EV chat
- Thread starter woodbar
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Owen Smith
Well-Known Member
I use 1st gear as I was taught. Any reason reverse might be better? It can be awkward to get into on some cars.
gomezz
Well-Known Member
TBH I can't think of a reason why one would be better or worse than the other. Only time it gets in the way is if I use the cup holder next to it for its intended person rather than as a convenient cubby hole for my mobile phone.
(ignition only works once the clutch is depressed so that is out of the reckoning as a reason)
(ignition only works once the clutch is depressed so that is out of the reckoning as a reason)
Owen Smith
Well-Known Member
Reverse might be lower geared than 1st. Not sure which is better though, lower or higher.
Not on my car, I can attempt to start it when parked and in gear. And I have done so a couple of times, usually when distracted. It doesn't start
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OP
woodbar
Active Member
Yes it is absolutely ludicrous - extra control module (linked to the main ECU or BCM), wiring and a complicated motor driven mechanism on two hubs/discs - not exactly the KISS principle and costs a lot more if/when it goes wrong.
I also suspect that not many people, with electronic handbrakes, know that you can use it in an emergency brake, if your main brakes should fail, by simply pulling/pushing the button/lever (whichever is appropriate to your vehicle) and HOLDING it activated.
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Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
For auxiliary braking, a lower gear provides more mechanical advantage – but I don't know whether 1st or reverse is lower. However, you can choose which to use according to the direction of the slope so that if the car were going to move it would try to turn the crankshaft backwards.
I'm making an assumption here that the engine would be harder to turn backwards, but that might not be correct. The turning resistance is mainly provided by the compression stroke (and that works both ways).
Personally, I do not leave the engine in gear unless I have parked on a slope. It used to be necessary to dip the clutch when starting to lighten the load on the starter motor, but that necessity went out with the stone age. Therefore, having a last-gen-before-things-got-stupid car (like Win7 instead of Win8/9/10/11), I just jump in and start up.
What I am doing is mindful driving. I do not leave a car in gear if it doesn't need to be in gear. Indicators are used when they are of use to somebody, and not when they are not. In particular, I do not signal to exit a roundabout one exit before I'm actually coming off!!! Above all, I DO NOT signal right when approaching a roundabout when I'm not actually turning right (fecking new Highway Code).
How do you secure an EV parked on a slope? An electric motor offers little resistance to being back-driven, unless perhaps you short it out (and then resistance will be proportional to speed – so very little to stop it creeping). I suppose there must be some kind of mechanical rotation lock.
Owen Smith
Well-Known Member
The argument for always indicating even if the road is empty is you might not have seen someone, driver or pedestrian.
I'm not aware of these in the new highway code, and clearly most drivers are not. But then many drivers don't indicate at all at roundabouts.
EEPhil
Number 28
Totally agree. The number of times I've needlessly waited to cross a road because some prat failed to indicate.
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OP
woodbar
Active Member
I would imagine there maybe some kind of locking pawl, to the main output shaft, similar to auto boxes fitted to ICE vehicles which actuates when you choose "Park" ? Lots of drivers seem to only use this method instead of the handbrake which is not a good idea as the mechanism looks a bit flimsy - OK on flat ground but I would not trust it on any kind of slope.
I don't know whether you make this sort of stuff up for yourself or whether you read it in feeds designed to stroke your prejudices...
So just like the nonsense about brake lights on EVs and regen on EVs I'm going to correct this bit of ignorance before it passes for truth:
Somebody can't just come along an unplug your car from a rapid charger. Even a lowly 50kW charger is delivering that power by providing 400V at 125A. If you were to be able to unplug that there would be a big very harmful arc/spark which would make enough noise to wake the dead. When people have paid contactless they are expected to swipe their card to end the session. Similar applies to sessions which may have started via an app or with an RFID membership card. There is an emergency stop button on some (possibly all) rapids, but that would end the charging session, so your scenario of taking the plug and stealing the power is a lie with zero foundation. Did you personally make it up or did you read that?
When cars plug in to "standard" 240V charging at home, the plug should normally be locked, so long as the car is locked. Cars always lock the socket when the car is being actively charged, but there is a setting to decide whether the car should keep the plug locked into the socket when the charge is complete. I guess that if you charge in a secure home environment, it can be more convenient (by a minuscule margin) to be able to unplug and hang up the cable before unlocking the car. The general wisdom is that the setting should be set so that the plug is always locked so long as the car is locked - obviously that suits any public charging better. In my experience of using several makes of kerbside AC (non rapid) charging, the moment I disconnect the plug, the charge point notices immediately, usually there is a clack of relay/contactor in the unit then, within 30 seconds, I get the email of my receipt! Signalling down the cable ensures that power isn't flowing when you pull the plug. To that end, if I am charging and I unlock the car again, to get something which I forgot, the power drops to zero and the charge port unlocks. After about 15 seconds it will automatically re-lock the charge port and the power ramps back up again. There are safety reasons as well as theft reasons why your "statement" of what happens is "bollocks" for both rapid and slow AC charging. I've got so used to this that I usually just unlock the car, unplug within 15 seconds, coil cable and go. I don't actually need to actively stop the charger explicitly. BTW The charge point keeps the plug at that end locked, so long as the plug is connected at the car end.
