I’ve got a chance of chopping my diesel car in early as long as I go for a fully electric. Looking at the Kia Soul, Hyundai Kona, Peugeot 2008 and the DS 3 Crossback

Has anyone got any experience with any of the above?

No direct experience but I’d take the Soul. Looks great, and same powertrain as eNiro, Kona, etc. Really efficient, rather quick too.

2008 if you need the extra room or if it’s substantially cheaper.

Which one is easier to fit a couple of bikes inside?

May get some ideas here.

The Electric Car Thread

Thanks Drac.

what are your priorities? the soul boot is tiny, altho the kona boot might not be much bigger. And it might depend on which kona you can have 39kwh or 64kwh?. I thought the DS was a bit meh allround, personal choice tho. I’ve come to realise I could live with 150+ miles range, but a bigger range would be just generally easier to live with purely in my opinion. The e2008 looks really nice, the kona is quite pokey but suffers from wheel spin as it’s FWD and there’s no engine weight.

I test drove an eNiro which I think is similar to the Kona just over a year ago. It was OK. None were available to buy or order. The sales guy said they might have some in 2020. We bought a Tesla Model 3.

the others, IDK.

Pat Mustard’s electric vehicle of choice

What kind of journey are you going to make?

I wouldn’t swap a ICE for a fully electric car if I didn’t have access to an ICE car too… unless it’s a Tesla, everything else just doesn’t have the range and charging infrastructure/charge times to make them practical

I wouldn’t swap a ICE for a fully electric car if I didn’t have access to an ICE car too… unless it’s a Tesla, everything else just doesn’t have the range and charging infrastructure/charge times to make them practical

This.  On our bucket list is an XC40 recharge.  The electric only version is too costly for us so we’ll be getting this on PCP in the hope that it leads to a cheaper more available fully electric infrastructure in years to come, PCP giving us with the option to swap/give back the XC40.

We had an ICE Soul a few years ago. It was a decent car and I wouldn’t hesitate having another Kia in the future.

everything else just doesn’t have the range and charging infrastructure/charge times to make them practical

Surely this is massively dependent on the journeys you do?

Not everyone is doing massive journeys all the time, and all the cars in this list are 200+ mile range. If I had one I’d be using public charging a couple of times a year tops.

I had a Soul the last time I was in the US. Petrol, auto. Possibly one of the least impressive cars I have been in.

The eNiro get’s a lot of good press over here and has a huge waiting list. I don’t think it is too much smaller either in the boot either.

What kind of journey are you going to make?

I wouldn’t swap a ICE for a fully electric car if I didn’t have access to an ICE car too… unless it’s a Tesla, everything else just doesn’t have the range and charging infrastructure/charge times to make them practical

I have and I’m only using the public charger infrastructure and it’s practical. However, I do have a home charger to fall back on, but I’ve only ever used it once to test it worked and once for the novelty value, 99% of my charging is on the public infrastructure. I also have a Tesla but it’s the shortest range one and I don’t see me needing the supercharger network other than maybe once or twice a year.
For sure whether it can work is currently dependant on your home life / commitments / commute / work etc etc.
The charging infrastructure is expanding rapidly tho, for example 12 months ago there were no rapid chargers on my 16 mile commute, now there are 9 separate places.

Surely this is massively dependent on the journeys you do?

Not everyone is doing massive journeys all the time, and all the cars in this list are 200+ mile range. If I had one I’d be using public charging a couple of times a year tops.

Sure, I think that’s why he posed the question, but OP is currently in a diesel which does suggest higher mileage.

OP, not considering a Leaf?

@B.A.nana why on earth wouldn’t you charge at home – everything I’ve read and watched on this indicates this is the most convenient/cost effective way to run an EV, with the fast chargers used just to top up on long journeys.

Tesla’s infrastructure and high charging rates makes this the easiest approach at the moment and I came to the same conclusion as other posters, that for my job which (covid allowing) involve a couple of national journeys a week only a Tesla would work currently (bad pun).

