EV general discussion

[CaptainRAVE]

Which car did you go for?

I was looking at a Hyundai Ioniq 5 (i know it looks a bit marmite) due to good used manufacturer approved pricing. You can pick them up for like 18K.

But then I read their reliability is not very good in a couple of places, at least vs say a Kia EV6 which then put me off.

What also liked about the Hyundai is i have a official service center very close to me which is a big bonus as I hate having to drive my car now 45 minutes and then making my way back if the car needs to stay there for a couple of days fir example.

What's people's in here thoughts about the car Ioniq 5 excluding how it looks?

A Mini Cooper Works. It’s an unusual car for me, but I love it. I was pretty anti EV too, but once my wife switched I was genuinely impressed by how far they have come.

Our new EV charger worked like a charm last night. Topped up the charge in less than 2 hours

 

[TNA]

Obviously highly dependent on manufacturer, but EV is an inherently more reliable technology than ICE. Far few moving parts and much less maintenance required. Running costs are far lower - providing you have home charging.

Will get home charging installed once I get one for sure and the charging it at 7 pence per kWh over night.

Will probably get one next year.

A Mini Cooper Works. It’s an unusual car for me, but I love it. I was pretty anti EV too, but once my wife switched I was genuinely impressed by how far they have come.

Our new EV charger worked like a charm last night. Topped up the charge in less than 2 hours

Nice

I am looking for a larger family car. SUV more than likely with bootspace of at least 500L.

The Kia EV9 would be great, but the price tag for a Kia is a bit silly

 

[Journey]

I was looking at a Hyundai Ioniq 5 (i know it looks a bit marmite) due to good used manufacturer approved pricing. You can pick them up for like 18K.

But then I read their reliability is not very good in a couple of places, at least vs say a Kia EV6 which then put me off.

What are the things you have been told are not reliable. I mean if you are talking 12v battery etc. things like that are now long historic and fixed in software, but if you are talking general reliability they are as good as you are going to get.
It's one of the better cars for DC ultra rapid charging as well, in optimal conditions it'll charge for 10-60 in less than 12 minutes, it also doesn't seem to suffer bad degradation on the pack.

There are so many good EV choices now, it is a big task to go through them all.

 

[Demon]

Which car did you go for?

I was looking at a Hyundai Ioniq 5 (i know it looks a bit marmite) due to good used manufacturer approved pricing. You can pick them up for like 18K.

But then I read their reliability is not very good in a couple of places, at least vs say a Kia EV6 which then put me off.

What also liked about the Hyundai is i have a official service center very close to me which is a big bonus as I hate having to drive my car now 45 minutes and then making my way back if the car needs to stay there for a couple of days fir example.

What's people's in here thoughts about the car Ioniq 5 excluding how it looks?

I love how the Ioniq 5 looks and test drove one the weekend they were available in the UK, the only thing that put me off was at the time was simply terrible finance rates making it just not remotely justifiable.

In terms of reliability, its the same eGMP architecture as the EV6, so not sure what major reliability concerns exist, all the issues I see are age old Kia issues of not managing the 12v battery properly, but other than that, I know people with them, and the Ioniq 6's that love them and have had trouble free motoring..

Also, https://www.whatcar.com/hyundai/ioniq-5/hatchback/used-review/n25615/reliability

 

[Jonnycoupe]

The ICCU also appears to be a hot spot for failures on e_GMP used by the ioniq 5

 

[Penfold101]

How does ev car reliability compare to ice cars? Cheaper to run? Less time in garage?

I’ve had my Polestar 2 for coming up two years, and haven’t had any EV specific issues. It’s essentially a Volvo and shares a huge amount of components with the rest of their models.

It did have to go back for a few airbag related issues (wiring looks replaced) and a faulty high voltage heater (hundreds on back order while they designed a new part as it was used widely on many models) but from an EV specific view I’ve had no problems with the battery or motor.

Depending on how you drive it you may find you go through tyres a bit quicker but probably not enough compared to an ICE that you’d really notice. Servicing costs are minimal as the only throng they change on mine is the pollen filter. Brakes will probably outlast the car itself as it uses regen braking 99% of the time.

YMMV…

 

[Mr Jack]

Will get home charging installed once I get one for sure and the charging it at 7 pence per kWh over night.

We get by fine with charging off a plug, and still get the cheaper rates from Octopus. YMMV.

 

[lordrobs]

I’ve had my Polestar 2 for coming up two years, and haven’t had any EV specific issues. It’s essentially a Volvo and shares a huge amount of components with the rest of their models.

