The Electric Car Thread

It’s a bit hopeless on the mostly local driving too, claiming 160-ish miles on 80% charge where we may get 130 out of it in economy mode

Yeah many aren’t accurate. Mine is actually a bit conservative, the times I’ve pushed it it’s gained a bit at the lower end e.g. 200 miles at 100% but 25 miles at 10%.

Battery temps are a funny thing. They need to be reasonably warm to get the best range, but they don’t get that warm during normal use in cooler weather. They could be heated up artificially but the capacity you’d gain isn’t worth the energy you’d use heating it up.

I  haven’t monitored battery temps accurately but the Leaf had a noddy temperature gauge on the dash. I noticed that a few hard accelerations up to 80mph on the motorway caused it to increase quite a bit.  So it may be possible to warm it up a bit that way. But driving gently does not do it.

Has anybody used ChargedEV for installation of a home charger?

I’m currently with OVO energy and contemplating getting an EV, so thought I’d look at their tariffs. They mentioned that they could take care of installation of a home charger, but when I clicked on the link it seems to have taken me to this other company (ChargedEV) who presumably do the installations for them. I entered a few basic details (including my mobile number) and now they keep phoning and texting to get me to move onto the next stage (uploading pictures of the site to get a quote).  Fair enough, I initiated the request and a text to say I hadn’t completed the process isn’t unusual. But they have texted and called so often now that I’m starting to think that this must be a pretty good deal for them, which is actually starting to put me off.

Summer capacity was showing as 264miles on my Enyaq (temperature was about 20c), now temperature is around 6c or lower, my range is down to 190miles and the battery does drop quicker.
Charging also seems to take longer…7kw charger and it seems to be about 1 hour-ish longer to get to required battery level. The charging level does appear to fluctuate more so I’m assuming that is why it takes longer to charge.

Looking to replace my aging Leaf 24KWH which we’ve had for about 8 years. Our circumstances have changed and we need a second car that can cover more than 50 miles!

I want a real world range of 200 miles or more and a warranty of at least 3 years on a second hand car up to £20k. We’ll be purchasing outright as I don’t do leasing. Also needs to have heated front seats, take roofbars and have reasonable boot space. A towbar for a bike rack would also be important….

Wife won’t entertain a Tesla anymore.

These fairly stringent demands leave me an MG ZS 72kwh, Niro 3 and Kona (older generations) – all great cars but sooooooo dull looking.

Then I saw the Megane E tech which looks pretty good in photos – but  I have rarely ever seen one on the road. Has there been any info on this thread about them or does anyone have any first hand knowledge?

Or should I bust the budget on an Ioniq 5?

I want a real world range of 200 miles or more and a warranty of at least 3 years on a second hand car up to £20k. We’ll be purchasing outright as I don’t do leasing. Also needs to have heated front seats, take roofbars and have reasonable boot space. A towbar for a bike rack would also be important….

I’ve ordered a new Hyundai Inster, a bit over your £20k budget. Definately not dull looking. Boot big enough with the rear seats slid forward (or down). Not sure about taking a tow bar though.

want a real world range of 200 miles or more and a warranty of at least 3 years on a second hand car up to £20k. We’ll be purchasing outright as I don’t do leasing. Also needs to have heated front seats, take roofbars and have reasonable boot space. A towbar for a bike rack would also be important…

Kia Soul EV – one of the 64 kWh ones.

We are 3 weeks into a 21 plate Hyundai Kona ownership which replaced a Zoé. I’m pretty impressed and an Ioniq 5 is now high on the list to replace my e-Tron next summer.

I blame @molgrips ?

Roverpig

Charged ev do the installation.

They are legit and do need photos of the installation site to ensure they turn up with the right kit.

I’ve ordered a new Hyundai Inster,

Funny you mention the Inster. I was just reading up on it last night and am really tempted to get one. Looks decent kit for the money. Can I ask when you are getting yours  as I couldn’t find a release date. What version did you go for?

They could be heated up artificially but the capacity you’d gain isn’t worth the energy you’d use heating it up.

Depends on lots of things, the battery properties/chemistry/architecture and the heating system/features, plus how cold it actually is (ambient) and how cold the core of the battery has got and what the SoC actually is and what you want it to be (if you are charging).

Long story short, it can be worth preheating/conditioning the battery, both to allow faster charging and to get a more optimised discharge.

Based on above I just jumped onto the used approved hyundai to see how much something the same age/miles as my Ioniq 5 is and they’re becoming quite affordable. What is daft is the variation in descriptions and missing detail – key @winston is to make sure you get one with pre conditioning  (economy pack I think they called it, bundled with heat pump) as it was standard on most models in the early years. My only gripe with the car is significantly increased DC charging in the winter.

