VAG was out because of their history
Seems pretty weak considering they now are aajor player in the EV world.
But I bet you could find something disagreeable about every company if you looked hard enough!
What used EV for ~£25k?
Totally get the GV60. Best car I ever had even though it lacked heated seats.
I’ll be getting another one this time next year
Finally snagged one! 22 plate Premium with Comfort Pack, Innovation Pack, B&O Sound system and V2L. Put a cheeky offer in but was turned down then it disappeared off Autotrader. Came back up 2 weeks later (finance fell through) at £700 less so got it at the price I wanted.
Result. That’s exactly the spec I’d choose. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did / intend to again.
If anyone is looking for a used ev then I'd recommend an ex demonstrator car.
Just picked up a cupra born v3 less than 12 months old and 1200 miles for £25k.
Purchased from Cupra Oldham. They seem to get most of the demonstrator cars and currently have a Cupra Born v1 2025 for £25K
V2L
What's that - vehicle to [Lama!] ??
edit: ahhh "load". Not 'home" then I guess?
How big can the load be?
But I bet you could find something disagreeable about every company if you looked hard enough!
Indeed, including Chinese-owned brands like Polestar.
Up to 3.6 kW I think
Yeh V2L is not as game-changing as I thought it would be on the Ioniq 5 - used it about 6 times in 3.5 years. Useful on those occasions but I'd rather have memory seats and adaptive dampers as an option on another I5......the two things I'd use multiple times a week.
Not as convinced by the looks of the Kia EV6 and with both juniors now driving and us doing less camping trips room not so much of a need. VAG I've always steered away from as they had such an awful reputation for their infotainment software - is that sorted on the latest as those Cupra's look quite nice. Polestars are v expensive so maybe not! Could always opt out of company car and go for a leggy second-hand Taycan Turismo 🤣
More realistically the MG IM5 (Chinese I know) ticks a lot of boxes for performance, range and charging speed. Just a shame that they've made it look like a knock of tesla rather than build on the quite stylish MG roadster.
Yeh V2L is not as game-changing
We get a lot of power cuts. I'm toying with getting a manual transfer switch wired into the house so I can plug the EV in. I'd have to also go to the consumer unit and knock down a lot of the high current circuits to avoid accidental overload. But it would keep the lights on and the boiler's pumps running and the fridge on which would be a real bonus. Obviously, a little petrol generator could also to the same job too, but it would be a good feature.
After the recent storms the V2L and an extension lead running into the house kept my wife able to work from home rather than use annual leave up for the 2 days it took to get the power back on so for my admittedly niche use, it has been a useful extra.
Yeh V2L is not as game-changing
We get a lot of power cuts. I'm toying with getting a manual transfer switch wired into the house so I can plug the EV in. I'd have to also go to the consumer unit and knock down a lot of the high current circuits to avoid accidental overload. But it would keep the lights on and the boiler's pumps running and the fridge on which would be a real bonus. Obviously, a little petrol generator could also to the same job too, but it would be a good feature.
After the recent storms the V2L and an extension lead running into the house kept my wife able to work from home rather than use annual leave up for the 2 days it took to get the power back on so for my admittedly niche use, it has been a useful extra.
We're also rural and storm Arwen knocked our power out for 3 days so V2L will hopefully keep the CH running if we have another outage.
VAG I've always steered away from as they had such an awful reputation for their infotainment software - is that sorted on the latest as those Cupra's look quite nice.
The infotainment system could be better. I prefer physical buttons and dials for heating, but once I got used to it it's not bad as I thought.
I just use Android auto and it works great. The heated seats and steering were a nice surprise but I think they are standard on the v2 not the v1.
We're also rural and storm Arwen knocked our power out for 3 days so V2L will hopefully keep the CH running if we have another outage.
I'm sure an electrician will be along in a minute to explain why this is a terrible idea that will almost certainly end in disaster; but we've been using a small petrol generator to cope with occasional power outages over the past 30 years. All I do is flick the main circuit breaker to isolate the house from the mains and then plug the generator into any plug socket. Bingo, we have lights for the whole house, the heating works and the fridge/freezer keep going. Obviously you can't run anything that draws significant power. So the cooker, kettle and any portable heaters are out of action, for example. But (with the wood burner and some camping stoves) we kept the house running for days after Arwen.
I guess an EV (with V2L) would work in the same way and would save that ten minutes of trying to get the blaster generator to fire up again after months of not being used, but with the downside that you'd probably need to drive to a charger and recharge the car after a while.
