Electric Motorhomes at Scale, Can't be Far Away Now.

[John Barrett]

I can't be arsed with all this diverting from my route to faff with stinky diesel every few hundred miles. My car is already full every morning.

To quote a very old saying: 'There's none so pious as the converted'!

 

[Guigsy]

You're a good salesman, but it's not working on me , electric cars are not the future. Most manufacturers have realised this now and are abandoning the technology.

The reality is that EVs require you to change your behaviour a little and think about long trips a bit differently. But the overall result is they aren't really much faff, most of the time it's less. And they're cheaper to run.

Manufacturers are definitely not abandoning the technology. But they are trying to squeeze as much money out of their ICE investment as possible. They're in no hurry to shutter their engine plants, built battery facilities and invest in new tech. They don't want the public to change as it's more profitable and delays spending if we don't.

 

[nicholsong]

Let's assume you start with a full battery and you arrive pretty much empty.

With a bottom rung MG4, you'd get to 452 miles with only an hour of charging required. I bet if you drove that distance, you'd be stopping for more than an hour.

An Ioniq 5 will get you 947 miles with only an hour of charging!

This thread is about MHs not cars.

When they start building a half-decent MH with range and payload I shall begin to take note of on-the-road experiences. Meanwhile it is a waste of time discussing car experiences, particularly on a thread that is devoted to MHs.

 

[Tombola]

Ive gone through cortinas, escorts, rovers, cavaliers. Jags, mercs, land rovers, and now on lecky evs. (Past 3 cars).

Ev for me is By far the best and easiest of the lot.
In fact I was between evs once so went back for a short time to a lovely jaguar XF, but it just felt crap this time round after owning EV..

And ive gone through similar starting with with my camper vans...but as soon as EV mhs become a thing, with 250- 300 ish miles I'll be seriously looking. No hassle, just press and go.

 

[Guigsy]

This thread is about MHs not cars.

When they start building a half-decent MH with range and payload I shall begin to take note of on-the-road experiences. Meanwhile it is a waste of time discussing car experiences, particularly on a thread that is devoted to MHs.

I agree that coach build motorhomes are nowhere near ready for BEV. Even 6m PVCs are probably another generation away. But it's coming. For delivery vans, BEV is doable for some companies. And for cars, it's already very practical for the vast majority of cases. Despite what the deniers say.

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[enark]

I can't be arsed with all this diverting from my route to faff with stinky diesel every few hundred miles. My car is already full every morning.

But your MH still runs on diesel?

 

[enark]

The reality is that EVs require you to change your behaviour a little and think about long trips a bit differently. But the overall result is they aren't really much faff, most of the time it's less. And they're cheaper to run.

Manufacturers are definitely not abandoning the technology. But they are trying to squeeze as much money out of their ICE investment as possible. They're in no hurry to shutter their engine plants, built battery facilities and invest in new tech. They don't want the public to change as it's more profitable and delays spending if we don't.

How are they cheaper? My car is long ago paid for. Cost me £15k in 2013, two year old.

Now 150,000 miles later, still running good, but value close to £0, so if i buy a tesla £40k, and it wont do half what my V70 does….

My Fiat Ducato is now two years old and diesel is by far the best powertrain for a 4 ton MH.

Btw, never seen an EV police car? Or ambulance?

 

[BobJayne]

Btw, never seen an EV police car? Or ambulance?

[]

 

[Lenny HB]

Remind me again about how many miles most motorhomes cover a year compared to cars!

A low of us retired folk do far more miles in the Motorhome, I know a lot of people like me, I've had the current Motorhome 6 months and it's coming up to 6000 miles. My car in the same period has done 700miles.

 

[Googlebot]

Or ambulance?

Yes.

UK’s first all-electric ambulance to enter service in West Midlands - The Engineer

The UK’s first zero emissions, all-electric ambulance is due to begin trials this month (October 2020) with the West Midlands Ambulance Service.

www.theengineer.co.uk

This was 5 years ago, cost precludes us replacing them all with electric as we have circa 500.

However we are just about to introduce more of them.

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[nicholsong]

Ive gone through cortinas, escorts, rovers, cavaliers. Jags, mercs, land rovers, and now on lecky evs. (Past 3 cars).

Ev for me is By far the best and easiest of the lot.
In fact I was between evs once so went back for a short time to a lovely jaguar XF, but it just felt crap this time round after owning EV..

And ive gone through similar starting with with my camper vans...but as soon as EV mhs become a thing, with 250- 300 ish miles I'll be seriously looking. No hassle, just press and go.

But the first models with that range will probably have habitation areas of inferior materials and build., just like many good-sized ones built now to get under 3.5t.

