Electric cars

[Centurions]

That’s just to hide the finish of the car.

I spoke to VW, Stockport, today.

Looking at early Sumer/late Summer when the ID Polo goes on sale. No prices yet. But most reviewers of the car think it will be pitched at £22K for the base model.

A 2-year unlimited mileage manufacturers warranty

A further 1 year / 60,000 miles (whichever is soonest) warranty

This means you're covered for a total of 3 years or up to 60,000 miles, whichever comes first. Exclusions apply throughout, so please read our Terms and Conditions.

Peace of mind with electric car warranties​

When you buy a car, you want to know that it’s built to go the distance. AtVolkswagen, we’re so confident in the quality of our engineering that all of ourelectric cars come with an eight year or 100,000 miles/160,000km high voltage battery warranty (whichever is soonest) on all material or manufacturing defects. The warranty applies to all pure electric cars (ID.3, ID.4, ID.5 and ID.7).

It will probably apply to the ID Polo as well?

I’m going to hold back buying an EV until I see and test drive the ID Polo.

By then prices for the other Electric cars I have looked at may have come down in price again slightly?

Yes, I'm going to hold off until later in the year myself I think, I'd like the best bits of an Inster and an e-C3 merged as I would miss the bits either one doesn't have.

By the end of the year we should have the Volkswagen ID Polo, the Hot Wheels Honda Super-N, Kia EV2, Skoda Epiq, Nissan Pixo & Renault Twingo in the small car category, there's also the more expensive but lovely Cupra Raval which appears to have been designed for Batman.

 

[jrb]

Yes, I'm going to hold off until later in the year myself I think, I'd like the best bits of an Inster and a e-C3 merged as I would miss the bits either one doesn't have.

By the end of the year we should have the Volkswagen ID Polo, the Hot Wheels Honda Super-N, Kia EV2, Skoda Epiq, Nissan Pixo & Renault Twingo in the small car category, there's also the more expensive but lovely Cupra Raval which appears to have been designed for Batman.

Yeah.

Loads of new EV’s coming out this year around £25K.

That seems to be the new battle ground for new and affordable EV’s.

 

[Pontypool Blue]

Yes, I'm going to hold off until later in the year myself I think, I'd like the best bits of an Inster and an e-C3 merged as I would miss the bits either one doesn't have.

By the end of the year we should have the Volkswagen ID Polo, the Hot Wheels Honda Super-N, Kia EV2, Skoda Epiq, Nissan Pixo & Renault Twingo in the small car category, there's also the more expensive but lovely Cupra Raval which appears to have been designed for Batman.

If you want a small low priced Bev, you can lease a BYD Dolphin surf for £133 pet month. If you include the upfront payment it works out at £188. Cool looking small car, cheaper than some people pay for a months insurance or petrol. I might just get one as a spare car.

 

[Blue Llama]

That’s just to hide the finish of the car.

I spoke to VW, Stockport, today.

Looking at early Sumer/late Summer when the ID Polo goes on sale. No prices yet. But most reviewers of the car think it will be pitched at £22K for the base model.

A 2-year unlimited mileage manufacturers warranty

A further 1 year / 60,000 miles (whichever is soonest) warranty

This means you're covered for a total of 3 years or up to 60,000 miles, whichever comes first. Exclusions apply throughout, so please read our Terms and Conditions.

Peace of mind with electric car warranties​

When you buy a car, you want to know that it’s built to go the distance. AtVolkswagen, we’re so confident in the quality of our engineering that all of ourelectric cars come with an eight year or 100,000 miles/160,000km high voltage battery warranty (whichever is soonest) on all material or manufacturing defects. The warranty applies to all pure electric cars (ID.3, ID.4, ID.5 and ID.7).

It will probably apply to the ID Polo as well?

I’m going to hold back buying an EV until I see and test drive the ID Polo.

By then prices for the other Electric cars I have looked at may have come down in price again slightly?

Don't rule out Skoda. Been using a skoda ev for nearly a year. It's the first new car I have had that didn't have a rattle. Build quality is excellent.

 

[Uncle Wally One Ball]

The new Electric Polo.

