When are you going fully electric?

Soldato
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With WBAC offering an obscene amount for my car (about £4,500 over my remaining finance) I'm thinking of downsizing a little and moving to a Corsa-e or e-208 on lease in the next couple of weeks depending on what places have got in stock. I'll make money, drop monthly payments, and have much cheaper "fuel", at least for now.

Not really small but a good bargain car that is in stock, is the new larger battery MG MG5 SW, you can get one for 4 years on PCH for a little over £12k, so only £3k per year, and with a 220-250 mile range and a pretty big boot etc. the y are very practical cars.
 
Soldato
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There maybe a pipe network in place for gas but it would be a Stretch to think its up to the task of handling hydrogen.

https://networks.online/gas/could-hydrogen-piggyback-on-natural-gas-infrastructure/.

Just think about safety as well in your house.
Methane will hit the LEL at 4.4% if 100%methane, 5% at its current 95%ish concentrate and is at rush of exploding.
At >15% it won't explode, until you open a door to let oxygen in.

Hydrogen will explode all the way up to 100% in the event of a leak, big boom.

Whatever gets chosen, let's hope it's a safe and cleaner option than what we have now.
National Grid who own the NTS pipe network have tested the theory and it works. They now have a project setup (FutureGrid) and are building a dedicated hydrogen testing facility to further develop the idea.
Blends of hydrogen up to 100% will be tested at the high pressures found in the existing network, to assess how the gas behaves and interacts with different parts of the system, such as pipes, valves and gas meters.

https://www.nationalgrid.com/uk/gas...innovation/transmission-innovation/futuregrid

The article you linked to is dated 2016 !
 
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Soldato
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Not really small but a good bargain car that is in stock, is the new larger battery MG MG5 SW, you can get one for 4 years on PCH for a little over £12k, so only £3k per year, and with a 220-250 mile range and a pretty big boot etc. the y are very practical cars.

Yea I'd love to get another estate (Focus estate currently) but even the top spec misses out on a couple of features I consider *must haves* in my next car, not to mention frequent complaints about how awful the halogen headlights are - current car has xenons and I've driven a couple of cars with good LED headlights and I'd not go back now. There's a facelift due next year which improves the situation a bit with new LED headlights, but we'll see.
 
Soldato
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Yea I'd love to get another estate (Focus estate currently) but even the top spec misses out on a couple of features I consider *must haves* in my next car, not to mention frequent complaints about how awful the halogen headlights are - current car has xenons and I've driven a couple of cars with good LED headlights and I'd not go back now. There's a facelift due next year which improves the situation a bit with new LED headlights, but we'll see.

I would expect compromise at the price though, £3k per year is a bargain and the fuel saving alone would make a big dent in that cost also. What are you must have features btw?
 
Soldato
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I would expect compromise at the price though, £3k per year is a bargain and the fuel saving alone would make a big dent in that cost also. What are you must have features btw?
* Heated seats and steering wheel
* Adaptive cruise (with lane assist if possible)
* LED headlights
* Climate control
* Quality audio (which means including a subwoofer)

While a few of these are pretty common, I want a car that has them all. I test drove a couple of EVs this weekend, a Kona and an e208. Very impressed, really liked driving an EV. Kona wins on meeting spec and a couple of leasing companies showing them "in stock" in the trim I want, but I'll give them a call tomorrow and see how exactly "in stock" they are :D


Those with leasing experience, do you typically need to pay the initial amount to secure the car? My initial payment was going to come from the equity on my current car after selling to WBAC, but if I need to the full amount to secure the car I might need to pull a favour from a friend or family member!
 
Soldato
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Those with leasing experience, do you typically need to pay the initial amount to secure the car? My initial payment was going to come from the equity on my current car after selling to WBAC, but if I need to the full amount to secure the car I might need to pull a favour from a friend or family member!


First payment is made after the first full month of having it.
 
Soldato
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While a few of these are pretty common, I want a car that has them all. I test drove a couple of EVs this weekend, a Kona and an e208. Very impressed, really liked driving an EV. Kona wins on meeting spec and a couple of leasing companies showing them "in stock" in the trim I want, but I'll give them a call tomorrow and see how exactly "in stock" they are :D

Thought the LR MG5 had quite a lot of your list? Will need to recheck, since things like ACC, and heated seats etc. As I am sure they were added, maybe it's the ZS I'm thinking of.
 
Soldato
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First payment is made after the first full month of having it.

Ah perfect, plenty of time to sell my car on then.

Thought the LR MG5 had quite a lot of your list? Will need to recheck, since things like ACC, and heated seats etc. As I am sure they were added, maybe it's the ZS I'm thinking of.

Yea, ZS already has adaptive cruise and a couple of other bits, with a spec "catch up" rumoured to come to the MG5 with the facelift. I've been nads-deep in specs of so many EVs this weekend though I could be wrong. I know it doesn't have premium stereo, LED headlights, ACC yet though.
 
