Well, not the Chariot precisely, but the conveyance used by our Boadicea to travel from place to place. We’ve put our ICE-powered companion out to grass- she was getting a little frail and battered around the edges – and purchased a bright-eyed, lecky-driven, millennium replacement.
Well, not quite, but the warrants have been signed, the executioner booked and the changeover set for the end of the month. Our extended test drive convinced us both that the future is already here, even for a pair of seniors like us.
Once we have our new chariot we’ll bore you with the details of our experiences, no doubt. 😎
EV = Electric Vehicle.
ICE = Internal Combustion Engine (petrol/gas or diesel)
Boadicea's Chariot 
Will you be able to plug it in to your garage to recharge overnight? What’s the top speed?
Hi Sheona
In a word, yes!
Top speed is quoted as 160 kph, but it is software limited for each driving mode, at your chosen figure. Driving mode is normal, sporty or eco.
Acceleration from standstill is impressive/fun. 😎
And it is soooo quiet inside! I could relax in the back and hear every word that was said in the front.
160kph, really!
I must reevaluate my own car. After all, I don’t want to be overtaken by technology, if you get my meaning.
Oh no! Tree hugging and voting Green is next…..
And then no more air travel….
My two diesels can do 160kph in their sleep 😂
And drive for more than an hour before needing a ‘top up’ of electricity (generated from fossil fuels…. 😉)
And other pedestrians will hear me coming so won’t step out in front of me in car parks…..😎
Does it have a windmill on the roof and come with a copy of the Grauniad? 😂
I’ll never surrender to EVs! Well not until they’re cheaper than a diesel at least…😂
Don’t worry Cuprum – I’m going to do my bit for the ‘environment’ this year with two long air trips! And the only trees we’re likely to hug are those at the bottom of the garden… there are more than enough there for us…
We will be able to drive for more than an hour – and, at the moment, top ups from stations are ‘free’, whereas petrol just keeps going up, up and up.
I have to own that I’m about to put (not windmills) but solar panels on the house roof. It seems daft to me to have the house heat up with all the sun we get here in Brisbane and not to use that same sun for cooling us down.
This decision has little to do with being ‘green’ but more to do with ‘keeping up’ with technology (as I’m sure you will understand!) and a certain carefulness in the pocket. The car might be expensive – but the running costs, etc will be a great deal less.
As for pedestrians – Caveat Ambulator.
I am hoping to hang on until hydrogen powered cars become available., either ICE or fuel cell driven. The trouble with pure electric cars is that the rare earth metals that are needed for the motors and some batteries are, by definition, rare and hence liable to run out fairly quickly. In either case, the only output from hydrogen cars is water vapour.
I still think the AGW (anthropogenic global warming) business is a scam, as do many scientists although that is not reported in the media,. The real need for cutting down on ICE vehicles is to reduce particulate and nitrogen oxides pollution.
FEE.
Anyone with half an interest in history is well aware that our planet has warmed , cooled, and warmed up many times over its history. Almost every month or two I read of earlier cities being wiped out by ‘climate change’.
I don’t deny that perhaps the earth is in one of its ‘warming’ periods – but I do wonder what happened to the mini-ice age that was predicted in the 60s / 70s. That has made me less than confident in the predictions of the scientists who keep pushing AGW.
To spend fortunes on trying to change the unchangeable seems to me to be a waste of time. We are not Gods that we can change the course of nature. We need to look for solutions on how to deal with the problem.
I have no problem with trying to clean up the planet before we turn into one huge rubbish tip. Last year we banned single-use plastic shopping bags (forget all the other plastic bags and containers that are in use) – yet I read that some 3.5 million disposable nappies are dumped every day here in Oz… who would dare to tell mothers to go back to terry-towelling?
To really deal with some of these problems we have to stop the push for ever-increasing growth – and settle for sustainability – preferably with a smaller world population than we now have. But who’s going to have the courage to promote that?
G’day Charioteers, nice to see so much positive support! Just a few points –
Different Requirements
Our soon-to-be-retired, trusty 4.0 litre straight six has taken us all over Australia, on-road, on unsurfaced roads, off-road and out bush. But we’re old and our main adventures are now at the local shops or at least within the greater metropolitan sprawl of Brissie. Occasional trips to the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast are probably the furthest we venture without getting a plane or hitching a lift in the rellies’ BMWs or Mercs. So range anxiety is not a problem!
Get with it!
Most 2019/20 EVs have ranges of 300km+, some are 400km+ and a few are better than that, although perhaps not easily available yet. Even in Australia, recharging stations are reasonably easy to find, given the right app. We’ve bought an 18/19 model EV which tops out at about 230km, but that’s plenty for us and it is relatively cheap.
