EV general discussion

Homer-Simpson said:
Have you taken delivery yet? If so, what are your thoughts about it. Really interested to hear from other UK owners and anything they would suggest for someone new to EVs.
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Yes, I've had it three weeks now.

I've gone from a 9 year old A45 AMG to the Ioniq 5N, so its quite a bit different. It handles well, but you can feel the extra weight, especially under braking. It also feels very big compare to the A45. I've found it gets around 190 miles to a charge, so about 20% under the official figure, but it has been pretty cold aswell. The power delivery is instant and brutal as you'd expect but even with your foot to the floor the traction is excellent.

Biggest annoyances to me are the driver "aids". Lane assist and speed limit warning are on by default and will drive you mad. They also cannot be turned off permanently and must be disabled on each trip. :rolleyes: 1mph over and its beeping at you and it will often try to steer you back into your lane when you don't want it to. On country roads it is infuriating.

Perhaps the thing most different when new to EVs is the regen braking. Its like engine braking in an ICE but slightly more (but can be adjusted). I wish it didn't put on your brake lights when it does it. As soon as you ease off the pedal, on they go! Now I understand what's going on with those people who "brake" all of the time in front of you. :p
 
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Brake lights will come on as you are slowing down. Do you want to get rear ended ? Active cruise stops that being a problem anyway
 
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gailjon said:
Of course, it is the 'right tool for the job' if emissions and health of us and our children are removed from the equation. It was not just VW that borked diesels, it was all the manufacturers. There is no doubt that diesels are worse for the environment in terms of particulates than any petrol and so the tax man is right, in my opinion, to get the highest distance drivers into EVs as quickly as possible.
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Is that really the case though? I thought the addition of DPFs, SCR etc. meant that the later diesels were actually very clean compared to pre-GPF fitted petrols?

Extremely unscientific but the exhaust on my Leon is a black sooty mess. That must be from carbon particles and I don't think there is any question over early direct injection VAG engines having issues with incomplete combustion. Coupled with circa 10 - 15 mpg less on average, is it really an improvement over a modern diesel.

Likewise if/when I end up in the PHEV it will have about a 35 mile electric range, my average work trip is around 10 times that distance and from 35 miles in I'll be doing up to 10 mpg LESS than my current car. Localised emissions should be better which is definitely a good thing but bigger picture the question remains, is this better? It will certainly save me a shed load of tax but at what real cost emissions wise?

On your final point, in this thread EV owners state that if you need to charge publicly more than '4 or 5 times a year' then an EV isn't for you. Not all high mileage users end up back at home every night.

Many people will be swayed to EVs via BIK incentives and let's face it, that is a necessary kick start to EV adoption before the option is removed from new car buyers.
 
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lordrobs said:
Likewise if/when I end up in the PHEV it will have about a 35 mile electric range, my average work trip is around 10 times that distance and from 35 miles in I'll be doing up to 10 mpg LESS than my current car. Localised emissions should be better which is definitely a good thing but bigger picture the question remains, is this better? It will certainly save me a shed load of tax but at what real cost emissions wise?
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in which case that would be a really poor choice of hybrid car for you, if you are happy to have a 15 min wee / coffee stop at a service station then a long range tesla model 3 for instance would be a far better fit.

it wont help you but my view is that now adays all plug in hybrids should offer at least a real world dependable 50 mile range minumum - ideally more (ours does around 120 miles in summer and around 90 miles in winter)

i also do not think a PHEV with such low EV miles should offer any tax breaks for people..... its too easy to make them worse than just having a decent economy petrol.
 
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Jonnycoupe said:
Read like an opinion to me. What point were you trying to make?

Did you literally just Google 'best eco speed' or something? Jesus what a gopher.

Also did you ever considering driving to Weston Super Mare might be down hill from where you live, you know, cos its a seaside town.
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you do know that if your driving south it doesn't mean you're driving down hill.
You will have also noted the "downhill" drive to weston had a worse mpg. Surely the descent should have helped my mpg beat the "uphill" return

The point? That driving at 70 uses more energy than driving at 56, yet some seem to think they are immune to the laws of physics.


Jesus what a gopher.
 
