VW e-Transporter & e-California

[Keith Smith]

If a government said from 2040 no petrol or diesel cars will be sold in our country and so we are today embarking on a massive power station build program. All new houses and industrial units must have solar collectors with battery storage and vehicle power outlets, plus we will install a million charging points across the country by 2030, I might believe they meant it. Otherwise it's just so much hot air. Then again in 20 years time who knows how technology will have advanced and electric cars may be as dead an idea as hydrocarbon ones.

 

[knightons]

I will be the first to order one when they announce they are making a camper version of this vehicle. I might even get one to have converted if they don't.

If anyone have read or heard anything about a camper/conversion of the ID Buzz then pleease put a link in this thread, as I am overly interested!

VW ID Buzz

 

[GillianC]

VW ID Buzz

Wow, I want one!!!

 

[daveyboydanger]

Wow, I want one!!!

Me too!
Totally affects how long I keep this one for and what I do next. I’m going to be first in line for a Buzz!

 

[stephen watson]

Not sure where to post this - admin feel free to move.
Good and interesting review of the new electric VW ID Buzz. Talking of a range of 300 miles and 80% charge in 30 mins. I hope they make a California and I want one! (My other car is an eGolf so I'm already a convert.)

 

[stephen watson]

with the rather big assumption the roof corrosion is sorted of course...

 

[Sad]

Looks Awesome...

 

[WelshGas]

300 mile range. That is as optimistic as the real world fuel economy and emissions of a diesel/petrol powered T6.
No AirCon, no radio, flat roads and an empty vehicle apart from driver. Oh, and no headlights or windscreen wipers going.

 

[motacyclist]

with the rather big assumption the roof corrosion is sorted of course...

Maybe the electric current generated by the corrosion occurring between the dissimilar metals powers the van!

 

[soulstyledevon]

300 mile range. That is as optimistic as the real world fuel economy and emissions of a diesel/petrol powered T6.
No AirCon, no radio, flat roads and an empty vehicle apart from driver. Oh, and no headlights or windscreen wipers going.

My new Nissan E van is hilarious.
Left it on Wednesday with 85 miles on system.
Monday started vehicle. Showing 65 miles. Turned heating on to clear screen, dropped to 43 miles. Drove 10 miles.
20 miles left on system.
Time to think about recharging.

Can’t wait for the eletric vehicle revolution ....?
Be careful what you wish for.

 

[Loz]

My brother has an Ampera, he works for RWE who own npower, until recently they had 1 or 2 charging points, they now have 4 but there are also now 20 staffers competing for the chargers, there seems to be an documented rule that you can unplug another’s car if you think they might be charged...

If an electrical supply company can’t get their act together, what hope for the rest if us..

 

[motacyclist]

My new Nissan E van is hilarious.
Left it on Wednesday with 85 miles on system.
Monday started vehicle. Showing 65 miles. Turned heating on to clear screen, dropped to 43 miles. Drove 10 miles.
20 miles left on system.
Time to think about recharging.

Can’t wait for the eletric vehicle revolution ....?
Be careful what you wish for.

They are electric miles, they are a different to English miles. Our plug in hybrid Golf uses them too, it does 31 electric miles but that is only the same as 15 English miles. Heated electric miles are even shorter, they only get you about 11 English miles, so we have to turn the heater off and freeze

 

[soulstyledevon]

My brother has an Ampera, he works for RWE who own npower, until recently they had 1 or 2 charging points, they now have 4 but there are also now 20 staffers competing for the chargers, there seems to be an documented rule that you can unplug another’s car if you think they might be charged...

If an electrical supply company can’t get their act together, what hope for the rest if us..

Our workshop have 20 of these vehicles delivered last week.
We have 6 charging points
To make matters worse they are only 3kw points which means slower charging.
The 6kw charging points recharge the van in half the time. But we only have 1 service point reserved for University guests.
It’s a nightmare...!!!

On a plus point. They accelerate so fast, which is fun at the moment

 

[soulstyledevon]

They are electric miles, they are a different to English miles. Our plug in hybrid Golf uses them too, it does 31 electric miles but that is only the same as 15 English miles. Heated electric miles are even shorter, they only get you about 11 English miles, so we have to turn the heater off and freeze

Could you imagine a fully loaded Cali, with air con running. Then perhaps you wild camp somewhere and turn the parking heater on for a few hours.
Just won’t work, unless something big changes in the development of battery tech

 

[Borris]

Question - The first crude electric vehicle was apparently created in 1832 by a British inventor by the name of Robert Anderson. In terms of range, have we really made big advances in electric vehicle technology in the last 186 years? Discuss.
Please check out the stats for the vehicles in the following link.

http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/overview-of-early-electric-cars.html

Some of the ranges quoted in the above posts don't seem to me to be much of an improvement for at least a century of development. A range of between 30-50 miles on one charge was quoted for a vehicle produced in 1901 and a range of 100 miles for a 1909 car!

 

[Loz]

Once every car on the road has autonomous braking we can all have personal nuclear reactors in the boot, range no longer an issue.

