The all things EV chat thread

[harpo_72]

Tried the Renault E-scenic today. I liked it the drive was good relatively smooth road feedback and handling fine. Steering was okay weight and predictable.
I would say and this really surprised me, the tyre was obviously low RRC but they must have really chased it as the tyre lacked any isolation and transmitted everything in which the bushes dealt with except some high frequency stuff.. but this a common observation on all these cars.
The Renault was light years ahead of Q4 Etron.
Sadly my wife did not like the interior she found it perhaps a little too avantgard ( she said - but was suffering) but for me all okay. I would buy one of these I think it is a damn strong contender and good financial sense…
Next up Ariya and iX3 .. if I can fit in the time as we are in the backside of nowhere .. (Banbury!?! We should move I never liked this place especially when I was racing and testing in Silverstone)

By the way NCAP will be giving poor scores to OEM manufacturers that choose to put a multitude of functions on a screen .. this will impact on insurance costs etc … The button will return.. you cannot tell me how satisfying a good but is or a toggle switch.. nearly orgasmic

 

[PJ87]

Tried the Renault E-scenic today. I liked it the drive was good relatively smooth road feedback and handling fine. Steering was okay weight and predictable.
I would say and this really surprised me, the tyre was obviously low RRC but they must have really chased it as the tyre lacked any isolation and transmitted everything in which the bushes dealt with except some high frequency stuff.. but this a common observation on all these cars.
The Renault was light years ahead of Q4 Etron.
Sadly my wife did not like the interior she found it perhaps a little too avantgard ( she said - but was suffering) but for me all okay. I would buy one of these I think it is a damn strong contender and good financial sense…
Next up Ariya and iX3 .. if I can fit in the time as we are in the backside of nowhere .. (Banbury!?! We should move I never liked this place especially when I was racing and testing in Silverstone)

By the way NCAP will be giving poor scores to OEM manufacturers that choose to put a multitude of functions on a screen .. this will impact on insurance costs etc … The button will return.. you cannot tell me how satisfying a good but is or a toggle switch.. nearly orgasmic

Ah yes the tyre sizes! Car makers are obsessed with low profile (not very efficient) tyres that "look good" my niro for example has 17 inch wheels with thicker tyres. Not only are they cheaper to replace the ride is so much more comfortable than other cars .. we had with the Corsa My one had 17 inch ones and when we used to get the 16 inch wheels on the loan car when it was in the shop the ride quality improved no end.

But people just love the look of low profile . It's ridiculous really .. give me comfort anytime

 

[harpo_72]

Well I was looking at the tyre pressures on the Renault and to be honest the 20” is too much tyre it only needs 2.1/2.4 bar at low load and I think 2.6bar when you get your friends and luggage in.. reality is it should be 2.4-2.6 low load and 2.7-3.1 high load .. with a 2.7 eco pressure option for low load ..
but it was probably design who decided as they seem to control everything..

 

[harpo_72]

Just looking at 2nd hand nearly new iX3s, but the dealers they vary the apr on the pcps massively. One dealer is a at 3.5 some at 7.9 and other at 12.9 .. I am thinking perhaps this is a point to negotiate on ?

 

[PJ87]

Just looking at 2nd hand nearly new iX3s, but the dealers they vary the apr on the pcps massively. One dealer is a at 3.5 some at 7.9 and other at 12.9 .. I am thinking perhaps this is a point to negotiate on ?

This was the only reason I went new. The Apr was like 1% think it was but second hand they made it 7.9%! So seemed stupid to not go new as it worked out the same in the end

 

[harpo_72]

This was the only reason I went new. The Apr was like 1% think it was but second hand they made it 7.9%! So seemed stupid to not go new as it worked out the same in the end

Yup but in this case the deficit is £20k between new and used .. and if I play hard I may squeeze it a bit further

 

[harpo_72]

I have downloaded EV calculator and Zapmap .. are there any other recommendations?