We're on our 2nd ID3 - the infotainment system is much improved in the new version. Quicker and more logical menus and hasn't crashed/failed at all. I still miss physical buttons but I'm used to it now.
Yeh V2L is not as game-changing as I thought it would be
I use it regularly. It’s easier when hoovering the car out to plug it into the car rather than running an extension cable out of the house
it's an SUV but this ticks a lot of boxes if the leases are affordable:
Vainly hoping for more people to slag off the 5, as my Polestar goes back in 10 months and not convinced the salary sacrifice will be worth it to lease again. I'll want to buy a used 5 for £15k, which seems optimistic.
I guess an EV (with V2L) would work in the same way and would save that ten minutes of trying to get the blaster generator to fire up again after months of not being used, but with the downside that you'd probably need to drive to a charger and recharge the car after a while.
And it's an inefficient waybof using your power due to the inverter overheads.
(I think you're supposed to run a generator every month or something to ensure it's working when you need it!
Certainly this applies to bigger ones)
Lister, the infotainment system on my 2 year old ID3 is utter shite. Pretty sure it’s powered by an old ZX81. This is my first VW car and it will be my last, though I’m still stuck with it for another 2 years 😒 My old Kia soul EV puts the ID3 to shame. With this car I can understand why VW is in shit street.
Infotainment in the ID7 seems fast and fine so far to me. I'd prefer individual physical buttons but have not found the touch buttons to be as much as a faff as reviews have made out. The system is powered up and my phone connected to AA normally before my bum hits the seat. The voice control via IDA doesn't seem that great, I've asked it what I would have thought were obvious commands and it didn't understand (though it does know how to ask chat gpt questions, what use is that FFS!).
I’m still wondering about the Polestar 4 but they had a point, it is not in the same ‘get in and go’ class
In what sense?
I'm sure an electrician will be along in a minute to explain why this is a terrible idea that will almost certainly end in disaster
I think the risk is that you might electrocute the poor sod who comes to fix your electrics, no? If so that's definitely something to not do.
You do know that the 245 miles will be against a standardised test cycle. Average speed for most test cycles is about 45-50kph. Doing 70mph (112kph) will give you about 6 times the drag. (So probably 5 times the energy consumption, depending on cooling load etc)
Yes, i know it's a massive simplification as the test cycle includes accelerations, decelerations and tops out at over 100kph. (But only for 5 minutes, which is about 20% of the test.)
I think it's crazy that people can look at a standardised test result and try and shoehorn it into their specific use case, and then complain when they fail, rather than using it as a benchmark against other vehicles in the same class.
I think you're being a bit unfair there. Take a step back for a moment and look at it from a consumer's POV.
When is range most critical?
-Long journeys
What do you use on long journeys?
-Fast roads
So how much of the test is at or over 70 MPH?
-Less than 10%
It's no wonder people are bamboozled by achieving half of their car's advertised range when this is the test cycle.
At long last I have my EV arriving next Wednesday. I went for a Scenic in the end, in Techno trim in black. Looking forward to it!
It came down to that and the Born. It was difficult to find the Born spec I wanted anywhere without waiting a few more months, and the deals were not quite as good on them.
It's no wonder people are bamboozled by achieving half of their car's advertised range when this is the test cycle.
It shouldn't be half, though. Most cars see less than the WTLP on the motorway (mine can equal it) but half is not what you'd expect.
I think you're being a bit unfair there. Take a step back for a moment and look at it from a consumer's POV.
Exactly. Consumers are being misold. For instance the WLTP test temperature is set at 23 degrees. There has NEVER been a single year in the UK when in ANY month has recorded an average temp of 23.....the highest ever average monthly temp was set in Aug 24 and that was 16.8 degrees.
Somebody above was refusing to entertain buying a VW due to dieselgate and rightly so yet we all seem happy to spend 50k on a car that is advertised with just as disingenuous specs.
EVs should ONLY be advertised with an efficiency figure (miles/Kwh) and this should be set on three courses (Urban, extra urban and highway) just like ICE cars and in market specific yearly average temps - in 2024 for the UK this was just under 10 degrees.
I think it's crazy that people can look at a standardised test result and try and shoehorn it into their specific use case, and then complain when they fail, rather than using it as a benchmark against other vehicles in the same class.
I agree but the second part of your statement also makes no sense unless all EVs underperform the WLTP by the same amount which of course they don't.
