Click here to search eBay using an item number or text description...
Electric cars at the races.
Posted by Leon Novello on November 13, 2024, 11:41 pm
They have been banned from racing at Willowbank Raceway West of Brisbane, with management deeming them too dangerous to compete. One of the unique risks posed by EVs at tracks was their batteries releasing toxic and flammable gas after a collision. First responders may not be able to confirm that the car is "off" and the doors may not unlock from the outside after a collision. Hybrid vehicles will be allowed to run. Leon Novello
One of the biggest dangers of EV cars is the risk of electrocution to anyone after there is damage in an accident. Vehicle repairers have to have 2 people to work on the car so one can rescue the other using the long insulated hooked pole that is required next to the vehicle being repaired. Some Countries have banned EV cars from Cities, car parks and bridges so far. I must say, my hybrid car is the most economical car to fuel i have ever owned and will have another but will be interesting what it is worth as a trade in. Figures suggest the amount they devalue will be more than the cost of running a simple petrol car. Make sure you never park up next to a full EV car as many ignite and your cars goes with it.
Yep. Smart, motivated people have been working for 120 years to make an electric car safe and practical and ready to replace the ICE car, and they're not much further along than they were in 1904.
Another 50 years might do it, who knows? Meanwhile, the governments who believe they can force ideologically driven technology on people "by 2025" or "by 2035" will be on the ash heap of history .....
Lannis I don't take health advice from people who think the world is overpopulated.
I agree, Lannis. I can already sense the next mis-selling scandal in the wings. Lawyers have done well in the last few decades over packaged bank accounts, personal protection insurance, diesel emissions cheating, personal finance on car packages...
I expect a few are already eyeing up the various fatal accidents (the bus in Italy for example) where occupants were immolated without being forwarned that it was likely. Mind you, things look good for Musk now he's in government with his pal - I expect you'll see a lot more investment in his car bombs. I reckon your new Defence Secretary knows a thing or two as well!
I even wrote to my MP about it, in a moment of optimism. Optimism that she'd write back but of course that was misplaced!
If you happen to have a BMW EV, its good to know that battery replacement is a mere 10,000 pounds compared to Porsche which is a lot more. The used EV market is virtually nothing as the dealers will not buy them back. The recent rise in sales is due to very large discounts up to 20,000 off. I watch car development and dont mind changes but they do have to be sellable later on. My power pack allows about 50 percent of my mileage by battery alone except motorway travel where it is petrol powered for about 90 percent. Motorway, i only get arount 54mpg from a 2 litre petrol engine. It will be interesting what it can do on my Birmingham trip next week with passenger load
Dealers are going bust because they can't do anything to electric vehicles the service is basic the electronics are for the factory.. Probably noticed the Bike dealers closing down mainly modern bikes have all the electronic gizmos that can only be done at the factory.like ride by wire throttles what idiot thought that idea.... Petrol now a lot cheaper as well.Tonupdave..T.U.D.
One problem not aired much is surge caused by the chargers near housing. This surge can destroy your household electronics. I now have a large antisurge system incorporated in the consumer unit. These consumer units are now required if wiring any house. I am pleased with my new unit which cost near 300 pounds at wholesale cost . Also has earth leakage protection on every individual circuit rather than the old type which would share an earth leakage device with 5 or 6 circuits.
The reason bike dealers are going bust is very simple: There's not enough people buying bikes. Bikes are mostly non-essential luxury leisure purchases at a time when the cost of living is impacting sales, Bike sale profit margins are very slim and dealership overheads are very high. Some companies were "empire building" multiple franchises & locations on unsustainable finances.
It's got nothing to do with complex "electronic gizmos" like ride by wire throttles on modern bikes. In fact these are a benefit to dealers because they deter home maintenance so keep their workshops busy!
So many vehicle re-calls now and other types Hyundie seems to be worse...reading yday that certain vacuum cleaners recalled as the circuit board is not up to standard two parts are close together and overheat and cause fire...Tonupdave..T.U.D.
