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I’ve had a 58kw id3 for nearly 2 years. Only run it in public chargers (terrace house).
The best real data I can give you is we drove exactly 100 miles to Cardiff last weekend (A roads and motorway) and used exactly 50% charge from full. That’s with 2 adults and 2 big teenagers in the car with air-con on. Adaptive cruise control set for 75 on the M4 and 65 or 70 on the duals. ‘Free’ drove the A roads at between 50 and 60.
Used a rapid charger (50kw) in Cardiff to take it back up to 92% and got home with 40-something.
The rest of the time it’s hard to see a true range as we do lots of little top-ups when shopping etc.
That’s in top teens Celsius of course. Winter is a whole different ball-game and I reckon we’d probably use 70% at least for the same journey.
We love it. No regrets even with public charging prices going crazy in the last 12 months. Cruising round Pembrokeshire is great and I can get my bike in to go to N Wales really easily.
Don’t get hung up on range unless you have a massive commute every day and no home charger.
It’s a nice car to be in and drive and works for us.
I've ordered a Skoda Enyaq iV 60 (would have been happier with the 80 as range is about 325 miles, but I couldn't afford the monthly payments), so I think I'll get about 230 miles during summer (and about 170 miles in winter) as I'm wanting a towball and the company I can use have plenty of ev options but only a few offering towball. It looks nicer than the id4 (but that is a matter of opinion), but is essentially the same car.
I was keen on the Cupra Born (the id3 looked really cheap in comparison and cost a bit more) and the mg4 (which has now been approved for a towbar but mg won't fit it and it is limited to 50kg).
Bigger than I was wanting and I'll be using public chargers, but it was the cheapest option for a towbar. I didn't go for the fancy charging cable (didn't pay attention as it was an extra £320 and I wasn't thinking it was worth it) - so what have I now limited myself to in terms of charging?
I'm hoping I can charge at work, otherwise I'll be charging at public chargers...and I've just realised I've done nothing to research cost of public charging! Looking forward to the new car but after typing this I'm feeling like a lemon not doing some more checks!
Quick update on the i4 vs the ETron that it replaced.
It's bloody fantastic - not as an EV but as a car. Quiet, comfy, handles great as a beemer should and it's quick of course, plus fits a bike in the back no issue.
It just did an 812 miles round trip - Daventry to Cambridge to CHester to the Lakes, then 3 days running around the lakes, back to Cambridge and then to Daventry. 3.9 m/kw.hr and £50 total electric cost. Charged three times in that whole time - straight onto a fast Ionity charger each time, but could have easily been two stops instead. The "big" charge was on the return trip, from 7% to 90%, 40 minutes and it was complete before we had finished our naughty but nice motorway food stop. With the >300 mile range of this car charging on long trips has become less frequent and also much easier to work around as the range means flexibility to charge when it's convenient.
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^^^^ yaay, my i4 is about 6 weeks away, and your post makes me happy 😁.
Did you go for any options ? Mine is the big battery, base white, and I went for leather and the retractable towbar, as I have a towbar bike rack.
When putting bike inside, do you need to remove the fixed piece of the parcel shelf ?
Edit, looking at yours, I think mine has blue outside trim, rather than black..
@whatgoesup I'm looking to do the same move from E-Tron to i4 in the next year or so. Glad to hear you like it.
Mine is an E40, so is RWD with 340BHP and and big battery.
Options wise the only ones on mine are the MSport trim and the Tech Pack (fancy stereo and HUD). The black rather than blue accents is a no cost option. The way our company car options worked out is that I could have this spec or a total base model with metallic paint, or a towbar or leather interior.
The e35 wasn’t released when I ordered. The lower power would be fine with me, but not the smaller battery.
Yes I do remove the fixed order of the parcel shelf, otherwise you would have to slide the bike in underneath it. The bike is visible from the outside regardless so no benefit to leaving it in. I haven’t felt the need to remove the bit that’s attached to the tailgate itself though.