Its not like people are buying Golf carts here - or even city cars. If a car is designed as a large family SUV with towing capacity, roofrack capability and a price tag to match the a consumer can reasonably expect it to perform to its specs in most normal conditions found in the country its purchased. Every single ICE car I've had has done this, but the two EVs I've driven extensively (Leaf and Tesla) have not got anywhere near the claimed range when driven on motorways at 70 mph with a few people in them even in the summer let alone the winter.
Every single ICE car I've had has done this, but the two EVs I've driven extensively (Leaf and Tesla) have not got anywhere near the claimed range when driven on motorways at 70 mph with a few people in them even in the summer let alone the winter.
My previous ICE car had a claimed economy of 55 mpg whereas I averaged around 40 mpg. In contrast, my EV's claimed range translates to 4.4m/kWh and I get 4.3m/kWh.
Unless you’re buying on spec, with no cars currently in the market, surely everyone does their homework and goes to Google and puts “car type - real world range/mpg”. It’s the first thing I do once I’ve decided I like the look of the thing.
This is no doubt coming from the same people who said, “the government made me buy a diesel” They didn’t, your seeking of a better financial return made you buy a diesel. All the facts and figures around diesel, CO2, NOx and CO were there for all to see, as were the environmentalists and chemists (including Thatcher FFS!) who said chasing just Co2 and fuel economy was wrong.
Take some responsibility and do a bit of reasearch or don’t, but if you don’t, just STFU.
It shouldn't be half, though.It'll be close to that if you turn out of the end of your drive and almost immediately stick the cruise at 70. And leave it there for most of your entire journey.
I agree but the second part of your statement also makes no sense unless all EVs underperform the WLTP by the same amount which of course they don't.No, they underperform based on how you use them and what they are. An SUV with a similar nominal range, driven in a similar way will underperform a similar amount. There will be variation based on the specific aero properties and size and a smaller impact based on things like heatpump, climate and powertrain strategies. But in the main, they will be broadly comparable.
consumer can reasonably expect it to perform to its specs in most normal conditions found in the country its purchased.You mean, using WLTP range as a benchmark between similar vehicles, i.e. its specs.
Every single ICE car I've had has done this,Here you are comparing apples and oranges. Most ICE cars have a range around 800-1000 km, so most users will do multiple journeys, some high speed, some low speed, some mixed. So your short range EV, running at high speed will have a massive impact on range for that fill. Your fuel car will average out over multiple journeys so you one journey with high average consumption will be *significantly* less visible.
Take some responsibility and do a bit of reasearch or don’t, but if you don’t, just STFU.
I do hope this wasn't aimed at me.
Not exactly scientific, but carwow regularly do a test where they take a bunch of cars up the motorway until the run out of electrons. I think they try to keep the same settings as much as possible like temp in the cabin etc.
Based on comments above, this is worst case scenario for an EV (short of loading it up with a roof box and driving flat out up a hill, I suppose). A few cars manage the claimed range or even exceed it.
The top 14 get to 90%+ of claimed range. Many get below 80% claimed range.
The lowest gets to 64% of claimed range, which is probably approaching the range of the johndoh's Lexus experiences above.
35% variation in expected vs actual range does seem like a lot when you consider these cars were all put through approximately the same test. Maybe time of year would also play a massive role and can't really be controlled. It would perhaps be a useful addition to the results - temperature on the day of testing.
FWIW my Leon 2L diesel estate has a WLTP economy of 54.3–56.5 mpg and the real world economy according the the honest John realworldmpg thing is 55.9mpg so matches pretty well. I am currently getting 63mpg on average but most of my journeys are dual carriageway/motorway & I have a light foot. In the summer it was nearer 66mpg over a tank.
Only using about £125 of fuel a month so even though I would like one, it is hard to justify the outlay to swap to an electric car at the moment.
we all seem happy to spend 50k on a car that is advertised with just as disingenuous specs.
It's not disingenuous advertising, even though it looks like it. There's a standardised test, that's what all the manufacturers use. If you want to complain about the test, talk to the government. It's clearly a bobbins test, but then it always has been.
It'll be close to that if you turn out of the end of your drive and almost immediately stick the cruise at 70
Really? That's what I often do, living as I do just off the motorway. I can comfortably meet the WTLP range on my Ioniq at a steady 70; the Leaf was probably 20% down on WTLP, but I'd be shocked if I lost 50%. You're saying a 350 mile car only gets 180 miles of range at 70mph? Is that everyone else's experience?
