The New All electric California due in Autumn 2019. What are you thoughts?

[WelshGas]

For most of my working life I have completed my daily commute in a large family 5 seat car, mostly supplied by my employer, with distances between 45 and 90 miles each way. During those commutes as you inch along our congested road systems its noticeably that the large majority of other vehicles have only one occupant. I have worked for companies that have supported car share schemes but the result has always been very low take up. Why? Irrespective of what energy source powers our vehicles in future what needs to change above all else is our attitudes to vehicle usage especially for routine commuting and single occupancy.

Do I have the solution? No. Am I aware many people live and commute in areas without public transport options? Yes of course. Will I continue to cover many 1000's of miles in my Cali? yes hopefully. Lets hope there are some much cleverer and young brains than mine out there working on the solutions.

10 lane highway outside San Francisco. Completely full nose to tail for the Friday PM commute home. I was the only vehicle in the 2+ lane.
People like their own space, own music in their own vehicle. There needs to be some major social changes for that to change.

 

[Prycey13]

Hi All,

Are there any more details on the electric California? A theoretical range of 300 miles will probably return close to 240 miles using heating etc (I have an i3 and generally gets 80% of the claimed range with an occasional heavy foot and AC). I’d imagine to cover 300 miles the battery would be in the region of 90KWH. Charging at a campsite 16A would probably take circa 28- 30 hours to fully charge. Will be interested to see list price and weight of the vehicle.

A

 

[briwy]

Well I guess you could kiss bye bye to wild camping in a fully electric Cali unless you carry a fossil fuel genny. For us and I think many people the joy of the Cali (or indeed any camper van) is its ability to just get up and go anywhere anytime. As already mentioned how are you going to charge a huge battery on a campsite. Dream on if you think that is going to happen any time soon. Presently pie in the sky. Are VW assist going to come out with huge vans full of batteries to charge you up when youre stranded in the middle of nowhere? I dont think so. What if your destination is more than your range. Oh yes, lets stop for an extra night somewhere once you have found a charging point. Even though the French are more clued up about campervans and motorhomes I doubt even they will seriously consider wiring up all the aires.
I'm not anti electric and no doubt electric vehicles will get better and cheaper but come on lets be realistic and practical here, if you think that an electric Cali is currently going to provide the same experience as a diesel one then good luck with that.

 

[Amarillo]

Well I guess you could kiss bye bye to wild camping in a fully electric Cali unless you carry a fossil fuel genny.

Tow your own solar power station?

 

[MarkVw2017]

True, the appetites defo there and if you offer people 600 range with 30mins charge, millions would be signing the dotted line, but as said, asking campsites to swap their little 110v electric point's for fully fledged massive electric metres to charge up 50 campervans a night, feel we will quite quickly see the £30 a night tariff jump to £80 a night with the huge amount of investment they would have to make. This is a slow movement, and then one has to ask, is electric even the correct direction to be going in?

 

[Prycey13]

True, the appetites defo there and if you offer people 600 range with 30mins charge, millions would be signing the dotted line, but as said, asking campsites to swap their little 110v electric point's for fully fledged massive electric metres to charge up 50 campervans a night, feel we will quite quickly see the £30 a night tariff jump to £80 a night with the huge amount of investment they would have to make. This is a slow movement, and then one has to ask, is electric even the correct direction to be going in?

Think electric is the way to go but all about how the electric is generated. The Hyundai nexo HFC technology has to be the happy medium with a 400 mile range and ease of pumping in clean fuel. Again infrastructure isn’t there yet but is coming (slowly). Germans car makers seem to be a long way behind in both battery and alternative fuel technologies.

 

[HectorPascal]

Last year we attempted to do a long trip in our BMW i3. Despite signing up to the UK’s largest charging network, NOT ONCE were we able to successfully charge our car for various reasons. Did the whole trip on the range-extender petrol engine which, with it’s two gallon tank, afforded us with a tour of many of our country’s petrol stations. It was not all bad though, at 60 mph it can be like a sort of meditation and the nice scenery last longer.

 

[burnercan]

An electric Cali may need a range extender arrangement similar to this. Boot space limitations are unfortunate, but hey, in a Cali everything’s a compromise

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[natmass]

I asked a VW representative at the NEC show yesterday about electric power on a future California model. She said that it is expected to be four years away, and it would be on a smaller platform, like the older VW campers, initially. Make of that what you will! She indicated that diesel is a safe choice for some years yet, if we’re looking at a Cali purchase soon.