I have not had a recall on new vehicles since 2002 on a Peugeot having a wire routed wrong so it might have worn through. It was just a check as someone in the build process got some wrong. Apart from that, most have been good apart from BMW with poor quality fittings and seats which failed and a British built Nissan with a failed satnav which they just could not fix. New satnav console fitted and that caused multiple other problems including interior lights stuck on then a failed battery. What was interesting was the new Renault hybrid Arkana. Impressive car but the Exeter dealer would not let me have a test drive. I did get a test drive from a Yeovil dealer and it was good but just a bit too big. At the moment, the Toyota yaris cross hybrid is selling extremely well locally as are Hyundai hybrids so prices must be good
Hyundai cars and Hyundai white goods not the same animals, Dave.
Mrs B on her 3rd Hyundai, me on my second. No recalls & no warranty work for either of us over 5 cars in the last 13 years - just annual servicing, wear parts (tyres, brake pads) and fuel.
The reason bike dealers are going bust is very simple: There's not enough people buying bikes. Bikes are mostly non-essential luxury leisure purchases at a time when the cost of living is impacting sales,
I suspect that statement requires a bit more clarification, Will. Some bikes do seem to be selling well & the couple of dealers I have used recently have suggested that sales are holding up. But the bikes that are selling appear to be from the "disruptors" at the lower price end of the market - to the extent that some popular models are on back-order.
I have had various suggestions for this, but there mainly seem to be two streams - some buying smaller lighter bikes due to advancing years and others giving up on expensive PCP deals for top end bikes & choosing to buy something cheaper outright instead.
Bike sale profit margins are very slim and dealership overheads are very high.
And one of the major drivers of the "high overheads" is the ludicrous requirements of the importers / distributors. The last local dealer of Japanese bikes gave up when the importer wanted them to spend £10k on re-tiling the showroom floor with "corporate" floor tiles only available from them. The dealer had not made £10k profit from the franchise in the previous year so just gave up and concentrated on second hand bikes. Another dropped Piaggio and Suzuki & downsized premises due to the unachievable sales targets required. They had previuosly dropped Honda after being fined for "infringements" after an inspection - £1k per "infringement", which included having a non-franchise branded coffee cup on a salesman's desk, a cracked floor tile under a heavy bike center stand leg and a dusty mark around a ceiling heating vent. Another Piaggio dealer apologised for the lack of stock on display, as they were in disagreement about being expected to pay more for a bike than it's retail price and being told to "make up the difference on servicing". Some companies were "empire building" multiple franchises & locations on unsustainable finances.
Some still are - Vertu for one locally. I know know nothing of Vertu's finanacing, but if / when they go under there will be a mainstream manufacturer dealership desert around here.
I suspect there are other drivers as well - the mainstream manufacturers seem obsessed with pushing unuseable performance levels from ever larger capacity and heavier bikes that are not relevant to public roads and charging ever more for them.
KTM & BMW seem to have really screwed up with reliability and their "head in the sand" responses to sorting issues out. BMW's pannier debacle - they fall off, apparently & the official "fix" for those who don't want to return them for a refund is to use luggage straps to hold them on. No replacement product until the middle of next year according to the German magazines - and this from the maker that all but wrote the book on functional, capable, integrated luggage in the '70s / '80s. Some latest BMW models seem to require mandatory swapping of the (expensive - €900-ish for the part plus fitting) driveshaft at a certain, relatively low, mileage level.
KTM's camshaft woes seems to a be a text book example of how not to handle a recall situation - deny there is a problem, force customers to pay for expensive repairs that use modified parts, deny warranty claims and then cave in to the inevitable and have to sort it out. Plus their dubious ploy of supplying some bikes with all the options working only for them to stop doing so after a month unless you shell out another arm and a leg to turn them back on again. Parts supply seems sketchy too according to some reports of parts taking months to arrive.
Personally I would trust BMW and (particularly) KTM as far as I could throw one. As KTM have taken over distribution of CF Moto bikes, I would be wary of them too - great having a 4 year warranty, not great if every warranty claim is "declined", or the bike is OTR for months due to parts supply issues.
The Japanese manufacturers seem to have largely gone to sleep, pushing limited ranges of long-in-the-tooth models with crappy paint jobs, not great finishes, miserly specs & shorter than the "disruptors" warranties for high prices.
Servicing charges for the mainstream bikes at franchised dealers are positively eye-watering - major services well into four figures reqularly quoted in the Comic. Tyre prices are high and life very short compared to a car - any small savings I might have made on fuel commuting by bike before I retired would have been more than swallowed up in tyre and servicing costs compared to the car.
