Electric cars

[bluegray]

I got my first electric car yesterday. Ford Puma e. Got it because it was cheap before anyone pipes up that it’s shit. I already know and I don’t care what I drive. Unfortunately Octopus let me down and cancelled my home charger fitting appointment so I have to wait another week until I can charge at home. So I took the car to the Source charge station at West One in Eccles to have a go on a public charger. Fuck me I didn’t know it was that expensive! It cost me £45 to go from 38%-90%!! That equates to probably in the region of £70 for a full charge! I was shocked. No pun intended .

You need to download zapmap. It will show you all the available chargers, speed and cost. Shouldn't be costing you that much.

 

[Kinkladze 1]

I am Interested in how you get on with it, To be honest I dont think I could afford an electric car right now but do you not worry about the actual experience of driving the car? going through the gears, the sound of the engine etc?,
Let us know how you get on in the real world, cheers.

It drives great. Instant pick up. Nice and quiet. No gears. Nice big screen. Got a winter pack so heated seats and steering wheel. What’s not to like. Range is realistically about 140 miles on a full charge which is pretty shite but not an issue for me.

 

[fulabeer]

I got my first electric car yesterday. Ford Puma e. Got it because it was cheap before anyone pipes up that it’s shit. I already know and I don’t care what I drive. Unfortunately Octopus let me down and cancelled my home charger fitting appointment so I have to wait another week until I can charge at home. So I took the car to the Source charge station at West One in Eccles to have a go on a public charger. Fuck me I didn’t know it was that expensive! It cost me £45 to go from 38%-90%!! That equates to probably in the region of £70 for a full charge! I was shocked. No pun intended .

I assume the Octopus charger means you will be on the cheap overnight tariff.
Once installed, you will suddenly see what the fuss is about pricewise. I will warn that the cold weather will affect range/efficiency. It will still feel like free motoring though. Come the warmer weather, everything just gets better.
One winter benefit is the cars pre-heat function. Set the timer and say goodbye to scraping your windscreen in the morning, and sitting in a freezing car. Even if you haven't pre heated, the car starts giving instant heat anyway.

I'm with EDF on their EV tariff. That allows me to use Ionity Ultra fast chargers for half the price.
You pay £5pm. You get the first £5 back though. You don't have to subscribe each month. Just the month you think you might need to charge on the road etc.

However, i used it last month on a Southampton trip, and it was a disaster.
First my EV lost a shit load of range/efficiency due to the freezing temperatures. That meant i had to charge more often.
Then i discovered Ionity doesn't like motorway service stations. Meaning i had to go off my route to charge. Not by much, but still annoying. My lack of planning was the real problem. But lesson learnt.
I decided to use the diesel for the return trip last week. It did cost slightly more, but i saved time and hassle.

It is rare that i do long trips, so the compromise is worth it. If my EV had a slightly longer range, especially in winter, then it would have been a different outcome.
Next generation EV's/batteries will make long trips a mute point. The battery range will last longer than the biggest of bladders, and will charge quicker than you can go to the loo.
I grew out of revving engines and loud exhausts when i was 30ish. I still like the odd blast in a decent sports car, but most of the time, silent smooth progress is much preferred.

 

[Blue Maverick]

I am Interested in how you get on with it, To be honest I dont think I could afford an electric car right now but do you not worry about the actual experience of driving the car? going through the gears, the sound of the engine etc?,
Let us know how you get on in the real world, cheers.

We got a 4 year old Mokka last year and had a home charger installed, it gives 160 range but obviously a lot less in winter or long drive, we only really use it round town, schoolruns etc. probably do about 100 miles a week so onky have to charge once a week. It’s good to drive and was dirt cheap, £12k which replaced our 13 year old diesel. Cost about £20 a month to charge from home, the wife has done a few trips to Blackpool and has had to charge up for the return trip cost her about £11, although she probably at a pinch could have done a full return trip but was worried about it. She’s going to Bournemouth in May so that will be a lot of planning but there’s an app that plans your route with charging points, it will probably cost no more than a normal car trip but just a few stops more but it’s a long drive anyway.
There are lots of secondhand ex lease on the market now which are cheap the only worry is if it’s out of warranty and it’s a battery problem it could cost hell of a lot to fix, but then again there are lots of problems with modern ICE cars as well.
One thing I’d add make sure you get one with a heat pump it makes a difference to battery range.

