EV farce

another major manufacturer facing a reality check
www.whichcar.com.au/news/mercedes-backtracks-on-ev-only-by-203?utm_source=wheels.master&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=WHL_2024_02_24%20%2801HQ9FVBZW7798YY18TYCMJYD2%29&_kx=eWOnrLwvPpBayZViW5Fqrs9pmp_6CKqZNTOgXE0hzm8.S3fpgi

Fuck EV's. I reckon we need to have a Duck hunting season but for Prius's, the fucking things need to be restricted to school zones only as most struggle to do more than 30kph.
The fuckers are turning upon State Highways and simulating a slow moving judder bar. Just came south and one had a 30 vehicle tail behind it,including some logging trucks, while doing 40kph thru the 80kph Doom Valley, the driver seemed oblivious. Sadly that's become far too common.

Think you'll find it's the type of driver rather than the type of car.

Granny with the bad eyesight still needs a car to drive. It used to be a nice reliable corolla hatch. Now it just happens to be the latest iteration of an economical car, in this case a prius hatch.
Bitching about the type of car isn't going to remove timid drivers with poor eyesight off the road.

Oh, and Prius aren't EV. They aren't even PHEV. It's just an ICE with a battery. Very, very old tech now in the whole EV saga.

I'd say the same demographic (Grannies) are going for Aqua's for the exact same reason. Small economical hatchback. Nothing new to see here.

The Lastest prius 2023 model,goes like a cut cat on the flat and show it a hill and they die coming up the Bombay hill from pokeno and to make matters worst they sit in the outside lane.

Is that from experience driving one? Or just following them in your truck?

I've yet to find a car in NZ that can't do the open road speed limit, even on hills. It is all driver behaviour.

My car is the 1,200 cc Honda Insight (hybrid with a metal hydride battery). Cheaper copy of a 2011 Prius. Zero problems going up a hill. Infact, I have to be careful not to end up speeding going uphill.

Exactly the same with the 2l Outlander (5 seater family wagon, some call it an SUV). Zero issue bombing it up the Bombay hills with the family and baggage for a weekend away. 2l is undersized for that sized SUV. The none hybrid version is 2.4 l I think.

The thing is, normally these cars are silent, or near silent running. When you go up a hill, the ICE engine kicks in. If you give it even a fraction of jandal, the ICE engine starts actually working. These tiny engines sound like sewing machines. They sound feckin awful. But they put the power down. I'm not entirely sure what my red line revs are, but I'd say I don't ever take it past 50% of max revs. Sounds like it is ringing itself shitless, but there is zero issue with power or speed. I think the main issue is the contrast between normal silent or near silent running, and actually working the ICE engine hard.

The contrast is with your 4.2l V8 type car. The revs wouldn't even change going up the Bombays. So the owner feels happy and smug he has all the power he needs. He's only using maybe 20% of the available power though. In my example, based on % to red line, I'd say I'm using 50% of the available power. Even if I'm using 80% available power, there is still zero issue with speed and keeping up with the flow of traffic - from the car - it is all driver behaviour.

I would concede that these cars lack a bit of punch and power for pulling out and passing in short distances on single lane type roads. That is where the 4.2l V8 comes into it's own. But in saying that, the govt has built us nice duel carriageways all over the country now. And the bits of state highway that aren't potholes have passing lanes anyway. Zero issue with keeping up with the flow of traffic.

It would be interesting to know, now the borders are open, how many of these cars / drivers you guys complain of are rentals with jet-lagged just-flown-in's behind the wheel. The car rental companies are all getting on the woke band wagon with the latest model low emission this or that car. Whacked out drivers that aren't familiar with the country, let alone the road or car also drive in ways that you describe / complain of.