Oh, final comment - with 3 bikes on the roof the efficient dropped to around 2.9 m/kw.hr on mostly 60 mph roads. Still better than than the ETron managed with bikes inside !
I didn’t go for the fancy charging cable (didn’t pay attention as it was an extra £320 and I wasn’t thinking it was worth it) – so what have I now limited myself to in terms of charging?
What fancy charging cable? Rapid public chargers have cables attached (they are really thick and heavy); you only need your own cable for the 7kW ones which are of limited use unless you are spending a lot of time at one e.g. it's at work or you are parking at one for a day out or something.
I don't know...I didn't pay attention to the offer as it was over £300...just had a check and I think this is what I didn't pick - iV Universal charging cable with industrial connector 32A/230V. I didn't even look to see what it was, from Skoda it it a £600 option so might not be right.
However, your post suggests I've completely misunderstood how the charging works anyway so likely to be all good.
Hm it seems to be a charger that connects to a 32A socket like you might find in a workshop or factory or something - a commando socket. One of these:
So you don't need it. It has a type 2 on the other end which is what plugs into the car. Bit silly to call it a cable when it's really a charging device.
What people call a 'granny' charger plugs into a normal 13A socket, and can supply 3kW. One of those came with my car, but it's a standard thing so they're cheaply available if you need one. But they are of limited use - I've only used mine twice - once whilst at my parents to stick in a few more miles when we were visiting; the other was when we stayed in a static caravan and we trailed it out of the window with an extension lead.
You should also get a charging cable, which is what I was talking about, probably with the car - this has a type 2 on both ends and is actually just a cable, not a charger; it's for the slow public chargers. They go up to 22kW sometimes with AC, which is alright; many cars can only accept 7kW AC but it seems the iV can do 11kW.
The actual fast chargers (known as rapid) are the ones that are 50kW and above - these are DC, and they're the ones where the cable is attached to the unit.
and I’ve just realised I’ve done nothing to research cost of public charging!
Public charging if you just rock up can be as high as 89p/kWh which makes it as expensive as diesel if not more; but there are many schemes that you can join for cheap that dramatically reduce it. You can sign up to say, Ionity, for a fee, and get it cheap, or you can go via other schemes - I'm eligible to join the one offered by Octopus, because I am a customer, but also the one from Hyundai. On that scheme I can pay something like £7/mo and the price at Ionity chargers drops to 54p I think, or 45p at BP.
Just this minute ordered a BMW iX1 to replace the i3s that goes back soon.
Had planned to go back to a second hand ICE but the prices are just insane, especially when you add in the interest rates.
whatgoesup, thanks, E40 coming here also, through work lease with Tusker. I didn’t go for Msport, but added in leather (white 🤪 ) and towbar as worked out a good deal.
Great to hear how good it is !
Thanks, Lister & DickBarton for the replies. I already have a home charger but mainly charge at work. It's just nice having the range of the Kia. The Born is also an option I can have also. I would really love the XC 40 but it's just too much car for what I need also I'm a bit reluctant to pay the monthly cost which is over twice what i'd be paying for the VW id3.
With regards to type 2 cables, I’ve used mine a couple of times . It came as standard with the car along with a granny cable.
You can pick them up for £100-£150 online.
Last time I used it was in hotel carpark overnight .
@whatgoesup - what typical range do you find you are getting, in real world driving ?
Anyone got one of the ID3’s 58Kw and what the real range is like?
I've had one for about 18months, it's about 220 in summer and about 180 in winter. If you look on evdatabase website, their averages for actual range are pretty good. On a day to day basis I prefer to work with % rather than miles with EVs which is a bit of a drawback with the id3 as it's primary display is in miles only (my previous Tesla could show either on the main display).