 

[EuroTrotters]

I agree that it makes a large difference to cars. ICE chassis that have EV'd tend to have the batteries crammed in non optimal spots with lots of wasted space under the bonnet.

But I'm not sure there's as much difference in a van. The batteries will go in the same place. As will the motor and inverter. And it'll still be an aerodynamic brick. One benefit might be that you make the battery structural as part of the floor. So you'd not lose much mass. Maybe you'd try to make the driver lower and forwards to improve the aero. But the overall height would still be similar.

Have you ever seen the wasted space in a sprinter ?. Felt the weight of doors or bonnet ?.

 

[enark]

[]

Exactly, never seen an EV police car.

My guess is they are some fictional cars in Musks imagination…..Holywood?

 

[enark]

Yes.

UK’s first all-electric ambulance to enter service in West Midlands - The Engineer

The UK’s first zero emissions, all-electric ambulance is due to begin trials this month (October 2020) with the West Midlands Ambulance Service.

www.theengineer.co.uk

This was 5 years ago, cost precludes us replacing them all with electric as we have circa 500.

However we are just about to introduce more of them.

Really, well i live in the west mids, and all i see are ducato ambulances which are diesel…

Maybe a wish in 2020, but by 2023 they had ditched the idea;

Ambulance service to keep buying diesel vehicles with electric conversion 'not commercially viable'

The region's ambulance service will continue to buy diesel replacements after revealing it would cost an extra £70m to replace its fleet with electric vehicles.

www.expressandstar.com

Electric ambulances have already been trialled in the West Midlands and an evaluation of the scheme showed that they travelled an average of 70 miles between charging and that the range was a “significant limiting factor”, according to a report.

 

[cyberyacht]

No one has mentioned the fact that a significant number of motorhomes are kept in storage, not on the driveway. Unless substantial infrastructure is installed at these locations, it cannot be assumed that any motorhome is going to start its journey with a full charge. Whilst some of the journeys will be within a 100 mile or so radius and this viable as EV, the "run to the sun" may involve five or six days of long runs. Add in that these overnight stops may well be "off-grid" and it starts looking problematic. I submit that this is closer to the reality of motorhome usage.

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[Neil S]

Let's assume you start with a full battery and you arrive pretty much empty.

With a bottom rung MG4, you'd get to 452 miles with only an hour of charging required. I bet if you drove that distance, you'd be stopping for more than an hour.

An Ioniq 5 will get you 947 miles with only an hour of charging!

An MG4 you’d get 452 miles with an hours fast charge ?

 

[enark]

An MG4 you’d get 452 miles with an hours fast charge ?

Its made up? Long range driving on motorways is just over 200, in California no doubt! So thats about 120 on A1M…..in winter

 

[Googlebot]

Really, well i live in the west mids, and all i see are ducato ambulances which are diesel…

Maybe a wish in 2020, but by 2023 they had ditched the idea;

Ambulance service to keep buying diesel vehicles with electric conversion 'not commercially viable'

The region's ambulance service will continue to buy diesel replacements after revealing it would cost an extra £70m to replace its fleet with electric vehicles.

www.expressandstar.com

Electric ambulances have already been trialled in the West Midlands and an evaluation of the scheme showed that they travelled an average of 70 miles between charging and that the range was a “significant limiting factor”, according to a report.

Really, well i live in the west mids, and all i see are ducato ambulances which are diesel…

Maybe a wish in 2020, but by 2023 they had ditched the idea;

Ambulance service to keep buying diesel vehicles with electric conversion 'not commercially viable'

The region's ambulance service will continue to buy diesel replacements after revealing it would cost an extra £70m to replace its fleet with electric vehicles.

www.expressandstar.com

Electric ambulances have already been trialled in the West Midlands and an evaluation of the scheme showed that they travelled an average of 70 miles between charging and that the range was a “significant limiting factor”, according to a report.

We haven’t ditched the idea, we now run electric response cars which are doing very well in the urban areas with no issues at all.

Also, we are about to buy more electric Ambulances. They do work, it’s just that diesel is currently cheaper on the whole to run as we are flat out and don’t have the fleet capacity.

The electric ambulance is out there as I type, responding to patients.

 

[Guigsy]

An MG4 you’d get 452 miles with an hours fast charge ?

Because you start the journey with a full charge. And you do three 20 min stops.

 

[Guigsy]

We haven’t ditched the idea, we now run electric response cars which are doing very well in the urban areas with no issues at all.

Also, we are about to buy more electric Ambulances. They do work, it’s just that diesel is currently cheaper on the whole to run as we are flat out and don’t have the fleet capacity.