@winston – I’ve got a Megane Etech, I’ve had it from new as a company car, it was registered in Dec ’22 and it’s now on about 26k miles.  I really like it, one of my friends used to have a Tesla Model 3 performance and the car bits feel better on my Megane even though the Tesla was obvioulsly even quicker.  If I was buying a used one I think I’d be looking for at least Techno+ trim, that model comes with a heat pump, my old Techno doesn’t.  I don’t think it affects the range much in summer but I think I’d get better range with heat pump air conditioning in winter.

I haven’t had any issues with mine, I love the fact that everything’s powered by Google inside and there’s proper switches and heater controls.  The 60kw battery they come with is good for 260ish miles in summer, about 190 when it gets chilly.  It feels quick, well equipped but it’s not the only car in our household, we’ve got a diesel too.

After I jumped through all their home survey hoops last week, I’ve just had notification that an installer will be in contact regarding the Ohme that VW are providing as part of our purchase. Yay!

Hopefully that means our car’s not too far off, currently 3 months from order date and counting …..

Funny you mention the Inster. I was just reading up on it last night and am really tempted to get one. Looks decent kit for the money. Can I ask when you are getting yours  as I couldn’t find a release date. What version did you go for?

I’m in Dublin, Ireland, they’re available in Jan, limited colours and only black interior. Mine is due in March as I wanted a colour that isn’t in the Jan availability and I’m not in any hurry, It’s replacing an 18yo Ford Focus that is still running fine.

I got to do a test drive in one last week and I found it really nice to drive. Didn’t get to take it out on a Motorway though.

I went for the higher spec 49kw version. Wanted the multiple seat configurations and roof bars, larger battery doesn’t hurt either.

“Kia Soul EV – one of the 64 kWh ones”

I did look at the Soul but it has a tiny boot – Very good value for money but my wife was not a fan of its looks and she will be the main driver. The Inster has an even smaller boot!

Need at least 400+ litres

Thanks for the info @chrispoffer. Bit disappointed to hear you get less than 200 miles in the winter – unfortunately we are in a use case where we quite often need to do more than 200 miles in one hit.

The other thing that puts me off is having to go with 20″ rims – I absolutely hate big wheels on small cars, both the ride, the looks and the cost of tyres, especially as EVs are quite heavy on tyres.

Whilst I want another BEV because they are so cheap to run and easy to drive it may end up having to be a hybrid.

Yes, I had to have 2 front tyres fitted at 21k miles, they were moderately expensive – but as they’re quite narrow, they were a chunk cheaper than my Mrs’s car, also on 20s but massively wide too.  And 20″ wheels look so cool! 🙂

The Techno+ or Iconic with the heat pump will probs get better mileage than mine in winter.  They do a lower spec model (Equilibre) that comes on 18s but it doesn’t have the Google powered infotainment.  Or a heat pump for the AC.

unfortunately we are in a use case where we quite often need to do more than 200 miles in one hit.

Without a break?

Yes, I would rather not take a break till I got there.

unfortunately we are in a use case where we quite often need to do more than 200 miles in one hit.

Just remember that whilst it might take half an hour or whatever to get to 80%, you would only need a very quick boost so it would probably be ten minutes or less.  Not trying to dissuade you from a higher range car mind.

@molgrips tbh once I’d gone to the trouble of pulling off and found a working charger, I’d probably whack it up to 80% anyway but its a good point.

I’m in Dublin, Ireland, they’re available in Jan, limited colours and only black interior. Mine is due in March as I wanted a colour that isn’t in the Jan availability and I’m not in any hurry

Thanks. believe it or not I am in Cork. Interesting about the interior as the black is not shown as an option on the website. Going to go along to our nearby dealer and see if they have one to look at/drive.

My mum has the base spec Mégane, 25,000 miles now she got it from launch. Still on the original tyres/pads/discs etc. It hasn’t been without fault, the alarm has gone off a few times and some faults with the infotainment, the worst being full volume radio while driving and the volume buttons stop working, you have to reset the screen to bring it back to life. She wanted a driver’s car, and the Mégane is light and low. She loves it. Why not book a test drive and reset the trip counter then go for a long jolly, see what m/kWh you get and extrapolate a full charge from that. Most dealers don’t mind a long test drive long as you ask, I drove out Buzz 120 miles in mid winter for its test.

A first edition Soul gets you a great stereo, heat pump and all the posh interior. It only has a small boot with the seats up, depends if you need boot space plus back seat people. We rarely have anyone in the back so chose it for the big square load space. It has been great, had it since late 2020 and not planning on changing it for anything. Used for 14k would be an amazing deal. Will do 210+ miles in Scottish winter easily – Glencoe and back from Forth road bridge is no bother on one charge.

