tata have just announced a £10,000 ev with 155 mile range *

Tata Tiago.ev Is A $10,000 Electric City Car With 155 Miles Of Range

*from a 19kwh battery, which seems unlikely, but I guess driving speeds over there are really low so maybe the test caters to that?

Brake pollution should be (almost) zero in a modern BEV unless you drive like an utter tosser. In most normal driving something like 95% of vehicle braking should be handled by the motors.

Yup far less than an ICE. Coming up 30k miles on mine, pads and discs are the originals and barely any wear on them.

Still zero emissions even with brake and rubber dust.

My daughter wants to go to Germany for a holiday. So I was looking at the feasibility of taking the EV rather than the diesel. My other daughter wants to go to the Haribo shop in Bonn (I haven’t told her they now have these in the UK), so I picked that as a destination. According to ABRP* it’s 8 and a bit hours of driving and 2.5hrs of stopping with 4 stops. Funnily enough, if I set the speed to 130km/h rather than 112 it doesn’t change much. Still 4 stops, more charging time but less driving time. Looks like the cost of leccy would be roughly £45 on the way out, and probably £60 ish on the way back, versus say £160 of diesel.

There’d be one charge on the way out around Slough, which could be dicey as if there are problems you risk missing your ferry/train. But then, Slough is stuffed with chargers so it’s a pretty good place to stop.

Anyone driven around France/Belgium/Germany in an EV? Is it easier than the UK?

Just ordered my new company car, an Octavia Estate iV plug-in hybrid. Having done the numbers, staying on the current tariff it will cost me pretty much the same to charge the battery at home as it would do per mile, to use petrol. However, with a £100 saving per month on the tax it was a no brainer really. This is will be my first test of an EV.

Having done the numbers, staying on the current tariff it will cost me pretty much the same to charge the battery at home as it would do per mile, to use petrol.

I was going to suggest changing tariff, but if it’s only a small battery it might not be worth it.

Exactly, only a 13kw. Plus with both of us working at home even with a proper EV it would be tight on usage during the day. Who knows, we might see a reduction in pricing by the time it arrives. Lease company says 6 months, I think they are being very optimistic.

Skelton Lake services yesterday and all eight Ionity 350kw chargers have had their cables stolen. Going to be out of action for another week.
Not a good trend and needs Police and courts to get on top of it v quickly when it’s such a vital strategic bit of infrastructure. Can you imagine the uproar if all petrol stations in a certain area were suddenly inoperative due to theft…..

Skelton Lake services yesterday and all eight Ionity 350kw chargers have had their cables stolen. Going to be out of action for another week.

That’s piss poor but sadly indicative of the world we live in.

Still zero emissions even with brake and rubber dust.

Lolwut? I assume you actually mean tailpipe emissions rather than contradicting yourself. And worth remembering bicycles produce the same brake and rubber dust.

@clover

You drove to Germany in your Tesla…

How the F did they manage to steal the cables from Skelton Lake services?
the are pretty central to the car park so hardly tucked away around the back.
Also services are pretty heavily monitored so they can screw you for parking.

he are pretty central to the car park so hardly tucked away around the back.

They actually are tucked away, right down at a quiet end of the car park away from the services entrance and looking at google there’s a short link across to a nearby lane. So easy enough to cut then carry them to your white flat-bed truck (with yellow highway lights?), without driving onto the actual services and being on cctv it seems………

What a daft spot to install £0000’s of pounds worth of kit.

ah yes, didnt spot that lane, last time I passed them it was rammed and looked pretty central but yeah that lane probable gives them a simple get away. Its a shame, ionity is pretty good (especially with Bonnet….referral codes available on request ;-))

Might have a slight change in work roles coming up soon, so thought about going EV, rather than a thirsty diesel 4×4.

Would like an AWD, 577bhp, 162mph, <3.5s 0-60, Kia EV6 GT – medium/high spendy, which could have been justified, but electricity prices now make it pointless

With the size of those elastic bands the rims would be square within a week up here.

Also, utterly pointless. But probably still cost neutral on the fuel so I’d think about it.

Would like an AWD, 577bhp, 162mph, <3.5s 0-60, Kia EV6 GT – medium/high spendy, which could have been justified, but electricity prices now make it pointless

How so? Charging away from home is expensive, but at home it’s still only 1.5p/mile for me.

How so? Charging away from home is expensive, but at home it’s still only 1.5p/mile for me.

I’ve not finished my full research, but I’ve read far, far higher costs than that

75% of it could possibly be free at work though

Your tariff seems very cheap either way though

I’ve not finished my full research, but I’ve read far, far higher costs than that

It’s just Intelligent Octopus, which everyone over a certain mileage should be on.

40p a unit, and 7.5p between 11.30 and 5.30. If you use a lot of daytime power and your mileage isn’t low enough, then it’s not worth it, but we’re saving £100/mo versus diesel on my wife’s 13 mile commute.

Octopus have paused registration for intelligent and similar tariffs for the time being. But definitely an option when back up…

https://octopus.energy/intelligent-octopus/

In fact as EV become more popular and energy prices get back to normality I imagine that there will be a push to get EV owners onto these tariffs

It’s possibly been mentioned somewhere in the previous 71 pages but I haven’t found anything useful with the search function: does anyone have any experience of, or links to, homebrew electric conversions? There’s bound to be a bunch of hobbyists tinkering with this stuff and I know of a couple of companies who take the usable bits of scrapped Teslas, for example, and transplant them into classic cars.

I’ve got a vague idea for a DIY project on an old car and I’m just wondering whether it’s going to be a) feasible, b) expensive, c) worth it and / or d) a colossal ballache and waste of time. There are quite a few online resources for the petrolv version, but I’m debating finding one without an engine and making it a bit different. And more future-friendly.

