Car (or bike) Chat!

[dave2010]

Is that what James Bond drives?

Someone has a killer instinct.

[Pigmy Pony]

Auto or manual, I'm not fussed which I drive.

My favourite automatic is a 7.65mm PPK, but that's another story!

Well, at 1000 ft/s they were certainly quick

[Pigmy Pony]

I've seen it and flown over it, but not climbed it. Indeed the only mountain I've climbed is Snowdon, which I did when I wasn't very old. I have walked up to the top of one or two mountains from the top cable car station - but that's not the same!

I've never climbed any mountains outside of Britain - quite a few in the Lakes, but this was my favourite one. Stac Pollaidh, about 10 miles north of Ullapool. Less than 1500 ft, but seems like more as it goes all the way down to sea level.

[struth]

highest point around these parts is this.
and this



on a good day you get great views of the forth

[dave2010]

Notice the orange light on the front logo is on now
Looked it up online and it seems it does this every 24 hrs and the traction battery tops off the 12v battery every 24hrs apparently.

Glad you're enjoying your new toy.

We've been unsure about whether EVs do have a 12v battery or not. Not sure that they all do - but we suspect that Zoe does. I don't know about others, such as Teslas.

Re the preheating etc., if it's going to be very cold it is worth leaving the car plugged in, so that it is possible to either pre-condition the car on a schedule, or start the heating remotely. It's not just a matter of comfort, but an additional one of making sure it's possible to actually enter the vehicle. Otherwise you still have to spray deicer on the keys and warm up the locks. Also the windows freeze up and can't be raised or lowered, just like most other cars.

If you don't leave the car plugged in, then it's also possible to do the preheating - though be warned that you may need to check that any app you use to control the car remotely actually works. It's not much good having the feature to warm the car up if when the car freezes the app doesn't work, and the heating can't be turned on. Yes - that can happen! Apps on different remote devices may not all work, or may interfere with each other's operations.

However, if you don't want to use the car until the weather perks up, then it's quite a bit cheaper to just leave it to freeze, and then later thaw naturally, as using the heater - either from battery power or from the grid - is moderately costly. Chances are though that if you keep the battery charged up to (say) 75-80%, that it's actually cheaper to use battery power to provide the pre-conditioning/heating, as the battery can be charged up significantly cheaper in off peak periods.

We try to avoid charging our EVs up to more than 80% generally for two reasons. Firstly, there is some slight evidence that always charging to close to 100% reduces battery life, while secondly, regenerative braking is not effective if the battery is nearly fully charged. If we plan on a long trip then we do go for max.

Have you got a contract with an electricity supplier with a good off peak rate? That can save quite a bit.

[struth]

Glad you're enjoying your new toy.

We've been unsure about whether EVs do have a 12v battery or not. Not sure that they all do - but we suspect that Zoe does. I don't know about others, such as Teslas.

Re the preheating etc., if it's going to be very cold it is worth leaving the car plugged in, so that it is possible to either pre-condition the car on a schedule, or start the heating remotely. It's not just a matter of comfort, but an additional one of making sure it's possible to actually enter the vehicle. Otherwise you still have to spray deicer on the keys and warm up the locks. Also the windows freeze up and can't be raised or lowered, just like most other cars.

If you don't leave the car plugged in, then it's also possible to do the preheating - though be warned that you may need to check that any app you use to control the car remotely actually works. It's not much good having the feature to warm the car up if when the car freezes the app doesn't work, and the heating can't be turned on. Yes - that can happen! Apps on different remote devices may not all work, or may interfere with each other's operations.

However, if you don't want to use the car until the weather perks up, then it's quite a bit cheaper to just leave it to freeze, and then later thaw naturally, as using the heater - either from battery power or from the grid - is moderately costly. Chances are though that if you keep the battery charged up to (say) 75-80%, that it's actually cheaper to use battery power to provide the pre-conditioning/heating, as the battery can be charged up significantly cheaper in off peak periods.

We try to avoid charging our EVs up to more than 80% generally for two reasons. Firstly, there is some slight evidence that always charging to close to 100% reduces battery life, while secondly, regenerative braking is not effective if the battery is nearly fully charged. If we plan on a long trip then we do go for max.

Have you got a contract with an electricity supplier with a good off peak rate? That can save quite a bit.

yes they all have them to run lights, stereos, and computers etc.. I think its an invertor that reduces the big battery to 12v to top it off. Some of them you can plug into house and some into other cars etc.
The hyundai app seems very good so far.

no, not yet; i might not actually, itll depend on usage tbh. i dont usually do a lot of miles so might not be worth it, but i will see. cheers.

[dave2010]

no, not yet; i might not actually, itll depend on usage tbh. i dont usually do a lot of miles so might not be worth it, but i will see. cheers.

Many of us haven't been doing many miles/year over the last few years. If you do 3000 miles pa, you might save around £70 - depending on tariffs. Would also depend on whether you could make savings with other consumption which might give more substantial benefits. It's not always really worth the bother of switching, though we have found Octopus quite good.

Also you might be lucky enough to be close enough to a part of Scotland which still has free charging with a subscription card. For example I hear that the chargers in Perth and Kinross (near the bus station at Broxbourne in Perth - and also in Dunkeld) don't charge. Sometimes charging can take "forever" though. Take a drive to Haddington - and if you leave your car in the car park behind Tesco all day you might get it topped up. There are a few things to do there, but I'm not sure it's worth leaving your car on charge all day just to save a few pounds.

Some venues for days out have chargers which don't charge a fee - such as the Secret Bunker near St Andrews, and Fountains Abbey - but other places have chargers which don't charge! [ they're a real pain - particularly if they start, and then stop ten minutes after you leave the car - which happened to us in Helmsdale, and that wasn't the only place. ]

[struth]

currently i only drive locally. not likely to change much afaics. doctors, hospitals, family etc. my lecky bill is quite high anyway as i use it for everything bar heating, so if i increase the cost during day i will likely lose out

[struth]

Was reading some EVs have the low line battery as a 14v lithium fitted into the traction battery case.

[dave2010]

....this was my favourite one. Stac Pollaidh, about 10 miles north of Ullapool. Less than 1500 ft, but seems like more as it goes all the way down to sea level.

Did you go up it? I'm pretty sure I've been close by - though I've not driven much further north beyond Ullapool. I do plan to go round the west side and north coast of the NC500 sometime - but not got round to it yet.

Some sources put it higher than you claimed - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stac_Pollaidh and apparently it's not an impossible "walk".