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If plugging in at home overnight, how do you stop it charging at 80%?
Just adding to what Molgrips has said, the Bluelink app that you use for the Kona allows you to set the charge limit independently for AC (Slow chargers - typically home) and DC (Fast chargers). I have ours set to 80% for the AC and 100% for the DC. It's pretty intuitive.
Same. And yes, granny is a good option - obvious really since you are getting a charger you have a driveway. You'll get one with the car. A granny charger I mean not an actual granny.
Oh, but if you need an extension lead don't leave it coiled up otherwise it'll catch fire. 13A sockets are only rated for 10A continuously, unless you fit an EV rated one (there's a British Standard for EV charging sockets if you want one) but the Hyundai charger lets you select the current and I think it maxes out at 10A anyway.
I run my granny at 10 amp. Via a tapo 110 smart plug. No issues yet 🔥🔥⚡
The 13A 'granny charger' is actually pretty good.
I was going to have a proper charger installed but in the end decided just to stick with the 13A plug in one.
Installation was looking to be around £1400 for the basic set up. We are with Ovo for utilities and they ended up just being a pain in the arse always asking for more info. 'Can you send us a copy of your house deeds' was the last one (our house has it's own parking space joined to it), and I just couldn't be arsed with them anymore.
Figured that it's 21.7p per kWh and our car is 52kW battery, and we don't need to charge it much - once a week is enough it seems.
Even at 21.7p it's significantly cheaper than the public charging network, and it's here at the house. And I don't need a faster set up, overnight is plenty good enough for us.
To make the installation be financially sensible it will take something like 4 years before it's worth it and paid for itself with savings. By which time I'll have handed the car back and I don't know if I'll go with another electric.
If we were doing a lot more miles with it then it would be a different story of course...
I'm not sure about the Pony and the Grandeur. More Renault 4 than 5, but you have to aplaud the ambition.
So if you had 23k to buy a used electric car - what would you buy.
I know what i want .... but that doesnt make it best
looking at a facelift (24-25 plate) e-rifter GT. We are looking at replacing my 108 city car - ill assume the wife's current Peugeot partner as its worth about £1.95 so we will have a car for long trips as I'm aware of the e-rifters limitations.
Looking at covering the wife's 15k a year ferrying the kids around between nursery/swimming lessons/rainbows etc. - hence I'm keen to keep my sliding doors - realistically i have another 8 years of the kids benefiting from the sliding doors and the large boot space as we are still at pram stage.
Longest trip we are likely to use it for is 110 miles round trip.
Anyone got a recent model heatpump equipmed EMP2 platform car - how's it been?
any better thought?
If you want the sliding doors and that form factor then options are limited.
If you can consider other forms then it comes down to how much longer you're going to need boot space for a pram.
I suspect a Hyundai isn't going to work for you, but I would at least go and have a look at a couple. £23k gets you into a 24 plate Ioniq 5.
If I had 23k to spend I’d get a Genesis GV60.
If I still had little kids / prams and was doing short trips and low mileage I’d be tempted by a massive, luxurious but inefficient monster like an Audi e-tron or a Jaguar i- pace.
Probably the best option would be a Tesla Model Y but they’re just not for me.
inefficient monster like an Audi e-tron
Actually that's not a bad shout. £20k will put you in a 72 plate 55 e-tron with less than £50k on the clock.
FSH and extended warranty will deal with any motor/coolant related issues.
we are good friends with the local audi dealer .... you couldn't pay me to take a used electric Audi right now. Yes they are cheap ..... I mean even Audi wont give you a good offer to take em back - some they wont even buy back.
Other things I've considered was the Subaru solterra/Toyota equivalent. get ok reviews for its form factor. - renound for being very bland. A friend has one for a similar use case and loves it - also lives geographically in the same area and with similar challenges getting to the main road - although I've never been unable to get there with the winter tires fitted in a FWD/RWD vehicle.
Lotta car for the cash.
Yes we are not having a tesla for various reasons although i agree the Y is probably a very good fit.
Almost 3000 miles in the Scenic now. Winter range has taken hold, although still impressive overall. Consumption has dropped from 4 to around 3.6. Preheating the car in the cold morning is marvelous.