@iainc - since new the car has averaged 3.6m/kw.hr (=290 mile range) but that’s brought down a bit by short trips, so on a longer trip which is where range matters it’s more like 3.8-4 (306-320). I’ve seen up to 4.9 on one trip. Long story short, in warm weather at least it’s comfortably over 300.
Thanks for that
Thanks for that @B.A.Nana, thats what I was kind of thinking it would be about.
Quick update for anyone looking to install a home charger. We have *interesting* electrics here so getting the charger where we wanted it was on the wrong side of non trivial. Done now and with the new Octopus Tariff, we can get 200 miles for about a fiver.
Definitely worth thinking about
- a smart charger that has a module connected to the incoming supply so it'll back off if your dishwasher kicks off at 3 am (we run a 24 hour heat pump here so we can't just blast 32a at the charger)
- an app that can schedule charging. The MG app does that but it's way easier to manage off the charger app
- a 'if you steal it, it won't work' feature. Not a massive issue, but nice to have
- when you're pulling cables through the house etc, getting some proper external sockets at the same time is a no brainer
- Running the charger on our 'old' E7 tails means we can track energy use from the charger
Three weeks with the MG4 now. Really like it. Lane assist is way too aggressive and sills are thigh gouging wide but otherwise we love it. Currently getting nearly 4kw/mile (unless I'm driving it on my own 😉 )
I think they all have a clamp on sensor for the meter tails to ensure it backs off the charge rate before you overload your supply. You can have two separate ev chargers on a single phase supply because of this.
4 week countdown till mine arrives….hopefully 🤞
Sounds right. The distance between our supply/fuse board/front of house meant we ended up using cables for the RS something protocol to connect charger to sensing unit in the board. We also hard wired the charger via an ethernet cable as the wifi is 'okay' outside but I didn't want to risk it.
It's a bit irritating to have to configure the charger, then the ESP32 chip don't steal thing and also the sensing unit in the fuse board. All with different interfaces/wifi SSIDs. I have about 2 pages of notes if I ever need to do it again!
Most houses have mains coming into the front where the car is parked. That'd have been lovely. Instead we've pulled a huge amount of cable to get the job done. Still having the E7 tails means we have the charging stuff entirely separated.
Very happy to put the 'granny' charger back in the bag and hope never have to use it again!
On a day to day basis I prefer to work with % rather than miles with EVs
@B.A.Nana I saw a lot of folks talking of doing that in Tesla forums. What’s the advantage to you of using the % charge reading?
asking as I find the distance remaining easy and useful. I suppose the % remaining is similar to an ICE fuel gauge?
@DickBarton I’ve used a type 2 cable twice since 2018. Both times at a Tesco. Once to see what it was like. Once because it was when they still had free charging & we had a bunch of shopping to do. My first EV went back with the type 2 cable still sealed in its wrapping.
Aside from some street side chargers you’re not missing out. Plenty of other options with tethered cables.
Despite the feeble charging rate the ‘granny’ 13A cable is more useful. I’ve used these maybe half a dozen times since 2018.
Irrelevant, but my first EV also came a blue commando plug and an EU plug. Our more recent cars have come only with 13A plugs.
I prefer % as miles remaining is so inaccurate , esp when you throw temperature and hills into the mix.
It’s handy having both % and miles range displayed. Miles are a really rough and ready estimate (it’s not called the guessometer for nothing). Once you know the car and types of driving you’re intending to do you can be more accurate using %.
Tesla model 3 here, delivered on Friday. Took around 3 weeks from test drive to delivery which was faster than expected, so I’m still on the back foot with getting a home charger installed. There’s a Supercharger station a mile from home and I have a 3-phase charger available at work, so no worries there.
No useful feedback at this point as I’m still in the giggly oh-my-god-it’s-so-fast phase 😀
In stark contrast to the above, we use our type 2 cable at least once per week. Untethered 7kw chargers are far more ubiquitous around the UK and if you’re driving somewhere and parking, you’re much more likely to find a 7kw charger in a car park and 95% of the time, that charger will need a cable.