 

[PJ87]

I have downloaded EV calculator and Zapmap .. are there any other recommendations?

Zapmap is the one to check your route and chargers

Electroverse is useful if you have octopus to get cheaper charging

Gridserve is useful

However zapmap is best as it groups it all together, what I will say is just plan your routes and make sure you have accounts for the chargers you plan to use

I try and use cards where possible just because it's easier.

Just learn what your limitations are on the car once you get it. Play around , don't be afraid to push it slightly see what you can get out of it

The BMW have good charge speeds by the looks but remember headline speed is just that. The chargers don't always offer that , they share with other chargers at the site and sometimes your car can only accept a slower speed due to physics etc

That was the theory behind Kia doing 80kwh charger on mine, it was a stable 80 rather than promising 350kwh and then sometimes being 100 sometimes 200 .. a solid 80 ..

Anything over 100 kWh charger is very good speed and plan for 30 min top ups then you won't be disappointed, by time you started to charge you walk away to get a coffee and a wee before you know it 30 mins is up. When we went away in may we parked 5 min walk from the hotel, by time we walked to the hotel and put the kids to bed the car was at 80% and I just moved it to the hotel car park (got to 90% by the time I got out the hotel and back to it anyways)

 

[harpo_72]

Who or which chargers should I avoid ?

 

[PJ87]

Who or which chargers should I avoid ?

I haven't charged enough away from home to build up a fair reflection on who's bad tbh

I've used instavolt, gridserve (twice) and another one I forget the name. All provided me with a charge at an ok price

 

[harpo_72]

I haven't charged enough away from home to build up a fair reflection on who's bad tbh

I've used instavolt, gridserve (twice) and another one I forget the name. All provided me with a charge at an ok price

I am hoping we have a similar experience we will have a very full battery on the drive and it’s only when I get to my brother or parents we may need to charge up.

 

[bobmac]

Who or which chargers should I avoid ?

The expensive ones lol.

I tend to use Tesco chargers (Podpoint) as you never seem to be far from a Tesco where I am and there's a choice of speeds available 7, 22 and 50kwh

 

[PJ87]

I am hoping we have a similar experience we will have a very full battery on the drive and it’s only when I get to my brother or parents we may need to charge up.

Main tip I'd give anyone is remember an EV is basically a computer. So if you get issues first thing to do is not panic and simply try on and off again.

Had a charger issue once it was charging at 4kw instead of 7kw..I have the luxury of trying in the other car to rule out a car issue. It remained so pressed reboot on charger then instantly was 7kw again

I've had 2 issues in 4 years with actual EV side of life (1 really when I explain) the one that was a proper issue was an intermediate failure of the onboard charger on the Corsa. Now that should have been a simple replacement but ofc vauxhall were terrible. Wouldn't agree with me for 3 months (the charge only failed a every sat 10 charge so just managed it) it didn't help their dealership changed staff every time I went in and we had to start from the begining. The part then took 3 months to arrive due to the chip shortage. I managed to kick up a fuss and keep their electric loan car.. that hurried them up as they only had one. (The failures would never stop straight away would always be around 80-90% so wasn't awful and it's not like I didn't have the car at the time so wasn't off the road, but Is one of the reasons I won't return to vauxhall for their awful knowledge of their own cars .. that and build quality I had a long list)

The other was this year with the home charger I had overvoltage, it would shut down the charger for a few mins then boot back up. Tbh it didn't effect me at all as all happened overnight and always woke up to what I asked for (charge wise) the Dno took 3 months to adjust the levels and now it's fine..also since this ohme (My charger) have remotely adjusted my charger so if it happens again it won't kick my charger off they pushed the tolerance higher

Their not for everyone , which is fine but they are great for so many. We love ours. The wife loves her Kona and i really find my Kia comfortable and relaxing so after a long drive I feel very refreshed and relaxed

I was pointing EV 9s out to her on our travels for when the kids are older .. don't think she was impressed with going back to a big big car lol

 

[3 jabber]

I'm having second thoughts now about changing to an EV. Yesterday I came across a guy on YouTube that delivers cars. Some of his EV ones are very disappointing showing real world range, charging problems etc. Quite an eye opener. If you want to check him out his channel is called Electric Car-Nage.

