Travelling from Joburg to Cape Town - Petrol vs electric

[dj_jyno]

Not really. Open road driving is where you can get stupidly good fuel economy. Town driving is where ICE engines suck.

Really. For traditional ICE engines, that may be true, but for hybrids things change a bit.

As an example, the 2020 Prius:
4.5 urban 4.9 extra-urban 4.7 combined l/100km

As opposed to my 2012 XF diesel:
8.7 urban 5.0 extra-urban 6.3 combined l/100km

 

[irBosOtter]

EV etiquette question:
So if a friend comes over, and wants to recharge while we hang out, should he pay me?

Did your friend take fuel out of your car on his visits to you with his old car?

 

[wingnut771]

Really. For traditional ICE engines, that may be true, but for hybrids things change a bit.

As an example, the 2020 Prius:
4.5 urban 4.9 extra-urban 4.7 combined l/100km

As opposed to my 2012 XF diesel:
8.7 urban 5.0 extra-urban 6.3 combined l/100km

I challenge you to drive the Prius at 130km/h for 600km and see if it’s any different to a normal ICE.

 

[neoprema]

I still think i'm gonna get an electric as my next car. If I need to do a long trip which i don't as I fly everywhere, I'll just hire something with fuel from Avis and use it.

The problem is the lack of options. I'm in Europe at the moment and the choice of EVs is incredible. There's also the cutest little one from Honda that I'de buy easily heh. For me the value in the EV will be in something i can use everyday so i'm not looking for an X5-sized car in electric. But a Mini, or an XC40 or Honda e, New Nissan Leaf etc fit perfectly.

 

[DoodleBug]

I would like to see the time difference in arrival between a regular vehicle and ev. One scenario where everything goes according to plan (no load shedding) and then one considering you may arrive at a charge point during a load shedding against a schedule

 

[Itsa Trap]

So maybe, just maybe, if the Ex-CEO of Twitter gets self driving sorted out, in the future you have the EV for the city that you call to pick you up, and you train / plane / hyperloop* (lol) / sub-orbital** (lolol) the long distances.



*
** Doubt these two would realise and be cost effective in our lifetimes, but hey, who knows.

 

[dj_jyno]

I challenge you to drive the Prius at 130km/h for 600km and see if it’s any different to a normal ICE.

Our dear @konfab made that mistake. I know a standard ICE car, especially a diesel, becomes more efficient at highway speeds. I was pointing out the anomaly of certain Toyota hybrids that get higher fuel consumption on the highway than in town.

 

[G.A.S]

So you basically have a choice to drive using petrol, diesel, or coal with a hint of nuclear and renewables...

 

[Botha22]

Whatever stage. It does not make the article pointless. There is no evidence that you cannot plan and drive from Jo'burg to Cape Town with an EV even during loadshedding.

No evidence that you can. And with that uncertainty hanging over the availability of electricity for recharging, no sane person would attempt it currently in SA.

 

[Deandbn]

Toyota and BMW in the same sentence ?
No man, you cant compare a Toy Jap Junk with a BMW.

Tbh, I think it's the other way around.. Don't let the price blind you.. The toy is very reliable.

 

[squish102]

Owning an EV you only tend to do long drives a couple of times a year and I think it is coming. (just slower to SA) If you have the infrastructure on the roads, the long drives are not bad with an efficient EV and reliable fast chargers (like the tesla supercharger network). In a typical year, I probably spend 90% less time charging as I would spend going to a petrol station. (Leave home with a full tank every day) I also think the cost of charging is probably a little cheaper than petrol on the long road, but in the US, home charging is about a quarter the price of the cheap petrol price. EV cars are still more expensive than the equivalent ICE cars by about 15%. I didn't get it for the savings but the tech, it is like comparing the old nokia to when an iPhone came out.

 

[Swa]

These 'long distance' cost comparison articles are totally missing the point of an EV.

Enlighten us as to the point then.
Clearly it's not convenience as you have to plan around charging stations. Even if you only do urban and can charge at home/work it's still not as cheap as made out. So say you do save you are paying a premium for an entry EV over an entry ICE. Comparisons like these using two premium vehicles aren't really fair for the average person.

Any savings will be offset by the additional premium and finance cost over the next 5-10 years. If you pay upfront then you lose the investment revenue you could have made on the premium. After that you are still no better off as the most expensive component of an EV would likely need replacing soon.

You also can't claim an environmental victory as you're simply shifting the sources of pollution. So I think the point is that EVs are rather pointless at the moment and just a gimmick. Maybe in a few years when battery tech have advanced, they are cheaper and there's actually competition in charging so you don't pay a premium they'll be viable. Until then though just learn proper driving and you have your saving.

 

[wingnut771]

Enlighten us as to the point then.
Clearly it's not convenience as you have to plan around charging stations. Even if you only do urban and can charge at home/work it's still not as cheap as made out. So say you do save you are paying a premium for an entry EV over an entry ICE. Comparisons like these using two premium vehicles aren't really fair for the average person.

Any savings will be offset by the additional premium and finance cost over the next 5-10 years. If you pay upfront then you lose the investment revenue you could have made on the premium. After that you are still no better off as the most expensive component of an EV would likely need replacing soon.

You also can't claim an environmental victory as you're simply shifting the sources of pollution. So I think the point is that EVs are rather pointless at the moment and just a gimmick. Maybe in a few years when battery tech have advanced, they are cheaper and there's actually competition in charging so you don't pay a premium they'll be viable. Until then though just learn proper driving and you have your saving.

I can kinda see where he's coming from.

Lets ignore the fact that we are talking about this country and hypothetically talk about a country that has had EV for a while like our mother country the UK.

1. I'm not sure on sales price but I'm confident that it's not a rip off like it is here.
2. When doing long distance, it's recommended to stop every 2 hours as a driver (regardless: petrol, diesel, EV).
3. EV's charge very quick between 20-80%.
4. That takes 20 minutes.
5. Your 2 hour piss/food break takes 20 minutes.

See where I'm going?

What I'm saying is it's not a big deal to top up for 15 minutes and get almost 60% capacity.

Icing on the cake is that in 5/10 years time, there will be an avalanche of used EV batteries ready for offgrid use.