Im very confused. Fact became personal experience then a reference to breaking thermodynamics.

EVs are typically more efficient at 40-45. You are using a ICE to proof a EV point which is odd

I wanna go to a seaside which is uphill too. Everyone drives down to the seaside, even if you are going north. We don’t live in Netherlands
 
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m4rmite said:
you do know that if your driving south it doesn't mean you're driving down hill.
You will have also noted the "downhill" drive to weston had a worse mpg. Surely the descent should have helped my mpg beat the "uphill" return
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Exactly opinions and not the fact you suggested. I based the downhill as its Weston Super Mare, i didnt even know where there start was therefore the assumption you thought I was suggesting driving south was yet more opinion and not fact. Proper opened yourself up here for some correction when you have an opening gambit like that.
 
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dave_beast said:
I like to be in and out of a petrol station in under 5 minutes. The current (see what I did there?) state of recharging is far too long, even at rapid charging sites to be practical.
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Wrong mindset. Charging is even faster, takes me about 15sec to plug in and 5 to unplug whilst my car is sat at work.

Getting fuel in my ICE is a tedious experience now
 
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With the ID 7 on the way, I want to become a bit more educated about the BEV ecosystem. Mainly, charging.


The last time I had my mums Q4 Etron for a couple of weeks, public charging was, for me, a nightmare.


I'm not intending for this to be a rant, but here are some of the challenges I would like to avoid if possible:

  • High cost of public charging - I was paying upwards of 80p per kWh in some places. Easiest way to find cheaper chargers?
  • Payment method - I detest signing up to multiple different apps (some of which don't work properly) to charge a car. Is there a single app or card I can use which gives me access to a majority of charging brands?
  • Charger reliability - when I did find chargers, I found that it wasn't uncommon for them to be full/out of order. Is there an easy way to check this in advance?



I don't foresee that I'll use public chargers a lot, but it will happen and I don't want it to be a huge hassle like it has been in the past.
 
MEB. If you have octopus just get Electroverse and the plug and charge license installed in the car then you can just plug into an ionity and walk off. Don’t need anything else and it’s the only fast chargers I use (when I stop for top up just to get to destination).
 
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lordrobs said:
Likewise if/when I end up in the PHEV it will have about a 35 mile electric range, my average work trip is around 10 times that distance and from 35 miles in I'll be doing up to 10 mpg LESS than my current car. Localised emissions should be better which is definitely a good thing but bigger picture the question remains, is this better? It will certainly save me a shed load of tax but at what real cost emissions wise?
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Compl;etely agree with th you as regards the PHEV issue. I replaced a 2019 50tdi Q7 with a new 2021 Sorento PHEV and , for me, it was a great move. I did mainly shorter journeys that saw my electric use being around 70% of my driving, despite doing 10-12k a year. On the longer journeys that we did the fuel economy hit around 35 mpg which was pretty poor despite it being in hybrid mode.

My present Q4 is full electric and is completely diferent - long journeys or short see it being all electric and we can do around 225 miles at motorway speeds. As the ranges get longer then evs will easily trump PHEVs.
 
bigmike20vt said:
in which case that would be a really poor choice of hybrid car for you, if you are happy to have a 15 min wee / coffee stop at a service station then a long range tesla model 3 for instance would be a far better fit.

it wont help you but my view is that now adays all plug in hybrids should offer at least a real world dependable 50 mile range minumum - ideally more (ours does around 120 miles in summer and around 90 miles in winter)

i also do not think a PHEV with single digit EV miles should offer any tax breaks for people..... its too easy to make them worse than just having a decent economy petrol.
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Tesla Model 3 would be pointless for me due to the load space but I agree with your point. Ultimately I was asked to look into PHEVs, I put forward two PHEV options and six EVs that fit the price and space criteria. The company decided to pursue one of the PHEVs.

I wasn't given an official reason why we didn't go EV but the general concerns seem to be around destination charging because all three of us with company cars spend a fair few nights in hotels. EV would have been a very good look for our company for a few reasons but there we are. If they had been up for the EV route there would also have to have been a conversation about reworking how we do mileage expenses because I wouldn't have wanted to be living off rapid chargers at 7ppm.