The electric ambulance is out there as I type, responding to patients.

I'd expect electric ambulances to be quite a tough use case. They spend a lot of time idling with the heating or AC on. Often with the doors open. And they probably don't use eco mode and worry about braking gently to get maximum regen when they're doing emergency calls! I'm not surprised that the vans from the last generation weren't capable. But it'll change.

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[PaulW2]

No one has mentioned the fact that a significant number of motorhomes are kept in storage, not on the driveway. Unless substantial infrastructure is installed at these locations, it cannot be assumed that any motorhome is going to start its journey with a full charge. Whilst some of the journeys will be within a 100 mile or so radius and this viable as EV, the "run to the sun" may involve five or six days of long runs. Add in that these overnight stops may well be "off-grid" and it starts looking problematic. I submit that this is closer to the reality of motorhome usage.

If you put solar panels on the roof and leave it in storage for a month I wonder whether the solar energy wouldn't be sufficient to top up the battery

 

[enark]

We haven’t ditched the idea, we now run electric response cars which are doing very well in the urban areas with no issues at all.

Also, we are about to buy more electric Ambulances. They do work, it’s just that diesel is currently cheaper on the whole to run as we are flat out and don’t have the fleet capacity.

The electric ambulance is out there as I type, responding to patients.

Just the one then?

 

[enark]

If you put solar panels on the roof and leave it in storage for a month I wonder whether the solar energy wouldn't be sufficient to top up the battery

If you were in the sun, but most people store over winter? So unlikely

 

[Googlebot]

Just the one then?

The one what?

We probably have 30ish electric response cars and small vans and just ordered 4 more electric ambulances I think.

You did say you wouldn’t see an Ambulance or Police car that’s electric.

 

[The Wino]

How are they cheaper? My car is long ago paid for. Cost me £15k in 2013, two year old.

Now 150,000 miles later, still running good, but value close to £0, so if i buy a tesla £40k, and it wont do half what my V70 does….

My Fiat Ducato is now two years old and diesel is by far the best powertrain for a 4 ton MH.

Btw, never seen an EV police car? Or ambulance?

Assuming just under 40 mpg for the car though compared to running an EV you have spent roughly £22 k more on fuel and if you have it serviced at a garage a fair bit more on servicing and road taxes.

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[Googlebot]

I'd expect electric ambulances to be quite a tough use case. They spend a lot of time idling with the heating or AC on. Often with the doors open. And they probably don't use eco mode and worry about braking gently to get maximum regen when they're doing emergency calls! I'm not surprised that the vans from the last generation weren't capable. But it'll change.

It was a proof of concept, the tech is probably 10 years old.

It worked and I think you are absolutely right that it will change.

A great test bed for daily use I think.

 

[nicholsong]

Yes.

UK’s first all-electric ambulance to enter service in West Midlands - The Engineer

The UK’s first zero emissions, all-electric ambulance is due to begin trials this month (October 2020) with the West Midlands Ambulance Service.

www.theengineer.co.uk

This was 5 years ago, cost precludes us replacing them all with electric as we have circa 500.

However we are just about to introduce more of them.

If there are 500 ambulances, how many hearses are there in he same geographical region?

 

[enark]

Assuming just under 40 mpg for the car though compared to running an EV you have spent roughly £22 k more on fuel and if you have it serviced at a garage a fair bit more on servicing and road taxes.

But £0 on electric?

And 45 mpg - 60 on longer runs

 

[enark]

Last thought on EV MH.

I have a MH for the freedom of travel, no restrictions on pets, and the sense of self reliance.

So a diesel with 450 mile range, plus the opportunity to stick a few extra cans in the garage, gives me that go anywhere freedom. I also have one of the devils own generators so 5l can of petrol keeps me self sufficient for ages.

Some years ago a mate hired a van, was gifted a 200l (10 cans) of diesel by a kind MT Sgt, and toured most of the UK without needing to fill up….thats freedom.

Trudging from one charger to another, and fretting over solar gain etc are not for me. And not really the essence of motorhoming.

Perhaps instead of wasting thousands on an EV van - just book into hotels? They may even provide a charger for your EV car etc…

So its a nice idea, but i think like Betamax, will be consigned to the history books…

 

[The Wino]

But £0 on electric?

And 45 mpg - 60 on longer runs

No I roughly calculated £28k for petrol/ diesel and £6k for electricity the £22k is the difference. On our diesel car we get up to 60mpg on a run but look at the long term average you are unlikely to see it anywhere near the best figure. The Tesla at £44k could have been cheaper if yours really is worth very little they seem to have a better residual.

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