European price, €25,000.
Converted, £21,600.
If that is the price in £’s for the basic model, and the price isn’t manipulated by VW and UK dealers, I’m interested.
As the car is only going to be used mainly for work, 24 miles a day, shopping, etc, I’m happy to possibly buy a new Polo, if I like it?
It will be interesting to see what the new UK prices are.

Google AI.

The new Volkswagen electric Polo (likely branded ID. Polo or ID.2) is expected to launch in 2026 with a starting price of around £21,000 to £22,000. It will serve as VW's most affordable EV, aiming to rival the Renault 5 and Citroen e-C3, with a potential 280-mile range and a later, higher-performance GTI model.

Buy one or rent one under this PCP stuff everyone does nowadays?

 

[fulabeer]

:)

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[fulabeer]

The Volvo EX60 looks interesting.
503 mile range combined - 608 mile City (so around 400 real world!), 680 bhp 0-6 3.6s / 0-62 3.9s for the top model.

200 miles added for a ten min charge. So three hours motorway driving then a 10 min piss break. 19 mins 10-80% if you can use a ultra rapid charger. (and the electron gods shine on you)

Prices from £56k - £64k without extras.

 

[Centurions]

If you want a small low priced Bev, you can lease a BYD Dolphin surf for £133 pet month. If you include the upfront payment it works out at £188. Cool looking small car, cheaper than some people pay for a months insurance or petrol. I might just get one as a spare car.

I'm not sure I'm eligible for a lease (PCP?) deal as I'm coming up to 65 and am a fulltime carer for the wife.

I've been rethinking some things as it happens and I think I've over thought some details, as regards our requirements. We are extremely low users, I'm talking just 2,000 miles a year at the moment, that may increase in the future depending on what happens but I can't see more that about double that, so say 80 miles a week.

------------------------------

Can't do withouts are:-

A reversing camera (dodgy bones in my neck so have limited ability to turn my head).
Space for the wifes wheelchair.
4 seats(min) as it's usually me and the dog (in a dog seat box on the back seats) and occasionally the wife as well.

B mode driving. Had enough of juggling handbrake/gear stick/clutch/brakes/accelerator and 1 pedal driving really appeals, for local driving with max regen enabled, I should get the official range with ease from what I can tell.

Home charging. We're not on a looped system with a neighbour so besides perhaps a separate standalone consumer unit putting in we'd only need council approval. We have off road garages at the back of the garden so I can pull up hard against the hedge and use a 15m or so cable.

---------------------------------

Would likes:-

Sliding rear seats ala Ignis/Inster/Twingo to give more room for the wheelchair.
Heat pump(?) Probably not given my driving habits I'm guessing with minimal gains.
Bigger battery(?) Definitely the thing that has caused me to rethink. I've always looked at the longer range model if one is available but given our mileage (even allowing future changes) with a home charger perhaps the Twingo s litle battery won't be the issue I'd imagined?

---------------------------

Actual UK pricing on the Twingo will be interesting but the Inster is already here of course, Arnold Clarkes have the 02 models from £20,000.

No doubts I've missed something obvious above but it'll give me a starting point. First off is checking with the council that I can have a home charger, that may be a deal breaker for us.

 

[fulabeer]

For some strange reason i want to go back to ICE... ;)

 

[fulabeer]

On the subject of ICE cars and the impending ban.

The recent announcement by Donut Labs of solid state batteries (ready now) seems to be fake. It's shame as a 400wh/kg battery would change everything.
However, Geely who owns Volvo has just announced exactly that. And not for around 2030. They are testing right now for production in cars set for next year. They are not claiming the almost impossible charge speeds and battery life (cycles). But more real world stuff, with real advances.

So that then leads onto the need to ban ICE cars at all. If solid state batteries are here already, then there might be no need to ban ICE.
The reason being that EV's will actually be cheaper to make than ICE. The range will be more than double current EV's. Most people would naturally choose the cheaper and easier to maintain/service EV.
ICE would become a niche market (mainly sports/utility vehicles), therefore not causing the massive air pollution we currently have. It's a win win situation.

 

[Blue Maverick]

On the subject of ICE cars and the impending ban.