You're saying a 350 mile car only gets 180 miles of range at 70mph? Is that everyone else's experience?
Nope!
WhatCar says 250 - 320 miles for my EV3. I’m currently getting about 270 on short mixed driving. On longer trips in the summer with A road and motorway stuff it was regularly around 310 -330 without trying. I normally have the adaptive cruise set at the speed limit and the ac on auto.
Long journey yesterday. 80% mway or dual carriageway with sat nav on 73. Not too cold for either battery need or heater to cause massive issue
got 3.3 miles per kwh. Range of car equates to 210 versus max I saw displayed in summer after a few consecutive bimbly journeys of 287.
so not an aspirational brand but keep noting how smart from an exterior design perspective the latest generation of Vauxhall evs are. appreciate they’re stelliantis underneath so possibly a bit crap in terms of EV metrics and infotainment?
got 3.3 miles per kwh. Range of car equates to 210 versus max I saw displayed in summer after a few consecutive bimbly journeys of 287.
How long was the trip?
So do you put that down to the colder weather or the fact that it was a long journey at 70-ish mph?
Charging, who went down the rabbit hole of adding solar and battery and using the cheap overnight rates?
I keep looking but currently just using my home charger as the default as it still seems cheaper than rhe increased EV plans.
750 mile work trip to Scotland and Northern Ireland with grandland 3.7 m/kWh.
Mostly Ionity. Fast chargers but never get near to my car's top charging speed - despite the 350w brag factor!
In Scotland it was always 35p/kWh charging if not ionity.
Charging, who went down the rabbit hole of adding solar and battery and using the cheap overnight rates?
I'm not sure the numbers really add up unless you're happy with a very long payback time.
I've got solar but no battery and can't see myself spending the money on them for very marginal returns.
(I'm on the early FIT rate though and get comparatively amazing money from it though)
I've had my EV3 for around six months and have done around nine thousand miles, including three long(ish) trips away (around 350, 400 and 500 miles each way, respectively) and I find it hard to understand the obsession everyone seems to have with range.
It's not just here. I occasionally look at the EV3 facebook group and it's full of posts from people getting excited, upset or even angry about whatever random number the car has suggested for the range today. Madness. What difference does that number actually make to your day?
Whenever anybody hears that I have an EV the first question is always "what's the range?". If I tell them that the WLTP figure is something around 350 miles (I can't remember the exact figure) the next question is always "but what is the real range?". At which point I'm stumped. Partly because the real figure would vary so much depending on weather and how you drive but mostly because it just isn't a number that has any impact on me so I can't be bothered to work it out. Range only matters if you don't have enough and if you do then more doesn't make any difference in my experience. But "enough" doesn't seem to be an acceptable answer to the "what is the range?" question, even if it is the only sensible one in my opinion.
I appreciate that things are different if you can't charge at home. But I can, so I basically treat my EV in the same way that I treat my phone. I plug them in when it is convenient for me to do so and they never run out of charge so I don't care how long they might theoretically last. It's just not a useful number, for me. Would my iphone last for two days or two weeks if I didn't charge it? I don't know and I don't care. I just know that sticking it on the charger when I do means that it never runs out of charge and that's basically the same for my EV.
I plug my car in at night, so every morning the battery is at 80% which is plenty for any journeys that I might make on a normal day. It makes no difference to me whether the battery is at 60% or 20% at the end of the day. It's going to be back to 80% next morning regardless. So its theoretical range on any given day is a meaningless number for me. It's a lot more than I'm going to be driving that day anyway.
On a long trip I might set it to charge to 100% the night before. Although I forgot before a 500 mile trip and found that it didn't actually make any difference in practice. I just get in the car and drive until I want to stop. Then I use the in-car navigation system to see which decent-power chargers near my route look the quietest and head for one of them. When I've finished doing what I wanted to do, I get back in the car and go. I've never waited for the car to charge and I've never had to stop to charge it. I just stop when I want to and go again when I'm ready.
Now, of course, that's very specific to me. My bladder/stomach range is about three hours these days (which equates to around 150 miles) and I probably do take a bit longer at stops that I did when I was younger. But, basically, as long as your real EV range is longer than your bladder/stomach range and it charges acceptably quickly, the exact range figure doesn't actually matter. Getting to a charger with a bit more charge left doesn't make any useful difference in my experience. Especially as the car tends to charge more quickly the lower the state of charge.
