With the seats down the Kia Soul has slightly more room than the e-Niro.

Kuco, do you know if that’s by volume or floor area? Pretty sure I measured the Niro as slightly longer, although either way it’s probably within the seat adjustment. Width wise they were pretty similar and subjectively I’d have said on ‘shape’ the Niro seemed better for things like bikes

Yea your right that’s by volume.

Two 27.5 Mtbs and camping gear go in the Zoé wheels out and rear seat back out, so you’ll have no trouble with the Ioniq, Molgrips.

A funny thing about the ioniq (well I suppose it’s not that funny, it’s how it goes so far) is that the boot is low, much lower than the Zoe… I used to put my bike in the Zoe with the forks sticking up in the air by the back window; no chance of doing that in the ioniq, the space is bigger in total but there’s not a lot of vertical space.

It is possibly our biggest annoyance with the car in that you have to roll back the parcel shelf cover thing pretty much every time you use the boot, as the opening with it in place is tiny.

The ioniq is not meant to have any roof load but I’m tempted to try something like a seasucker rack anyway, as otherwise it’s not a car that makes carrying a bike easy if you’ve got other stuff as well.

Electric Berlingo (seats/windows car version) pricing:

https://uk-media.citroen.com/en-gb/node/90086299

From £29575. Hopefully we see discounts similar to the ICE ones which should bring it to mid 20s.

I really want an Ioniq 5, but £50k… 🙁

I really want an Ioniq 5, but £50k… 🙁

I can understand why as the tech is great but for me the looks are Marmite. I hated that styling when it was fashionable in the 80’s and still hate it now. On the other hand I think the Kia EV6 looks great, its interior doesn’t look as cheap as the Hyundai and its built on the same Hyundai E-GMP platform.

As for the price the Ioniq 5 is £45k for the introductory fully loaded “Project 45” version. I expect lower spec versions will come in around £40k. Anyway nobody pays £40 or £50k for a car these days. I expect they will be leasing them between £400-£500 per month.

I’ve just ordered a Tesla Model 3 Performance, coming from a BMW 335d, I’ve driven a few Model 3s so I am really looking forward to picking it up, currently it’s sailing up the west coast of Malaysia.

Electric Berlingo (seats/windows car version) pricing:

https://uk-media.citroen.com/en-gb/node/90086299

From £29575. Hopefully we see discounts similar to the ICE ones which should bring it to mid 20s.

Shame they couldn’t get it to the 200mile range where it would have been useful for 70% of our (low)milage.

In-laws live just far enough away that having the heating on would be the difference between getting home.and running out of juice a few miles away……and there is no option to charge at their end.

Electric Berlingo (seats/windows car version) pricing:

https://uk-media.citroen.com/en-gb/node/90086299

From £29575. Hopefully we see discounts similar to the ICE ones which should bring it to mid 20s.

I’d really like to like this but when a petrol Berlingo can be purchased for a couple of grand and fixed with a spoon I can’t justify it at all. I’m not gonna save over 25 grand on the lower fuel cost…

As for the price the Ioniq 5 is £45k for the introductory fully loaded “Project 45” version.

I want one too because it can tow. Although I’m not sure what a caravan would do to EV range. Maybe they’ll bring out EV caravans that are really aero and light (like they used to be when cars were 1.6l petrol and weighed 1000kg).

But as well as that it looks like a cracking car and given the level of design, plushness and tech it looks good value at that price.

EDIT basic model from £36,995

In-laws live just far enough away that having the heating on would be the difference between getting <span class=”skimlinks-unlinked”>home.and</span> running out of juice a few miles away……and there is no option to charge at their end.

Can you not charge on route?

Can you not charge on route?

Well yes I could go well out my way and spend nearly half as long as the journey charging my car but are you really telling me you’d buy a car fundimentlaly crippled for the journey you do most often. – be like your Audi only being able to drive to your work and half way home after a night shift on a full charge . You just wouldn’t do it.

Ideally I’d charge at the destination but on street parking means that’s a no go and nearest public chargers 4 miles away. Good luck suggesting to the wife she walks that twice in a day when visiting her parents with Jnr and all of Jnrs things .

The alternatives aren’t much better as although the milages of other vehicles are better …..once you stick. A bike on the roof that plummets and your back to square 1 (often one of us cycles one way or other on journeys)

So until they sort that it’ll be ICE ….and perhaps a token electric run about if our use case increases but so far the electric bikes covering the majority of our short day to day journeys

Which is a shame as the electric Berlingo could have been the solution for us. But since our cars got 40k on it at 6 years they have quite some time to sort that.

I’m in the same boat as trailrat with the berlingo (and upcoming vauxhall equivalent) – until the ev range is above 4 hours motorway / A-road driving, I’m out.

Its perfectly feasible to drive 2 hours without a stop, and if your destination doesn’t have charging facilities (eg bpw for arguments sake) it’s a pita to stop for 20 mins on the way home, just so you can get home. I’d bloody love an ev (preferably a small to mid sized van) but there’s no real options out there currently as far as I can see (and therefore won’t be in a few years 2nd hand when I come to replace my caddy)

🙁

Also that berlingo is only available in the lower spec for the lwb version. I’m definitely out!

Well yes I could go well out my way and spend nearly half as long as the journey charging my car but are you really telling me you’d buy a car fundimentlaly crippled for the journey you do most often. – be like your Audi only being able to drive to your work and half way home after a night shift on a full charge . You just wouldn’t do it.

Let’s use your example of me returning from work, if I did have to recharge to complete my journey it would take about 30 minutes. I can see your apprehension still as I waited until the could give me a range I was confident with. Stopping for a for 30 minutes either way on 200 mile journey wouldn’t be hassle.

In time you’ll find one that meets your concerns but they’re not much if a hassle to live with.

