[sravankrishnan]

Originally Posted by GTO

What you get in an EV versus conventional cars:

I'm not sure how many people relate with me but here's one thing I'd like to add. You can run the AC when parked without as much guilt!

Otherwise you constantly think about the noise, engine temperature and the tailpipe emissions. With an EV it's more like sitting in your home, especially useful during power cuts in summer months which is rather common in this part of Kerala.

[pgsagar]

Originally Posted by sravankrishnan

I'm not sure how many people relate with me but here's one thing I'd like to add. You can run the AC when parked without as much guilt!

Otherwise you constantly think about the noise, engine temperature and the tailpipe emissions. With an EV it's more like sitting in your home, especially useful during power cuts in summer months which is rather common in this part of Kerala.

Touche! I don't know why no one lists this as topmost quality of EV. A relative of mine is a contractor. He spends hours sitting in his Nexon EV, at the site. He says an hour's usage of AC in a parked car knocks 6-7 KMs off the range (other Nexon EV users can weigh in on these numbers ). Taking 90 paisa to 1 rupee per KM running costs into account, that is 5 to 6 rupees per hour AC usage. I'm sure it's cheaper than even 1 ton home AC. An hour's AC usage in a parked car(petrol) is said to cost 1.5 to 2 litres of fuel. That is, 150 to 200 rupees. 5-6 rupees vs. 15-200 rupees. Is it even a contest?

I am no contractor but I often end up waiting at airport, malls, jams etc. which is why my next car is going to be EV (most probably Nexon facelift). Plus, I don't want to buy a fuel car out of the spite I have for govt's greed to milk us on fuel prices. They will never get my money, at least. Ditto with greedy car brands. Will rather buy a used car or hang on to current fuel cars than buy a car I think is priced greedily. I don't want to feed their greed. Which BTW, goes for most cars these days.

Oh, the other BIG BIG feature no one speaks about EV is its GEARLESS DRIVE. Absolutely blissful single gear drive. Like a plane on take off run, it climbs and climbs and climbs seamlessly. Zero shift jerks because there are no shifts, neither upshifts nor downshifts. I have driven almost all automatics that are out there, both here and abroad and let me tell you every automatic whether DSG/DCT or TC or even artificially-stepped CVTs, they all suffers from shift jerks ( however small ) and early or delayed shifts, shift hiccups etc.

These two reasons coupled with ridiculously low cost of per Km running are enough reasons for me.

[wocanak]

Originally Posted by pgsagar

Touche! I don't know why no one lists this as topmost quality of EV. A relative of mine is a contractor. He spends hours sitting in his Nexon EV, at the site. He says an hour's usage of AC in a parked car knocks 6-7 KMs off the range (other Nexon EV users can weigh in on these numbers ). Taking 90 paisa to 1 rupee per KM running costs into account, that is 5 to 6 rupees per hour AC usage. I'm sure it's cheaper than even 1 ton home AC. An hour's AC usage in a parked car(petrol) is said to cost 1.5 to 2 litres of fuel. That is, 150 to 200 rupees. 5-6 rupees vs. 15-200 rupees. Is it even a contest?

Yes, this is a not so obvious benefit. Apart from the cost, in ICE the engine heat, noise and cooling fan noise make it impractical to use it for long. This summer, I have to wait ~3 hours while my son is giving the college admission exams, it a breeze for me to work from the car even when parked under the hot sun.

A friend of mine had to take an important call from his car while he was out, it was too noisy with AC so he had to switch it off, but had to keep the car closed to avoid noise and ended up sweating profusely even though it was night.

Originally Posted by pgsagar

I am no contractor but I often end up waiting at airport, malls, jams etc. which is why my next car is going to be EV (most probably Nexon facelift). Plus, I don't want to buy a fuel car out of the spite I have for govt's greed to milk us on fuel prices.

If possible/feasible also put solar rooftop with netmetering. You will be covered if in future the govt. tries to milk high electricity users and it will be even more guilt free environmentally.

[pgsagar]

Originally Posted by wocanak

If possible/feasible also put solar rooftop with netmetering. You will be covered if in future the govt. tries to milk high electricity users and it will be even more guilt free environmentally.

Good idea. It may also help cut cabin temp as it will prevent sunrays from hitting the roof of car and heating it up, right? BTW, I am yet to see this thing.

[Nikhil Beke]

Originally Posted by pgsagar

Good idea. It may also help cut cabin temp as it will prevent sunrays from hitting the roof of car and heating it up, right? BTW, I am yet to see this thing.

I think he means setting up the solar panels on the roof of the house/office, not on that of the car!

[fuzzydealhunter]

My dad has done the 5kwh solar planes on top of the house and drives the nexon ev guilt free. Added bonus he can use the AC in the house without any worry in the crazy hot summer this year in Kerala.

[pgsagar]

Originally Posted by Nikhil Beke

I think he means setting up the solar panels on the roof of the house/office, not on that of the car!

My bad, here. I mis-read it. Of course, car-top panel will never be enough to propel a car. It will if the car-top panel is the size of a, I don't know, maybe a tennis-court size. What I meant was, if they had a car-top panel, that could help return whatever little electricity to wheels that it could, to add an extra mile or two to range, like regen-braking then why not? EV's roof, hood and trunk (if sedan) panels just sit under baking sun. Might as well cover them up with stylish looking solar panels. Even doors. Sunrays falling on door-panels are tangential but even that may generate some electricity.

[Nikhil Beke]

Originally Posted by pgsagar

What I meant was, if they had a car-top panel, that could help return whatever little electricity to wheels that it could, to add an extra mile or two to range, like regen-braking then why not?

It's already being done: "Why solar electric vehicles might be the next generation of EVs" https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnb...a-reality.html
The question as usual is: How much of this added weight is one ready to lug around, without offsetting the gains(if any) in the kms of range?

[wocanak]

Originally Posted by pgsagar

My bad, here. I mis-read it. Of course, car-top panel will never be enough to propel a car. It will if the car-top panel is the size of a, I don't know, maybe a tennis-court size. What I meant was, if they had a car-top panel, that could help return whatever little electricity to wheels that it could, to add an extra mile or two to range, like regen-braking then why not? EV's roof, hood and trunk (if sedan) panels just sit under baking sun. Might as well cover them up with stylish looking solar panels. Even doors. Sunrays falling on door-panels are tangential but even that may generate some electricity.

Yes, I did mean solar roof top on your house/office with net metering.

But you don't need anything anywhere near Tennis court size to produce enough electricity for a car. The thumb rule is 4 units per KW solar panel. Currently a ~2 x 1 meter panel is 0.5 KW, so 1 panel ~2.5 sqmtr produces 2 units per day. EVs in India can do ~7 km per unit, so that is 14 km. More or less a car shed sized area is enough to produce enough energy for average usage.

If you want in Tennis court units, a Tennis court is ~260 sqmtr, so 1/100th of a Tennis court area will give you 14 km per day. So even if you do 140 KM per day, you need panels covering only 1/10th the size of a Tennis court.

But as Nikhil Beke said, it is not clear what the engineering trade of is to include a solar panel+electronics and get 10 to 20 Km. Note that you have to park/run in a shadow free area to get this.