I accept that I'm "edge case" but unfortunately I had to double compromise by going SUV because I need to drop the boot floor in my estate and you can't do that on the PHEV versions.

I agree regarding the taxation rules to a degree. Unfortunately my car replacement came up about 18 months too early to pick up one of the pending VAG options to hit the nearly new market.
 
MrRockliffe said:
With the ID 7 on the way, I want to become a bit more educated about the BEV ecosystem. Mainly, charging.


The last time I had my mums Q4 Etron for a couple of weeks, public charging was, for me, a nightmare.


I'm not intending for this to be a rant, but here are some of the challenges I would like to avoid if possible:

  • High cost of public charging - I was paying upwards of 80p per kWh in some places. Easiest way to find cheaper chargers?
  • Payment method - I detest signing up to multiple different apps (some of which don't work properly) to charge a car. Is there a single app or card I can use which gives me access to a majority of charging brands?
  • Charger reliability - when I did find chargers, I found that it wasn't uncommon for them to be full/out of order. Is there an easy way to check this in advance?



I don't foresee that I'll use public chargers a lot, but it will happen and I don't want it to be a huge hassle like it has been in the past.
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Ive done 1300 trouble free miles so far in mine, ive looked for the open Tesla chargers, they seem to be cheaper than most and nice and fast. Electroverse car is pretty useful. Try and hunt out sites along your route where there are likely to be a fair few chargers, rather than the odd charger at a petrol station. The ID7 has pretty decent routing built in. I was going to pay for ABRP for accurate charging stop info, but the inbuilt nav is just as good.

Zapmap is a good app to have for checking chargers, abrp is good for route planning.
 
gailjon said:
Compl;etely agree with th you as regards the PHEV issue. I replaced a 2019 50tdi Q7 with a new 2021 Sorento PHEV and , for me, it was a great move. I did mainly shorter journeys that saw my electric use being around 70% of my driving, despite doing 10-12k a year. On the longer journeys that we did the fuel economy hit around 35 mpg which was pretty poor despite it being in hybrid mode.

My present Q4 is full electric and is completely diferent - long journeys or short see it being all electric and we can do around 225 miles at motorway speeds. As the ranges get longer then evs will easily trump PHEVs.
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I'm looking to get a Sportage but I'm hearing similar stories regarding long distance economy (high 30's mpg).

This is what I'm saying with regards to the BIK incentives. It may well be that the most cost effective way for me to run the polar bear saving PHEV that saves my bum from abuse by the taxman is to simply never charge it, run it at around 38mpg and pay back private mileage at a fixed 16p. Cost savings versus my nearly 50 mpg Leon? About £1400 a year. Madness.
 
Don't you EV owners get sick and tired of the BS ICE owners come out with :)
This morning I'm plugging in and next door but one neighbours walk past.

Neighbours : Didn't know you were into Save The Planet
Me : I'm not, I couldn't give a stuff about the Planet
Neighbours : So why have you bought that?
Me : because at our time in life and how much we drive we were after a new car and cheap fuel etc etc
Neighbours : How much has that cost about £50,000?
Me : It's less than a year old and cost £19,000, we were looking around £20,000 for a new ICE car anyway but opted for this
Neighbours : You won't be happy when you're paying £30,000 for a new battery in 5 years
Me : It's got an 8 year warranty and with battery management and only charging to 80% it should last for many years.
Neighbours : I don't like how quiet they are
Me : How many cars have passed you while talking to me?
Neighbours : None
Me : Five :)
Neighbours : So what's this low fuel cost?
Me : Your 4x4 will cost at least 20p a mile, I'm plugging in and it will charge at 7p a Kw which works out at less than 2p a mile for this car and my driving style.
Neighbours : You should only be allowed to charge from renewable energy and other Save The Planet type sources
Me : I'm with Octopus, go and look them up but like I say I don't give a toss about the Planet :)
Neighbours : You won't be happy when you're stuck on a motorway and it's freezing and the battery drops to 0% very quickly
Me : Chances are that will never happen however you are reading myths
Neighbours : Well they only do about 100 miles
Me : This does 289 give or take

There was more and they nearly came out with every EV Bingo Card quote :)
 
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