[Misc] Electric Cars

[ChickenBaltiPie]

I am seriously considering a plug in Alfa Tonale Hybrid when they finally go on sale. It only does 35 miles on electric power but for most of my day to day stuff it will cover it. I am not considering an EV though because I know it would give me serious stress if I had to do a long journey or travel abroad in it. Far too many chances of things going pear shaped to make it anything but stressful on long journeys imo

Drove 5k miles across Europe, and the entire alpine range, 14 countries. Piece of piss! No stress whatsoever. EV’s are SO SIMPLE ‘mechanically’ compared to combustion. So much less to go wrong. (Modern petrol cars contain as much gadgetry as EV’s, so they’re all very much the same in that regard.) Oh, and it cost a few hundred quid in fuel instead of thousands haha

…I should add, it’s a Tesla. The other brands and their infrastructure have an enormous amount of catching up to do!

 

[Billy the Fish]

I've got an MG5 and the build quality is a bit shit. It fogs up really easily for some reason, and things are already starting to rattle. You can just tell they've scrimped all over the place in a way that the Germans don't.

However, you get what you pay for, it's a budget car and it's was a similar experience with the Aastra I had 10 years ago. That was built in Ellesmere port.

 

[Billy the Fish]

Oh, and it cost a few hundred quid in fuel instead of thousands haha

Did you have access to free chargers?

The only time I've had to charge on the motorway in the UK, it ended up being as expensive as an ICE.

 

[ChickenBaltiPie]

Did you have access to free chargers?

The only time I've had to charge on the motorway in the UK, it ended up being as expensive as an ICE.

Do you drive a Tesla? I went from an RS6 to Model 3, so yea, the economy in comparison is really that extreme. For example, I drove 2.5k+ metres up and over the alps numerous times and with regen the fuel cost was literally zero, try doing that in a petrol car.

 

[Milano]

Did you have access to free chargers?

The only time I've had to charge on the motorway in the UK, it ended up being as expensive as an ICE.

I've got the new Hyundai Kona, nice car so far.
However what you describe is my growing gripe. It's fine for shortish journeys where I am only charging at home, so 200 mile round trip max, with the home EV tariff it costs less than a tenner to 'fill it up'. However, the service stations and especially the fossil fuel based stations, like BP Pulse, are now taking the complete piss in terms price per Kwh, I've found some that are 10x my home tariff, as you state making it close to ICE pricing. Let's face it this was always going to happen, bastards.
One way of making it 'slightly' less expensive is to sign up to a loyalty scheme, even these though still make it 5x the price of charging at home.

 

[Audax]

MG cars are owned and made exclusively in China and MG are a top seller in the UK, and have been selling into the UK for 4 or 5 years already, with no problems.

There newest model the MG4 is one of the best value cars on the road, at least until the other Chinese companies join in!

The 'old' view that China only produce low quality products doesn't apply these days, especially on top end goods, such as cars, drones, solar products.

MG is a mixed bag from what I've heard. Their ICE cars are a bit rubbish. Their EV's, the electrical side of it is right up there but the build quality / after sales can be a bit pants still.

Yes, I got a text from the wife yesterday asking what the new symbol on the dash was. I had to look it up to work out is was to show that regen braking was degraded.

Yep. My wife is using the Tesla for her drive to work at the moment, and it's scheduled to be ready for her at 8:15. This morning at 7:55 it was -5c in the car (the app told me) and by 8:14 it was 20c with the heated seat and steering wheel on, frost cleared. Lovely.

The Zoe doesn't bother with any symbols for this. It just flashes up a short message on the dash as soon as you engage B telling you "B mode is limited due to cold battery".

My biggest gripe at this time of year with the Zoe is the preheat feature. It's great, with the one exception that it doesn't turn on the rear window elements so you're jumping into a nice warm car with a clear front windscreen and a still frozen rear one.

 

[BiffyBoy100]

An 'interesting' experience driving my Tesla 3 yesterday morning in -5.

The cold conditions prompted the car to disable the regenerative braking feature - indicated by a symbol on the display screen which I hadn't noticed. It certainly makes for a completely different driving experience - and not in an especially good way. Still love the car though.

Do you have the all-wheel drive? Curious how it handles the snow.

I have the rear-wheel drive and live on the East Coast, US, where it snows a lot. I have to change to winter tires every 6 months, which is a bit of a pain. Wish, I'd gone for the all-wheel drive now.

On another note, I've had the model 3 for nearly 4 years and love it, but I scraped the undercarriage (very small mark), and the repair is 5k! Apparently, the 2020 model had a flaw where they have to take the whole panel off, including the door. I think the repair is a few hundred, and the rest is labour.

I'm not sure if high repairs and insurance costs are exclusive to Tesla or EVs in general?

 

[zefarelly]

Well I thought it was funny.

I have a friend in his 70's who's spent a career in race engine building, petrol head to the core . . . He loves his Tesla.

 

[Bry Nylon]

Do you have the all-wheel drive? Curious how it handles the snow.

