Tag: electric car

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Car Technology

Hybrid or Fully Electric?

Hybrid or Electric: Which Car is Right for You?

Deciding between a hybrid and a fully electric car can be a daunting task, especially with the growing number of options available. Both types offer significant environmental benefits and unique driving experiences. To help you make an informed decision, let’s explore the key differences and considerations for each.

Hybrid Cars: A Balanced Approach

Hybrids combine a gasoline engine with an electric motor, offering a seamless blend of power and efficiency. They’re a great choice for those who:

  • Want a familiar driving experience: Hybrids retain the traditional feel of a gasoline car, making the transition to electric driving more comfortable.
  • Need longer range: Hybrids can travel longer distances without needing to recharge, making them ideal for frequent road trips or areas with limited charging infrastructure.
  • Prefer a lower upfront cost: While hybrids are generally more expensive than gasoline-only cars, they often have lower maintenance costs and may qualify for government incentives.

Electric Cars: A Clean and Quiet Future

Electric vehicles (EVs) are powered solely by electricity, offering zero tailpipe emissions and a quieter, smoother ride. They’re a great option for those who:

  • Prioritize environmental sustainability: EVs have a significantly smaller carbon footprint than traditional cars.
  • Enjoy a futuristic driving experience: EVs offer instant torque and regenerative braking, providing a unique and enjoyable driving experience.
  • Have access to charging infrastructure: EVs require regular charging, so it’s important to consider the availability of charging stations in your area.

Factors to Consider

  • Driving habits: If you primarily drive short distances within a city, an electric car may be a good fit. For longer commutes or frequent road trips, a hybrid might be more practical.
  • Budget: Hybrids generally have a lower upfront cost than EVs, but EVs often have lower operating costs due to lower fuel and maintenance expenses.
  • Government incentives: Many governments offer tax credits or rebates for purchasing electric or hybrid vehicles. Research the incentives available in your area.
  • Personal preferences: Consider your preferences for driving style, technology, and overall ownership experience.

Ultimately, the best choice between a hybrid and an electric car depends on your individual needs and circumstances. By carefully considering the factors discussed above, you can make an informed decision that aligns with your lifestyle and environmental goals.

Would you like to know more about specific hybrid or electric car models? Or perhaps you have other questions about making the switch to electric transportation?

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Car Technology

Gas? Where we are going, we don’t need gas Marty

Back to the Future… gave stardom to the DeLorean DMC-12. And let’s be honest that was the last we heard of it.

Until now….

Because, DeLorean are back, with an electric car!

DeLorean just revealed its new all-electric Alpha5 concept car featuring the iconic gull-wing doors

  • The DeLorean Motor Company revealed an all-new concept EV that harkens back to the iconic DMC-12.
  • Dubbed the Alpha5, the new model seats four and features gull-wing doors.
  • DeLorean says the Alpha5 will make its debut at Pebble Beach during Monterey Car Week in August.

Like the original, the Alpha5 features a sleek silhouette and gull-wing doors. In place of the 2.8-liter V6 engine, a 100 kilowatt-hour battery is expected to deliver a top speed of 155 mph and a range of 300 miles.

To paraphrase the time-traveling Doc Brown, “Gas? Where we’re going, we don’t need gas.”

The new model also makes room for two rear seats, doubling the capacity.

While the cars share some branding and design elements, the new DeLorean Motor Company is not the same as the one founded by John DeLorean back in the 1970’s. After just a few years of production, the original DeLorean went bankrupt, and the branding was eventually sold to a service and parts company now known as Classic DMC.

Classic DMC has an ownership stake in the new DeLorean, but is otherwise uninvolved in the operation of the company. Also, the Alpha5 was designed by the team at Italdesign, which was co-founded by Giorgetto Giugiaro, who shaped the DMC-12.

So there you go… want an electric car? want something that’s got a bit of heritage?… then this could be for you. I do believe though.. the flux capacitor is not part of the accessories offered. Currently.

