[Paul]

Just been on a nine mile round trip to the centre of Milton Keynes back to Speak EV central.

On this journey I spotted:

• A white Nissan LEAF (which I then got in and drove)
• A white Renault ZOE
• A black Nissan LEAF
• A white BMW i3
• A white e-Golf
• Edited to add: A green and white Wrightbus electric bus

None of these were on display or in a showroom (driving by a dealer or EV display would be a cheat, surely).

That's an EV every 1.5 miles (including my own) from four five different manufacturers.

Can you beat that?!



p.s. For all the comments about not pushing the EV-world forward, I think I'm falling a little in love with the e-Golf.

 

[flipper]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure your own EV doesn't count!

 

[Paul]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure your own EV doesn't count!

I spotted it, it counts.

Even without, that's still pretty good going for a short trip, fourfive EVs, all different manufacturers, one per 1.8 miles.

 

[Andy]

Where I live I can't see me beating that for about, ooooo, 5 years or so.

p.s. is that really silver ?

 

[Paul]

Where I live I can't see me beating that for about, ooooo, 5 years or so.

p.s. is that really silver ?

No, it's white.


Who said it was silver?

 

[andrew*debbie]

>>Can you beat that?!

Not really. There are now 5 Leafs, a Zoe and an iMiev on Anglesey. There is another Leaf in Bangor plus one owned by the National Trust that is often parked at Penrhyn Castle.


Not bad considering that most or all of us are out of range of the nearest Rapid charger.

Our Nissan dealer in Abergele told us Leaf sales have taken off this year.

 

[tokenpom]

We came up from W. Somerset last weekend for the 'Silverstone Classic' (330 miles round-trip, please mail medal to me later, in your own time . . ) - and saw not a dicky-bird, - until we went to MK for our overnight stay (White Leaf) and then later, in that Holy Grail of Car-Spotting venues, (Buckingham Tesco's CarPark), - we saw our first Model S !

So it was worth the trip after all !

 

[EV Rider]

I spotted it, it counts.

Even without, that's still pretty good going for a short trip, four EVs, all different manufacturers, one per 2.25 miles.

stick to yer guns...

 

[Dean Hamer]

Speaking of the E-Golf, have they started delivering them to the UK public yet?

Would love one of these next but I'm so disappointed it doesn't have 7.2kw charging as standard (or even an option).

Hopefully this will change...

 

[Paul]

Just been out a short round trip of around 10 miles...

Spotted a different black LEAF, a different white ZOE and a silver i-MiEV.

That's an accumulated 8 EVs from five manufacturers including mine in 19 miles or so of driving today.

 

[Guesty]

When is the egolf available to buy then?

 

[Dennis]

I'll have to disqualify myself from this contest... I tweeted the following picture the other day while I was stuck in traffic 1/4 of the way on my commute in Southern California...

Count so far... 10 Model S, 10 Volts, 8 Leafs, 3 Ford PHEV, 2 Prius PHEV, 1 Fiat 500e, and 1 2nd Gen RAV4EV by dennis_p, on Flickr

The sub-title (which I did once I got to my destination) - This was a quarter of the way on the morning commute... (saw 3 more Model S, 2 more Volts, 2 C-Max, and 1 Plug-In Prius within ten minutes after I posted this picture... all going the opposite way from me.)

This was about 15 miles of driving at this point and STUCK in Southern California I-405 (named so because it takes 4 or 5 hours to get anywhere).

[If you squint, you can see the Volt and Model S coming right at me.]

 

[Parax]

Yesterday evening I passed a Leaf Taxi and two EV Busses (two different routes) I also had to stop for an EV tram, all whilst in my Ampera.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/494509801876258816

 

[AndyG]

I'll have to disqualify myself from this contest... I tweeted the following picture the other day while I was stuck in traffic 1/4 of the way on my commute in Southern California...

Count so far... 10 Model S, 10 Volts, 8 Leafs, 3 Ford PHEV, 2 Prius PHEV, 1 Fiat 500e, and 1 2nd Gen RAV4EV by dennis_p, on Flickr

The sub-title (which I did once I got to my destination) - This was a quarter of the way on the morning commute... (saw 3 more Model S, 2 more Volts, 2 C-Max, and 1 Plug-In Prius within ten minutes after I posted this picture... all going the opposite way from me.)

This was about 15 miles of driving at this point and STUCK in Southern California I-405 (named so because it takes 4 or 5 hours to get anywhere).

[If you squint, you can see the Volt and Model S coming right at me.]

What is the USA doing with fuel costing next to nothing that the UK isn't with fuel at £1.35ish a gallon

 

[Paul]

Wait a mo, I forgot the bus!

Better edit that first post. I just accept that as the electric bus, didn't cross my mind it counts as an EV?!

 

[Paul]

When is the egolf available to buy then?

Actually not sure, VW group cars always spring up around Milton Keynes ahead of time, due to the HQ.

 

[Lee Howard]

I'll have to disqualify myself from this contest... I tweeted the following picture the other day while I was stuck in traffic 1/4 of the way on my commute in Southern California...

Spotting in California should be relatively easy since you can just monitor the HOV lane. I wish Washington had the same.

 

[Dennis]

What is the USA doing with fuel costing next to nothing that the UK isn't with fuel at £1.35ish a gallon

Andy, I assume you're asking why adoption in the US (especially California) is quite good.

In California, it's the "carrot and stick" approach. Manufacturers are MANDATED to produce a certain percentage of alternative fuel vehicles in order to sell ANY vehicle in state. So, the manufacturers have to produce EVs (like the Honda Fit EV, Toyota RAV4 EV (both generations)) in order to sell their gas guzzlers.

On the consumer side, in California, the state provides a $2,500 maximum rebate (graduated down based on the size of the battery pack) used to be unlimited, now limited to two EVs per consumer. The Federal government does the same with a $7,500 tax credit (graduated as well.)

Some localities reimburse the cost of the charging station. (at the time I acquired my first EV, this was credited directly to the installer, then it became a tax credit), now expired, I believe.

One of the top motivators for people is the use of the HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) lane with just the driver in the vehicle.

Culturally, it seems that Americans are applauded for "bucking" the trend whereas it's not as accepted in other cultures.

 

[Lee Howard]

Andy, I assume you're asking why adoption in the US (especially California) is quite good.

See links my post from a while back regarding US EV adoption...

https://speakev.com/threads/the-state-of-evs-in-the-united-states.2559/

That Washington, California, and Hawaii top the list is not surprising. All of these states are fairly aggressive with environmentalism both in law as well as in culture. All of these states are heavily populated with technophiles. Georgia, Oregon, DC, Colorado, and Utah are not dramatically different.

So when you get a mix of tech-friendly with eco-friendly coupled with less public transit and average daily commutes that are in agreement with EV ranges, then you get a lot more adoption.

 

[AndyG]

UK provides…
£5000 rebate on cost of the car.
Free charging unit for home
Free road tax
Free charging in a lot of places
Many places free parking
London also charges £11.50 a day for ICE cars and nothing for EV's
On top of that our fuel cost a huge amount more, yet EV take up is still is not really taking off.

What are we doing wrong?