I use a type 2 cable a lot - mainly because the carpark at work has untethered chargers.
Also on a longer trip I do relatively often the choice is fast chargers in the hotel carpark or 7kW chargers in a public carpark outside a pub a mile away. The 7kW ones are half the price and give a good excuse to drive to the pub, leave the car there overnight and have a walk or jog to get it back in the morning fully charged. Mind, that was in an ETron which needed almost a full charge to get back home again - the i4 will need a small top up, or might even get there and back in one charge.
I thought Andy Palmer's Twitter thread was fairly sensible. One thing that I think Rowan Atkinson misses is that, even if new cars are replaced every three years, the old car is sold as a used car and might keep running for another 10 or 20 years. They aren't just scrapped.
https://twitter.com/AndyatAuto/status/1666839093760622593
even if new cars are replaced every three years, the old car is sold as a used car and might keep running for another 10 or 20 years. They aren’t just scrapped.
Cars at the bottom end of the market are scrapped when they could be repairable because a replacement is cheap. The reason replacements are cheap is that supply of them, at the lower end, is still plentiful. The reason the supply of cheap cars is plentiful is that 15 years ago the supply of new cars into the market was plentiful.
If you stopped buying so many new cars then more old cars would be repaired rather than scrapped.
Some valid points made in that article. I must admit I’m hoping that my Model 3 lasts 10 yrs plus, on the basis of 300-500,000 mile battery life and not much else to go wrong. In fact by then I should only be on about 150,000 miles and therefore it should last another 10 years plus.
If that proves true it will be by far the longest lived car I have ever owned. Running costs are so low that the monthly payment on the bank loan I needed to upgrade are completely offset.
Time will tell if this aim proves realistic!
even if new cars are replaced every three years, the old car is sold as a used car and might keep running for another 10 or 20 years. They aren’t just scrapped.
Crucially, too, is that the lithium-ion battery from an EV can be recycled almost in entirety, along with 90% of the rest of the vehicle.
While 90% of an ICE car is also recyclable (although how much actually is recycled is another question), the high intrinsic value of the battery provides motivation to do so.
Crucially, too, is that the lithium-ion battery from an EV can be recycled almost in entirety, along with 90% of the rest of the vehicle.
Exactly.
The argument about EV car battery recycling is usually - there is no industrial scale enterprise doing it - which misses the point that there are not yet sufficient old EV batteries yet to recycle - when there are the business will grow.
Additionally, there is discussion about whether old EV batteries can be repurposed to provide domestic power banks to manage load with renewables. An 64KWh EV battery at 50% capacity would still provide days of electricity for usage in our household - EV charging aside obvs.
... the real failure is a Governmental (and not just UK) one. The failure to ramp up zero carbon electricity generation fast enough.
All alternative fuel solutions, EV, hydrogen, synthetic fuel require zero CO2 require zero carbon electricity generation to work.
Our Salary Sacrifice scheme is now kicking off, so considering moving on from the i3s. Any thoughts on Polestar 2? Deals on these due to the facelift, but won't be around for long. Am mightily tempted to wait for EX30 though.
Cost of lease still seems eye watering compared to sticking with what I have mind. Perhaps EX30 is the first of a wave of slightly more affordable mid range EVs?
It's worth checking the SS lease costs verses what's on the open market. There's lots of price gouging as they know you're getting 40% off
Our Salary Sacrifice scheme is now kicking off, so considering moving on from the i3s. Any thoughts on Polestar 2? Deals on these due to the facelift, but won’t be around for long. Am mightily tempted to wait for EX30 though.
I’ve got a 2024 Polestar 2 on order to replace my Model 3 Performance. The PS2 was quiet, comfortable, hatchback, has wipers and adaptive headlights that work, and door handles normal people know how to use. It was also a fair amount less than the Model 3 on our scheme. Delivery Oct/Nov apparently.
