They then charge for the electricity used and if there is private investment, some of that goes to the investor. 

 

I am not sure of the point you are trying to make.. should the council give free electricity to EV owners? If so, then won't you complain that ICE car owners who pay rates are subsidising EV owners running costs?

 

My point was that while councils may not give free electricity for your EV, there are places you can get it free.

Edited September 9 by Jerry_Atrick

[kgwilson]

NRMA had a lot of free charging points all over the State. Most were quite slow at less than 50 kW but they were free. Most of these are no longer free as the original incentives to install & run them has expired. Chargefox that installed them now charges for them but they are not expensive at around 30 cents/kWh. The faster the charger is, the more expensive they are. Tesla Super chargers seem to be the most expensive, at least for non Tesla owners at 60 to 70 cents per kWh but they are fast at 350 Kw.

[red750]

A friend at the Men's Shed yesterday told me about his son who owned an MG EV. He had waited some months for it and was involved in a minor collision on day one out of the dealership. My friend said the car required some new parts, but there was a 4 month delay in availablity of parts from China.

 

I read somewhere, on Yahoo I think, that supply of parts for Chinese EV's was a problem, and you would be better to buy a vehicle from Japan or South Korea (Hyundai or Kia). Have you had any problems, @kgwilson?

 

Another problem my friend mentioned was that insurance on EV's is many times greater than on the ICE equivalent.

 

Also, those states which give incentives to go electric, such as reductions or rebates on registration, are about to end them. NSW and Qld already have no such incentives.

 

Please note, I am not knocking EV's and if I had the money (at almost 80 I couldn't get a loan regardless of my credit score) I would be in one in an instant. I'm just trying to confirm/clarify some things I heard/read.

 

[kgwilson]

The parts supply for brand new models of any vehicle is always a problem. This doesn't just apply to EVs. My MG4 was one of the first in Australia but there were virtually no parts available at that time & the supply from Shanghai was very slow mainly due to the factory having such a backlog of orders for new vehicles, supply of spares was on the back burner. A year later that has changed somewhat. The Bridgestone tyres it came with were specifically made for EVs with very good rolling resistance. When my car was new they weren't even available at all in Australia. Now no problem. I imagine the same was the same for a windscreen. I am getting one replaced next week as I got a stone chip & that turned in to a crack. The new one was sourced within a day.

 

The cost is around 3k which is ridiculous but this is common for any vehicle with all the electronic stuff as all the sensors have to be recalibrated etc. Attached to the windscreen is a box of electronics including 2 cameras, a forward collision radar, a GPS, an emergency call system with its own eSIM and cellular system antenna. The full process is going to take 3 - 4 hours.

 

The cost of insurance is no different to any car. It cost me $712.00 for fully comprehensive cover of 50k. This year the cost has gone up by $15.00. I don't know where the EV high Insurance cost rumour started but it is wrong. One problem is that there are few trained technicians able to fix the electrics and batteries which in the early stages led to EVs being written off when there was relatively minor damage. This is changing as more technicians get trained. The high voltage battery consists of multiple modules and individual modules can be repaired or replaced. The HV battery on the MG 4 is designed to be easily removable so it can be dropped from under the car on to a trolly and worked on, tested and replaced. The complete HV battery weighs about 400 kg.

[Marty_d]

8 hours ago, kgwilson said:

The parts supply for brand new models of any vehicle is always a problem. This doesn't just apply to EVs. My MG4 was one of the first in Australia but there were virtually no parts available at that time & the supply from Shanghai was very slow mainly due to the factory having such a backlog of orders for new vehicles, supply of spares was on the back burner. A year later that has changed somewhat. The Bridgestone tyres it came with were specifically made for EVs with very good rolling resistance. When my car was new they weren't even available at all in Australia. Now no problem. I imagine the same was the same for a windscreen. I am getting one replaced next week as I got a stone chip & that turned in to a crack. The new one was sourced within a day.

 

The cost is around 3k which is ridiculous but this is common for any vehicle with all the electronic stuff as all the sensors have to be recalibrated etc. Attached to the windscreen is a box of electronics including 2 cameras, a forward collision radar, a GPS, an emergency call system with its own eSIM and cellular system antenna. The full process is going to take 3 - 4 hours.

