So that’s one of the MG5 EV long ranges on order.

Had a half hour test drive in one this morning, didn’t get chance to try it out on a motorway but for everything else it was a much nicer experience than I was expecting.

Just got to wait now till the end of the year now.

I’m in the process of deciding on an EV. My work has a salary sacrifice scheme, which is great for EVs as it brings the costs down. We are test driving an Ioniq5 next Friday.

Does anyone have a real world opinion of how much difference slowing from 70 to 60 on a motorway makes to range in an EV?

Slowing from 110kmh (normal mode) to 90kmm (mode eco) increases the range of a Zoé from 234km to 297km using the Renault calculator:

https://www.renault.fr/vehicules-electriques/zoe/batterie-recharge.html

The car won’t do 110kmh in mode eco, eco runs up to about 100kmh beyond which the consumption goes up dramatically. Best to just join the convoy of trucks if you’re doing a long distance. The time you’ll save by driving faster will be lost when recharging, even on 50kW chargers. You need 150kW chargers and a car capable of using them to gain time driving faster.

Just back from a week on the west coast of Scotland with my e-tron.
1. Fully loaded and driving to the speed limit up the A9 (dual and single carriageway) sections the range turned out better than predicted.
2. I used charge place Scotland stations in Dingwall, Gairloch, Torridon and Laggan (on the way home) without any real drama although some needed a couple of attempts to start the charge.
3. As the weather cooled I cranked up the heating and used the heated seats without any apparent significant affect on range.
4. It’s a biggish motor, but the effortless delivery of smooth power meant navigating the single track roads with passing places was pretty painless – I did chuckle at how many lambos, porsches and mclarens I saw driving the NC500. Can’t be much fun on those rough roads especially in the older motors without an auto box and heavy clutch.
Verdict – easy to live with comfortable family wagon.
I need to try it with the tow bar rack and roof rails next.

ID4 – had it for nearly three weeks – rwd Life pro performance with heat pump and towbar (woopi).

Pros:
200-300 mile range (about to find about the real range – driving to near Oban from Newcastle). Charging infrastructure past Glasgow towards Oban is going to be tested!

Nice and tight handling (Vs the Ioniq which was really wallowy)

Nice ooompfh off the line

Roomy interior

Good enough boot (100x100cm roughly?) And quite tall boot.
Roof rails – exist!

Good visibility forward and side. Still can’t properly judge the front or wheels (stub nose and height seem to mess with my depth perception?)

Cons:
Rear view when reversing without camera is poop.

Lane keep assist is more like a “I’ll stop you if you try to run off the road” and ,”I’ll quite often annoy the heck out of you” on B-roads with poor incomplete markings.

Cruise control is good, but it has stupidly sped up thinking the speed limit is suddenly 60 when it’s actually 30/50. Weird.

Are you talking the IONIQ, or the new out IONIQ 5?

the range turned out better than predicted.

Same with the Zoé, it seems to me their calculators are very pesimistic. If you set the calculator I linked at 50kmh it says 377km when the WLTP mixed figure is 395km and trundling around at up to 70kmh I get over 200km out of half the battery in Summer, extrapolating would give 430km.

Does anyone have a real world opinion of how much difference slowing from 70 to 60 on a motorway makes to range in an EV?

No but:

70 is 1.16667 times more than 60. or resistance is proportional to the square of speed so, pretending you’re only doing work against air resistance you’d go from say 4.5m/kWh at 70 to 6.2 at 60. However there’s a lot of other factors. But I’d imagine you’d be easily in the 5.5 range in my car. Driving at 60 on motorways is not a great idea though, cos it’s only slightly faster than lorries and you end up overtaking them and clogging the middle lane. Better to drive at 58 or so. This is how fast I drive with the caravan and it’s not that bad, but I wouldn’t do it to save range unless I had to. I’d just stop and recharge.

However I once was faced with the prospect of having to recharge about 20 miles from home. So for the last 40 miles or so I slowed to 65 and it gained me enough range to get home so saved about 15 mins.

Dantsw13: Ioniq 5 sorry. It was so wallowy I actually felt a bit wary, nearing sea sick – and I never get sea sick! It was super wallowy in corners but even driving it on decent a-roads at speed made it wallow like mad. I really wanted to like it but that and lack of roof bars killed the dream. I’d be interested to hear if anyone else had the same sensation or if this was a dud car/under inflated tyres.

I’ll let you know after Friday. None of the YT reviews suggest it as an issue.

I’m not a “progress maker” so don’t see it as an issue for me anyhow.