EVs are expensive, but total cost of ownership over 5 years brings the difference down – no expensive petrol to buy and maintenance at $165 per year, guaranteed. They’re getting cheaper by the year as battery technology improves and take-up increases, though, and petrol isn’t getting any cheaper. Several places, including Amsterdam, won’t allow anything over zero emissions from 2030 – that’s not as far away as it might seem
Couple of other things . . .
I forget the top speed of our retiring wagon, but in the NT we used to cruise at around 180 km/h (where it was legal), but we’re not looking to do that now, and the top limit in most states is 110 anyway. Our EV will do us fine, and it accelerates like a bat out of hell – think 737 or a young man’s motorbike!
Electric motors don’t have to use exotic materials (unless they include a permanent magnet) and although contemporary batteries use Cobalt and Lithium there are alternative technologies emerging which don’t.
I understand the greater energy density offered by hydrogen/fuel cell technology, and it could well prove to be the solution – if the safety aspects can be thoroughly engineered – nobody wants to end up like the early airships! 😎
I am shocked!! B&B have caught the green bug and bought a Chariot powered by electrickery. What is the world coming to?
I am sure that it will take Bearsy no more than a morning to fettle the software to get the thing doing some proper speeds, but I am worried about the range. Straya [sic] is a big island and I well remember that road sign on the Bruce Highway just north of Brizzie – “Cairns”, it read, “1,680 km”. It takes 19-20 hours, but if you have to stop every 100 km to recharge and assuming charging points are no more than 100 km apart, which is a massive assumption, it should take no more than 19-20 days.
I suggest packing a mobile phone, at least one slab of XXXX, preferably four or five and a goat for the roadside barbie. Good luck.
OZ
FEEG: Of course the AGW business is a scam. On which side (temperatures up or pants down) are the fat “research” grants to be had? The best grant I’ve heard of was awarded by the US Gummint a few years ago, for a study of using cow farts as fuel.
I admit that I don’t know how the amount of electrical energy required for electrolysis of water to get hydrogen compares with the amount to be obtained by using said hydrogen as fuel in one way or another.
Boadicea: Didn’t any of these global warming-criers think to check that we’re still on our way out of the last Ice Age? I didn’t hear of that London traffic-blocking mob producing any actions or ideas that might help with the situation. I’m afraid I believe that the best solution is to reduce the population – starting with such types as those.
We humans certainly don’t help matters with all our pollution but temperatures will continue to go up with or without our assistance. The question that looms large to me is: by how much will they increase? A good part of the past month was already uncomfortably warm for us, even in this normally cool-ish part of the country and in this normally cool-ish time of year. What’s next, popcorn direct from the stalk?
Bearsy: Routine care and feeding of an EV may well cost less than for an ICE, but wait until you have to buy a new battery! A friend found out the hard way just last year.
OZ, dear chap – I know the very signpost! Boadicea and I have always regarded it as a remarkably apposite encapsulation of the very essence of Aussie culture. And then some!
By the way, it’s 230 not 100 – see my last comment – but that’s not what we bought it for. “Stay abreast of technology, have fun, remember you can’t take it with you, and that the final exit is approaching fast” Them’s our battle cry these days. 😎
CoG -you’re right of course, the replacement cost is enough to make strong men turn to jelly. But our rationale goes thusly -There’s an 8 year warranty on our Chariot’s battery, and by then we’ll either be on our next vehicle or my GP will be refusing to sign my annual “fit to drive” chit, which is a sine qua non in Queensland. Heck, we’re old!
Sad to read of the demise of Bob Hawke. He obviously heard of the electric Chariot and gave up the ghost in despair. Now see what you’ve done.
OZ
Bob was a top bloke, liked and respected by all Aussies irrespective of their place in the political divide. Rest in peace, Bob, you deserve it.
Word has it, OZ, that Bob had been feeling crook for a few days but was hanging on because he was worried about the future of Australia. Once he heard our news he realised that Straya was still in safe hands, so he could relax and move on to pastures new.
😀
OZ
Bearsy: There was a video link given in *The Vancouver Sun* this morning
that started me wondering whether Australia offers any Gummint incentives for purchasing an EV. As you see, Canada does, but then they’re such *nice* people up there.
Hi Cog – As far as I know, most countries are offering some financial incentives, including the USA and the UK, Norway and so on, but Straya is resolutely opposed to EVs, offers no monetary advantage or incentive and is resolutely rude and dismissive about EVs and the people that drive them.
However, the untrue stories (you can’t go out bush, there will never be an electric Ute and if there is it won’t be able to pull a trailer, they’re unreliable, etc., etc.) are now being seen as the furphies that they are and orders have dramatically increased this year, according to the dealers. A few cities, including Brissie, are already changing buses to EV – anyone remember trolley buses? But the Commonwealth still won’t offer a cent! 😎