Not so "bollocks", there is truth, but it is much overstated. It's heading in the direction of saying that driving your car will wear it out.
Not since small un-cooled batteries over 15 years ago has rapid charging been a major issue. AC charging is considered best for gaining the last few percent of lifetime.
As for the manufacturers: They've loved rapid roll-out because it ends the nonsense that you can't take your car far from your home. The rate at which a rapid charger charges a car is entirely controlled by the car's Battery Management System. It tells the rapid charger what voltage and what current and keeps altering it as the session progresses. It adjusts as the state of charge changes, it adjusts as the battery temperature changes. Famously it often keeps the current much lower in freezing temperatures. It is up to the car maker to set the parameters which will affect the battery. If they get that wrong it will harm their reputation. The doom about battery life is almost all derived from Nissan's early Leafs. The batteries were smaller, so there would be more charge cycles. They needed more rapid charges on a long journey.
Bigger batteries are better able to handle the power of an ultra-rapid charger or to be able to sink the regenerative energy from braking or going down a hill. The same weight EV decelerating would regen the same instantaneous energy, regardless of whether it was a 2016 model or a 2026 model. The difference is that in 2026 the battery size will be greater, so the impact of that surge of regen energy is distributed over more cells (just like for rapid charging).
So battery sizes, as well as chemistry, as well as battery management have all contributed to improvements which mean that the factual statistics of today will be bettered by the statistics gathered in 5-10 years time.
And NO, the life of an EV is not <10 years!
I bet a 2025 EV in 18 years will have had far fewer expensive services carried out on it than a petrol vehicle of that age.
As it happens, in the UK we have a fairly EV battery friendly climate, not freezing like Canada and Scandinavia, nor hot like Spain or California.
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Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
TLDR
Only interested in amplifying misinformation then?
I think you will find the correct abbreviation is tl;dr
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gomezz
Well-Known Member
This is always the big thing I disagree on with Advanced Driving instructors. It is one thing to do this to demonstrate that you have done your observation while on an assessment run but only then and not the rest of the time. Better to flash your indicators at someone who is not there than to to not flash them at someone who is.
Owen Smith
Well-Known Member
Absolutely. I pretty much always indicate, I don't see why people seem to regard it as a chore.
prpr
Well-Known Member
On my car, you can't just give it a momentary flash on the indicator to do one cycle as it automatically does three (another driver annoyance). You can do two and then let go and it just does two, but you have to time it right.
I hate that and therefore sometimes don't bother at all, depending on the circumstances. If there is nobody around that I can see then I don't see what the problem is.
If somebody's going to leap out from behind a bush (or whatever) and run in to my path then that is their problem. It's never happened.
Owen Smith
Well-Known Member
Why is that a problem? Three flashes is fine.
Because there might be somebody around that you have not seen, as I have already said. And they may be a pedestrian (so harder for you to see), waiting to cross the road only to see you turn off without indicating so they could have crossed the main road. Or they may be waiting to cross a side road, they start to cross and then you turn into that side road without indicating because you didn't see them. It happens, nobody is perfect. So just always indicate, it's not hard!
prpr
Well-Known Member
In your opinion. The noise annoys me, when it's unnecessary.
Nah, eyes like a hawk me.
Eh? They (plural) a pedestrian (singular).
Not many of them on the motorways of Britain, or at the dead of night.
Apparently that's their right of way now (not that I agree with it), so it hardly seems to matter. They (or is it he or she, or whatever you call a non-binary (it?)) should be indicating to me.
I am, in every way. It's hard to be humble. Oh lord.
OP
woodbar
Active Member
I have had exactly the same argument with two Advanced Driving Instructors. I think it just gets you into the habit - if you are changing lanes then indicate, does not really matter if no-one is there to see it - you know then that you ALWAYS indicate and it is not dependant on your perception of whether there is a hidden or obscure risk.
Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
Because just doing it automatically is not engaging the mind. There are many occasions when indicators are pointless, and many occasions when inappropriate use of indicators is worse than none. On a motorway, for example, if a manoeuvre is going to put somebody out, don't do it. And if it isn't, there is no need of a signal.
But you should have seen them.
No need to tar everyone with the same brush.
No, but you've been taken in by the propaganda. If you think your EV is going to last 10 years then come back in 10 years and prove it. By "last", I mean still have reasonable range and not have been kept in mothballs.
I have a friend who does this. If you want to do that, fine... but don't be forced into it just to stop the lane keeping kicking in (and as I said earlier, lane keeping can kick in even when there is no lane to keep in). Fundamentally, interfering with the driver should be verboten.
What is it you don't understand about this? Do you not see myriad vehicles coming around a roundabout signalling left too early??
antipodean
Active Member
Just because you haven't seen the motorcyclist with a death wish who is going to pass you on either side, depending which side they think will give them a better run - especially when approaching an off ramp that you are not taking.