The recent announcement by Donut Labs of solid state batteries (ready now) seems to be fake. It's shame as a 400wh/kg battery would change everything.
However, Geely who owns Volvo has just announced exactly that. And not for around 2030. They are testing right now for production in cars set for next year. They are not claiming the almost impossible charge speeds and battery life (cycles). But more real world stuff, with real advances.

So that then leads onto the need to ban ICE cars at all. If solid state batteries are here already, then there might be no need to ban ICE.
The reason being that EV's will actually be cheaper to make than ICE. The range will be more than double current EV's. Most people would naturally choose the cheaper and easier to maintain/service EV.
ICE would become a niche market (mainly sports/utility vehicles), therefore not causing the massive air pollution we currently have. It's a win win situation.

Not necessarily mate, the big thing is charging it, if you haven’t got a driveway you have to use public chargers which cost nearly the same as ICE. Also the more EVs there are the more of those you would need.

 

[fulabeer]

Not necessarily mate, the big thing is charging it, if you haven’t got a driveway you have to use public chargers which cost nearly the same as ICE. Also the more EVs there are the more of those you would need.

If your EV drives 750-1000 miles on a single charge, then you rarely need to charge it. Even today, most charge points seem to have plenty of spare chargers. Obviously, some charge stations are popular at peak times. But to date, i've never had to wait for a charger. More are being built everyday. It is actually petrol stations that are in decline. That was already happening before EV's. Weirdly, ICE cars will be the ones queuing for fuel in the future. Since i mainly use Tesco and Costco, i have to wait for a pump every time i go in the diesel.

You are right about public charging cost right now. But there are schemes to reduce that. Most involve paying a small fee. Some either discount the charging rate, or cap a monthly fee for as much charge as you need.
There are off peak discounts that can really bring the cost down also. Motorway chargers (as always) are the most expensive. They cannot even say it is due to higher fuel transport/staff costs like they used to! (we always knew that was a lie)

 

[Kompany Car]

The Volvo EX60 looks interesting.
503 mile range combined - 608 mile City (so around 400 real world!), 680 bhp 0-6 3.6s / 0-62 3.9s for the top model.

200 miles added for a ten min charge. So three hours motorway driving then a 10 min piss break. 19 mins 10-80% if you can use a ultra rapid charger. (and the electron gods shine on you)

Prices from £56k - £64k without extras.

View attachment 181326
View attachment 181327

Think you've captured part of the problem with all sensibly priced electric cars in your first sentence. Electric cars don't look interesting. There's a real lack of sports cars in the market, curvy, muscular looking cars. The whole design language is bland as is the obsession with the minimalist interior designs, big touch screens, minimal buttons ...

 

[East Level 2]

Think you've captured part of the problem with all sensibly priced electric cars in your first sentence. Electric cars don't look interesting. There's a real lack of sports cars in the market, curvy, muscular looking cars. The whole design language is bland as is the obsession with the minimalist interior designs, big touch screens, minimal buttons ...

Hyundai i6 is a nice looking EV. A bit like a Merc CLA.

https://cdn.motor1.com/images/mgl/ZngG4Z/s3/hyundai-ioniq-6-n-il-render-di-motor1.com.webp

 

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

When Bernardo retires I want him to morph into an electric car, and then I wouldn't have to bother about 'range'!

 

[BimboBob]

If your EV drives 750-1000 miles on a single charge, then you rarely need to charge it. Even today, most charge points seem to have plenty of spare chargers. Obviously, some charge stations are popular at peak times. But to date, i've never had to wait for a charger. More are being built everyday. It is actually petrol stations that are in decline. That was already happening before EV's. Weirdly, ICE cars will be the ones queuing for fuel in the future. Since i mainly use Tesco and Costco, i have to wait for a pump every time i go in the diesel.

You are right about public charging cost right now. But there are schemes to reduce that. Most involve paying a small fee. Some either discount the charging rate, or cap a monthly fee for as much charge as you need.
There are off peak discounts that can really bring the cost down also. Motorway chargers (as always) are the most expensive. They cannot even say it is due to higher fuel transport/staff costs like they used to! (we always knew that was a lie)

Around 31 million ICE vehicles on the road against around 1.8 million EV's. The more this gap narrows the more charging stations will be needed. The petrol station will be an EV station with the odd pump for us petrol die hards. There will be queues for both. Especially as 9 million households don't have access to a driveway. That's a lot of cars that need charging even if they have a huge range. I'd like to think that our infrastructure will cope, that successive governments will pull all the stops out to meet demand...but I doubt it judging by past efforts.
Then there's the cost. Ignore motorway charging/ filling up as we've always been a captive audience to charge what they like since they opened. The cost will go up at home. It has to until we change the way we charge for energy. The cost of EV cars needs to come down as well as this is a big stumbling point for a lot of people especially with the huge distrust of second hand ones.