 

[BlueMooner87]

Providing they can do a decent job I don’t care how much they are worth.

Not many had that attitude when Rishi was PM, in fact it was the stick used to beat him with most of the time.

Still feel he was our best chance as a leader but anyone after the disaster of truss wouldn't survive.

Pretty much everything Rishi said during the debates about Labour jas come true.

______________________________________
We've got a model Y, crap quality in comparison to BMW & Merc but the lease price was a very good offer, it also came with 12 months free charging.

That being said as soon as we get rid we wont be getting another Tesla, i just dont like the rattles, security systems, forced changes on updates and its just annoying.

We will either stick with full electric or go plug in hybrid but we will be buying an ICE car for long journeys, I just HATE waiting at chargers, its annoying, plugging in at home overnight with EDF EV rate is great but long journeys are a bitch in comparison to ICE

 

[dave_blue12]

Not many had that attitude when Rishi was PM, in fact it was the stick used to beat him with most of the time.

Still feel he was our best chance as a leader but anyone after the disaster of truss wouldn't survive.

Pretty much everything Rishi said during the debates about Labour jas come true.

______________________________________
We've got a model Y, crap quality in comparison to BMW & Merc but the lease price was a very good offer, it also came with 12 months free charging.

That being said as soon as we get rid we wont be getting another Tesla, i just dont like the rattles, security systems, forced changes on updates and its just annoying.

We will either stick with full electric or go plug in hybrid but we will be buying an ICE car for long journeys, I just HATE waiting at chargers, its annoying, plugging in at home overnight with EDF EV rate is great but long journeys are a bitch in comparison to ICE

It was used to beat him with as he enriched himself and his family using his office. He was a ****.

Anyway, electric cars, I considered it but in the end bought a hybrid Lexus RX. I have a large dog, hence the need for something suitable to accommodate him.

The hassle factor and the uncertainty over used values were the big negatives for me.

 

[Gray]

Range is realistically about 140 miles on a full charge which is pretty shite but not an issue for me.

And that is exactly the reason I will not be getting one.

My VW Polo can do over 400 miles on a full tank if I am travelling a distance.

 

[Centurions]

And that is exactly the reason I will not be getting one.

My VW Polo can do over 400 miles on a full tank if I am travelling a distance.

Is that your daily commute then?

 

[fulabeer]

And that is exactly the reason I will not be getting one.

My VW Polo can do over 400 miles on a full tank if I am travelling a distance.

How often do you do 400 miles per trip? And if you do, do you drive all the way without a break?
At 60mph average, that trip is near 6.5 hours of driving.

There are now plenty of EV's that do well over 400 miles. You use your piss breaks to top up the battery.
However, none of the 400+ mile EV's will cost anyway near a VW Polo. So for your budget range, i agree, a decent EV wouldn't be for you etc.

 

[Kinkladze 1]

And that is exactly the reason I will not be getting one.

My VW Polo can do over 400 miles on a full tank if I am travelling a distance.

Petrol is good for distance, electric is good for people who don’t go that far regularly. Each to their own I guess.

 

[Blue Llama]

And that is exactly the reason I will not be getting one.

My VW Polo can do over 400 miles on a full tank if I am travelling a distance.

Do you drive the whole 400 without stopping?

 

[Gray]

Do you drive the whole 400 without stopping?

No it is a trip if 212 miles then return two weeks later. I stop at the 130 mile mark before continuing the journey.

 

[Blue Since 76]

No it is a trip if 212 miles then return two weeks later. I stop at the 130 mile mark before continuing the journey.

Not quite that far, but regularly go to Newcastle (lad at uni) which is about 150 miles but best part of 3 hours door to door. I always want a break for the loo or just to stretch my legs and usually stick the car on charge whilst doing that, so doesn't add any time to the journey, especially if we've just dropped him and come straight back as I'll want a coffee break as well.

Did Wembley and back last year and again, charged whilst stopped on the way down and back, so don't think it took any longer than it would have done in a petrol, even assuming I didn't need to stop for petrol en-route and definitely saves time filling up at either end.

That's all in a Hyundai that will do an easy 200 miles in the worst conditions on the motorway, although we avoided the likes of Stelantis (Vauxhall, Peugeot etc) as they were more like 120 miles which would have been a pain for the longer trips even though they'd have been fine for 90% of our use

 

[crooky]

It drives great. Instant pick up. Nice and quiet. No gears. Nice big screen. Got a winter pack so heated seats and steering wheel. What’s not to like. Range is realistically about 140 miles on a full charge which is pretty shite but not an issue for me.