Yes both temperature and motorway speeds have quite a big impact on what is a fairly un aerodynamic ionic five.
so looking at Hyundai used cars and other secondhand sites none of them actually allow you to filter for heat pump or battery preconditioning which is just nuts and that’s such a factor in terms of the specification for EV’s.
Really? That's what I often do, living as I do just off the motorway. I can comfortably meet the WTLP range on my Ioniq at a steady 70; the Leaf was probably 20% down on WTLP, but I'd be shocked if I lost 50%. You're saying a 350 mile car only gets 180 miles of range at 70mph? Is that everyone else's experience?
Your car has a comparatively small frontal area, compare to the size/shape of the poster's car, a Lexus RZ.
It would be better IMO if the test were presented with a separate highway/mixed figure. Also if it were tested at 23c and 5c and the average taken.
so looking at Hyundai used cars and other secondhand sites none of them actually allow you to filter for heat pump or battery preconditioning which is just nuts and that’s such a factor in terms of the specification for EV’s.
Yes I'm trying to buy two EVs at the moment and it is proving really time consuming. Half the time on autotrader the traders don't know even when you phone them up.
I have a home charger question:
The house has a 100A main fuse.
I have two outbuildings, one is converted to an office (although it's not really used now I no longer have employees and use an office in the house) and the other is a massive barn with just a wireless access point running most of the time although there are sockets and lights.
The property used to be a small dairy farm running milking equipment in the barn:
The outside office used to be just storage/garage and when we moved in I converted it and it's CU is now fed from the house CU and has a 32A RCD
The barn looks like it was originally run on a separate 3 phase supply which goes from the pole to the barn but is now not connected to anything. At some point before we moved here the 3 phase was disconnected and now has it's own CU fed by a feed from the house CU which has a 40A RCD for this circuit and suitably big cable.
Question:
Do you think I could have a 7kW charger fitted to the barn using the existing feed from the house?
What I'm hoping for is to potentially fit a charger 30m away from the house Cu without running a load of external cable (internal is never going to happen)
Edit:
One thing I've just thought of - we're going to get the house CU changed at some point reasonably soon because it's actually 2 CUs and one is very old. So this would be a good time to maybe split the barn and office circuits away from the house CU and give them their own isolators/CU
Charging, who went down the rabbit hole of adding solar and battery and using the cheap overnight rates?
We have solar,a battery and now 2 EVs. I currently have the solar sat to charge overnight so we get the most export during the day. In practice at the moment that means our early usage is met by the battery which is then recharged by solar before we start to export in the afternoon. As we get into winter I expect the export will not be much. Anything left in the battery is dumped to grid just before the cheap period starts. I've just moved the solar CT clamp so the solar cannot see the EV charger load and therefore will not discharge the house battery into the cars.
Long term as our ID7 suggests it's capable of V2G I will look to have a V2G charger (when one actually becomes available) so will only import during cheap periods. I'm also hoping to add predbat so we can force charge on free electric automatically.
Rabbit hole entered four years ago. Solar and 18kW battery installed March 2022. Installed ohme charger 2020, started with a Kia Niro phev a year earlier and used the granny charger at first. In three years I only put £200 of petrol in, clocked up 30k miles in commuting alone, with a further 15k miles private. I was fortunate to be able to charge at work. Switched to IOG when solar and battery was installed and switched to a Kia ev6. I was incredibly fortunate to ride out covid, petrol shortages and hikes in electricity prices relatively unscathed. Initially it looked as though return on investment would be about 9 years, its closer to 6 now and I'm almost four years in. My gas boiler was 23 years old last year so I switched the house to air to air heating, my rough calculation suggests the cost of electricity is similar to gas overall for heating, however the cost of install was £3k more than a replacement gas boiler. I guess that pushes out the ROI another three years ish. My heating and hot water and car "fuel" cost is £1200/annum, better than half from 5 or 6 years ago. I bought a SEAT Mii ev for my daughter last year, will likely switch the wife to an EV in the next couple of years as her car grows older. I make use of the Kia's V2L feature daily,washing/drying/dishwashing/ironing/mowing/hairdrying etc. is done via that, buy at 7p/kWh and use at peak rate times.
Why would you not use the 18kw battery for those?
Eight to ten of those eighteen are used in household every day, a tropical fishtank and a tortoise see to that. The remainder is exported at 15p until winter comes and is then consumed on heating. Six months of the year are negative bills.