On a side note my Wife will be happy as she has her eye on the Volvo you mentioned. I'll be happy as the price of ICE cars will come down as people get rid in the switch to EV.

 

[BimboBob]

Hyundai i6 is a nice looking EV. A bit like a Merc CLA.

https://cdn.motor1.com/images/mgl/ZngG4Z/s3/hyundai-ioniq-6-n-il-render-di-motor1.com.webp

50k!!

 

[citytill1die84]

The Volvo EX60 looks interesting.
503 mile range combined - 608 mile City (so around 400 real world!), 680 bhp 0-6 3.6s / 0-62 3.9s for the top model.

200 miles added for a ten min charge. So three hours motorway driving then a 10 min piss break. 19 mins 10-80% if you can use a ultra rapid charger. (and the electron gods shine on you)

Prices from £56k - £64k without extras.

View attachment 181326
View attachment 181327

What a beast.

 

[Blue Since 76]

Think you've captured part of the problem with all sensibly priced electric cars in your first sentence. Electric cars don't look interesting. There's a real lack of sports cars in the market, curvy, muscular looking cars. The whole design language is bland as is the obsession with the minimalist interior designs, big touch screens, minimal buttons ...

I'm still surprised no one has really looked at the potential for electric car design yet. They can end up slightly taller if the batteries are under the floor although the BYD blade ones don't add much to a normal chassis.

Under the bonnet though there's often not a lot, hence some of the frunks. With some repackaging and loss of that storage, you should be able to create things that don't look like a traditional car, especially a traditional SUV. Outside the MG, there's not been a lot of 2 seater EVs - would love to see an MX5 style EV with similar performance, thus slow for an EV but RWD, smaller and lighter.

Saying that, I'm struggling to think of many new ICE cars that are attractive these days, mainly due to the SUV obsession. I'm ignoring the exotica and thinking more family car but outside Alfa, who makes interesting cars? Only Citroen and Peugeot even seem to take a risk.

The only good thing is that buttons seem to be making a comeback - hopefully some of the designers are now old enough to drive and have realised trying to press an iPad at 70mph isn't easy

 

[roubaixtuesday]

Around 31 million ICE vehicles on the road against around 1.8 million EV's. The more this gap narrows the more charging stations will be needed. The petrol station will be an EV station with the odd pump for us petrol die hards. There will be queues for both. Especially as 9 million households don't have access to a driveway. That's a lot of cars that need charging even if they have a huge range. I'd like to think that our infrastructure will cope, that successive governments will pull all the stops out to meet demand...but I doubt it judging by past efforts.
Then there's the cost. Ignore motorway charging/ filling up as we've always been a captive audience to charge what they like since they opened. The cost will go up at home. It has to until we change the way we charge for energy. The cost of EV cars needs to come down as well as this is a big stumbling point for a lot of people especially with the huge distrust of second hand ones.

On a side note my Wife will be happy as she has her eye on the Volvo you mentioned. I'll be happy as the price of ICE cars will come down as people get rid in the switch to EV.

For Europe as a whole, pure battery cars went ahead of pure petrol for the first time in December.


On queues, I doubt they will be for routine use, as the market will provide, but you can imagine at peaks (think Exeter services in July/August as everyone flocks to Cornwall) could be a huge problem as there's no economic way to provide that kind of capacity for short peaks.

I doubt home charging will get more expensive as wholesale electricity will get increasingly more cheap off peak as renewables dominate. Charging EVs overnight is a way to balance that out.

Payment looks to be changing to per mile according to current plans, rather than per kWhr.

But could be wrong on all of this; predictions are difficult, particularly those about the future!

We're hopefully getting solar panels later this year, and will switch to EV then - free energy at that point. Plus the current car is 17yo and knackered.