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Car Technology Uncategorized

ECR – Electric Car Readiness

Ok, you may have missed this but new laws are coming in soon (2030) which will ban the sales of petrol and diesel vehicles only. Hybrid vehicles will be available to purchase till 2035.

It’s already started – many people are buying electric cars – but most are opting for an hybrid option first. And I agree.

Now you can get self-charging hybrid or a plug-in hybrid.

Either way – I think hybrid is a natural way forward from a petrol or diesel only car. It’ll help you a) understand more about the electric motor, b) how, where and when to use your battery power and finally c) will help bridge that gap from petrol to electric.

I used to have a hybrid car. It did about 30miles on electric. Which was ok for town driving. And then on the motorway – the petrol engine would kick in. This was good for me – regular trips of 140miles + single way, were not a problem. Petrol Stations readily available, easy and all I had to do was pop in, fill up – 5 to 10minutes later – I was back on my way.

I’ve moved from Hybrid to fully Electric.

Now whilst there are more and more fully electric car options – I personally opted for a Tesla.

And if you’re thinking of ordering a Tesla, before you do – use my referral code/link – and you’ll get 1,000 free supercharger miles! – it’s bal71307 (and the link – http://ts.la/bal71307

Whilst the choice is getting bigger and bigger by the day – there’s some great small electric cars that are now available… such as the VW ID range…

ID.4 | Electric SUV | Volkswagen UK

BMW are releasing a number of fully electric cars – and you may have noticed, a number of Nissan (the original Leaf has been upgraded many times – and is a very good car), Toyota, Mini and many others – have great electric cars on offer.

But before you buy an electric car, you may be concerned and questions I got whilst I was talking on BBC Radio on Sunday night was… what happens if my battery runs out?

Well, ‘range anxiety’ was one of my fears also.

Honestly. It all comes down to one thing. You just have to plan your journey a little better. Because – there are not as many electric car chargers currently as you’d like compared to petrol stations.

Saying this, I’ve done a few long trips. and was concerned about not having enough battery. However – the sat nav in the car helps. I put in my destination and the car asked if it was a round trip or anywhere I was going – and then magically (well, it seemed to be magical) worked out, how much battery would be used, and that I would not have enough for a return journey! – now, the reason I got a Tesla was because of their Supercharger network…. and what happened was, the Sat Nav told me – where and when and for how long I’d need to charge in order to complete my trip!

Again – a number of factors were taking into account, like how fast I’d be driving, conditions, etc…

Over the past year – there’s more and more chargers being installed in a variety of locations. There’s various apps you can download and see where your nearest charging station is, the cost to charge (you’re paying per kwh) and on some apps, even tells you if the charging point is busy or available!

Back to why I went for a Tesla – 1) their supercharger network is fantastic. I’ve used it a few times, just pull up – plug in and wait a short while. No need to tap anything, anywhere – the charger recognizes the car, payment details are already registered – the process is so easy and simple. Love it.

2) Tesla seem to be more advanced than some of the other manufacturers – they’ve been doing it for a while and are learning and pushing out updates regularly. And finally, 3) they can’t be doing that bad of a job- they had record sales in the last quarter and in the UK – was one of the best sold Electric Vehicles! I’ve driven others – and yes, others may have a better ride quality, or something else that is better – but overall, the Tesla experience has been great.

So there you go- start thinking about your next car being a fully electric – and start to think about home charging units (the grant for these will expire soon – so suggest you look at getting one installed sooner rather than later) and don’t worry about running out of battery – your car will warn you well in advance and there’s more and more charging stations popping up. Everywhere. Even Tesco. Because every little helps.

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Week in Review

Week 7… 2021!

And so the year continues to go at some pace – it’s week 7, so much has happened so far, and I can only see more happening over the coming weeks and months! Sharing my top 2 from the week gone…

  1. Perseverance – That’s right… NASA’s Perseverance landed on Mars!!! So what’s so significant about this, well firstly… Perseverance has a large amount of data in its memory banks which it is gradually offloading to Earth and… the pictures it’s been sharing initially have been brilliant!!