It's not just here. I occasionally look at the EV3 facebook group and it's full of posts from people getting excited, upset or even angry about whatever random number the car has suggested for the range today. Madness. What difference does that number actually make to your day?
Quite a bit if I'm off on a road trip as I'd like a nice stress free drive to the next charger but fortunately Tesla's range algorithm is damn accurate.
Just back from the first 500 mile trip in the Polestar 4.
Great motor.
The pilot assist can be a bit aggressive and almost fired me up a slip road off the M6 which is a bit of a concern.
The slightly extra range and increased efficiency over the e-tron increases charging options and reduces anxiety (3.1vs 2.7 m/kw average)
I'm still not sold on the magnesium colour of it - should have done more homework on that!
Still not missing a rear window.
Mrs OTS say's it's not quite as smooth a ride as the Audi from the passenger seat.
Does look like it might be slightly more affordable to charge at home if the rumoured scrapping of VAT on home electricity is true (one hopes they'd keep it on gas, or increase the tax on gas to offset it).
I don't think they would be stupid enough to increase gas tax as that is still what the majority of people rely on for heat (yes I know it could encourage more to get heat pumps but that option is far out of reach of lots of people). IMO any offsetting should be done on increasing diesel, petrol, smoking, alcohol and vape taxes.
While I'm not going to complain at a home fuel tax reduction doing it only on electric is again a change that predominantly benefits in the middle rather than those that really need lower costs.
Quite a bit if I'm off on a road trip as I'd like a nice stress free drive to the next charger but fortunately Tesla's range algorithm is damn accurate.
I get what you are saying, but I'd still argue that the random number generated by the car for its estimated range is next to useless.
I think what you are talking about though is not the "guessometer" but the ability of the car to predict the state of charge at a destination. My EV3 does that too. Probably not as accurately as the Tesla but plenty accurate enough for my needs. I agree that feature can be useful sometimes* although I don't really need to know the exact percentage at my destination (or next charge stop). A simple traffic light system (red, amber, green) for "easy","marginal","no chance" would probably work just as well in practice. It's the guessometer I object to though as I think it does more harm than good and drives some of the anxiety that people feel about range.
For a start, it's a number based on your driving history, not what you plan to do. I've seen people (on facebook) get excited because the guessometer says that their car has a range over 400 miles (because they've been doing lots of short trips in the summer and driving carefully). That doesn't mean that they could jump in their car and drive 400 miles down the motorway though. Even if it did, they probably can't drive that far without stopping anyway.
Quoting range as a number plants the idea in your mind that more range is better. This leads people to buy a car that is more expensive than they need or to hold off on buying an EV altogether because the number isn't as big as the number they can get in their petrol car. But my point is that range only matters if you don't have enough and if you do have enough then having more doesn't actually gain you anything.
If I get in my car and the battery percentage is somewhere in the region of 80% then I know with absolute certainty that I am going to want to stop before the car tells me I have to. Putting an estimated number on that percentage doesn't help me and (I believe) actually contributes to the anxiety people feel.
I watched the electrifying podcast with Rory Sutherland recently. I can find fault with a few of his points, but I think his basic thesis that we need to tackle range anxiety by focussing on what causes the anxiety rather than wasting huge resources increasing range was basically correct. He was going as far as to criticise the fact that his EV gave him an exact percentage and arguing that even that was contributing unnecessarily to anxiety. As he said, he goes to the shop and the percentage drops from 87% to 84% and that seems bad, when in fact all he really needs to know is that the car has plenty of charge. He was arguing that an exact percentage might be useful when you are low, but above a certain level it would make more sense just to show an old fashioned gauge like we had for years in our petrol cars.
*In practice I rarely plan stops anymore. I just drive until I want to stop and then find somewhere to charge. But I did plan my first long trip as it was all new to me and it was comforting to know that I was going to be able to reach my next planned stop with plenty of charge left.
I have had my Polestar 2 for nearly a year now and I find that it is generally a little pessimistic regarding range on long journeys but predictably so.
In all but the worst of weather it is consistently pessimistic to the tune of 5% battery use per 1 hour of constant driving. It is very good at breaking charging sessions up to short stops, I will then make manual adjustments if I want a longer stop for lunch or if I want to make sure that I have plenty of charge when I reach my destination. Alternatively I might miss the last charge if I am travelling home. It will also change stops on the fly if a charging point becomes full.