Interesting times - I suspect things will get a lot worse for the trade before they stabilise & I doubt they will ever recover to earlier levels.
Not even a smart guy like Musk can sell Americans a steaming pile like EVs. City cars and milk floats, maybe.
Coincidentally I was pondering that whilst having my brew in bed yesterday morning. I can't remember the last time that I woke to the once familiar and comforting whine and jingling of a milk float.'There is a tide in the affairs of men Which taken at at the flood.....'
Interesting that European makers are staying with petrol and diesel as Jaguar are not going to sell any petrol or diesel cars right now. They will no longer be made. Then, Jaguar will be EV only making a Toyota Aygo a car with much faster journey times to places 200 miles away and especially if lights, wipers and heater are needed which lowers range to 100 miles. I did ask EV seller in Exeter if they sold any of these high end EVs and they rarely sold any and asked me to make any offer for one. They agreed a 20,000 pound discount on 2 Brands. The Volvo version was not worth an offer as its 60 mile range on a cold wet day made it unusable in Winter. We will get these cars in the future though and maybe towing a solar bus behind it to charge. Of course, EV cars will end all caravan towing as they are not capable yet
Nigel, I agree that some models are selling well, but overall sales are down quite significantly. I recently heard its a drop of 14% over last year.
Overheads are driven in part by manufacturers & importers demands but also a plethora of other unavoidable costs that have escalated over recent years. Even dealerships who have avoided the death grip of manufacturers expectations are struggling to survive.
Locally the big dealership problem is a company group that expanded vigorously & has now collapsed. It means there is now no dealer for Ducati, Honda, Yamaha or Kawasaki in our region, their Triumph dealership in N.Wales went under too, plus a couple of large supermarket style secondhand dealers they operated. Apparently their corporate strategy was to take out finance on all their stock which meant they were paying out interest on bikes that weren't selling.
I have both a BMW & KTM. The BMW has had one warranty claim that I anticipated being a long drawn out repair that was actually resolved with replacement parts sourced & fitted in less than an hour & half. My KTM has been faultless for 33k miles.
Short term financing of vehicles in dealerships is a "thing" - my brother in NZ is an accountant & works for a specialist finance company doing just this. Cost-effective way for dealers to finance stock in the short term but, with the "product" being intended as a short term measure, very expensive longer term.
As with all "problems" reported on the internet, it is most likely only the problem bikes that get highlighted - satisfied owners rarely bother to post saying that nothing has broken and they are happy. Glad to hear that at least 1 KTM is out there giving reliable service. I only know one person who bought one & raved about it shortly after taking delivery, but wouldn't talk about it next time I saw him & he had gone back to a BMW.
I have not been back to my local BMW dealer since the last visit 3 or 4 years ago where we were totally ignored & staff avoided making eye contact. That is what used to be Allan Jeffries, now Vertu Motorrad in Shipley. Totally different to when the company was run by Tony Jeffries. Much the same at what used to be Rainbow Motorcycles in Sheffield which, when Shaun (owner) retired he sold out to Allan Jeffries to become Allan Jeffries South - lots of stock, but disinterested staff. Bought bikes from both outfits over the years - won't enter either premises now.
Nigel, is it possible the Salesman experience is a "times they are a changing" thing. When I used to walk in a shop, or showroom, and a Sales person asked if there was anything particular I was looking for and after I replied "not yet" his/her eyes followed my every move around the shop, it used to really annoy me. Now days it feels more comfortable to just roam and ask for help when/ if I need it. After all with today's technology he/she can probably see everything on the shop cameras can't they.? Den
I don't usually feel that the sales staff are harrassing me in the dealers around here, Den.
But most at least acknowledge you when you enter, ask if they can assist and point you towards the free coffee machine - up to you to get involved with them then if the fancy takes. The sales staff in the BMW dealer actively tried to avoid interaction, even when Mrs B. tried to start a conversation with one - the sales person looked up from her keyboard, sort-of half smiled & then got back to what she was doing without uttering a word. That classes as rude in my book.
It may well be that they didn't class me as a "serious" buyer, having arrived in a car at the time & I would not profess to being a sartorially elegant dresser. But a sensible salesperson (particularly one with targets to meet or on commission) would be wise not to judge by appearances - had the fancy taken I could have afforded to buy anything in the showroom at the time.