I have the rear-wheel drive and live on the East Coast, US, where it snows a lot. I have to change to winter tires every 6 months, which is a bit of a pain. Wish, I'd gone for the all-wheel drive now.

On another note, I've had the model 3 for nearly 4 years and love it, but I scraped the undercarriage (very small mark), and the repair is 5k! Apparently, the 2020 model had a flaw where they have to take the whole panel off, including the door. I think the repair is a few hundred, and the rest is labour.

I'm not sure if high repairs and insurance costs are exclusive to Tesla or EVs in general?

I have the AWD but have yet to drive it in snow. Will report back if / when I do.

Driving in snow is generally something I try to avoid where possible as I live in a pretty remote location, accessed by narrow lanes that never get gritted. Even if you get out, there's never any guarantee of being able to get home again. Pretty poor when you consider that this is 35 miles north of London, not the Orkney Islands. (No mobile signal either, but that is a different rant entirely).

My previous car was a Volvo XC90 and although that was relatively accomplished in snowy weather, you'd invariably get stranded on a single track B road behind a BMW going nowhere, whilst it's rear wheels spin faster than Alistair Campbell on speed. For that reason, I don't bother.

 

[Billy the Fish]

Do you drive a Tesla? I went from an RS6 to Model 3, so yea, the economy in comparison is really that extreme. For example, I drove 2.5k+ metres up and over the alps numerous times and with regen the fuel cost was literally zero, try doing that in a petrol car.

No it's an MG, it has kers which does the same thing.

So what you're saying is that the energy you used going up the mountain was replaced on the descent? That's fair enough but it's a very specific scenario.

I like my electric car but there are definite pros and cons that you have to work around.

 

[schmunk]

Don't forget to check your tyre pressure when the temperature drops folks, as you'll get an efficiency hit just from that.

I went into my garden this morning, where there was a Space Hopper on the lawn. Normally TAUT, it was this morning somewhat flaccid due to the cold weather.

 

[Bry Nylon]

I went into my garden this morning, where there was a Space Hopper on the lawn. Normally TAUT, it was this morning somewhat flaccid due to the cold weather.

It happens. Had the cold weather affected the Space Hopper at all?

 

[schmunk]

It happens. Had the cold weather affected the Space Hopper at all?

 

[carlzeiss]

Got to admire the cheek of this bint

 

[swindonseagull]

I've got the new Hyundai Kona, nice car so far.
However what you describe is my growing gripe. It's fine for shortish journeys where I am only charging at home, so 200 mile round trip max, with the home EV tariff it costs less than a tenner to 'fill it up'. However, the service stations and especially the fossil fuel based stations, like BP Pulse, are now taking the complete piss in terms price per Kwh, I've found some that are 10x my home tariff, as you state making it close to ICE pricing. Let's face it this was always going to happen, bastards.
One way of making it 'slightly' less expensive is to sign up to a loyalty scheme, even these though still make it 5x the price of charging at home.

Exactly why I have resumed using my Diesel Ateca for football again.
its a 240 mile round trip and to charge my id4 takes 45 mins add on queuing time if there are no free chargers and its just not worth the extra wasted time....The Ateca tank will let me do 2 round trips without topping up.

Home charge for the EV is 7p per KWh Motorway anywhere from 68 p to 86 p per Kwh

 

[swindonseagull]

Got to admire the cheek of this bint

Its a set up, you put authorisation on your charger so it wont start without an RFID card or a signal from your phone AND he can stop the charge from his phone at any time...Phone also gives you immediate notification if a charge starts.

 

[Papa Lazarou]

Its a set up, you put authorisation on your charger so it wont start without an RFID card or a signal from your phone AND he can stop the charge from his phone at any time...Phone also gives you immediate notification if a charge starts.

If someone tried that with my charger they'd have to wait until 23.30 for charging to start, IF I'd approved the charge on the app.

 

[Fungus]

Got to admire the cheek of this bint

Bloody hell, I’d give her watt for.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

Exactly why I have resumed using my Diesel Ateca for football again.
its a 240 mile round trip and to charge my id4 takes 45 mins add on queuing time if there are no free chargers and its just not worth the extra wasted time....The Ateca tank will let me do 2 round trips without topping up.

Home charge for the EV is 7p per KWh Motorway anywhere from 68 p to 86 p per Kwh

From now, you could always pop into Gridserve at Gatters, stick it on a fast charge for 10/15 mins and have more than enough for the round trip? It's not gonna cost a massive amount?

 

[brighton_dave]

The cost of something with a decent range is unfortunately out of many people's budgets. I've got a Born which is priced at approx 40k.
It's on a lease through a work scheme, which saves me the tax and NI. I'd never afford anything like it otherwise.
I can charge it for a around a fiver, so it's far cheaper to run than an ice.
I then get the added benefit of a very low night rate running appliances!
Based on affordability, I'd definitely still be driving an ice if it weren't for the tax/
NI saving.