Electric car time

[Chewbacca]

1970 Plymouth Barracuda and a bus pass for me

 

[HalfTimeSayers]

The range thing looks frightening at first, but you soon get used to the fact that when you are stationary, you should be charging if on a long treck like hols or weekend away. So loo breaks and food stops. Day to day it’s not an issue.

Most McDonalds have the fast Instavolt chargers which will pretty much get you back to full (or 80% which is recommended for the battery life unless you really need the extra 20%).

I recently got a fully loaded iX1 through work (not bought, it’s a no brainier with bugger all company car tax, I wasn’t quite ready to go EV, but it’s been fine). It’s a great thing on paper with great gadgets, but I hate it because the driving position is awful. Pedals offset to the right, seat base angles to point to them, but the steering column is set to the right of the driver and slightly angled towards the door. It’s madness and causes no end of neck, back and shoulder issues, and is so annoying that the middle of the wheel does not line up with the middle of the cockpit display. WTF would you do that. Suspect a lazy conversion from the LHD versions without redesigning some of these parts.

Morale of the story is really try and test before you commit, or have a very good poke around in one. There is so much packaging going on with the drivetrain and batteries, some ergonomic things can be compromised. EVs tend to try and balance sound insulation/quality with weight saving. I’ve borrowed a £140K iX and it was like a 80’s Escort in terms of rattles round the frameless door glass. Very creaky too. Personally I think Teslas are really bad for this, and still have panel gap differences round the car, BUT I’d still have one. They do what they do well and I’m a sucker for raw pace.

We’ve started to offer Octopus at work and very few people have taken it up. You get the free charger etc but the final “cost” they quote and the supposed savings over high street prices are quoted AFTER the tax saving (the gross amount they take is larger-they are quoting the net impact on payslip), which is totally fine, but I think a little misleading as some people thought those savings were on top.

Lots of waffle there sorry. But the range thing is a non issue once your planning mindset changes. The chargers are everywhere, and I find they are less often out of order when you get to one. When in doubt, you are rarely more than 10 miles from a McDonalds as a last resort.

 

[Cool_Blue]

https://www.mg.co.uk/new-cars/mg4-ev-xpower

All-New MG4 EV XPOWER is the first of the next generation of high-performance hatchbacks. Its 64kWh battery produces a maximum power of 435PS (320kW) accelerating from 0 - 62 mph in 3.8 seconds.
MG4 EV XPOWER also introduces a brand-new all-wheel drive system, as well as enhanced brakes and launch control.

0-62mph in 3.8 seconds? Here in Wales, Drakeford’s got us all driving round at 20mph from next month lol

 

[chrismpw]

Assume about ¾ of the quoted range on a charge in the summer and about ½ in cold weather. How they get away with their claims us beyond me. They measure in ideal conditions going around an oval track without starting or stopping it seems. No government clamps down on the lies because it goes against sales and therefore economic growth. As if they were there fir the benefit of the electorate anyway.

I've had experience of a Tesla model 3. Absolutely brilliant car to drive, horrible to operate. Eg. To work the windscreen wipers you have yo go to a menu on the screen. There's automation and voice control but it's rubbish. Get a car with actual switched!

 

[random]

Worked at dealerships with Renault, Citroen, Peugeot & MG. You would have more fun watching Everton than having one of those.

Having driven a lot of BMW EV’s, if at all possible try and get one of those, very decent vehicles.

 

[Noisy noise annoys]

The range thing looks frightening at first, but you soon get used to the fact that when you are stationary, you should be charging if on a long treck like hols or weekend away. So loo breaks and food stops. Day to day it’s not an issue.

Most McDonalds have the fast Instavolt chargers which will pretty much get you back to full (or 80% which is recommended for the battery life unless you really need the extra 20%).

I recently got a fully loaded iX1 through work (not bought, it’s a no brainier with bugger all company car tax, I wasn’t quite ready to go EV, but it’s been fine). It’s a great thing on paper with great gadgets, but I hate it because the driving position is awful. Pedals offset to the right, seat base angles to point to them, but the steering column is set to the right of the driver and slightly angled towards the door. It’s madness and causes no end of neck, back and shoulder issues, and is so annoying that the middle of the wheel does not line up with the middle of the cockpit display. WTF would you do that. Suspect a lazy conversion from the LHD versions without redesigning some of these parts.

Morale of the story is really try and test before you commit, or have a very good poke around in one. There is so much packaging going on with the drivetrain and batteries, some ergonomic things can be compromised. EVs tend to try and balance sound insulation/quality with weight saving. I’ve borrowed a £140K iX and it was like a 80’s Escort in terms of rattles round the frameless door glass. Very creaky too. Personally I think Teslas are really bad for this, and still have panel gap differences round the car, BUT I’d still have one. They do what they do well and I’m a sucker for raw pace.

We’ve started to offer Octopus at work and very few people have taken it up. You get the free charger etc but the final “cost” they quote and the supposed savings over high street prices are quoted AFTER the tax saving (the gross amount they take is larger-they are quoting the net impact on payslip), which is totally fine, but I think a little misleading as some people thought those savings were on top.

Lots of waffle there sorry. But the range thing is a non issue once your planning mindset changes. The chargers are everywhere, and I find they are less often out of order when you get to one. When in doubt, you are rarely more than 10 miles from a McDonalds as a last resort.

Very helpful, thank you. In shock at the weird seating angles you have - I mean that is basic stuff surely?!

 

[Noisy noise annoys]

Assume about ¾ of the quoted range on a charge in the summer and about ½ in cold weather. How they get away with their claims us beyond me. They measure in ideal conditions going around an oval track without starting or stopping it seems. No government clamps down on the lies because it goes against sales and therefore economic growth. As if they were there fir the benefit of the electorate anyway.

I've had experience of a Tesla model 3. Absolutely brilliant car to drive, horrible to operate. Eg. To work the windscreen wipers you have yo go to a menu on the screen. There's automation and voice control but it's rubbish. Get a car with actual switched!

This could break me

 

[Noisy noise annoys]

Worked at dealerships with Renault, Citroen, Peugeot & MG. You would have more fun watching Everton than having one of those.

Having driven a lot of BMW EV’s, if at all possible try and get one of those, very decent vehicles.

Yeh, there are certain makes I just cannot get on with due to past experiences.

 

[Yarrgh]

Would make sense.
She only really drives to work or friends/dogging sites etc.

The problem with taking an electric car dogging is that no one will hear you coming.

 

[Rita_Poon]

The problem with taking an electric car dogging is that no one will hear you coming.

Get to recharge and go again?

 

[Gwladys St. Glory]