A guy at work has a BL Mini with a homebrew electric conversion.

His day job is as a technical expert on EV driveline integration and design, so it’s quite a good homebrew…

I had a quick look for his blog, but google is full of DIY kits now.

@molgrips

A mate drove to the French alps in the summer. It took a lot longer than the rest of the gang in ‘normal’ cars. Mainly due to broken chargers and big queues in the summer.

I dont get the fascination for EV manufactures to make the cars faster and faster. We had a Polestar for a month before it went back, mostly due to the terrible service. It was mad fast, rubbish range and pretty dull interior.

We have now had our Marc EQA for three months and its brilliant. Its getting c100 miles a charge more then the Polestar, it interior is lovely which is very important as its my wife’s car and she spends a lot of time in it sometimes.

66kw battery high of 290 miles on a ‘tank’ and 0-60 in sun 9 I think, either way its way fast enough. In fact if this car was 0-60 in 13 secs and did another 100 miles it would be even better. Even so its the best car we have owned.

We have an Economy7 and happy with the costs which are something like 1/5th~1/10th of the costs running our other vehicles which are now going as we never use them.

Has anyone thought about putting a deposit down on a Fisker Ocean? 380 miles range for £50k seems pretty much the best that would be available for quite some time.

Has anyone thought about putting a deposit down on a Fisker Ocean? 380 miles range for £50k seems pretty much the best that would be available for quite some time.

They look really nice. As they are currently prototypes only, is the 380 range actually measured in the same way as those currently for sale? I’d be wary of buying on stats if they are claiming some magic increase in efficiency versus their rivals. Of course if its just a big battery, could make sense.

I am a bit pissed off with their advertising though.

“380 range, 0-60 in xxx secs, california mode [where all the windows drop and the opening sun roof], prices from £35k”

And then all 3 of those stated features do not occur on the £35k model, only the £50k and up ones.

Yep that’s a bit misleading. Still though a £35k SUV shaped EV with a claimed 270 mile range (based on simulations in line with WLTP standards) sounds better than an equivalent Kia Niro EV.

Also I cant really gauge the size of it. Is it a nice UK suitable vehicle or is it a full on Yank Tank?

Polestar 3 launched yesterday, lots of “built in the states, for americans” indicating its probably a behemoth unsuited for our cramped isle.

tempted to go EV with the next company car but i heard waiting times for orders are bonkers at the moment

Depends. Factory orders are long, but they some in stock at lease companies for immediate delivery.

Long waits aren’t restricted to EVs either.

tempted to go EV with the next company car but i heard waiting times for orders are bonkers at the moment

Ordered a polestar 2 back in May, delivery is scheduled for January.

I dont get the fascination for EV manufactures to make the cars faster and faster.

Because they can. It doesn’t cost you efficiency like it does in a petrol car, and it’s not particularly difficult to engineer. And it sells cars to at least some people.

a claimed 270 mile range (based on simulations in line with WLTP standards) sounds better than an equivalent Kia Niro EV.

I think Kia are going to be closer to the stated range generally speaking.

Yep. Our 64kWh Kia is averaging close to 5 miles per kWh – which is better than the 284 range advertised. I assume because of the type of journeys we make and it not being particularly cold yet

Also I cant really gauge the size of it. Is it a nice UK suitable vehicle or is it a full on Yank Tank?

Same headline measurements as a Model Y but it’s a lot more boxy so will probably appear bigger.

In summer I do get 270 miles out of my Kia Soul. In winter with the heater on that drops down to between 230-240 miles.

Re wait times. I ordered a BMW i4 as a first company car 2 months ago and still no news on it – hoping for Q1 next year. But had an Audi Etron 55 delivered as a mid term rental after 3 weeks so it’s worked out brilliantly, although there is a lot of luck in that – I’ve heard of others being given large ICE cars as an interim car and being stung horribly on BIK.

Yep. Our 64kWh Kia is averaging close to 5 miles per kWh – which is better than the 284 range advertised. I assume because of the type of journeys we make and it not being particularly cold yet

Slower trips I assume? I haven’t beaten 4.8 on a long motorway trip, but we have seen 6 on the country lane to school and nearly 7 on the 50/30mph run into town.

Again, regarding wait times – I ordered a Merc A250e hybrid saloon middle of last year, expected in in Q1 ’22, then by June, then Mercedes cancelled the order.

I’ve ordered a new Megane ETech full EV, I’m hoping it’ll be here towards the end of this year. No official build slot or chassis number but apparently that’s the same for all of them at the moment until they agree UK allocation from the factory. Fingers crossed it comes as planned, I’m looking forward to my company car tax dropping by £200 a month 🙂

Slower trips I assume? I haven’t beaten 4.8 on a long motorway trip, but we have seen 6 on the country lane to school and nearly 7 on the 50/30mph run into town

Yeah – most of the mileage is 7 to 10 mile each way trips. 30/40 mph roads – not too much traffic. I have a pretty laid back driving style as well Very efficient in these conditions – less so short trips to shops. Be too interesting to see what it will do when I visit family at Christmas 75 mile motorway each way in the cold

The weight of your right foot also makes less difference. Mostly it’s just the speed you top out at. Accelerating faster and staying under 40 is more economical than a steady 70.

Interesting – we are only 3 months in so haven’t a full baseline yet. But I thought from previous reading that our car usage pattern would work well in terms EV efficiency. There is one trip I make to regularly to the climbing wall that averages well over 6 out and back.

TBH the driving experience is so smooth and chilled that alone adds real value to owning an EV

I agree. Also, for someone who can get obsessed with mechanical things, it is very relaxing not to be listening to noises, gear changes, turbos, valves and so on.