 

The cost of insurance is no different to any car. It cost me $712.00 for fully comprehensive cover of 50k. This year the cost has gone up by $15.00. I don't know where the EV high Insurance cost rumour started but it is wrong. One problem is that there are few trained technicians able to fix the electrics and batteries which in the early stages led to EVs being written off when there was relatively minor damage. This is changing as more technicians get trained. The high voltage battery consists of multiple modules and individual modules can be repaired or replaced. The HV battery on the MG 4 is designed to be easily removable so it can be dropped from under the car on to a trolly and worked on, tested and replaced. The complete HV battery weighs about 400 kg.

Jeez that's cheaper than the premium on our 2015 Santa Fe valued around $24k. Who do you go through?

[kgwilson]

18 hours ago, Marty_d said:

Jeez that's cheaper than the premium on our 2015 Santa Fe valued around $24k. Who do you go through?

Youi

[spacesailor]

Cheaper than NRMA charged for my 1998 Delica L400 .

Almost a $ thousand .

Blooody rip-off. 

PS. : Shannon insurance,  for 

' special & club vehicles ',  wouldn't even talk to me when I gave them a call .

spacesailor

 

[red750]

My son is in the process of buying a car (not new), but still around $70,000. He checked with Compare The Market and fhey suggested Budget Direct. He hasn't decided yet, as he's having a few things fitted to the car.

[Jerry_Atrick]

6 hours ago, spacesailor said:

Cheaper than NRMA charged for my 1998 Delica L400 .

Almost a $ thousand .

Blooody rip-off. 

PS. : Shannon insurance,  for 

' special & club vehicles ',  wouldn't even talk to me when I gave them a call .

spacesailor

 

OK.. Fess up, Specy... how many accidents and speeding tickets?

 

[kgwilson]

Budget direct is usually one of the cheapest for cars & property. My house & contents was with Youi as well but the premium has gone ballistic in the last 2 years with 36% & then 24% increases. I used compare the market & got a much better deal with Budget Direct & I saved nearly $500.00. There is a first year special discount of 30% & there is no flood cover that I had before but I don't need that as we are not in a flood prone area. Next year I will do another check. Loyalty to an Insurance company or in fact any supplier of goods and services is a thing of the past. if you are still using the same organisation or even brand for anything for many years you are almost certainly not getting the best deal any more.

 

Comparison websites are good but they all have affiliations with various companies so only provide information from those companies. They have to disclose this and it is sometimes not easy to find.

[old man emu]

2 hours ago, kgwilson said:

if you are still using the same organisation or even brand for anything for many years you are almost certainly not getting the best deal any more.

I've been with Telstra since it was the PMG. Recently I was making a somewhat unrelated enquiry about my internet data. The person I was talking to (in a shop front) must have been down on her productivity, so she had a look at the plan I was on. As a result, she was able to put me on a plan that doubled my data allowance and dropped the monthly phone/internet bill by about $20.

 

Living in a rural area, one is almost bound to be a Telstra customer in order to have coverage. The Newell Highway runs through my area and is heavily trafficked. However, even on this busy road, which has a raised collision rate (vehicles and wildlife) has dead spots not far from major centres.

[spacesailor]

One " red light camera " for crossing too slow .  ( 2 y )

One speed ticket  4 or 5 years ago .

So not too bad .

spacesailor

 

[Marty_d]

2 hours ago, old man emu said:

 

Living in a rural area, one is almost bound to be a Telstra customer in order to have coverage. The Newell Highway runs through my area and is heavily trafficked. However, even on this busy road, which has a raised collision rate (vehicles and wildlife) has dead spots not far from major centres.

There are alternatives who still use the Telstra network.

[kgwilson]

There are lots of them and most are cheaper than Telstra They bulk buy bandwidth from Telstra and sell it to customers at a cheaper rate. Still uses the Telstra network. My mobile plan is with Amaysim which uses Optus. I get unlimited talk & text nation wide but only 4GB a month in data which I hardly ever use. Unused data rolls over and I currently have a credit of over 150GB. The plan costs $30.00 for 90 days. Similar plans are available from other Telcos with Telsta as the carrier but they are more expensive than Optus.

 

I have found that most places I go to I have coverage although Telstra seems to cover more remote areas but there are exceptions. I was on a 4WD driving course west of Dorrigo & there was good Optus coverage there but no Telstra coverage at all.

[onetrack]

The difference with the "Telstra network" aftermarket phone service providers, is they get throttled back on the Telstra network, and Telstra don't make all their towers available to them.

You don't generally find this out, until after you've signed up with them.