Electric car thread

[red750]

Participation has been down for a few weeks.

 

Our shed had a BBQ day today, run by the group from the ladies day. Quite a turnout.

[nomadpete]

I'm still saving up for a EV. But I put a self imposed deadline on myself.

 Only put 6 months rego on the old faithful Mitzi Outlander. With 350,000k on the clock she is getting a bit tired. At last oil change I gave her some 15w 50 oil which quietened the engine rattle down a lot.

[facthunter]

They depreciate fast. A carefully chosen Second Hand one might be worth considering.. Nev

[Brendan]

On 11/10/2026 at 2:42 PM, old man emu said:

Just wathed an Australian video about towing with a BYD Shark and its fuel consumption. The Shark has a small battery and IC engine for charging during use. The bloke was towing a 3 tonne caravan and crossing Queensland east to west. He said that his fuel consumption was 24 litres/100km crossing the Divide, but when he got out on the flat country it went up to about 44 litres/100km. He attributed the difference to the lack of regenerative braking in teh flat country.

 

With that flat country consumption, who could afford to use one of these for towing? As far as I can see, the Shark seems to be a good vehicle, if you are looking to drive a Toorak Tractor. 

My trucks use around 30-35 /100 km at gross weight of 27 tonnes .

 

 

[Brendan]

On 11/10/2026 at 11:46 PM, red750 said:

I know it's a totally different animal, but my 22 year old Holden Astra, a rebadged German Opel, has the turn indicators on the left of the column, wiper/washers on the right. My daughter, for God knows what reason, has her heart set on a Ford Mach 1, the electric version of the Mustang. It has the 'gear' selector on the right of the column.

I have ridden in a few evs the last 2 weeks in the US.  Uber rides, mustang mach e was nice . Kia evs good , didn't think much of the tesla 3 but liked the Tesla model s. All the drivers said they saved them a fortune compared to ice. But  on hot days  there range is cut right back running the aircon . My cousin in Phoenix bought a new all electric Audi last year but got rid of it due to range issues. I also got a ride in a hybrid camry, the driver preferred it because he doesn't have to lose time charging during the day and it returns around 55 mpg.

And waymo driverless taxis are everywhere now, cousin's husband said they have 10,000 of them and more on the way. 

 

Edited 18 hours ago by Brendan

[old man emu]

We grew up comparing the fuel consumption of vehicles in terms of volume per unit of distance - mpg or l/100km. From those figures we could work out how much it cost to travel a given distance. Now we are given the "fuel capacity" of an EV in kiloWatthours (kWh). Shouldn't electricity consumption figures be quoted in km/kWh?

 

Here's an example:  A vehicle can go 80 kms on a 30 kWh battery. That's 2.6 kms/kWh. One kWh costs, on average 30 cents. That's about 12 cents per km. 

 

Yes, I know. If you have your own solar generation the electricity allegedly costs nothing (ignoring set up costs for the solar system). But go away from home and you have to pay.

 

 

[facthunter]

When you get in anything you need to Know How Long the fuel will keep you going.  (range). before you commit. A lot of fuel Gauges are not that accurate.. IF you got a Leak , or the engine for some reason consumed at above the Normal (expected ) rate, where would you be?  You need to know your Endurance always. ATC can ask you what it is.  Nev