I also tested the i4, and agree with the posts above about it. That’s a great car, but I just couldn’t get comfortable in the seat.
The EX30 is tiny, but will sell bucket loads.
Yep, did that as that's what I expected too. But it's genuinely looking like a good deal, looking like less than £500 for the DM Plus with nothing up front.
EX30 isn't tiny. It's a sensible size for what I need, Polestar is bigger than I want really. The i3s is 20cm shorter than the EX30.
£500 for the DM Plus
That’s for a ‘23 car?
I’ll be paying just over 600 for a 2024 Long Range Single Motor Pilot/Plus over 48 months all inclusive as a 40%er.
Weirdly, on my scheme, the 23 cars are more expensive than the 24s!
Yes Ben, 23 model. Awaiting confirmation but the SM LR Plus could be around £420. And on mine the 24 cars are significantly more, would expect that to down to broker commitments, hence me thinking I need to jump now or wait 9-12 months.
Gotcha. 23 cars wouldn’t work for me, the range isn’t suitable for my use. Hence going for the 24.
@B.A.Nana I saw a lot of folks talking of doing that in Tesla forums. What’s the advantage to you of using the % charge reading?
Mainly because mile's is going to be inaccurate based on many factors, particularly how you drive it. I guess it's like a petrol car has a fuel gauge that says full/half/empty for a reason (not 500miles/250miles/zero miles). It just made sense to me, but everyone can do what they're comfortable with, one of my friends only uses the miles display which is fine by me. I presume it's a similar thing with phones and laptops, that the manufacturers don't put hours use on the main display, as it depends on how bright you have the screen and what tasks are being performed, whereas battery % is what it is.
My Hyundai is pretty good with miles remaining. It adapts to how the drive is going. In contrast to the miles remaining display on the Merc which is useless as it averages over only the last few minutes which means it plummets when you go up a hill and goes sky high when you go down the other side.
Our 2 cars are completely different in terms of range prediction. The Tesla seems to give a predicted range that would equate to 4 miles/kWh. This is quite achievable in warmer weather so you get pretty much what you expect, sometimes slightly better or worse depending on how you drive. If you feel like it, it’s not that difficult to average 5miles/KWh on a longer journey.
The Renault Zoe is less efficient but also super pessimistic and seems to assume you’re going to drive really badly. On a typical longer journey you can nearly always do 30-40 miles more than it expects. With a usable 52kWH it calculates based on about 3.3miles per kWh, when in fact 3.7-3.8 is perfectly achievable.
Same as Molgrips my KIA (Hyundai sister company) is really good at predicting true mileage.
Mine seems to take the last few trips into account, maybe 5 or so. This means the 100% range drifts up and down in summer and winter. Seems a little pessimistic as last time I got down to 10% it said 25 miles, and there's no way it would do 250 miles on a charge. That was an economical trip though, around 5.3m/kWh, but that's still only 203 miles or so.
Doesn’t that make it optimistic??
The hot weather has significantly reduced the consumption of my e-Up. Drove across the Peak District today, over the Cat & Fiddle. Would normally expect a hill route to give high consumption, as the regen on the downhill doesn't make for the extra on the uphill because of conversion efficiencies. Overall consumption 6.7miles/kWh. That would give 215 miles range compared to the nominal 160 miles.
That was an economical trip though, around 5.3m/kWh, but that’s still only 203 miles or so.
There’s a little village in South Devon I’ve stayed in a few times, and I thought I’d check to see whereabouts the nearest WV charging stations are. Now, it’s located right on the coast exactly between the ‘h’ and ‘m’ of ‘Motorhome Club Campsite’. It’s 150 miles from where I live, and while topping up somewhere around Totnes, Torquay, Brixham on the way down, but that’s at least twenty-odd miles to charge up again, a real PITA. There’s four or five regular filling stations within six or seven miles, and my car has a range of around 340 miles. My old Skoda got 500 miles out of a tank. EV’s are hopeless as far as a decent range is concerned. Although Porsche have an 800 mile range car on the way - that’s what is needed. The map shows charging stations in South Devon.
