Battery ICE train

[Stinsy]

Otherwise you're saying that anyone who holidays in the UK cannot drive an EV because it isn't suitable for that trip to Cornwall once a year.

Is still an issue. Even though I have an EV there are occasions e.g. complicated trip Devon - Cambridge - funeral in York - singing in Doncaster Minster and return where I don't need the hassle/uncertainty so use 10 y/o VW Polo.

Was interested to read details of Kia E3, range of >300 miles is slowly creeping down the EV price range now. Pity it is too wide as a replacement for the Polo though, that is a really good package on a small chassis and can still take 3 big bags of garden waste to the tip.

I was at Glouster services this August. There were 20-odd Tesla Chargers with one Tesla charging, and 20-odd non-tesla chargers with only me charging. A 10-min splash and dash meant that I could get the hammer down. Exeter on the way home was similar: loads of chargers, got straight on one no probs.

I'm a bit of a regular at Instavolt Banbury. 32 chargers IIRC, never seen it more than 25% full.

Sure, you still need to do a bit of research. It is possible to have a bad experience. But if you ignore the ex-EcoTricity sites, and any BP Pulse sites, you'll be golden.

Kona is generally the best value big-battery BEV (starting at £10k), but TM3 prices have been falling to the point where £15k gets you a decent one (not a Tesla fan myself).

[Swwils]

Wouldn't want to run a kona drive unit past 70k km.

[Mart]

Digression, but I went to the Everything Electric show a month back, and had a chat with a company that convert old rubbish trucks to diesel*.

to diesel ?

Oops!

I'll change that to BEV, and we can all pretend it didn't happen ...... OK?

[Mart]

I've heard that they run diesel trains on electrified lines in the UK because diesel is cheaper than electricity...

Not to mention running EV charging points at Mway service stations from diesel generators (presumably as an interim measure). Or is this an urban myth?

I think it may be real and a myth.

There was a guy in Australia (I think) who designed a very high speed charger, to run off a diesel generator, as a semi-portable package. But the idea was for it to be used to allow BEV's to operate along long routes, till a more permanent solution was deployed. I don't think his idea actually ever rolled out, but pics of the idea have been posted many times, claiming they are in use, and that's how EV's charge.

But ...... only my guess, I'd assume that diesel gens have been used many times, as a stop gap. I don't think that's a bad idea, so long as they are planned as temporary solutions. Ex-colleagues have told me that when the Welsh Government decided to deploy electric buses for the shuttle route between central Cardiff (Cathays Park), where most of the civil servants are, down to Cardiff Bay, where the Assembly members (and staff) are - they deployed a diesel gennie for the recharge stop on the route.

Let's just assume, 'hearts in the right place', and just speed bumps along the way.

[sharpener]

I was at Glouster services this August. There were 20-odd Tesla Chargers with one Tesla charging, and 20-odd non-tesla chargers with only me charging. A 10-min splash and dash meant that I could get the hammer down. Exeter on the way home was similar: loads of chargers, got straight on one no probs.

Gloucester is a bete noir for me. Not only did I have to wait for a charger but when I asked a woman who had finished charging if she would move her car so I could use it she said I would have to wait until she had finished her shopping. Didn't have the presence of mind to tell her I was calling Security (not that they would have done much but it might have scared her sufficiently) or take a pic of her and her car. Eventually managed to park near enough to the charger, sideways on in the next bay. When she came back she was abusive for a second time.

Don't rate the much-hyped shopping experience either, to mind mind the place is a bit tatty. Prefer Michaelwood. IIRC it is a Welcome Break. Most of the (ex-) Moto site layouts and signage are terrible.

Back to the original topic: the bi-mode Stadler trains in East Anglia are nice, the experience of walking through the generator car is a bit odd though. IIRC the design of the passenger coaches was intended to be used with any combination of power sources.