Other cars would cause so much broken charger/multiple account app hassle on the public system it would drive you mad. Obvioulsy this has to improve and will I suspect as VW/Ford/BMW/Volvo etc release more and more EV volume.

why on earth wouldn’t you charge at home – everything I’ve read and watched on this indicates this is the most convenient/cost effective way to run an EV

Generally yes, especially if you can use cheap off-peak electricity, but if you have a tesla that gets free supercharging, or can use free public chargers (most in Scotland are free, IIRC) or subscriptions that make it cheaper if you use them enough (Polar Plus springs to mind) then it is possible to be cheaper than charging at home in certain circumstances.

@B.A.nana why on earth wouldn’t you charge at home – everything I’ve read and watched on this indicates this is the most convenient/cost effective way to run an EV, with the fast chargers used just to top up on long journeys.

Because the chargers he uses are free atm 😉

Nana, to back up your point I see they’ve put some in the Town Hall car park recently. That reminds me, still need to ring Octopus…..

To the OP, the answer clearly is the BMW i3s as I have one and it is ace.

Ecotricity have FINALLY announced a large expansion in the number of chargers at a few motorway services; the charging network is generally quite good in most places, but unless you have a tesla coverage on the motorway network has definitely been a long way behind.

The number of chargers is growing rapidly, though; look at the graphs here:

Zap-Map: How many charging points are there in the UK?

Stopped at services near Chester yesterday on the way back from collecting n+1 from Anglesey and they had chargers. Not that I needed them as I was in the ICE!

That zap map site just confuses me – too many standards etc for charge points. There is apparently one in my vilalge, but from the map it is in the middle of an old housing estate – so to use it I would have to park up outside someone’s house?

In normal times I have a 50 mile each way commute (no opportunity to use work’s charging points as these are for works vehciles only), but frequently do 200-300 miles to other sites. On an already long day the thought of trying to find a quick charging point and waiting another 30 mintes before getting home is what puts me off. One previous car was LPG with a 235 mile range, and having to stop and fill that 2-3 times a week was enough of a drag, and I really noticed when I changed to my 570 mile range diesel.

Sad, because I would really like an EV, but the charging network is a mess and range still too low for me at the moment.

Because the chargers he uses are free atm

Yay and until October 2021. Phiiiil is also correct, I get free polar plus and free tesla charging with my car deal, but unfortunately there’s neither anywhere near me. .

Obviously I’m doing it because I’m a tight arse, but I’ve also proven to myself that it’s entirely possible to survive without a home charger, despite what people would have you believe (altho I wouldn’t have said that 12 months ago). Plus I could easily cope with a 150 mile range car. On the other hand I’ve also realised as ji alludes to, that if I had a busy work life and kids I was desperate to get home for, then it might be different.

My current car is Kia Ceed so kind of know what build quality is like and mine is the most basic, but it has been faultless over the 3 years I’ve had it other than other people hitting it.

Watching some reviews on YouTube last night, I’ve learned the Hyundai and Kia have the same 64kw battery and motor the same goes for the DS and Peugeot 50KW battery. A Nissan Leaf is on the list but I haven’t really looked at it. The Zoe, MG ZS, Ioniq, Seat Mll, Peugeot 208, Volkswagen UP, and the Nissan E-nv200 Evalia are also on the list.

Would really love the Mini but the size and the range are totally impractical as this would be my only vehicle.

If I can get one that actually does a minimum of 150 miles in the real world that should do for 90% of the journeys I do the other 10% would just need planning with a charge stop.

I’m currently working from home 70% of the time, hoping that will change soon and I also do site visits. Commute to and from the depot is about 40 miles and most site visits are within a 100-mile round journey and we do also have chargers at work with the depot roughly being in the middle of the area I work.

The way the company I work for is pushing the Carbon issue I can see it possibly being EV’s only when my lease is actually up and at the moment I do seem to have a bit of choice in what I can have (subject to availability)