 

[Perfectos]

Interesting that Mr Dyson has pulled the plug on his electric vehicle ambitions, he can’t make it pay !
Or more likely he can’t see it ever working on a mass scale?

 

[Perfectos]

Humour is so often spot on !

 

[RodCouncil]

Bolt in some rivian tech and double the battery size to get close to 6/700km and you’re getting close, but it will be eye watering prices because alloys and composites will need to be employed to get the weight down.

77kwh won’t cut it, but if it’s north of 150kwh charging on ionity or similar you can charge it like it’s an ICE at rapid charger stations, but let’s be honest, that’s a long way off for the Brits.

 

[westfalia]

that’s a long way off for the Brits.

Is it not just 21 yrs away when they will stop selling diesel and petrol cars,
i can't wait to see if it's true.

 

[B J G]

I've been put off the current E Vehicle route as it seems that there are a multitude of recharging criteria on Current Rates, electronic compatibility (vehicle & charge point don't recognise each other & won't start charging) etc resulting in many Service Charge Points not being compatible with all vehicles and requiring detours of many miles to find one which may be in use for some hours when you do get there.
Local use with home charging OK but don't expect trouble free distance travel it seems.

 

[soulstyledevon]

Let’s be honest.
Electric isn’t the answer unless they construct a large scale Scalextric road system.
Batteries are not the answer...

 

[RodCouncil]

Let’s be honest.
Electric isn’t the answer unless they construct a large scale Scalextric road system.
Batteries are not the answer...

The manufacturers are doing exactly the opposite to what you’re saying, if they get camper vans to do 300 miles then that would probably suit the majority of buyers, and in countries where the infra investments are being made, with new DC CCS charging going north of 300kw/h you could juice a camper in 20-30mins on the specified battery size VW is quoting.

Our next car will be an EV and I’d place a bet that our next VW camper will be too, you’d need your head examining to buy a new Diesel in Sweden, 1500 a year VED on a 150 DSG.

 

[Bellcrew]

Let’s be honest.
Electric isn’t the answer unless they construct a large scale Scalextric road system.
Batteries are not the answer...

Reading road tests today in the local library in What Car of a: Jaguar I pace, a Tesla model 3 and a Kia E Niro, remarkable progress to workable nearly affordable cars in a relatively short time. We are living in a rapidly changing world that will surprise us all no doubt.

 

[LemonDrop]

Electric vehicles don’t address the environmental concerns that they were introduced for. They (or at least the batteries) are damaging in different ways to diesels emissions, they’re not better.

Will Your Electric Car Save the World or Wreck It?

Extracting the materials for lithium batteries is often overlooked when counting up the environmental cost of BEV manufacturing.

www.engineering.com

 

[mountainman]

Humour is so often spot on !

Really? And what exactly is your point? I have been happy to support and join this brilliant forum but will be disappointed if it turns political. I hope this is a temporary aberration.

 

[Joker 1299]

Really? And what exactly is your point? I have been happy to support and join this brilliant forum but will be disappointed if it turns political. I hope this is a temporary aberration.

I think his point is that the headlong rush to electric vehicles also has a human cost. Is that political?

 

[Cloud Dodger]

I don't think battery powered vehicles will be around for that long, they will be just a small stepping stone along the way to a more sustainable propulsion system.

 

[westfalia]

Let’s be honest.
Electric isn’t the answer unless they construct a large scale Scalextric road system.
Batteries are not the answer...

Here you go..
They've built one up by Frankfurt for trucks.

 

[soulstyledevon]

Battery technology maybe moving forward, but the mining of materials and disposal of batteries at the end of their life cycle is a major problem...

Don’t think for a minute this technology is green...!!!

Let me assure you. 300 miles from a lightweight aerodynamic car is possible. Ok.
After 12 months of use, still getting that range...?
I doubt it. I can only tell you how bad my EV work van is after 18months.

Now you guys want a 2.5t van with the aerodynamics of a brick to have any kind of decent range...?
Sorry, step into the real world. Batteries are not the answer here...

 

[mountainman]

I think his point is that the headlong rush to electric vehicles also has a human cost. Is that political?

Not at all political. The impact of our western way of life on the 3rd world, whole world, is something I am sure we are all well aware of. A serious topic, not at all humorous and not one I come to a forum such as this to discuss. My objection is to the use of the image in the context of humour and the potential direction of discussion it invites. I do accept that may have been unintentional.

 

[Gary&Heather]

I am looking forward to everybody having electric vehicles because then I can drive with less traffic because the majority of them will be on charge