On a similar vist to the "old" Allen Jefferies many years before Mrs B had expressed an interest in a bike, so the (friendly on arrival, non harrassing, but attentive when required) salesman re-arranged the bike line-up to get it out for her to sit on & then offered to loan a helmet & gloves for a test ride (it was the end of January, hence the car visit & no kit). We did a deal with a valuation for her V50 given unseen on our description of condition. Hadn't gone out seriously intending to buy a bike that day, but they went out of their way to sell us one. Current mob seem to expect prospective customers to get down on bended knee & plead with them to sell them a bike - maybe that is why the have a full showroom ?
Dealer experiences can vary enormously for no apparent reason. Near-ish to me are 3 Triumph dealers, all part of the same corporate group. Various friends & acquaintances and myself have all had completely contradictory treatment so have completely divergent opinions on which branch we prefer to deal with. Where one of us is treated like a long lost old friend another is ignored, and vice versa. One person was so enraged by the sales staff at one branch they swore never to do business with the firm ever again.....and proceeded to buy a bike from another branch without realizing it was actually the same firm!
My ex bro-in-law who was obsessed with Jaguars always told me that in a Jaguar showroom your appearance is irrelevant. They assume you have plenty of means to buy their cars. A good attitude
Not that new Den. Back in 2000, I walked into Glasgow Triumph with £6k in my back pocket (metaphorically) and wanting a 900 Legend. There were 2 sales guys fawning all over a female looking at a Ducati. "Can I have a word?" asks I, "yea in a minute" 5mins later "Can I have a word?" "Be right with you" Third time I goes over and hears the girl saying "so if I get a bike licence, I can ride this?" At that point I walked out and went to another dealer. My mate told the salesmen "He's got 6k burning a hole in his pocket" so one came out after me....to short shrift. About 10yrs later, I was in Glasgow Triumph again (different shop, same attitude) to pick up a part for my Hinckley Bonnie. The stores guy goes to collect it and I started drooling over a 1200 Thruxton. I was all over this thing and any salesperson worth their salt, would have seen an easy sale. The stores guy came back with my part and I told him collecting my £7 part almost cost me 12k and mentioned the Thruxton. "I'll get someone over" he says....Too late matey, the spell is broken
It's fair to say after Nigel's posting and the varying experiences expressed every comment is valid in its own way. The only thing I would add, Jimmy, is If I experienced that treatment, in any store, I wouldn't have left the store until I had spoken to the Sales Manager and asked him if he was aware his salesmen were more interested in chatting up a pretty girl who had no intention of buying a bike rather than attending to a real prospective customer with money to spend, and then I'd have walked out. Den
I don't know KTMs but I've long been saddened by the destruction of BMW build quality. When you consider that the old airheads and early K series bricks (Brickboy would say this) are pretty much constructed of granite, the decline in quality and reliability allied to electronics means I don't think I'd ever trust one for a foreign tour.
Perhaps it's a sign of age but I prefer something I can understand and at least have a sporting chance of bodging to get home. Ten years ago I bought a K75S for £600, took it to Spain and absolutely thrashed it the following week, came home, rode it for a year and sold it on. Even that old dog was unstoppable.
Having owned numerous oil heads I stopped at the R1150GS with the old ABS system. The newer one looked potentially lethal. That bike had a needless hydraulic clutch - handy for slave leaks onto the clutch plate, a reputation for stripping gearbox input splines and so on. But Ewan and Charlie rode them so they must be great. Tosh!
I think most mainstream volume manufacturers build quality has declined. The possible exceptions to this are Royal Enfield and some of the Chinese brands.
But build quality has different interpretations. Does it equate to reliability? I don't believe that is necessarily the case.
A bike might be exquisitely made with beautiful components and delectable materials all finished with lustrous paintwork but that doesn't guarantee it won't breakdown or suffer dreadful corrosion.
At the other end of the spectrum something that looks rubbish might prove to have bullet proof reliability.
Ha! I'm glad to see I fit into the great tradition!
I've only recently sold my 1984 R100ST (a bored out 80ST). A fantastic bike that, if I were going, I'd be happy to trust around the world.
But, the V Strom just made it pointless for me. If I were to tour there would be no question I'd take the Strom over an old Boxer. Mind you, if the AJS18S turns out to be reliable I might be tempted on a gentle, longer excursion next summer.
on November 13, 2024, 11:41 pm