Ur map is saricin 🤣
Have a look at Zap Map:
The area isn't blessed with rapid chargers, but these are popping up more and more.
BTW, I stayed on your map a few weeks back. Charged my car overnight at the house i rented. No need to visit a petrol station and overall spend about £10 on electric, doing 270 miles. Seems pretty decent to me.
I've just returned from a 316 mile round trip in a Corsa e. From Bury to York, then to flamborough head, down the coast to spurn point, back to York via Beverley and then home via Skipton, a reverse of the outbound route to York.
It went pretty well. Charged at the York hyperhub at Popelton. Pretty cheap 46ppkw on the way out, rapid charge. 26ppkw on the way back, night rate? And a charge on the outskirts of Hull, which was fast. The car seemed to suggest 5.3 miles/kw.
I made progress on the fast A roads and the motorways. Had an enjoyable trip. The charging time amounted to around 1hr20 in total.
The car was decent. Range wasn't an issue. I had a good idea where to charge and a few backup options. The York hyperhub was well worth the minor detour on the way home for the cheap fast charging and avoiding the m62 for the return leg.
EV’s are hopeless as far as a decent range is concerned.
The problem isn't the cars, it's the chargers.
Between North and South Wales there are about three chargers (not charging stations, actual chargers) but EVs are still better than ICEs and I still want one. Because you can manage.
My old Skoda got 500 miles out of a tank. EV’s are hopeless as far as a decent range is concerned. Although Porsche have an 800 mile range car on the way – that’s what is needed.
It's really not. It's what YOU need for 0.01% of your journeys.
We've driven from Bath to Scotland, Newcastle, Cornwall in an i3 with only 150miles of range and it's been fine. Yes, it's taken 1-2 hours longer and took more planning, but its FAR FAR from "hopeless".
@countzero
16 x Osprey DC rapid chargers at Salmons Leap Hub, Buckfastleigh, There's also a dedicated cafe there. That's where I'd plan to be at some point or certainly have a note of it if I fail to charge at my accommodation or a destination charge.
Any thoughts on Polestar 2? Deals on these due to the facelift, but won’t be around for long. Am mightily tempted to wait for EX30 though.
I really like mine (although only had it a few months), performance is great and ride comfort is good. Range isn't great, real world it's around 200 miles (with the 20" wheels) if you drive very sensibly, more like 175 miles for my general driving. Some people complain about their left knee rubbing on the centre console but it's not an issue for me and general visibility isn't very good (the rear window is heavily tinted and the B pillar obstructs most over-the-shoulder glances - I'm glad mine came with the blind spot detection system). There's decent room in the back and the boot is a good size + the hatchback opening makes it more versatile than say an M3's
The EX30 is very tempting though at that prices being stated, I'm not a fan of the boxy mini-SUV styling but I could live with it for the performance of the car. It is very small in the back but if you're not carrying rear passengers often that's not really an issue. When it's actually going to start shipping to UK customers though, that would be my biggest worry for a car that's just announced
We've started to use the Octopus Electroverse app. For fetching the lad from Portsmouth (260 mile return trip), we're going to stop on the way down for 15 mins (assuming DC charger available) and then drive straight home without a further charge.
That's leaving with 100% battery (on the cheap overnight tariff) and returning with around 20% which again we'll top up at home.
It's not as easy as filling stations everywhere, but it's not difficult with a bit of planning (and obv some areas of the country are very poorly served with DC chargers like here!).
Driving over 200 miles in one go is not usual for us. Hence going for the smaller battery. I'd say 95% + of the time we'd never need a public charger. And - as a cop out - if we do need to do a long trip/multi day/etc we have my ICE car. But that'll be changed to an electric when the lease is up (hoping Skoda do an EV Octavia)
I could do without the plethora of apps/charge types/etc/etc but it's defo not a deal breaker
Wait he complained about there being no chargers at his destination when there's a 16 charger hub just up the road?
