Electric cars

Mazzarelli's Swiss Cheese said:
I always think if the will is there this could be quickly solved - remember how quickly pavements got dug up to get virgin cable to nearly every urban house.
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It could be done, but I'm not sure the will is there. It's almost as though this government is as blind as the last shower of clowns when it comes to flats and terraced houses.
 
East Level 2 said:
It could be done, but I'm not sure the will is there. It's almost as though this government is as blind as the last shower of clowns when it comes to flats and terraced houses.
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Which is all well and good however if you do that you’d have to bring in residential parking with it, no point in having a charging point if you can’t use it, also some of the vans people have won’t fit in a spot it will be chaos, but these millionaires with drives don’t give a fuck, not to mention the parking on pavement issues.
 
East Level 2 said:
The lack of cheap public chargers is the biggest barrier to EVs and PHEVs, though people might be happy to pay >50p/kW if petrol prices get any sillier.
Horror stories about battery fires and the ridiculous cost of replacement batteries are valid of course, but seem to be rare occurrences.
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It's not just about the price of fuel that should determine if you switch to an EV, they are just better at almost everything an ICE can do and now are working out parity or cheaper to run than their ICE equivelants.
Battery fires are just FUD ignore. EV is the least likely type of car to set on fire by about 100 to 1
They are now finding out that batteries are outlasting the cars, replacement batteries will not be needed in almost all cases. Replacement batteries are much cheaper now than they were anyways.
 
Centurions said:
The Renault Twingo is getting a lot of love.

www.carmagazine.co.uk

The game's been won – meet the new king of the city car

Renault's relaunched the Twingo as an EV and, good grief, is it a corker. Find out just how good it is on CAR magazine.
www.carmagazine.co.uk
www.autoexpress.co.uk

Driven: the new Renault Twingo is so good, it really shouldn’t be this cheap! | Auto Express

The new Renault Twingo EV is clever, good-looking and a delight to drive
www.autoexpress.co.uk www.autoexpress.co.uk
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Great 2nd car /low daily mileage city car but the battery is too small. MG4 Urban £19k and much better.
 
grunge said:
I think there’s a lot of completion for EV’s at the moment as lots of price drops going on. You can now get a base model 3 Tesla for under £250 a month.
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I'd like to see that? have you included the upfront payment and factored that into the monthly cost?
 
jrb said:
I’m sticking with the Kia EV2 which is being launched later this month, the ID.Polo, which will be launched in late Summer, apparently, and the Hyundai Ionic 5.(version 2) I might test drive the new MG4 EV. But at £30K, it’s well over my fixed budget.
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All those cars are great, I have an Enyak 85x the wife has an Ionic 5, both excellent cars both large for 5 adults and good boot size.
You can get a new MG4 Urban (the replacement for the MG4) for £19k
 
Bill Walker said:
Does anyone have experience or knowledge of the Polestar brand ? I'm attracted to the them and thinking about buying one.
Are they well regarded in the UK?
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Yes - excellent cars, just a bit pricey.
 
mosssideblue said:
The reasons I would never get one include:
Affordability
Adaptations I would need for it to be practical ( wheelchair Adaptive)
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My mate regularly goes to the motabiltiy show at the NEC he wants to move to electric but currently wouldnt bother as the range isnt that great in any that are on offer. Plus non of the sales staff could tell him if the ranges were after conversion for wheel chair access and how much the distance will be effected with his electric wheelchair and a full load. Although he did say it is improving year on year but probably better off sticking to i.c.e for the moment
 
uweuweuwe said:
My mate regularly goes to the motabiltiy show at the NEC he wants to move to electric but currently wouldnt bother as the range isnt that great in any that are on offer. Plus non of the sales staff could tell him if the ranges were after conversion for wheel chair access and how much the distance will be effected with his electric wheelchair and a full load. Although he did say it is improving year on year but probably better off sticking to i.c.e for the moment
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The other consideration is cost as the mobility element of PiP will not get you a very basic model which would be totally unsuitable for me.
 
With the multiple excellent choices of BEV now available I'm both saddened and baffled why there are so many brand new petrol cars parked on people's drives?
 