Stopping for a for 30 minutes either way on 200 mile journey wouldn’t be hassle.

Says the man without infant(not toddler)

Says the man without infant(not toddler)

Not now but use to, was a pain having to stop to change them or take them to a toilet when I could have carried on driving.

Good to see nappy’s have moved on as your right that would be annoying.

Good to see nappy’s have moved on as your right that would be annoying.

Teenagers now so it’s more likely I need to stop.  😂

Once my kids had tablets on long journeys they didn’t even notice when we did stop. They were so absorbed one time that we stopped, got out and walked across the car park towards the restaurant and they still didn’t notice. We had to go back for them!

These tablets sound good. Can you get them in Boots or are they an over-the-counter job?

Amazon.

The new Ford e-pickup looks interesting. This will make e-vehicles appealing to a politically very important group who are quite hostile to the environmental arguments, but probably very receptive of the performance and cost benefits for work vehicles. For tradies, being able to power tools off their pickup will be a really useful feature. Ford sells close to a million of the regular version per year so even 10% of that would be a huge thing.

https://twitter.com/AdamSerwer/status/1395204938142294019

I love how they’ve designed the froot or frunk to have a low loading sill. Really well done and something all other EV manufacturers should copy. Unfortunately for Ford the specs of this truck are so good (for the N American Market at least) Ford may suffer from the Osborne Effect.

For tradies, being able to power tools off their pickup will be a really useful feature.

They’ve sold inverters on trucks for ages. Started many fires too as people leave the engine running in dry areas for this purpose and then the engine does a regen, the DPF gets hot and sets fire to the tall dry grass.

Working mans version of the Rivian I guess (they’re taking their time launching aren’t they?)

We are all kidding ourselves 🙁

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/25/are-electric-vehicles-really-so-climate-friendly

And the response, also published in the guardian:

Hans-Werner Sinn is quite the character. This German economics professor’s writings range from the Greek crisis to migration, to German energy policy.

Recently he has discovered a new passion: electric vehicles. Back in April Sinn published a paper claiming electric cars were worse than diesel. The study was roundly criticised for being misleading.

Yes, electric vehicles really are better…

Followed up by this:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/26/yes-electric-vehicles-really-are-better-than-fossil-fuel-burners

Lots of issues with that first article redthunder, not least because it quotes Germany’s energy mix which is (or was) quite coal-heavy. But take a look at the trend:

What are the must-read ‘go to’ websites for electric car advice, reviews, charging information and payment options discussion please?
I’m hoping to jump to full electric when the lease on my current car runs out in August/September but need to do some (lots) of background reading I think.

We’ve just been given a Hyundai Kina electric to replace our aged and decrepit Astra work car. It’s brilliant. I picked it up from Glasgow yesterday and drove it the 100 miles back to our office, and it still had 180 miles left. Goes like stink too when you need it. Lovely to drive and has all the cool safety gadgets. Being the longer range one you can only get it in the decent trim levels. It’s a shame our estates department can’t get our charging point up and running though!

@lister. Try the speakev forum.

@lister for data on range, charge rates and real world range EV Datebase Uk.

Ionity have installed 4 350Kw chargers near me with 2 more awaiting.  Last night I thought I’d try them out. What a game changer, I hit 115Kw which added more than 30% charge in about 10 minutes.

What a game changer

Not if you are not on one of their subscription schemes. Firstly they don’t accept contactless payment so you need to use their app or website and go through the faff of inputing your bank account details or setting up an account. Secondly they will pre-authorise £67 from your account before each charging session which they will keep for a week before charging you the correct amount for your charging session. So if you went on a long trip and used Ionity chargers a couple of times that’s nearly £140 of your own money you cant use for a week. Thirdly they charge 70p per kWh which is slightly more expensive than travelling by petrol engine!

Personally I always use Instavolt as my preferred charging network. Contactless payment so just rock up to the charger plug in, wave your phone or bank card at it to start the session then wave your card at it again to stop the session. They also pre-charge but its only about £14 or so and they process the payment faster than Ionity. 40p per kWh by-the-way

I’m hoping the real game changer will we Gridserve’s purchase today of Electric Highway from Ecotricity. They have already upgraded the chargers at 20 EH locations with the rest to be completed over the summer and they will also be building more electric forecourts like their first one ta Braintree. Contactless payment again and 30p per kWh

Super news recently is that Ecotricity has just sold their Electric Highway network to Gridserve; they’ve been rapidly replacing the duff old chargers at motorway services with new ones over the last week or two and have plans for longer term improvements as well.

Charging facilities at motorway services have fallen well behind an acceptable standard; every article in the press about EVs always goes on about broken chargers, and a lot of this is due to Ecotricity basically giving up a few years back.

Edit: maaaan I was beaten to it by ten minutes! Bah

True but I’m on about the charging speed, the cost without being on a partner scheme is ridiculous and not heard about the standard fee. If 150Kw can push charge that fast once more cars are going full 350Kw it’ll be as fast using an ICE.

Oh and I used contactless

maaaan I was beaten to it by ten minutes! Bah

By at least a week. They lost the contract ages ago, sure someone posted on here they were being removed awhile back.

Gridserve took a 25% stake months ago; the news yesterday was them buying the rest. Electric Highway is now all Gridserve with Dale’s Ecotricity entirely out of the way.

Are there any studies as how much reduction in battery life stuffing these huge amounts of kW’s in to them does?

Are there any studies as how much reduction in battery life stuffing these huge amounts of kW’s in to them does?

Yes, we’ll sort of. More evidence than studies but it would seem very little as most have a built in protection.

https://thenextweb.com/news/story-ev-battery-degradation-electric-triumph

Oh and it wasn’t on here I’d seen about Electrocity being took over, it was another platform.