Why do you/ did you buy a petrol only car?

[Boxxer]

Right off the bat, EV's don't work for me. The concept seems appealing to use as a daily commuter, but charging times and avalilability makes them a very poor choice for my situation. Plus, they really are soulless little stubs. So no, thanks.

I've always liked driving, and driving technique. As a kid I was fascinated by heel-and-toe and stuff like that. I love petrol engines and a manual (a.k.a., proper ) gearbox.
That beind said, I got into diesel cars because, you know... broke kid
But eventually I got an Abarth 595, specced with almost full extras, and it reminded me how much I love driving. I later traded it for a 2017 Mini Clubman Cooper D (2.0 150bhp) with an auto gearbox, because I started doing over 45 miles a day and a lot of it in traffic. I thought the auto gearbox would help, which it did, but it totally robbed me of my joy of driving. So... enter the I20N. It's my daily, as was the Abarth, and it's the best thing I did recently

 

[nicosp]

I will take a less emotional stand on the subject.

Electric cars are not 'there' yet. They are either gimmick items to own , they are getting you into a compromising situation , they more expensive than their ICE counterparts or are items for people who believe they are saving the planet by buying one.

The cost of an electric car is currently higher than the equivalent ICE one. Unless the electricity becomes free and the fuel prices increase tenfold , it will take a good decade running the electric car to break even on the cost.
Batteries degrade over time, which means ideally I need to get a car with a battery 2 or 3 times larger than what I need to use in order to discharge/recharge it in it's ideal range (between 50% to full) in order to extend it's lifespan.
I don't really like the idea that I have to plan a long trip, taking into account where are the (limited) charging points or have to calculate the weather conditions (too hot/too cold) , in order to estimate if I can manage to do the trip or I need to have a few hours forceful break somewhere.
I don't like the idea that I have to arrange to do overnight charging to be sure that my car will be available the next day for use.
Hybrids are a smart way to reduce emissions and consumption , which reduces the annual costs but they are again generally at a higher cost which means it requires some calculations to see if the annual cost of operation (mileage, road tax etc) reduces significant to justify that extra cost. There's also the battery issue I mentioned above; considering that hybrids are having a much smaller battery, means also faster degradation - although it might not be something to realize since the engine will still kick in when needed; just a bit earlier as the time goes by.

For the last part about saving the planet, well, I don't really appreciate the hype around this.
Yes, we will probably going to extinct as species because of what we are doing on the planet but having the world leaders and multinational corporations trying to pass the issue to every individual is the least to say hypocritical. It's not that I don't believe we have a problem or we shouldn't try to do something about it but the attempt to cover every item in circulation the last years as "green" , "eco-friendly" and "sustainable" is simply ridiculous.

Ah, and of course I love the idea of pressing the right foot down and hear that melody of bang, pop , pop, bang bang

 

[FireWater85]

I will take a less emotional stand on the subject.

Electric cars are not 'there' yet. They are either gimmick items to own , they are getting you into a compromising situation , they more expensive than their ICE counterparts or are items for people who believe they are saving the planet by buying one.

The cost of an electric car is currently higher than the equivalent ICE one. Unless the electricity becomes free and the fuel prices increase tenfold , it will take a good decade running the electric car to break even on the cost.
Batteries degrade over time, which means ideally I need to get a car with a battery 2 or 3 times larger than what I need to use in order to discharge/recharge it in it's ideal range (between 50% to full) in order to extend it's lifespan.
I don't really like the idea that I have to plan a long trip, taking into account where are the (limited) charging points or have to calculate the weather conditions (too hot/too cold) , in order to estimate if I can manage to do the trip or I need to have a few hours forceful break somewhere.
I don't like the idea that I have to arrange to do overnight charging to be sure that my car will be available the next day for use.
Hybrids are a smart way to reduce emissions and consumption , which reduces the annual costs but they are again generally at a higher cost which means it requires some calculations to see if the annual cost of operation (mileage, road tax etc) reduces significant to justify that extra cost. There's also the battery issue I mentioned above; considering that hybrids are having a much smaller battery, means also faster degradation - although it might not be something to realize since the engine will still kick in when needed; just a bit earlier as the time goes by.

For the last part about saving the planet, well, I don't really appreciate the hype around this.
Yes, we will probably going to extinct as species because of what we are doing on the planet but having the world leaders and multinational corporations trying to pass the issue to every individual is the least to say hypocritical. It's not that I don't believe we have a problem or we shouldn't try to do something about it but the attempt to cover every item in circulation the last years as "green" , "eco-friendly" and "sustainable" is simply ridiculous.

Ah, and of course I love the idea of pressing the right foot down and hear that melody of bang, pop , pop, bang bang

I'm all for eco-friendly, I just don't need eco-obsession pushed down my throat.
If you live in Europe, you already live amongst the cleanest, most eco-friendly countries in the world overall. I mean, there are cities out there in other parts of the world, where you have to wear a mask just so you don't suffocate due to emissions. The polluters are in the majority and they don't care.

All the moronic european bureaucrats pulling out new nonsensical regulations out of their backsides on a regular basis, just so they can call it a work day - that actually produces the opposite reaction and makes me care less about the environment. Because they make me believe that it's not about the environment at all, it's more about making a political statement that fits their agenda.

Oh yeah, what shall we do today, let's paint all these ICE vehicles as the devil and force everyone into an oversized laptop battery on wheels. Surely, a miniscule amount of CO2 still coming out of the exhaust must be dramatically worse for our planet, compared to sticking lithium in eveything and then needing an entire fire squad with 100k liters of water just to put out an EV fire.