I've tried the eBerlingo in the lower spec / pre-facelift / XL version and the latest / higher spec / short one. Really liked the newer one, and if battery was bigger we'd swap our Dispatch for one. Shopping around you could get a new pre-reg one for just over £25k. Initially disappointed the rear seats don't come out, but the fold is flat and compact enough not to matter.
Inster is also worth a look.
Our local Kia place is keeping in touch about PV5. Demonstrators are late arriving - hopefully something in December. Customer ones are landing in January - 1000 assigned to UK but 600 already sold. Didn't know the mix passenger vs cargo.
Production version of EV2 also gets launch in January.
Is the passenger PV5 classed as a commercial? If so will be exempt from the 3p pay per mile tax.
Think the passenger PB5 will be classed as a car. Saw a demonstrator photo showing reg as K14PBV and DVLA says that is an M1 (passenger car) not N1 (commercial).
My PS4 arrived yesterday. Lovely car and a big change from a 9 year old Skoda Superb. The lease deal was silly cheap, much less than a Skoda Enyak, it's not as practical but great drive and faster 0-60 than Ferrari F40!
Only qualms so far are all the driver 'aids' that need turning off everytime you get in the car.
It's really worth understanding the driving aids and learning to work with them, rather than just disabling everything. Even good drivers make mistakes, yes even you. There might be parameters you can tweak to make them less intrusive, or some means of turning it off temporarily on certain roads.
^^ interesting point, and I agree. I’m on the Kia EV3 FB group and it’s full of folks asking how to disable stuff. The only think I regularly disable is lane control when I’m on single carriageway roads,
I've never had issues with the driver aids in either my VW or Mrs ODs Kia.
I'm not sure what people are not liking enough to switch them off?
I don't mind the beeps and bongs in my ioniq. I still have the strength in my arms to occasionally override the lane keep assist. I also have the ability to use my indicators as well so that removes some bings.
It's really worth understanding the driving aids and learning to work with them, rather than just disabling everything
I get your point and I probably won't disable them on long A road or motorway trips. The problim is the B (and some A) roads around here - edge of the fens - are partially collapsed so when there is no oncoaming traffic everyone drives down the centre - lane control hates that. The PS4 used cameras to recognise the speed limit signs but often misses one - for instance my rd is 20mph turning onto a 60. It misses the sign in the dark and is then contantly flashing and beeping until it sees another sign.
So if you had 23k to buy a used electric car - what would you buy.
I have an Audi etron 55 Launch edition as my first EV and almost a year in it has been faultless. I thought I got a bargain at £29k with 20k on the clock but they are even better now, £22-£25k. Stunning car to drive, the air suspension is amazing. I got the sportback and think it looks really nice, but looks are obviously very personal. Range is good enough for me, I would prefer more but would need to pay significantly more for a car of the same ride and build quality with better range. I get around 250 max on long steady drives in summer, and about 180-200 in winter. It is a big car, so much room in the front and stacks in the back for passengers. With the seats down I can get a bike in with the front wheel off, or two, and possibly 3 bikes with all wheels off. Not as good as my previous merc estate that could swallow a 29er with both wheels still on. I have also modified the frunk with a foam insert that holds all my important bike tools and my ebike range extender. And the additional space under the traditional boot holds my helmets.
Now to the bad things. I think someone may have already mentioned the $h!tty design around the motor coolant, from what I can see this is an issue, but on a low percentage of cars. That said, if it happens to you it will probably put you off Audi for life unless you have the appropriate warranty. There are a few little niggles with the MMI but overall it works well, just not as intuative as some, but I like the looks compared to the big ipad style of the Tesla and Ford. The resale value has hit me quite a bit and I have lost about 7k in 8 months, but they do seem to have plateaued now.
Overall the car is the best I have ever had. I came to it from a 2015 E class Merc which I loved, and it is a huge step up in ride quality and tech which you would expect for a car with an RRP of £80k. Would I recommend it, absolutely, but go in with your eyes wide open regarding range and the coolant issue.
It's really worth understanding the driving aids and learning to work with them, rather than just disabling everything.
There is a bug in some versions of the PS4 software (4.2.6) that means that the speed limit warning kicks in at the wrong and some times random speed.
