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An electric 7


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Posted

I'm not a fan of electric vehicles; I think that they are being pushed into use cases that they don't fit.  In my opinion carrying around a literal tonne of ruinously expensive batteries 24/7 for an occasional trip across the country is crazy.  They're much more suited to local runarounds and short commutes.

 

However, one use case that I can see being popular would be a fun car like a westy that you take out for an occasional fun ride.

 

I'm not sure how well electrics would fit into the diy builder area though.

 

D

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Posted
21 hours ago, Ian Kinder (Bagpuss) - Joint Peak District AO said:

The weight and lack of engine noise would be the bigger issue for me. Range of 150-200 miles would be fine for me.

 

Yeah agreed losing the noise and visceral feeling of an Ice would be terrible, but with that range getting stuck half way on a run would be worse! 😆

Posted
22 hours ago, Ian Kinder (Bagpuss) - Joint Peak District AO said:

Range of 150-200 miles would be fine for me.

Not for a Highland tour, let alone the Alps!

Posted
4 hours ago, dvd8n said:

 

I'm not sure how well electrics would fit into the diy builder area though.

 

D

 

The last time I read the IVA manual, which was 2-3 years ago now, home build EVs were doable but require a test certificate regarding some aspect of the EV side. I've no idea how challenging that would be to comply with.

Posted
11 hours ago, stephenh said:

Hi Mark, the car I was talking about in my previous post was, I think, the one you refer to as the Sport E. I don't think they actually sold any, but as ever I may be wrong. I can't remember the name of the chap who rolled at Curborough, but I remember him telling me that he worked for Potenza, which is how he came to be driving the car, and it was he who told me that they had built 4 cars and that they all belonged to Potenza. 


it was a sport E but very different to the current car. As I understand, it started life as one of the half dozen IRacer chassis but fitted with ZK bodywork.

 

As you correctly say the car was owned by an employee of Potenza and never made available to us mortals.

Posted

I'd be inclined to split that battery into four, and just drive with one at a time, making them swappable. Of the list of things I don't want to do in my kit car, drive 300 miles is probably one of them. That's a bigger battery than my daily run-around and it's probably half the weight. I don't think the weight or cost will add any value to the car.

Posted
7 hours ago, Dommo said:

I'd be inclined to split that battery into four, and just drive with one at a time, making them swappable. Of the list of things I don't want to do in my kit car, drive 300 miles is probably one of them. That's a bigger battery than my daily run-around and it's probably half the weight. I don't think the weight or cost will add any value to the car.

You should try a long distance drive/adventure some time. I have completed 4 or so plus 300 mile runs in a day over the last 2 years. Mega sense of achievement and surprisingly comfortable too.

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Posted
14 hours ago, Kingster said:

Not for a Highland tour, let alone the Alps!

Yep a 12 day trip would become much longer with all the charging stops and I've not seen many charging points on our travels!

Posted
13 hours ago, DIY-Si said:

 

The last time I read the IVA manual, which was 2-3 years ago now, home build EVs were doable but require a test certificate regarding some aspect of the EV side. I've no idea how challenging that would be to comply with.

I'd imagine they build with conventional power train and then swap to EV after IVA

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Posted
5 hours ago, Ansoeb said:

You should try a long distance drive/adventure some time. I have completed 4 or so plus 300 mile runs in a day over the last 2 years. Mega sense of achievement and surprisingly comfortable too.

Yup. This year alone I did 3x multi-day highland trips with most days doing over 300 miles. We will usually do 1200-2000 miles on a tour over 3-5 days. Next year it’s Spain, so plan on more than that!

 

Our local weekend blats are rarely less than 200 miles too.
 

Although it’s a tad more civilised now I have the Exige, it was the same story with the Westy for the previous 9 years.

 

So, for me a car that had a range of under 200 miles (and then needed charging somewhere) would maybe just be usable at the weekend but useless for tours. Thus, I would never even consider one. 

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Posted
3 hours ago, Ian Kinder (Bagpuss) - Joint Peak District AO said:

I'd imagine they build with conventional power train and then swap to EV after IVA

It is doing this with classic cars that the DVLA are investigating at the moment with a view to changing the regulations and im sure amateur  built cars will be dragged into it.

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Posted
3 hours ago, Kingster said:

Yup. This year alone I did 3 multi-day highland trips with most days doing over 300 miles. We will usually do 1200-2000 miles on a tour over 3-5 days. Next year it’s Spain, so plan on more than that!

 

Our local weekend blats are rarely less than 200 miles too.
 

Although it’s a tad more civilised now I have the Exige, it was the same story with the Westy for the previous 9 years.

 

So, for me a car that had a range of under 200 miles (and then needed charging somewhere) would maybe just be usable at the weekend but useless for tours. Thus, I would never even consider one. 

I'd wager you're not a typical 7esque owner though. Many cars out there don't do 200 miles a year never mind in one trip. I don't think anyone is claiming electric sevens will be all things to all men (other genders are available) but it's nice to have another choice potentially on the horizon. 

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Posted

Yeah fair point @joolz we’re made of sterner stuff up north I guess 😁

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Posted
19 minutes ago, Kingster said:

Yeah fair point @joolz we’re made of sterner stuff up north I guess 😁

I admire anyone doing very long trips in cars of this type. Back when I was a student I had a dutton phaeton as my only car, I went everywhere in it.  I'm nearly 60 now, that gung-ho spirit has somewhat left me these days  😳🤣

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Posted
1 hour ago, joolz said:

I admire anyone doing very long trips in cars of this type. Back when I was a student I had a dutton phaeton as my only car, I went everywhere in it.  I'm nearly 60 now, that gung-ho spirit has somewhat left me these days  😳🤣

I’m 64 and still at it 🤣

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