In really bad wet and windy weather then it is still pessimistic but about 2% per 1 hour of driving.
I must admit I do not really think much about the charging process I just let the car guide me.
In practice I rarely plan stops anymore. I just drive until I want to stop and then find somewhere to charge.
This is pretty much my approach now.
Half the time on autotrader the traders don't know even when you phone them up.
You can ask for a pic of under the bonnet. The heat pump gubbins is clearly visible on these cars as a nexus of metal pipes and valves on the left hand side of the engine bay as you look at it.
It would be better IMO if the test were presented with a separate highway/mixed figure. Also if it were tested at 23c and 5c and the average taken
Yeah I agree, because many (but not all) drivers will only care about range on long trips so the mixed picture is pretty useless.
I've just seen my first parked-up Polestar 4 at a nearby house. I thought they looked good in the fleeting glances I'd seen on the road but when parked up I had a good look round and I've gone right off the looks.
EV database gives more realistic mileages for both cold/warm and highway/urban conditions.
My colleague who also has a Scenic, although it has bigger wheels, is getting over 300 miles fairly easily in warm/mild months. He was getting 270-280 in winter. Heat pump as standard.
EV database and the previous real world car mileage databases were always wildly pessimistic for me.
Is that the long range model? I have one on order for December delivery
I have had my Polestar 2 for nearly a year now and I find that it is generally a little pessimistic regarding range on long journeys but predictably so
Same experience here..if I'm driving home for a few hours and it says my 'arrival charge will be 5%' (i like to run on fumes 😉 ) then i can be confident it's likely to be 7-10% charge in reality.
DrP
New car collected yesterday. Very enjoyable drive home, approx 80 miles. Think I managed 4m/kw on a mix of all types of roads. It's a really nice car and looking forward to putting the miles on it.
First charge over night was successful.
Will post some photos later.
Half the time on autotrader the traders don't know even when you phone them up.
You can ask for a pic of under the bonnet. The heat pump gubbins is clearly visible on these cars as a nexus of metal pipes and valves on the left hand side of the engine bay as you look at it.
Ah, thanks @molgrips I'll investigate.
Got a Enyaq 85 coming in a few weeks, bit of a impulse order as I liked the look of new facelift one, looked at ID4 but they look like a potato. I was set on an Ionic 5 but the lease deals weren't as good.
Chose the SUV because I wanted the roof rails, but it seems carrying bikes on the roof is a range nightmare so it's going to be a rear mounted carrier on the tow bar I didn't spec... I wish I'd read more before I do these things. Reviews have been very kind. I watched a YTer in Germany do a 400km drive at speeds of up to 140kph on a single charge (100% to 10%) which was nice. Summer of course, but I don't really do long journeys in winter. I've been told the 185KWH offered charging is better than 300KWH charging offered elsewhere because battery pre-conditioning, I don't know how true that it. TBH I'd guess I charge it away from home (in the new year at least) once or twice a year. Even if I drive it to Centre Parcs near Strasberg in the summer, I'm looking at 2 away from home charges and 30 mins isn't going to be be too much of a hardship by the time the kids have used the facilities, got snacks and the usual faffing.
I'll be using public charging until the new year because of things out of my control, but there's talk of getting a point fitted in work.
Retro fit tow hook for our ID7 was an easy £1500. Given it has roof bars and we already have the track we are just carrying the bikes on there. Yes there is a decent hit on range but this came down to 3 questions. 1. How often are we carrying bikes far enough that a single charge would not cut it there and back (not many) 2. Of those times would it still have enough range to cover the stint lengths (yes) and 3. How much recharging could we pay for with the saved money (£2-3000 when you factor in buying a tow hook rack). (Quite a lot!). Economics of a row rack did not work for us especially since they also hit range.
I would strongly recommend putting the bike inside the car, with appropriate protection, if you're worried about range.
Retro fit tow hook for our ID7 was an easy £1500. Given it has roof bars and we already have the track we are just carrying the bikes on there. Yes there is a decent hit on range but this came down to 3 questions. 1. How often are we carrying bikes far enough that a single charge would not cut it there and back (not many) 2. Of those times would it still have enough range to cover the stint lengths (yes) and 3. How much recharging could we pay for with the saved money (£2-3000 when you factor in buying a tow hook rack). (Quite a lot!). Economics of a row rack did not work for us especially since they also hit range.