So if you had 23k to buy a used electric car - what would you buy.
As it's STW I'm assuming "reccomend what you've got" regarless of what the requestor wants applies
BMW i4 e40.
I've had one for the last 2.5 years and it's been fantastic. Drives and handles really well, is pretty practical as it's basically a hatchback plus has a pretty long range. However the rear space is cramped and door access isn't great so if ferrying kids around a lot is a priority this isn't really the right car for you.
There are plenty starting from around £20K ish - they are a very popular company car choice so they're starting to hit the used market now.
Example here - not saying this is a good one, but there are plenty of others very similar, so choice is good.
^^ agreed, I posted a bit further up to say similar, I was very tempted to buy mine at 3 yrs old when leaving company salary sacrifice scheme..
MG4, EV3, something like that. Cheap but good functionality.
You won’t find a second hand EV3 for anything close to 23k, they haven’t been around for long enough yet, and they aren’t ‘cheap’ to start with.
So the popular answer is looking to be I should buy a much smaller car ?- bearing in mind I have two off the centile chart children who both need massive axkid seats with support legs as none of the normal ones/isofix are rated for their weight and I'm 6ft 4 also.
Alternatively I should buy a massive behemoth of a luxury SUV. Id consider that if I was tax efficiently able to lease one ... But as is we buy and repair for 10+ years. - current pug partner is a 2015 just away to tick over 100k. Hoping to get another 5 years out of it - and big suvs come with big bills as they age.
Bold move to try and drive from Swansea to Aberdeen for a maiden voyage in a small battery capacity ev ? - did price up driving down with the nv400 and trailer for one in Torquay last month - was cheaper than over night train booked a week in advance or flights anywhere near and driving back on public chargers - I'll probably give that some thought also.
^^ interesting point, and I agree. I’m on the Kia EV3 FB group and it’s full of folks asking how to disable stuff. The only think I regularly disable is lane control when I’m on single carriageway roads,
Im the same with my Niro. Disable lane control when get in car and only enable when on dual carriageway driving
o if you had 23k to buy a used electric car - what would you buy.
I have exactly this (via Energy Saving Trust), taking delivery of a 12 month old, 7K Hyundai Kona N-Line next week. I was fixed on a Enyaq but just was struggling to get the spec I wanted for the budget. A lot more options with the Hyundai
I've recently purchased a 2000 mile 1 year old Vauxhall Combo Life XL Ultimate for £15.5k. It's lacking heated seats and adaptive cruise control, but otherwise its a great drive if don't mind the limited range. Seems like the perfect family car, although I don't think I'll be taking it to Morzine compared to our Passat estate.
o if you had 23k to buy a used electric car - what would you buy.
I have exactly this (via Energy Saving Trust), taking delivery of a 12 month old, 7K Hyundai Kona N-Line next week. I was fixed on a Enyaq but just was struggling to get the spec I wanted for the budget. A lot more options with the Hyundai
Lots of bang for your buck with Hyundai.
So if you had 23k to buy a used electric car - what would you buy.
I had this exact budget and bought a Jaguar I-Pace. I love it to bits, which it almost certainly will end up in, but 3y warranty and whilst it's still going great, it's just such a lovely place to be. With air suspension the ride is sublime, the seats are infinitely adjustable and comfortable AND heated seats (4 of them), steering wheel and front screen are just great in winter. 100% thumbsup from me. It'll do 200 miles if you spank it, 250-270 if you take it easy and is currently doing 230 in mixed motorway, fast country roads, city in the VERY cold.
We looked at iPace as we also had (approx) £23k budget. Loved the car but the insurance was ballistic for us, 2 x 50 yo, 12k a year and 2 no fault claims.
Ended up putting a deposit on a Polestar2 ‘24 long range single motor plus and pilot pack with 15k miles which was half the price for insurance bizarrely. I guess the Jag is expensive to fix when it goes wrong badly.
£23k gets you an Ioniq 5/6, Polestar 2, BMW i4, pretty much anything cool. Personally I would probably get an Ioniq 6 or an i4, maybe one of the Volvo options but there's so much choice. As for size for big kids, I haven't really looked at that market segment.