When you say 140 mile range realistically what exactly does that mean?

I.e is that the furthest you'd be able to go leaving with a full charge whilst leaving yourself a small margin before running totally empty?

Or do you mean literally full to absolutely empty?
And is that in the winter or summer or a bit of an average of the whole year?

Presumably on motorways as well?

Thanks

 

[Kinkladze 1]

When you say 140 mile range realistically what exactly does that mean?

I.e is that the furthest you'd be able to go leaving with a full charge whilst leaving yourself a small margin before running totally empty?

Or do you mean literally full to absolutely empty?
And is that in the winter or summer or a bit of an average of the whole year?

Presumably on motorways as well?

Thanks

I’ve only had it a few days and it’s about zero degrees here but I’d estimate about 140 miles total on a full charge. Hopefully more when the weather warms up. I might set the trip computer to zero and see what it’s on when the battery gets to 5% or below and see where we’re at.

 

[1961_vintage]

Unfortunately Octopus let me down and cancelled my home charger fitting appointment so I have to wait another week until I can charge at home.

Could you just plug it in to the mains and charge it slowly overnight?

 

[uweuweuwe]

I got my first electric car yesterday. Ford Puma e. Got it because it was cheap before anyone pipes up that it’s shit. I already know and I don’t care what I drive. Unfortunately Octopus let me down and cancelled my home charger fitting appointment so I have to wait another week until I can charge at home. So I took the car to the Source charge station at West One in Eccles to have a go on a public charger. Fuck me I didn’t know it was that expensive! It cost me £45 to go from 38%-90%!! That equates to probably in the region of £70 for a full charge! I was shocked. No pun intended .

If you are with octopus have you signed up for the electroverse app/card which should give you a discount at various chargers. Or download the tesla app put it your car model and it will give you all the open to all tesla chargers which are hell of alot cheaper even at peak times. Unfortunatley if you are in Eccles the closest one is the Trafford centre. Hope you enjoy going electric. Did my first long trip from manchester to dorset over christmas and wasnt as stressful as I thought it was going to be.

 

[Blue Since 76]

I got my first electric car yesterday. Ford Puma e. Got it because it was cheap before anyone pipes up that it’s shit. I already know and I don’t care what I drive. Unfortunately Octopus let me down and cancelled my home charger fitting appointment so I have to wait another week until I can charge at home. So I took the car to the Source charge station at West One in Eccles to have a go on a public charger. Fuck me I didn’t know it was that expensive! It cost me £45 to go from 38%-90%!! That equates to probably in the region of £70 for a full charge! I was shocked. No pun intended .

Octopus Electoverse can help, as you often get a discount. There's an app for it which has a pretty good route planner showing chargers, including the Electoverse compatible ones. ZapMap is another decent option to find chargers.

Have a look at Be.EV as they've got a big charging hub at Sale Water Park which is relatively cheap for fast chargers and you can have a walk around the water park whilst waiting. They've also built a fancy hub in Failsworth which is cheaper, but less convenient from Eccles. Seem to be a big local operator.

An annoyance with an EV away from home is you often need several apps to find all the chargers and to get the best rates. They all now seem to have the option of a contactless card, but you can get discounts by having the provider's app. A number of the better providers also seem to be quite regional - the Tesla chargers available to all are usually south of Manchester, Fastned has been reasonably priced and is generally north of Manchester. Ultimately, it'll consolidate and it's a lot better than it seemed to be a few years ago but it can still feel more difficult than popping into the next petrol station you see and just filling up. The advantage is that most of the time, I don't need to go to a filling station at all.

 

[Kinkladze 1]

If you are with octopus have you signed up for the electroverse app/card which should give you a discount at various chargers. Or download the tesla app put it your car model and it will give you all the open to all tesla chargers which are hell of alot cheaper even at peak times. Unfortunatley if you are in Eccles the closest one is the Trafford centre. Hope you enjoy going electric. Did my first long trip from manchester to dorset over christmas and wasnt as stressful as I thought it was going to be.

Thanks for the info! Appreciated.

 

[Kinkladze 1]

Could you just plug it in to the mains and charge it slowly overnight?

Not sure whether to bite or not :)