Quite a few reviews have called out the Ioniq5 for wallowing, I’m another one who wanted to love it based on the looks and tech. As above though, that plus lack of roof rails or a factory tow bar made the Enyaq an easy decision for my next company car.

It was so wallowy I actually felt a bit wary, nearing sea sick – and I never get sea sick!

I was watching a review of the BMW i4 the other day ( Matt Watson – carwow) and both the guys in the car talked about feeling sick when they were the passenger , but it went away when they were driving. Mind you he did keep sticking his foot down a lot.

Just been reading about the Kia EV6. Same underlying car as the Ioniq 5 but it’s a ‘sportier’ setup which might mean it’s just more suitable for UK A roads. Worth a look. It’s uglier though but not too bad.

Uglier? The EV6 looks better than the Ioniq5 IMO.

EV6 is considerably more expensive on my work scheme.

Enyaq is my reserve option if I don’t like the Ioniq 5

Hyundai really should consider putting some stiffer springs on the Ioniq 5 then if it’s going to be a problem in the UK. There’s a lot riding on all these cars for the manufacturers.

EV6 is considerably more expensive on my work scheme.

Yeah, Ioniq 5s are around for far less money than say, iD4s on lease deals.

Oh – and there is a factory towbar option on the ioniq 5. You had me worried there!!!

I’m quite torn between the Enyaq & Ioniq 5. I was hoping for a polestar, but both that & the Mach-E are very expensive through my work.

Apologies, thought I’d read there wasn’t. Roof rails are a deal breaker for me though, plus I want the bigger boot. Also heard a few reports the seats in the Ioniq5 aren’t the best, I’ve ordered the Sportline Enyaq as a company car, seats are supposed to be great

I do think many car manufacturers have forgotten what buyers really want.

Skoda do seem the masters of little practical details.

The Ioniq5 has a lot of “Oh, that’s cool….” stuff which I may well never use. For example my wife’s XC40 can park itself, but I never use it.

The only thing I wish the Skoda had was slightly faster charging. My commute (8 per month) is 130 mile round trip, and my longest regular drive is sailing – a 260 round trip but only every other month. For me a smaller battery Skoda/Hyundai with the option of a fast charge ionity blast will be fine. 100KWh charging is a bit slow…

100KWh charging is a bit slow…

Mmmm I think you need to either really consider how long you drive without stopping or get an EV and try it.

In my e-Tron, I get about 2.5 miles per kw and capacity is 100kw to an hour to brim it from flat for 200+ miles.
No one should be driving for more than a couple of hours without a break of some sort, so it’s not really an issue. Yes, you can swap drivers, but how often would you not be willing to take a 40 min break somewhere?

Having said that Porsche’s 300kw + charging speeds are impressive.

The ioniq5 is 350kw charging as standard , which an ionity will provide. On the Enyaq 60, standard is 50Kwh charging, with 100 a paid upgrade.

My 260 mile round trip his 2:20 each way and I stop for a coffee /leg stretch. I’d rather get enough charge whilst I wee & get a coffee, than have to wait longer.
The ioniq will give me enough in 10 mins to get home at 70mph, whereas with the skoda, after 20 mins I will have to come home at 60.

Not a deal breaker but a consideration.

I’m a big fan of the Enyaq.

Whatever money I save on the monthly lease payments will go straight into my mortgage overpayments, so I want to get it right. For that reason the Leafe+ is still in consideration too.

Most of my driving will be covered with home charging.

The topic of an EV came up last night now that winter is setting in and we are likely to be facing a commute into town (75km each way) in the middle part of next year. An EV is the obvious choice as the house has a place for a charge point and we now have some charging infrastructure in town to rely on.

The thing is, we use a trailer a fair bit for towing crap to the HWRC from the house and would really like a tow bar. ID4 has that option, but it arguably more car than we need (and really expensive over here)

Are there any other options for cars that have good range _and_ a tow bar? I keep coming back to the eNiro, but I don’t think this is rated for towing.

Enyaq.

My 260 mile round trip his 2:20 each way and I stop for a coffee /leg stretch. I’d rather get enough charge whilst I wee & get a coffee, than have to wait longer.

Are there no charging options at the destination?

I’m a big petrolhead and I still have zero interest in EV’s. A few people have told me I need to drive one.

Although a couple of recent rides through Aderley Edge suggests that the Taycan is selling well.

I’d say out of about 60/70 cars in the housing development where I live, there are 3 EV’s and maybe 2/3 hybrids.