Bold move to try and drive from Swansea to Aberdeen for a maiden voyage in a small battery capacity ev ?
Life on the motorways is pretty easy even in a small battery EV, you end up passing banks of 8, 12, 20 chargers every 30 miles or so.
So the popular answer is looking to be I should buy a much smaller car ?- bearing in mind I have two off the centile chart children who both need massive axkid seats with support legs as none of the normal ones/isofix are rated for their weight and I'm 6ft 4 also.
Alternatively I should buy a massive behemoth of a luxury SUV.
You did ask what we would buy, not what we thought would suit you! (And that it was replacing a tiny 108!) I certainly wouldn’t buy a berlingo or equivalent; unviably short range (for my use case probably fine for you), horridly unsupportive seats, surprisingly little leg room in the back seats and if you fold the back seats down you can’t get the front seat far enough back for me to get comfortable at 6’2. For short journeys with lots of boot space and easy access the the back one could be great!
Not sure on price and range etc, but in principle this looks like what trail_rat might need. At least it isn't yet another jacked up crossover SUV with high ground clearance and no interior space:
Citroen rethinks small cars with tiny six-seat supermini | Autocar https://share.google/IfXsVHRlSP8fuWZSp
So if you had 23k to buy a used electric car - what would you buy.
As it's STW I'm assuming "reccomend what you've got" regarless of what the requestor wants applies
BMW i4 e40.
I've had one for the last 2.5 years and it's been fantastic. Drives and handles really well, is pretty practical as it's basically a hatchback plus has a pretty long range. However the rear space is cramped and door access isn't great so if ferrying kids around a lot is a priority this isn't really the right car for you.
There are plenty starting from around £20K ish - they are a very popular company car choice so they're starting to hit the used market now.
Example here - not saying this is a good one, but there are plenty of others very similar, so choice is good.
Yeah those look like good value now! I just wish they weren't all grey/white/black.
Are there any 'must have' options?
[sorry]
indicator delete.....?
[/not sorry]
Actually that comes as standard equipment, as does the "parking so you take up at least two spaces assist" pack
Are there any 'must have' options?
For a BMW they are surprisingly well equipped as standard.
Mine is the M-Sport which just changes some cosmetics and gives a nicer steering wheel, and has the "Tech Pack" which gives a better stereo and the HUD. I would reccomend both of those.
Be aware that the seats are manual which seems a bit stingy of BMW, so if you regularly change swap drivers then finding which pack gives electric seats would be a good idea. The standard "sensatec" seats are good, but the leather seats are a noticeable improvement in the way the inside of the car looks.
The rear wheel drive "40" car is good, and drives & handles better than the all wheel drive "M50". It's also plenty quick with a quoted 0-60 of 5.7 secs but apparently they actually do more like 5.1-5.2 ish.
No idea about indicators, sorry as I never bother with them, just use the traditional BMW hand signals instead.
I’m currently in a work pool car i4. It’s a 2023 m sport e drive 40, it had the leccy seats and HUD and th excellent HK sound system. First time in a Beamer and I’m really impressed. So much so have ordered an iX as proper replacement.
App is great. The menus etc take some getting used to but once it’s set up with profile it works beautifully. The adaptive regen braking is genius, driving position has a great range of adjustment and enough steering wheel reach. Its range predictions are great, so can use CarPlay and just do head maths on charging. The inbuilt sat nav isn’t great when I used it.
it’s got 33k miles on it and no rattles, everything looking great condition.
All of my electric car driving has been in the RWD Polestar 2 LRSM and a BMW i4 m sport e drive 40.
They are both great cars to drive. The BMW has better handling it is smoother and sportier at the same time. The BMW feels noticeably faster and feels more plush.
The Polestar has a lazy accelerator for the first half of the press so it is much easier to park and drive around town. Range is better in the Polestar. If you do big miles the Polestar is stress free the Google maps sat nav takes car of everything telling you where to charge and how long for in a much more joined up way. It even reroutes as you are approaching charging stations if they fill up.
In many ways the BMW is a better car but I find the Polestar much easier to live with
There's some absolutely ridiculous deals on the Frontera leases at the moment.
Quite a decent little car with a reasonable boot.