 

[PNWokingham]

2028 for solid state at Nissan hopefully - Toyota also around this point. Hopefully it will turbo charge the appeal and quality of electric cars and get weight down much closer to ICE cars

Electric Nissan GT-R primed for solid-state battery tech | Autocar

Nissan sports car tipped to be first EV to use new battery tech in 2028

www.autocar.co.uk

 

[Mudball]

I don’t doubt the South Korean technology for batteries but this Kia we have on the drive at the moment is abysmal. It’s been a real disappointment and unexpectedly so.
I did test a Hyundai hybrid and it just could not decide which power source it wanted to use. I hadn’t mentioned this to anyone but my wife, but a friend echoed the sentiment the other night. I will check the Hyundai electric options as blending of ice&ev is very hard.

I would have been all over Tesla if the updated 3 had not had the lever for drive removed and added to the iPad screen. That to me is a disaster waiting to happen.

As for the mainstream cars burying their heads in the sand, yes possibly but remember the automotive industry is very much governed by safety and implementation of electric needs to be done safely.
At JLR the factories they had could not take the assembly weights of the chassis battery and body when married. So that’s why they are built in Europe. Also the battery was sourced at 30k units a year which was pointless they should have sourced more and had Land Rover, Range Rover and Jaguar products off the skate board… but the management are pretty useless at JLR.

I went thru the same thinking.. called me old fashioned, but i struggled without any buttons.

 

[bobmac]

I'm having second thoughts now about changing to an EV. Yesterday I came across a guy on YouTube that delivers cars. Some of his EV ones are very disappointing showing real world range, charging problems etc. Quite an eye opener. If you want to check him out his channel is called Electric Car-Nage.

I don't know where to start with that video about the Vauxhall van, absolute nonsense

 

[BubbaP]

Some random musings .....
Makes sense to chat on here about the apparent keenness for the manufactures to 'bolt computer tablets' onto the dash & removing useful buttons, but this isn't exclusively an EV thing is it? Loads of ICE cars have them now.

And on the an oft favourite topic of the evolution of language, my understanding is that the EV battery charger is located within the car itself - the items that are increasingly being referred to as 'chargers' are more handshake & safety devices for controlling the flow of electricity. (Acknowledging some new fast charging stations may blur the lines a bit).
Kind of reminds me of when Game Golf was big, and "tagging before a shot" became common usage, rather than perhaps "registering" - the tagging being done as a once off on the clubs.

 

[harpo_72]

Drove the Enyaq 85 coupe. I liked this far more controlled than Audi even with big wheels (21”) . The layout inside was good, some proper buttons but a lot on the screen. The seats were comfortable and the drive was nice.
I asked if they had a few cars in the system but the options we like were unique. But they added heated seats all round and a few other bits. So we would have to wait 16 weeks to get the car.
The demonstrator was nice so i asked about that but the APR jumps from 0% to 11.3% .. apparently this is set by Skoda head office .. so I guess they will keep that car then

 

[PJ87]

Drove the Enyaq 85 coupe. I liked this far more controlled than Audi even with big wheels (21”) . The layout inside was good, some proper buttons but a lot on the screen. The seats were comfortable and the drive was nice.
I asked if they had a few cars in the system but the options we like were unique. But they added heated seats all round and a few other bits. So we would have to wait 16 weeks to get the car.
The demonstrator was nice so i asked about that but the APR jumps from 0% to 11.3% .. apparently this is set by Skoda head office .. so I guess they will keep that car then

Did you order it? Heat pump or no heat pump?

The Skoda make very very good cars.audi try to live on their rep