Speaking from personal experience that’s rubbish. These so called motoring journalists just don’t understand how to use and drive an EV, they are stuck in a “fill the tank” mentality. It’s not about how much you can stuff in, how quickly, it’s about how much you need.
My car will take a 205kW charge, and I have seen 200+ briefly on charges, but do I ever need to charge at that rate, no. New generations will charge even faster.
But if not now, when? What criteria are you using to decide when the time is right?
That’s certainly true. I found Shell UK particularly rapacious. The hit me for nearly a £1 a kW in the summer. Luckily it was a short top up, so I dumped their card and will never use them again.
Yes if you are a dopey journalist with an axe to grind and you didn’t think ahead to get the card and 50% discount on the inflated moron prices paid by dopey journalists.
Skoda Enyaq, 120 KW charging. Pretty good all-round. My journey from London to Tours would require a 15 minute recharge around the Dreux area. ( Enyaq 80). Source A better route planner app. Actually checked yesterday as looking at the Enyaq or possibly the Kia EV5
I had considered an Enyaq or Elroq. As for ‘dopey’ journos, EVs are very much going to be a part of their future, so having an axe to grind makes little sense. I suspect they give a slightly less biased view, even though it doesn’t suit the pro EV narrative.
Much like politicians, they’re playing to an audience. When that audience changes then so will the stories. Much of popular “journalism” these days is just click bait and rage bait.
I wonder how much more it would cost me to run my car if I fuelled at motorway service stations rather than my local Tesco? In the last 20 years I think I have only used the ludicrous amounts charged on motorways once. When you are using an expense account and trying to give a review a bit of sensation so it gets more clicks, who knows.
Probably about 20% more - say £1.75 instead of £1.40 per litre of fuel. It was notable that recharging costs at Tesla chargers was much less than the Ionity and other fast chargers. But it’s not cost alone, rather also time required.
Yes I would say you are correct on cost. As I said, having plotted out my french route just the other day with the 80kw version it was just a 15 minute boost and I would arrive at the house with 15% so could use the granny charge lead over night, just as I would at home 99% of the time. French trip is twice a year so I can live with that especially as we do stop on average 20-25mins for comfort break and a coffee. From Oxford you would presumably top up at Eurotunnel terminal before crossing
On my regular drives to the Glasgow area, charging adds about an hour to the non-stop journey time. Given that I would never do it non-stop, I don’t think it makes any real difference at all.
They aren’t journalists, like we used to read in Motor, Autocar, Motorsport (they have a great archive) or Car magazine. They are just idiots that can drive and type They’re in Whatcar one week and What washing machine the next To be honest the only decent English language car magazine I’ve read in years (apart from Octane which is a tad too upmarket) is the Aussie Wheels magazine. It has the same old esprit Car magazine had in its early days. I remember Volvo refusing to give Car any more of their cars to test because Car had accurately reported one of their cars as rubbish (probably the 66).
This is the sort of thing these stupid clickbait articles and videos forget. With the proliferation of chargers I find no difference between driving long distances in a petrol, diesel or EV. Except that the EV is more pleasant and cheaper. I sort of look at people a bit strangely now when they think there’s something new or different in driving an EV. EVs are now mainstream.
I would suggest that the average motorist does not spend much time driving long distances on motorways and filling up at expensive filling stations.
In two years, I have only recharged once at a commercial charging station and that was basically to test how easy it was. My average cost of driving is around 35 Km per euro.
But, as has been pointed out, it is not all about cost saving. My mileage is modest at 10,000 p.a. and all my recharging is done at home with a granny lead when parked up for the night. It takes less than 15 seconds to connect. With my previous car I would have visited a service station and filled up at least 20 times in a year. By the time I have driven to the filling station, filled up and paid, that would have taken say 15 minutes. In other words, I would have wasted five hours in a year.
I (briefly) dated an Autocar journalist in 1965 when I was 18. He was great for my ego! He arrived in a different car every week; one of the first 2+2 e-types, a mini that had been souped up - if I say whatever the price of minis was at the time, add another “0”, and an Iso Grifo. The last was my favourite. (Sorry, wrong thread, but couldn’t resist.)
Three years ago a rodent ate through one of the leads to the high voltage battery in my wife’s MB 350e. It meant the MB dealer had to change the 6.2 kWh battery, which I think cost around €1,000 plus labour, which was minimal as the battery sits on the boot floor.
A friend has just told me that her Mini (aka BMW) dealer has quoted her €11,500 to replace the 7.6 kWh battery in her eight year old hybrid Countryman.
The small difference in battery capacity isn’t really relevant and I’ve googled the labour involved and it seems to be in the €350 to €950 range depending on who you get to do it. Is this just a BMW rip off?
They’re in Whatcar one week and What washing machine the next 
(Sorry, wrong thread, but couldn’t resist.)