 

[MrJones]

Surely, a miniscule amount of CO2 still coming out of the exhaust must be dramatically worse for our planet, compared to sticking lithium in eveything and then needing an entire fire squad with 100k liters of water just to put out an EV fire.

I have been told that you can't put out a fire on a car battery because it has it's own oxygen source. You can dump in a pool and it still will continuo to burn. As I interpret it, you need to get the battery to an open space and let it burn out and don't ignite something around.

 

[NCurious]

Oh yeah, what shall we do today, let's paint all these ICE vehicles as the devil and force everyone into an oversized laptop battery on wheels. Surely, a miniscule amount of CO2 still coming out of the exhaust must be dramatically worse for our planet, compared to sticking lithium in eveything and then needing an entire fire squad with 100k liters of water just to put out an EV fire.

 

[FireWater85]

I have been told that you can't put out a fire on a car battery because it has it's own oxygen source. You can dump in a pool and it still will continuo to burn. As I interpret it, you need to get the battery to an open space and let it burn out and don't ignite something around.

Yes, I oversimplified that part, the entire process of putting out an EV fire consist of something like this:

1. try to power down the vehicle if possible,
2. secure a large, continuous water supply (putting out EV fires can take up to 24h),
3. try to cool the vehicle and its battery with water, while primarily making sure to keep the flames from igniting something in the surrounding area,
4. wait for the battery to burn itself out,
5. when the fire seemingly stops, monitor the battery very closely for re-iginition, for many hours to follow (the battery could even re-ignite several times),
6. decontaminate the surrounding area (e.g. soil) as well as the entire volume of water used while extinguishing (i.e. do not let it enter the sewage system), as both remain highly toxic afterwards due to heavy metal presence.

So yes, it's an extreme process to clean up that mess and even though Tesla argues that their EVs are about 10 times less likely to catch fire than ICE vehicles, I'd argue that the fallout is exponentially worse if they do. Not to mention that ICE vehicles have virtually no chance to combust spontaneously just sitting still, or after minor structural damage (e.g. bumping into something), which cannot be said of EVs. All things considered, I would definitely not like to be stuck in a garage full of these eco-friendly vehicles, if one of them caught fire.

I think that every EV buyer should be adequately informed of all risks and environmental impacts associated with what they're buying, instead of just being fed eco-obsessed propaganda that leaves out all the nasty bits.

Sources: [-1-] [-2-]

 

[NCurious]

^ What it needs is cases of this stuff to happen (not causing harm to anyone or anyone's home etc) and they might get the reputation of being death traps and the easily scaremongered public will hold off on them. However, even if cases of this stuff popped up every week, the main stream media probably wouldn't cover it, given they're usually the mouth piece for the brainwashing propaganda themselves. Don't now if you're in the UK, but this COP thing has essentially been the BBC's SuperBowl. They're in ecstasy. Kind of like everything you do is trash (even like eating meat wtf) and everything you enjoy it's best to ban.

 

[FireWater85]

^ What it needs is cases of this stuff to happen (not causing harm to anyone or anyone's home etc) and they might get the reputation of being death traps and the easily scaremongered public will hold off on them. However, even if cases of this stuff popped up every week, the main stream media probably wouldn't cover it, given they're usually the mouth piece for the brainwashing propaganda themselves. Don't now if you're in the UK, but this COP thing has essentially been the BBC's SuperBowl. They're in ecstasy.

These things have unfortunately already been happening for years with an increasing frequency. You can find reports of dozens of these incidents online, and it doesn't just concern one specific EV manufacturer either.

The manufacturers tried to mitigate what they could, but the basic principle remains the same - lithium is toxic and lithium is highly flammable in contact with oxygen. You slap 1 ton of lithium on something that zips around at high speeds in essentially unpredictable conditions, you're going to have a problem.

It is quite sad that the politicians and mainstream media have decided to turn a blind eye on this and push their EV agenda like the issues aren't even there. Probably hoping to sell the idea to as many people as possible, until the technology eventually matures (e.g. upcoming solid-state batteries without lithium), at the expense of people's lives and the environment.

 

[Lukian]

Just for the record, as "eco" popped up: ICE with synfuel probably are more eco than BEV.

I wish we can keep the discussion to the reasons you chose this petrol car.

 

[GazmaN]

I wish we can keep the discussion to the reasons you chose this petrol car.

Exactly why I created this thread and moved a bunch of posts into it to stop others being derailed:

Climate Change (Believers vs Denialists) and Alternative Fuels

I believe they’ll be plenty of dinosaurs around for decades to come. Oh course unless they perfect the production of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Then, they’ll still be around putting out water vapor. Meh to electrical cars. They are not environmentally friendly and create another hazard...

n-cars.net

 

[whelangc]

Yeah - I puchased one thinking that I'll hold on to it as long as possible . In Australia the EV evangelism has started with all the rest of the rhetoric. But given that 60% or more of new car sales are Dual cab or SUV's well go figure.
We have 'clean ' coal for power mainly but they say 'coal is coal ' . However the same people who discount coal fire for their own agenda discount 'nuclear' . Go figure.
Aussie tend to drive long distances for holiday.... 1000km in not unheard of. . You Brit think you haven't got the infrastructure ? Well we don't have more outside the Capital Cities which are anything from 600km and 1000k apart depending where you live. But of course the production of EV's is made by ?????? Wind Power , Solar Energy ? I don't think so . To me its' all Political Propaganda . Holding to petrol for as long as I can