 

[Loz]

They are electric miles, they are a different to English miles. Our plug in hybrid Golf uses them too, it does 31 electric miles but that is only the same as 15 English miles. Heated electric miles are even shorter, they only get you about 11 English miles, so we have to turn the heater off and freeze

Are Electric miles the oposite to Microsoft minutes?

 

[soulstyledevon]

Question - The first crude electric vehicle was apparently created in 1832 by a British inventor by the name of Robert Anderson. In terms of range, have we really made big advances in electric vehicle technology in the last 186 years? Discuss.
Please check out the stats for the vehicles in the following link.

http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/overview-of-early-electric-cars.html

Some of the ranges quoted in the above posts don't seem to me to be much of an improvement for at least a century of development. A range of between 30-50 miles on one charge was quoted for a vehicle produced in 1901 and a range of 100 miles for a 1909 car!

Yes 100 miles, but on a flat, smooth surface driving at a steady 20mph.
So yes the technology has moved on, but not to what we need and expect.

Last Saturday I drove to the coast for a surf. 350 mile round trip. Used the heaters on the way and the diesel heating when parked. This wouldn’t have been possible in any electric vehicle on the market today.

So for a vehicle like the California. We are far from any real progress in technology to replace the current form of diesels.
Electric can work for small commutes, however I sometimes wonder why people don’t walk or cycle instead of driving the small distances. No wonder this country is full of fat unhealthy types.

 

[motacyclist]

sometimes wonder why people don’t walk or cycle instead of driving the small distances

Then they pay to use the gym, using the treadmill or exercise bike!

 

[Amarillo]

I sometimes wonder why people don’t walk or cycle instead of driving the small distances.

Because of the perceived danger from all those driving the small distances because of the perceiv....

You get the picture?



Follow my blog: www.au-revoir.eu

 

[soulstyledevon]

Then they pay to use the gym, using the treadmill or exercise bike!

You couldn’t make it up.
Spend 45 minutes sitting in traffic getting home, then drive to the gym for an hour...
What a waste of time.

I’ve even seen some of my neighbors driving to our local shops. 10 minutes walk, 2 minutes cycling. I’ve beat them home on a couple of occasions with little to no effort.
It’s madness

 

[Borris]

Yes 100 miles, but on a flat, smooth surface driving at a steady 20mph.
So yes the technology has moved on, but not to what we need and expect.

Last Saturday I drove to the coast for a surf. 350 mile round trip. Used the heaters on the way and the diesel heating when parked. This wouldn’t have been possible in any electric vehicle on the market today.

So for a vehicle like the California. We are far from any real progress in technology to replace the current form of diesels.
Electric can work for small commutes, however I sometimes wonder why people don’t walk or cycle instead of driving the small distances. No wonder this country is full of fat unhealthy types.[/QUOTE)

 

[Borris]

Ooops finger trouble!

I am no expert but it seems to me that when it comes to developing longer battery life and therefore more usable electric vehicles with an acceptable range there appears to have been relatively little progress made at all. Within that same period mentioned in my post, man has learnt to fly, then made it possible to fly to New York from London in 3.5 hours on Concorde, developed aircraft that will do well in excess of mach 3, landed on the moon and sent space craft to explore mars and beyond. Yet the cutting edge of battery electric vehicle development can still only offer a range of just over three hundred miles with I suspect most other electrical gizmos turned off, on a warm daylight run on over flat terrain. Many of the current affordable electric vehicles on offer don't give much if any range advantages over that 1909 vehicle in the link with the quoted 100 mile range.

As for it only being able to do 20mph, I suspect that most of the modern equivalents on sale today will be used in towns or inner cities where they too will probably be spending most of there lives being driven at less than 20mph. The majority just aren't suitable for long distance rural commutes.

I personally don't think there is much danger of seeing an all electric Cali anytime soon, not just because of issues regarding range but also because of the probable excessive weight of the batteries required and the protection thereof.

Hybrids are a completely different matter and I look forward to seeing what VW might offer us.

 

[rupertpoon]

I think what you think of electric vehicles depends on where you stand on technology. If you work in technology you see how it improves and meets peoples expectations, or people change their expectations as something about the technology meets a more important use case they hadn’t thought about. For example electric cars are brilliant for commutes where their range can cover 2 or 3 days of commute, as you don’t have to go to a petrol station. You also have to remember that air quality in cities is pretty bad, and an electric vehicle solves that problem pretty well, provided charging points are available. The way I see it, the Campervan is a luxury product (driving 350 miles to go surfing is a privilege!). As such, I cannot see an electric camper being able to match the current range of diesel or petrol vans without the equivalent base van being able to match it, which will be driven by commercial use of vans. So expect electric vans for city use with 150-200 mile real world range under light loads targeted at urban delivery, not 500 miles range. I’m not an expert but have some perspective having worked at a company that designed wind turbine gearboxes, and watched them explode in use over 10 years. We also work with electric vehicle manufacturers, from startup to big-four, so have seen the shift in investment from petrol/diesel power to electric. So I believe it will happen, but not in the like-for-like replacement way many think about. It’s going to be an interesting decade...


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[Jabberwocky]

Here is your dream then.....