I have booked my pre facelift Ioniq in for the annual service….

As always a pleasant phone call.

They said it was the major service with an eye watering £500 bill including a hoover and wash + hopefully a free tank of electricity (the good stuff not the off peak electrons) for that amount!

I queried what the service consisted of and around £200 was the battery coolant refresh. I mentioned that they had done it a year ago via the recall and they were happy to take it off the service.

So £300 for hopefully a clean bill of health and a stamp in the service book.

They mentioned the service plans so I asked for a brochure to be sent to me to see if it is worth while in spreading the cost of this service and any future services over 3 years. I doubt it will be. This might be the last dealer service the Ioniq gets? Future repairs will probably be the wear and tear items and mot requirements?

Hyundai have been good. They replaced my charging cable under warranty so that saved me a few quid.

I think I’ll start selling my clothes on vinted to raise a few quid towards the running costs! ?

‘Cheap’ pleasant motoring so far though. The heated seat and steering wheel is great!

9 years ago when I bought my Leaf from a Nissan main dealer it came with 2 years free servicing. On the second one they phoned up beforehand and tried to upsell me an engine flush.

It’s not lying, it’s an estimate based on previous driving. The car doesn’t know if it’s windy, or if there’s water on the road etc. Those things have a huge effect on any car.

Agree with this.
However, it is so obvious it begs the question why all these clever, internerd connected cars cannot run a weather forecast and improve the estimate. As ever it feels like the effort goes into spangly paint, slick marketing and a shitty UX on a ‘clever’ screen, rather than the fundamentals of improving range and charge estimates.
While I am not a fan of Tesla cars, their charging and journey planning is much better than many others it seems.

Absolutely loving my EQA.  Its a shame so many dont seem to get it with EV’s but its ticking all the boxes for me at present.

With regards to calculated range.  My sat nav predicts the % of battery at end destination.  It is almost faultless tbh and i have even beaten it a couple of times (70mph in poor weather) so it is not being over optimistic.

I did a 236mls each way trip recently which went 100% to plan.  Set off early doors and had a stop planned at a Tesla charging spot after about 150 miles.  Stopped, plugged in @ 41p/kw and went for a pee.  Came back, had a quick cup of coffee and set off.  25min in total and 85% charge level.  Got to my end destination at 48% charge level which was enough to get back to the same Tesla charge site on return trip.  Repeat charge and home.  Cost about £19 x 2 charges plus the original charge at 7p/kw = £5.  So £43 in total with about 50 mins in total time spent charging.

Balance this out with my old diesel car, the initial charge at home which i would have had to do a diesel stop for say 10 mins.  Plus i would need a stop of 10 mins for a top up to compete the journey so i would say it cost me 30 mins extra in total.  Big deal as i got a pee & coffee break included.

I do a trip like that once in a blue moon.  In comparison i am charging it at home once per week at 7p/kw (More like £2.50) and i no longer hand out £20-40 per week in diesel.  Oh and every time i do charge at home, guess what, im saving 10-20 mins of my time because i just plug it in and go in the house.  Its fully fuelled/charged up when i wake up.

Its not for everyone but crikey it works for me.  Havent mentioned how much company car tax its saving me either.

Oh i also tested out running it to empty.  Return trip to Glasgow last week.  Set off full, did a bit of running around and came back.  Predicted % was going to have me running out about 10 miles short of home.  I just took it easy, turned off the sat nav request for a stop and let it go.  I got a bit better than the sat nav predicted and it went to 1% with 4 miles left.  Didnt think about it but they have protection systems and despite ignoring the warnings, it also went into tortoise mode (On the motorway).  It wasnt a speed limiter, more a rev limiter so it slowed down on hills and sped up downhill.  I got off the motorway with 3 miles to do still showing 1%.  Needless to say i got home but i probably wouldnt risk it again but i wanted to know how much leeway they build into the system and now i know.

Having 0% and zero miles showing with 1 mile left to go was squeeky bumbum time.

Preconditioning on every morning.  Turns my seat heating on, fully demisted car and warm.  I actually turn the heater off when i get in and leave the seat heating on.  Cost me about 2% which i dont give a fig about.  Balance out with all the ICE cars sitting their running their engines or pouring water over their frozen screens etc.  Its an adjustment in how you see cars but it can make life so easy.

I was in Edinburgh the other day and i had left something in the boot my son needed.  Got him to call when he was at the car, opened the boot for him and then closed it, all whilst sat on the train coming home.