I travel quite a bit with mates for rides, 1 bike in the back isn't a problem, the enyaq boot is massive, but two isn't going to work. 99% of our usual places wouldn't be a problem to complete the round trip on a single charge, even in winter. So I was just going to get a kit for a few quid that will allow my current bars to fit the Enyaq.
It's the big summer trip that's made me think. I've found some s/h towbar kits on ebay for £250 or so, the Enyaq is coming with tow bar prep, so I think it's just a matter of bolting the thing on, connecting the wires and some coding for the sensors. I don't expect it being more than a days labour for an expert to complete. An electric two bar option was 'only' £750 and buttons extra on the lease, but the order is in now and can't be changed.
It all depends on the range cost, some sources say 10% which isn't too bad and roughly what it costs me in diesel now, some say 20-30% which is a lot, I'm more concerned about time than money. The same sources say the rear mounted carrier is a negligible cost to range.
We've got 2 bikes plus a weeks packing in an ID7 tourer with the seats down & wheels off, and the Enyaq isn't that different in size. I use home built stands for the rear axle and took the air out of the forks then stand them up with the bars facing the rear.
the Enyaq is coming with tow bar prep, so I think it's just a matter of bolting the thing on, connecting the wires and some coding for the sensors. I don't expect it being more than a days labour for an expert to complete. An electric two bar option was 'only' £750 and buttons extra on the lease, but the order is in now and can't be changed.
its worth checking with the lease company that they will allow a retro fit towbar, quite a few don’t
I would strongly recommend putting the bike inside the car, with appropriate protection, if you're worried about range.
This is my preferred option but is only really viable with 2 people and 2 bikes (same as we did in the previous golf estate). With 4 people, 4 bikes and a dog its outside or nothing. Big test this weekend with all off us, the dog and 3, maybe 5 cx bikes from Southampton to Swindon and back.
The same sources say the rear mounted carrier is a negligible cost to range.
I'm not sure I believe this. Stick a couple of big mtbs on there and the fat tyres sticking out either side is going to cause a fairly big amount of extra drag before you consider the disruption to the airflow off the boot. Maybe with a single road bike its not too different.
The drag bucket behind an estate or SUV is more than sufficient to hide a few bike with negligible impact on aerodynamics. Similarly a lot of cars these days are wide enough to hide a good proportion of the bike.
My experience in an iPace with 2 bikes is that at most it was 10%.
Anyone got a BYD Dolphin ?
Considering one and wanted to hear thoughts on them from any owners - thanks.
Are you still happy with it?
Any issues you wish you were aware of before buying?
No but they look good.
Just clicked over 1000 miles in the Scenic. Really enjoying it. One public charging session this week which was pretty easy.
My only gripe is the brake pedal. It's quite snatchy, and can be difficult to modulate at slow speeds.
I've probably put this recently but went on a tour of UK for work (NI/Scotland) and used Ionity subscription to lower the bill. Very easy to work with and a few stations dotted around a bit
There is a discounted deal with ionity if you pay the whole year.
86.99 up for 12 months then 43ppkWh (instead of 10.5 a month.)
Good if you can justify being on a subscription.
You get the card free too which obviously links to the app.
My only gripe is the brake pedal. It's quite snatchy, and can be difficult to modulate at slow speeds.
Does it not do decent one pedal driving?
Its rare I touch the brake pedal on my polestar
Yea, but I don't like one pedal driving.
That might be a renault thing. Our Zoe is similar (the ID7 is much better and not grabby at all)
86.99 up for 12 months then 43ppkWh (instead of 10.5 a month.)
That's good, but it ties you to Ionity chargers - which is obviously the point.
The Polestar Charge subscription through PlugSurfing in £11.99 per month (£144 per year) and provides 30% off 6 charger networks in the uk.
You can get the Tesla subscription for £90 per year which gives access to some supercharger sites, but not all.
I only need to do non-home charging every couple of months, so I'm using the Polestar sub which I can stop and start on a monthly basis.
Yea, but I don't like one pedal driving.
I don't like it either. The e-tron and Hyundai have the flappy paddles to manually adjust the regen; suits my driving better.
I don't like it either
Yep, same, don't like the one pedal driving, prefer to have the car coasting when I lift off the accelerator, ie no regen at all, unless I use the brake pedal, which then use regen to slow the car down.
You can get the Tesla subscription for £90 per year which gives access to some supercharger sites, but not all.
You don't need a tesla subscription to access those supercharger sites, they're open to the public by default, the subscription just gets you cheaper rates.