how cool will that be, tuning the battery with laptop while driving 
If it were not for the battery it would not be so expensive to do. I was looking at electric hub motors, but the battery will double the price.
NEEDS vs WANTS vs HOBBY … GMAN level.
He’s got it covered. 
This is NOT against EVs, as you cannot drive an ICE vehicle in salt water either, without consequences of some sort.
So, the core message, as the Fire Marchall, said … we learn from it.
Takeaway … if your EV has had to suffer salt water, park it outside, and take it to a repairs shop.
Or, future EVs have water-tight banks, just don’t know how the heat will work with that. Engineers to find a way.
Wel now Tesla banks are sealed already. They keep the environment out. I am pretty sure they get salt spray tested anyhow. Point is standing in sea water for days may corrode or because of the depth of water, the pressure my burst some of those venting seals and get in that way.
Pretty sure at some point we will get the data on those failures….
Grotnis
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Yes, yes you can. Saved you a click.
Also, “Can electric cars be put through an automatic car wash?” 
You have the same problem with ICE cars. Petrol and water also don’t mix well for an engine.
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Water and Diesel are even worse together…
So, excluding Porsche and Mercedes-Benz unknown EV figures, here’s which electric models South Africans bought in September:
Jaguar sold one I-Pace last month. The car has a price tag of R2 029 800 and a driving range of about 470km.
DRIVEN | We get behind the wheel of BMW’s first all-electric M car, meet the i4 M50
BMW sold three i3 models, although it’s currently no longer listed on their official website. They sold five i4 models; the i4 M50 is priced from R1 600 000 - it’s most affordable electric vehicle in their range. But the most surprising is the iX, priced from R1 700 000, which found 12 new EV owners in September. That brings electric tally sales to 25 just for September and excludes any EVs sold by Porsche and Mercedes.
Groetnis
This morning I swung by the local BMW dealer, because I was in the area buying house paint. They had no i3 on the floor at the time, but apparently they do sell rather quickly when they become available second hand.
He tells me the battery pack can be repaired by replacing individual modules and not the entire thing, although I deeply suspect it would have to be done at the dealer and it’s hardly going to be cheap. But it is a significant improvement over the horror stories we’ve heard of entire packs having to be replaced.
Also, the new iX1 that’s coming next year will be less than a million. And probably devalue quite rapidly within 5 years.
I’m not sure yet if I’m ready for another BMW though. And if we’re waiting 3-5 years, by then a KIA or Hyundai alternative may have made it here.
We had a small high end Audio show in Cape town side at the The Cellars Hohenhort Hotel, and check what they got in there parking:
Damn cool looking speaker that!
Ja when Escam is on, it will speak to yer wallet…
Groetnis
Interesting thing, my friend that drives the i3 that got a victron setup up and running at his house, when he parks at Willow Bridge at the Jag charging point, it usually cost him R75 to fully charge the vehicle and the building is fully stack with solar panels. I think that’s not bad. His got the one that can do 320km on one charge
So 75/320 = 24c per km (ignoring all other costs).
On my Diesel that’s 8 liters for 100km, at R26.58 per liter, that’s R2.13 per km. Almost an order more.
Why don’t more people do it? Well… opportunity cost on a car that’s 300k more expensive than my current one is around 25k a year (aproximately). Devaluation on a half-million rand car is 50k a year. It will probably cost another 6k a year (extra) to insure the more expensive car. Let’s say it is a round 80k a year extra to own that car before I’ve driven a single mile.
I drive 12 000km per year on average. So I have to consider 80k/12k km, that’s around 6.66 per km that owning this car costs more than my present car. Minus the savings of R2.13, plus the 24 cents. So around R4.75/km more expensive per km than my present car.
That’s not the end of it, I have to work that out as a percentage of my current cost.
Also… I won’t be doing 12k/year with an EV. More like half that.
For now it is cheaper to call an uber
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Love the numbers @plonkster 
Something else to consider would be that as your battery degrades over it’s life you will have a reduced range after each year. In an ICE car the range stays about the same so it is very predictable.
The i3 is there daily driving vehicle in the house. They got a new Fortuner standing in the garage but they not using it allot anymore. I must actually ask him the km’s they put on the car when they got it new.
For me it’s practical to go EV because I drive everyday to work and back and that’s 85km’s a day, so it gives me 20 400km a year and then it’s not the in between driving included and over and weekends. So far I’m standing on 19 310 for the year. With the fuel price going up and down it’s between R2400 and R2800 and month for petrol for my car to work and back, still excluding the in-between driving and weekends.
But i’m with you there Plonkster, the price is still over kill for out SA people because of our GOV.
I also stopped driving a lot beginning of the year, so with the much lower km/y projection our picture changed quite a bit too. That said, that was mostly highway kms, the in-towns has actually gone up a bit, so a more nuanced calc might show a different result.
But yeah, it’s difficult to save money per km if you don’t drive enough
FWIW, the i3 was discontinued in August.
When people do a ICE vs BEV comparison most people think petrol vs electricity cost and then some guy will also jump out and say: Yeah but you will need to replace the battery at some point at a incredible cost,
As if ICE cars don’t have any maintenance costs associated with them…
I am particularly salty about this since my little VW Up went in for a major 120 000 service this week (Timing belt) and I walked away with a R12.5K invoice (Basically 12% of the value of my car)
Looking back at previous services about 80% of the service costs I have for my car is simply because its a ICE car, and I am sure at some point I will have to start replacing ever more expensive ICE components since 120K KM is still on the low side.
EV’s don’t even have to reach price parity with ICE cars to start becoming cheaper over the lifetime of ownership, they just need to come close enough.
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