That's excellent coverage. You don't always have to wait til empty to charge. You could charge back up at Buckfastleigh, drive around all weekend and charge up on the way home.
My mate regularly drives from Scotland to mid Wales, and he does it in an EV.
EV’s are hopeless as far as a decent range is concerned. Although Porsche have an 800 mile range car on the way – that’s what is needed. The map shows charging stations in South Devon.
You're also ignoring that you can charge from any 3 pin plug of which there are many. Our car you can add ~100miles range on a 12 hour overnight charge on a 3 pin plug.
So, for example, if you were going for a week's holiday in the Highlands you'd have far more ease "refueling" an EV than an ICE car (unless you're staying in a bothy).
It's been done to death on this thread but taking edge cases of car use and presenting that a proof EVs are crap is tedious. "I'm a travelling saleman with sites in Thurso and Truro and my EV has been a nightmares" type of stuff.
I rarely charge away from home. Sadly when I do the motorway provision is poor. The Ionity’s on the M25 are always busy with a gaggle of cars waiting in no particular queue system. Plus they seem to max out at <100 when my Ionic 5 should be getting 220. Gridserve are cheaper, but the machines are a mish-mash and the doubles only ever seem to take 1.
Luckily I charge at home with IO for 7.5p/kWh. Telling my Ohme charger I need more than I do seems to start my cheap period earlier.
My old Skoda got 500 miles out of a tank. EV’s are hopeless as far as a decent range is concerned. Although Porsche have an 800 mile range car on the way – that’s what is needed.
driving 500 miles never mind 800 miles without proper breaks is both dangerous and physically uncomfortable. I just did my first proper long distance EV stuff (because of train strikes). Edinburgh to Coventry. The apps will work out the optimal stops for you depending on your preference on range anxiety, your desire to drive at 80/70/60 regardless of the speed limit etc - but a six hour journey plus two 20ish minutes stops which is barely long enough to go for a pee, order a coffee, wait for the coffee and drink it. I have a nominal 250 mile range (it was about 330 miles).
I used to do a very similar journey regularly when I was 21. I could make it on a full tank of fuel and sometimes tried to do it non-stop. I was probably driving too tired. My legs and neck complained about sitting for so long. That gave me an incentive to drive faster, whilst the EV gives me an incentive to drive more sensibly to reduce the need for charging (or at least charging at motorway rates).
The Ionity’s on the M25 are always busy with a gaggle of cars waiting in no particular queue system.
Heathrow Superchargers at Heathrow open to all vehicles now (Bath Rd) as is Uxbridge. Go to https://chargefinder.com/ and then click "show map", and then in the filter list (top right hand corner), filter by operator and pick "Tesla (open to all)."
There's a surprising number around the M25 now.
I'm also tempted by the Polestar, but I'm hanging back for the newer version although the offer price is pretty good, esp as they're throwing in winter wheels/tyres. I know a good number of people with them, no complaints
I'm amazed I've survived for 4+ years of climbing and general stuff in a hopeless car, and mine does have rubbish range! But I do live in a real world. CHeap tho' 😉
We're now fully electric in the BOAS household. Mrs Stick has an e-Mini (125 mile range max. on about 3.8 mile/kw if we're being good, but sooo much fun it rarely happens!) and I have an e-Niro (265 mile range on about 4.2 miles/kw lots of bells and whistles and easy driving).
Impact on the electricity usage is very noticeable, but still massively cheaper than the equivalent dino-juice cost.
Main issue is going to be fighting over who gets the charger overnight, might have to get a second one installed (assuming it doesn't break the grid) ...
I have some older PV solar panels which produce about 1.2kw over daytime usage at this time of year, but apparently the minimum current to charge EVs at is 6 Amps so I'm going to have to wait until my FIT tariff ends before being more intelligent with using that to power the vehicles.