Its initial mission will last one Martian year (roughly two Earth years), although it’s hard to see the agency not extending this if all the hardware remains healthy.

As well as searching for signs of life (Imagine… it finds clear signs of life… how awesome would that be!!), Perseverance’s other key objective is to select and package rock samples that can be brought back to Earth laboratories by later missions.

2. The New Service Stations! – Usually, when on a journey, and you need to fill up… you’d stop at your nearest service stations and fill up. However, times are changing.. on the outskirts of Braintree in Essex (UK), there’s a service station that is the first of it’s kind in the UK… that has space for 36 cars to charge at once!!

The super-fast electric forecourt will deliver 350kW of charging power – enough to add 200 miles of driving range in 20 minutes – to up to 36 cars at a time. And… it will use clean energy sourced from one of the UK’s first subsidy-free solar farms at Clayhill in Bedfordshire, overhead solar canopies, and a battery capable of storing enough energy to drive 24,000 miles.

It is the first of more than 100 electric forecourts that Gridserve, a clean energy company, plans to roll out across the country over the next five years as part of a billion-pound “sun-to-wheel” infrastructure.

So… looks like infrastructure is finally catching up! Yes, there’s a long way to go, but great to see this happening…

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Car Technology

Dyson Electric Car Parked…

Remember I wrote (a while back) that Dyson (yep…. the ones who make the vacuum cleaners) are making an electric car… well, they’ve decided to park it… but before totally leaving it, they’ve shared some information and images.

Dyson revealed that his electric vehicle, codenamed “N526,” would have been a seven-seater with a whopping 600-mile range per charge.

This was largely thanks to the company’s proprietary solid-state batteries, which could apparently sustain such performance “even on a freezing February night, on the naughty side of 70MPH on the motorway, with the heater on and the radio at full blast.”

The car could go from zero to 62MPH in 4.8 seconds (about half a second more than the long-range Model X), with its top speed apparently reaching 125MPH (30MPH shy of the Model X’s). This is all coming from the twin 200kW electric motors rated with 536BHP.

Dyson told The Times that this project ended up costing £500 million of his own money before he put a stop to it. Unlike other traditional car brands, Dyson doesn’t have a fleet of profitable gasoline cars and diesel cars to offset the “huge losses” on every electric vehicle made — each Dyson electric car would have needed to make £150,000 to break even, according to the entrepreneur.

So it’s all parked for the moment – but the ideas keep coming and Dyson has said his team are working on a number of other projects and open for collaboration. Have you got an idea?….

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Car Technology

Hmmm…. An Electric Hummer?

Ok…. who remembers the big bad boy motor, also known as the Hummer?

What a classic! That’s right – these beasts were massive!!! I don’t remember seeing too many on the British streets, well… let’s be honest… the streets are too small for a massive vehicle like this! But in the US and everywhere else (where they have larger streets) you could see them…

Now… as you can guess, they were heavy on the fuel… big and that’s about it! (You know you still wanted one!)

Times are changing… in my last blog post, I spoke about if you should get an electric car.

Couple of questions I got were – ‘….but Bal, I like the traditional big cars, with the big V8’s…’, and also, questions like… ‘Bal, I’d got for a hybrid or full electric if it didn’t look like a Prius!’.

I hear ya. I do… and so do General Motors (GM) – the makers of the Hummer…. and even they are embracing the electric car revolution!

That’s right – there’s going to be an ELECTRIC HUMMER!!!

Over on their website… they shared some impressive stats…

1,000 HORSEPOWER!!!

0-60 in 3 SECONDS!!!!

Oh MY!!!!!!

Personally, I can’t wait. And here’s your answer to a Prius!

So… still thinking if you should go electric? Definitely start thinking about it.

GM pulled out a commercial about the new Hummer…

But personally… still don’t think it’ll get down our British streets!