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I was looking up some hydrogen for cars data and was surprised its not as non emissions as people think, at least not necessarily.

I will try to find the video I was watching, its a great series by a guy who does a lot of this sort of thing.

So even "green" hydrogen isn't green if its used for direct combustion. This was the shocker for me, everything I had heard before talks about it being just water coming out of the exhaust, when in reality its far from that. (Dont get me wrong its far from the levels of traditional ICE, but its got some of the same emissions that ICE do that I think its going to be hard to get people to accept are fine in the future). Which means the alternative use, as a fuel cell would be the option for cars, which means basically its a battery replacement so still an EV, just a fuel cell Ev and not a battery cell EV. I suspect some of the petrol heads woudlnt be happy with this, seeing direct combustion hydrogen as a poor alternative but better than battery EV.

People also complain about Ev range should seriously check the video for the range of a hydrogen direct combustion vehicle. Tip, fox would not be happy ;)


Found it :)

 
Soldato
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If you have a cup a coffee and then have a wee, is that the only emission? No cos the coffee is farmed, transported and milled ready for consumption. Same thing with hydrogen really.

I still love the “most abundant element in the universe” term used by hydrogen champions with zero understanding of where it is.
 
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Soldato
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yes - hydrogen future is exclusively fuel cells - and the range is just like ICE, it will be the car for the outback.
Rollsroyce ev aircraft record set over past week top speed - strangely doesn't seem to be hydrogen variant.


Yea I'd love to get another estate (Focus estate currently)
latest one, with that AM grill is really pretty - front&back, see blue one most days

lr mg5 - are we getting all the eu mg5 updates, yet, in the uk ?
they had updated the mg eu estate too - but I wasn't sure if we already have that in the uk
is the id3 a significant step up in cash

---

Pan roof option cost on polestar 2 :
Not sure I see the appeal of a fully panoramic roof in the UK, whilst they are useful to offset B/C pillar size & get light in the back for passengers , with the grey uk weather and rain, do they feel cozy, is there more rain noise, or lost insulation too;
for model3 I can see they are weight innovation, maintaining structure strength.
 
Soldato
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The weather in the U.K. isn’t that bad :p, it’s more about the light. Dark headliners make the backs of cars quite dark and dingy places.

It’s never been about weight, glass is heavier than steal. It’s all about increasing the light and making the place feel more open.

Isn’t the U.K. the convertible capital of Europe?
 
Soldato
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Can someone tell me if the new Prius plug in comes with a solar roof option? I can’t seem to find an option to select via Toyota online.

I have seen a couple of 2018+ cars for sale with the option so I’m not sure?
 
Soldato
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It’s never been about weight, glass is heavier than steal. It’s all about increasing the light and making the place feel more open.

Totally, it is the biggest thing I miss on the Ioniq vs the Merc, the extra light was really nice, although hit is mitigated somewhat by the much lighter interior, and more spacious cabin it being a large hatch vs. a coupe. Whatever the next car is, if there is a pano option I'll probably take it, but looking at thte current market I think I'll keep the Ioniq for a good while yet.
 
Soldato
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Totally, it is the biggest thing I miss on the Ioniq vs the Merc, the extra light was really nice, although hit is mitigated somewhat by the much lighter interior, and more spacious cabin it being a large hatch vs. a coupe. Whatever the next car is, if there is a pano option I'll probably take it, but looking at thte current market I think I'll keep the Ioniq for a good while yet.
I've got a Pano glass roof on my Polestar. As a driver I don't benefit from it much, it's more for my son when he's sitting in the back and he's pointing out the moon, a plane or fireworks as we drive along.
It's also a talking point for people who haven't seen one before and the Polestar logo light projected onto it is a nice touch.
 
Man of Honour
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I've got a Pano glass roof on my Polestar. As a driver I don't benefit from it much

What?

Surely you benefit from the much nicer feel in the cabin with all that extra light. I have in every car with a panoramic roof I've ever driven. They are really nice.
 
Man of Honour
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Not sure I see the appeal of a fully panoramic roof in the UK, whilst they are useful to offset B/C pillar size & get light in the back for passengers , with the grey uk weather and rain

Even more reason to have one, in a hot country you're less likely to have the blind open to try and stop the solar gain...
 
Associate
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I was looking up some hydrogen for cars data and was surprised its not as non emissions as people think, at least not necessarily.




Found it :)


Really good video, that bloke is normally spot on with his research and maths.

Don't know if I'd be too keen on having an aging hydrogen car with the potential for corroding to the 10k PSI fuel tanks.

Makes me wonder why companies like Toyota are spending so much on R&D when much more efficient EV technology exists and with further advances in battery and charging tech may be a better place to invest their research.
 
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