However, it is so obvious it begs the question why all these clever, internerd connected cars cannot run a weather forecast and improve the estimate.

Because it’s really really really hard. And weather is notoriously hard to predict, even for weather people. And there are other things that are equally as hard to predict that make even more difference.

The new Renault 4 and 5 look very nice

https://www.renault.co.uk/electric-vehicles/renault-5-roland-garros.html

https://www.renault.co.uk/electric-vehicles/r4-e-tech-electric.html

I could be tempted with one of the 5s depending on how big they turn out.

The new Renault 4 and 5 look very nice

Yeah – the French car manufacturers seem to be on it at the moment – the current Peugeot range is pretty smart too. Whereas the likes of Mercedes and Audi just seem to be belching out iterations of the same designs they have been doing for the last 10/15 years.

tbh once I’d gone to the trouble of pulling off and found a working charger, I’d probably whack it up to 80% anyway but its a good point.

Cost, though. If I don’t need 80% I won’t charge to it, cos I don’t want to pay 80p for kWhs I could get for 7.5p at home.  On Sunday we went to Lampeter which has one rapid charger which was vacant when we needed it.  It had been used that morning and someone else used it afterwards.  I forgot to set a charge limit then I realised that happily I could change the target from the app during a session whilst having lunch.

I have to say that although there are few chargers, driving around Wales in an EV is rather lovely.  You end up in a small rural town to charge and you’re forced to go for a little wander, grab food or even just sit around watching life happen. It’s fantastic.  We had lunch in a rather nice cafe.

I could be tempted with one of the 5s depending on how big they turn out.

I’ve always struggled to find somewhere to put my baguette when come back from shops.

Polestar is in the Volvo garage at the moment (MOT, warranty tech recall job on suspension strut bearings and software update) so using my folks smart for four.. rear engines turbo charged rwd little toot toot!

Does 0 – 60. No time to quote, but after a while I DID hit 60. The accelerator pedal doesn’t really do as much as it does in the polestar! Foot all the way to the floor….not much happens….

But… I felt FILTHY popping to the petrol station and pumping THIRTY QUIDs worth of fuel into it…

Like… Even if that gets the car twice as far as a ‘brimmed up’ polestar, it still only cost me £5.40 to fill the polestar at home!

EV for the win!

DrP

You end up in a small rural town

Lampeter?  Possibly you need to adjust your smallness coefficient.  It’s got a university and stuff!

This below 0c temperature just now is absolutely killing the range in the car…left house with 143 miles projective range, drove the 43 miles to Perth and got to the railway station with 50 miles projected range…wasn’t driving fast, just below speed limit all the way, so about 55 in the 60s.
I knew it would be bad but it is like when I had my Legnum VR6 and I could see the petrol guage needle visibly drop…
I need to just not have to drive but that won’t be until next week.

A range of under 100 miles is a heck of a drop from something (Enyaq) that was giving you a range of 264 miles in the summer 😮

Remind me what car, DickBarton?

Most cars have an energy monitor of some kind so you can see how much power is being used.  You can see the effect of dropping the cabin temp to say 18C from the 24 or so some people have it set to…

The car doesn’t know if it’s windy, or if there’s water on the road etc.

Some cars do know this, at least to a limited extent. My i4 alters its predicted range based on the weather and the route so long as you’re using the cars in-built satnav.

I don’t know how much weather data is used though, whether it’s just ambient temp or whether it takes wind direction and rain into account. In theory it could.

In practice though the i4 estimate is always very conservative – it’s rare not to be able to beat it by a considerable margin (I think it’s programmed to always show the worst possible range so that its a “safe” number to work from and users are unlikely to get caught short. In practice for me though it means it’s not useful for actual long journeys where the actual range matters and I work it out manually / in my head.

This sat nav thing is difficult isn’t it.  I use CarPlay as a rule, because it works far better as a whole ecosystem (Siri and texts, podcasts, music etc.).  But there’s no denying that you lose the clever stuff with the cars sat nav – charging location, preconditioning, range forecast etc.  Seems like you do one or the other and accept a heavy compromise!!  I wonder when it’ll get sorted out.

In other news I went to have a look at an EV9 yesterday.  First observation was I’m not sure I could handle the actual dealer, they could not have given less of a sh*t.  The car was outside, I waited 15 mins to get someone to talk to me to begin with.  It was unlocked from inside the dealer and I was then ignored.  After having a look round and through it I ended up leaving.  Second observation was thats a car only a mother could love.  Stunningly ugly, and with some really weird ‘functions’ – why do you want a calf leg rest for the driver?  How on earth would you use it safely.  Very odd.  Its a very chintzy car and very massive, and very ugly.