I have found that booting our EV around makes little difference to the economy. But higher top speed, even a steady one does.
Wall box finally going in tomorrow, all going well. Had the car a month and done 900 miles with only one issue with public charging, where an advertised 50kw was only supplying 6kw. Luckily this was just a top up and had plenty to do another few days before I was at my usual that worked well. Weekend trip to Fort William done with only one 30 minute top up. Most chargers round here (Angus) tend to be little used. Chargeplace Scotland card has been great, all the local authority and public services ones and more, all over Scotland on one card. Did pay the extra £12 for a physical card as phone service in some places can be dodgy and it's worked perfectly. Haven't had to use any of the BMW network ones that came with the car.
Has needed a change in mindset compared to ICE. No more running down to near empty then filling up, but a more little an often approach. That will be even easier from tomorrow.
I've ordered and been told end of July 2024 for delivery...I knew there would be a wait and unsure why I'm surprised at over a year, but there we go.
I also have Chargeplace Scotland App and card in anticipation of car delivery next month !
which bmw did you go with ?
mine is coming from Tusker, though currently remains a build picture 😂
iX3.
Like the extra range and efficiency of the i4 but prefer the extra boot height of the iX3. With a young child, I always seem to be transporting odd shaped items that would foul a hatch back with the rear seats in place.
Also an oversupply of them in the chain. I was 2.5 weeks from order to delivery and got £6.5k off.
olddogFull Member
… the real failure is a Governmental (and not just UK) one. The failure to ramp up zero carbon electricity generation fast enough.
Very much this. People on here talking about dino-juice when at the moment 1.4% of electricity generation is coming from coal. I’m sure some folks think electricity for their EV is generated via pixie farts.
I’m sure some folks think electricity for their EV is generated via pixie farts.
No, but most of it is low or zero carbon: https://grid.iamkate.com/
On average in the UK in 2022 it was 193g/kWh of electricity, in my car that's 41g/km of CO2. Around a third of a really good ICE car and about a quarter of my diesel on a really good trip. So it's better.
I’m sure some folks think electricity for their EV is generated via pixie farts.
Last year up here in Scotland, 25% of total electricity production came from wind power, so it kind of does.
My old Skoda got 500 miles out of a tank. EV’s are hopeless as far as a decent range is concerned
I did quite a lot of +300 mile non stop journeys in my youth. Think these days my bladder would dictate stops!
I did quite a lot of +300 mile non stop journeys in my youth
But was it essential? Would it have ruined your trip if you'd had to stop for 40 mins?
Anyway - searched on Autotrader for any EV ordered by price, and you can get a Mitsubishi i-Miev starting at about three grand. 60 ish mile range and very clearly a city car, but at that price it's actually pretty interesting. 80mph, 4 star crash rating, seems to be a proper car. It has better stats than the Fiesta I learned to drive in.
did quite a lot of +300 mile non stop journeys in my youth
Yoofs do stupid things. 4-5+ hrs non stop would be dangerous enough to be an issue.
Way back when I started work the policy was a (minimum) 15 min break every 2h30 of driving (it wasn't a driving job as such, just for occasional business trips). That seemed like a very sensible and proportionate plan and I've kept to that basic structure since. So eg in a 4-5h drive I'd certainly have a brief stop in the middle.
Anyway – searched on Autotrader for any EV ordered by price, and you can get a Mitsubishi i-Miev starting at about three grand. 60 ish mile range and very clearly a city car, but at that price it’s actually pretty
interestingrusty .
As you'd expect from a 14 year old car
Like you my interest was piqued so i checked the MOT history and its got tin worm pretty much all over between the serious defects (seat belt mounts) and the advisories - sub frames , inner sills and suspension mounts.
May impact its safety rating somewhat.
Makes it a fairly expensive £1000 car.
Heathrow superchargers opening up to non-Teslas is good news!