Electric car anyone?
1 lurker |
72 watchers
May 2021
11:16am, 21 May 2021
14,505 posts
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rf_fozzy
MMM - here you go: tesla.com
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May 2021
11:24am, 21 May 2021
38,778 posts
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HappyG(rrr)
fozzy - is that "electrics CAN tow"? But at £100K vs. a 2nd hand ICE large estate car or 4x4 for 10K?! Back to £££! |
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May 2021
11:26am, 21 May 2021
14,507 posts
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rf_fozzy
Ffff. All some people can think about is money money money 
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May 2021
11:45am, 21 May 2021
38,779 posts
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HappyG(rrr)
Lol! If that Tesla Model X was free, I'd have two! No, no I wouldn't. That's not green. I'd have one and I'd run it into the ground! G
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May 2021
9:00am, 22 May 2021
15,234 posts
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MarkyMarkMark (3M)
Yes. And that's my problem! Basically a cost comparison of roughly 3x my annual income vs a cosy of 6 months for an ICE. It doesn't stack up for me. Yet!
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May 2021
9:12am, 22 May 2021
4,499 posts
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K5 Gus
MMM - keep an eye out on here, lots of EVs can tow at a loss less cost than £100k, depends on what weight you want to tow as to which could be suitable. eg the larger battery version of the Skoda Enyaq can do 1200kg electrictowcars.co.uk |
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May 2021
9:21pm, 22 May 2021
15,237 posts
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MarkyMarkMark (3M)
That's an interesting list. Thanks Gus. I think i need to watch it for several years until the prices drop in real terms though!
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May 2021
10:44am, 24 May 2021
123 posts
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theOtherRichard
So. I had my test drives on Friday. (I had one booked for Saturday too, but the RenaultUK right hand didn't know what the dealer's left hand was doing, so there was no car available.) First up was the mild hybrid (a Hyundai i20). It was perfectly fine, but apart from new car novelty and a few nice trinkets, damning by faint praise is about as far as I can go. You can't tell when the battery is or isn't assisting the ICE (which I guess is the point, but disappointing nonetheless) and the mpg - as logged by the trip computer - in my short test drive (25 miles) was rubbish ~44mpg. Next up was the Corsa-e. And there is no doubt that it is a completely different driving experience. Again, trying to take the new car (and automatic gearbox) novelty out of it is tricky, but it was so different and great fun. It was good trundling around the 20/30mph zones and really nice on the 50mph dual carriageway. The battery range did take a bit of a hit (again, as measured by the trip computer) when I floored it at the lights on the 50mph road, so that would be something to look out for. Acceleration was pretty impressive though. The battery range/regeneration looked pretty good on the urban usage - the computer claimed that I had pretty much the same range as I started with after my 10-15 mile journey. The Renault salesman I talked to on Saturday basically described mild hybrids as a range extender and a "good first step to an electric car". I strongly disagree (other opinions are available) on the latter point. The range extender features seem to be borne out in the WLTP figures even if my brief experience didn't show it, so that I can believe. But, I still can't see how having a feature that you can't even see/feel working can provide you with a taste of a completely different driving paradigm. (For that, I'd have thought you need a PHEV - and as I've said, I'm still unconvinced by that as a concept too.) Apparently, you can drive the Clio in 'electric mode' however briefly, but I couldn't see/test that unfortunately. |
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May 2021
10:46am, 24 May 2021
124 posts
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theOtherRichard
My test drives have taken me off in a slightly tangential direction - I've performed so many handbrake turns in my thinking in the last few weeks, that I'll have no rubber left on my tyres... Sadly, the 'limited offer' on the pre-reg Corsas disappeared by the time I got to the dealership, so that incentive was no longer there. I really can't justify spending 25-30k on a car even if finance deals make it affordable, and if a mild hybrid is just the same as driving an ICE then I may as well buy a petrol car. And if I'm buying a petrol car, then there is no need for a new one. So now I'm looking at 3 year old, little petrol cars at under £10k online. Maybe, the market for used electric cars will be a bit better in 5-10 years when (if?) I'm looking for my next car - the charging infrastructure certainly will be by then. Until then I'll live my electric dream vicariously through you guys, by pressing my my nose up against the glass of this thread looking wistfully at what might have been. |
May 2021
10:50am, 24 May 2021
14,473 posts
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larkim
I agree, what goes on under the bonnet doesn't really matter when the only fuel you're putting in is petrol. As far as I was concerned, the car's engine could have been feeding petrol to a race of alien creatures who powered my wheels around rather than using an proper combustion engine; the only thing that matters to me is how far the car can go based on the fuel put into it. PHEV does at least force you to use different fuels at source. Glad the Corsa-e experience was fun. The trip computers can be misleading in lots of the EVs (the EV community seems to refer to them as GOM - Guess-O-Meter) but after a couple of weeks you tend to have a sense of how it all works. The meters are useful as the seasons progress so you've got a sense of how much the colder weather has impacted theoretical mileage. |
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