I’m also a petrolhead and really like the new technology; it’s now a huge step change away from the milkfloat Nissan Leafs of 10 years ago.

EVs can be seen as additional driving options rather than ICE replacements; it means there’s now a wider range of driving dynamics available which can be chosen to enjoy, or not.

The Polestar 2 has taken us to the Highlands and back in great comfort (3 x 30 minute stops over 600 miles each way), then afterwards I adjusted the Ohlins dampers to suit having fun on local roads. It’s no Lotus Elise or Integrale for tactility but it’s certainly more engaging than my RS6 was, and that was also a great car in its own way.

Give one a go!

There is a single Tesla destination charger in the Marina Carpark, which always seems in use.

Why did being a petrolhead become a thing? Because cars go fast, which is fun. All the other stuff about oily smells, gear changing and noise is just by association with speed and thrills. EVs still deliver thrills and speed. I’m looking at family cars that can tow a caravan and they are faster than the supercars of my youth. Difficult to complain about that.

I’m a big petrolhead and I still have zero interest in EV’s. A few people have told me I need to drive one.

I used to be a petrolhead but since changing to an EV I’ve completely lost interest in the internal combustion engine. Just appears noisy, inefficient, overly complicated and obsolete to me now.

I reckon if you got inside a Taycan or even the Polestar you’d change your mind.

The thing is, we use a trailer a fair bit for towing crap to the HWRC from the house and would really like a tow bar.

Quite a few that can tow smaller trailers.

https://electrictowcars.co.uk/electric-tow-cars/

Why did being a petrolhead become a thing? Because cars go fast, which is fun. All the other stuff about oily smells, gear changing and noise is just by association with speed and thrills

You really do come out with some crackers.

You really do come out with some crackers.

Go on..?

There is a single Tesla destination charger in the Marina Carpark, which always seems in use.

🙁 That’s rubbish

Speaking of performance (if that is your thing) I’ll try and find you the vide of the Tesla Model X beating an Alfa 4c in a drag race whilst towing an Alfa 4c on a trailer.

Edit: here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRbgChhJFCs

Sorry about the quality.

I am not an EV owner. I am not a petrolhead, but I have owned enough cars that have a bit of performance to know that this is next level performance.

I mean, daaaaaamn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5c2m5hhh5Kw

I’m a big petrolhead and I still have zero interest in EV’s. A few people have told me I need to drive one.

A friend of mine is something of a petrolhead. Time came to replace his BMW and made a bit of an impulse purchase of a Tesla Model 3 as they had one ready to go. He liked it for a couple of months – he’s now bought a 911 and hates the Tesla (but still uses it as a runaround – and yes his business is doing very well!).

I like the idea of an electric car and will undoubtedly have one at some time, but it’s hard to get past the experience of driving this the other day!

No bike rack, and would be crap on local potholed roads.

No bike rack, and would be dreadful on local potholed roads.

Why did being a petrolhead become a thing? Because cars go fast, which is fun. All the other stuff about oily smells, gear changing and noise is just by association with speed and thrills. EVs still deliver thrills and speed. I’m looking at family cars that can tow a caravan and they are faster than the supercars of my youth. Difficult to complain about that.

Just being fast isn’t enough. It’s about the interaction of speed, traction, feedback and actually being able to use it relatively safely on a road. A mate has an electric xc40 which is objectively fast (4.9s to 60) but it’s still dull to drive outside of the acceleration.

Hyundai really should consider putting some stiffer springs on the Ioniq 5 then if it’s going to be a problem in the UK

Can’t agree with this after testing one myself – coming from a BMW 5 then a GTD golf on large low profile wheels it is softer, but tbh that’s no bad thing given the state of the roads around here. Opportunity for spirited driving in modern life is limited to maybe once or twice a month (and I live on the edge of countryside with great – but poorly surfaced roads).

Modern cars have been continually going down the track of sportier suspension and tyres for decades in order to garner good reviews from journalists who by definition like to press on more than the average. I love driving, but don’t think that fidgety hard ride for the 95% of journeys in UK when you’re just getting from A-B in traffic justifies the compromise if you only have 1 car. Of course in dreamland I’d also have a sporty little number in the garage for weekend fun.

Never felt that the I5 was overly wallowy and the looks, size in the back and fast charging rates more than compensated in my decision making.

My work has a salary sacrifice scheme, which is great for EVs as it brings the costs down

@dantsw13 how does that work? We’re looking at “sustainable” benefit options just now and incentives to buy EV are high up on people’s lists.