Pontypool Blue said:
With the multiple excellent choices of BEV now available I'm both saddened and baffled why there are so many brand new petrol cars parked on people's drives?
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Not a moan, but some of my insights as a recent adopter of EV tech. I fought off the EV push until recently, and the kind of issues I had with moving over were the range, the lack of knowledge of how charging works and visibility of the costs, three decades of driving petrol cars and filling up at petrol stations and it becomes routine, and a feeling of a lack of control with driving (going from manual to automatic, then petrol to electric gadget-mobile, am I even driving anymore?). People stick to what they know, although I suspect recent and ongoing events might make many think again.

Thankfully most of the issues are easily addressed, but I'd say that the lack of a penetrating and coordinated national drive to inform on and push EVs, as well as curb profiteering, is really noticeable. As is a louder campaign on highlighting, reducing and committing to cheaper energy costs for EVs. It's all piece by piece and, again, uncoordinated. Also they don't go vroom vroom.

I'm still frustrated that my advertised 350 mile range is actually working out at 260-280, and I have to stop for half an hour instead of three minutes to fill up now. Before, I stopped when I wanted, usually just when I was hungry or when I needed a break, and fill up at my leisure when was convenient, usually 7am on a Saturday or in-between after-school club drops. Now, I stop when the car wants. It makes things like getting back for school pickup or family dinner just that bit harder. Having the cost of driving linked to the cost of putting the washing machine on is also odd, do I take the cheaper charge at night ev rate and accept higher costs to run my cooker and washer in the daytime (why exactly?) or just keep the same rate for everything else.... petrol isn't like that and it takes some getting used to.

Plus, if we go on holiday within the UK I need to factor that in now as I can't just fill up along my route confident there'll be petrol stations aplenty, or even take a spare petrol can for emergencies. Once you run out, you run out, and if someone wants the blower on and another wants the music on whilst charging their phone, it has an effect. Plus, idle charges if my car hits 80% and stops charging, blocking the space for use by someone else, then you get charged after 5 minutes. If you're stopped at the services for lunch whilst you charge you could literally be charged for the slow queue in Costa or waiting for a spare trap in the bogs. Fossil fuel drivers don't get punished like that, even if dozy Dave is sat in his car checking his phone, adjusting his seat, waiting for his mate to get back with the Gregg's pasties, for over ten minutes.

But on the driving and comfort side, no complaints at all. I got a higher spec car at the same outlay or less as manufacturers know they need to attract more punters now the wave for early adopters has come and gone.

If they crack battery capacity and / or efficiency to make 500-600 miles on a single charge a reality, then that's half the battle won. Commit to lower electric costs for new drivers, including on the road pricing guidance and increased availability + faster charging, and it's be insanity to not switch over.
 
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Bill Walker said:
Does anyone have experience or knowledge of the Polestar brand ? I'm attracted to the them and thinking about buying one.
Are they well regarded in the UK?
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Extremely impressed by them, were part of Volvo but now a spin off I think. Definitely test drive if you can, especially if you go for the Polestar 4 as it has no back window and takes some getting used to, and if you test drive the dual motor take a change of underwear (0-60 in 3.7 seconds).
 
Blue Maverick said:
Which is all well and good however if you do that you’d have to bring in residential parking with it, no point in having a charging point if you can’t use it, also some of the vans people have won’t fit in a spot it will be chaos, but these millionaires with drives don’t give a fuck, not to mention the parking on pavement issues.
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I think you missed my point which was that we need the government to invest in low-cost public chargers rather than to make street charging possible.
 
I started this thread and have now been driving electric for over 5 years, had no issues whatsoever, started with a jaguar i pace and now onto a BYD seal Excellence. I was very unsure at first as I was coming from a Porsche but I actually enjoy driving electric more (0-62 in 3.8 seconds in the Seal). The range is no worry for me at all, I managed london and back from Sheffield for the final with just a 20 min stop to top up.
I admit it won't work at the moment for some if you can't charge at work or home, luckily I can do both.
 
Bill Walker said:
Does anyone have experience or knowledge of the Polestar brand ? I'm attracted to the them and thinking about buying one.
Are they well regarded in the UK?
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They’re Volvo’s “premium EV” offshoot, Made in China by Geely, which owns Volvo.

They are generally well-regarded, extremely comfortable, but their big negative has been glitchy UI. Depending on the model you’re looking for, and the year of manufacture, I would do my research on that specific model as the reviews of each model are quite different based on year.

Personally, I’d wait for the new Volvo EX60, unless you’re getting a smoking deal on a used Polestar.
 
Some closeup pictures of the ID.Polo

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