It did have to go back for a few airbag related issues (wiring looks replaced) and a faulty high voltage heater (hundreds on back order while they designed a new part as it was used widely on many models) but from an EV specific view I’ve had no problems with the battery or motor.

I think this is the key point. An EV is likely on average to be no more or less reliable than any equivalent ICE car because it is rare that it is anything drivetrain related that fails on any car irrespective of the fuel type.

 

[Mr Jack]

I think this is the key point. An EV is likely on average to be no more or less reliable than any equivalent ICE car because it is rare that it is anything drivetrain related that fails on any car irrespective of the fuel type.

Good point. True for newer cars, certainly.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

The one failure I’ve had in 3.5 years is the electric release for the locking pin for the charge port/cable which wouldn’t unlock. There is a manual release so I never got stuck either.

It took less than an hour to replace the offending component.

 

[TNA]

The one failure I’ve had in 3.5 years is the electric release for the locking pin for the charge port/cable which wouldn’t unlock. There is a manual release so I never got stuck either.

It took less than an hour to replace the offending component.

Which vehicle do you have?

 

[DarrenM343]

A lot less mechanically to go wrong, hardly anything that needs servicing, I’ve gone from £140 a month on petrol to £8 of electricity. I’ve honestly not looked back.

EV reliability due to fewer moving parts is a bit of a myth IMO. ICE parts have had R&D over many decades now. While EV's have fewer parts, the technology is still relatively new and the EV specific parts that can go wrong are big £ to replace.
There are many out there who will state their EV has the worse car they've had for reliability. Mine is such a case although only one failed part has been EV specific (cabin heater - £1200 to replace). I've had cars with more issues in the past but my EV still has < 10k miles on it and had three issues so far.

The technology will improve and reliability improve further but at this point in time I have more confidence in a quality well maintained ICE car lasting 22+ years than an EV. Battery failure after 10-15 years, and it'll be game over, unless the practice of battery pack repairing catches on. Electrical gremlins tend to be more difficult to get to the bottom of also than a mechanical part I think. Even charging related component failure could render an EV beyond economical repair.

I doubt I'll buy an ICE again but current EV technology/reliability still needs to be proven for longevity (20+ years).
Mine still needs a £300+ service every 2 years if I want to maintain the service schedule although that's acceptable.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

Which vehicle do you have?

That failure was on a Model 3 which I don’t have anymore.

I’m currently leasing a Model Y.

 

[TNA]

I tend to prefer buying cars outright over leasing. Seems to me leasing costs a lot more overall.

But I guess one of the perks is if something goes wrong they need to sort it out?

I tend to go for 3 year or so old vehicles. Majority of depreciation is done by then. Like the car I have now was 3 and a half years old. It lost 15-20K from new. In 4 years I have had it it has lost about 5K

Same with Ioniq 5. They can be had for 16-20K now. Brand new would be around double.

I have just been buying manufacturer warranty each year. Started of £300 year. Then slowly crept up for £500. More miles and older I guess, plus inflation.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

I tend to prefer buying cars outright over leasing. Seems to me leasing costs a lot more overall.

But I guess one of the perks is if something goes wrong they need to sort it out?

BIK. If you want a new car and have access to a company car scheme, it’s usually the cheapest option.

you’ll spend more overall than buying a 3 year old used car but you’ll have the benefit of it also being new.

Otherwise, yes 3 years old is a good time to buy. EVs are priced keenly at this age because there is very little market for 1 day old - 3 year old used EVs if you have access to a company car scheme.

If you have your own company you can also write off the entire cost of the car against your corporation tax in the first year which adds to the above new benefits.

 

[m4rmite]

EV reliability due to fewer moving parts is a bit of a myth IMO. ICE parts have had R&D over many decades now. While EV's have fewer parts, the technology is still relatively new and the EV specific parts that can go wrong are big £ to replace.
There are many out there who will state their EV has the worse car they've had for reliability. Mine is such a case although only one failed part has been EV specific (cabin heater - £1200 to replace). I've had cars with more issues in the past but my EV still has < 10k miles on it and had three issues so far.

The technology will improve and reliability improve further but at this point in time I have more confidence in a quality well maintained ICE car lasting 22+ years than an EV. Battery failure after 10-15 years, and it'll be game over, unless the practice of battery pack repairing catches on. Electrical gremlins tend to be more difficult to get to the bottom of also than a mechanical part I think. Even charging related component failure could render an EV beyond economical repair.

I doubt I'll buy an ICE again but current EV technology/reliability still needs to be proven for longevity (20+ years).
Mine still needs a £300+ service every 2 years if I want to maintain the service schedule although that's acceptable.

If ICE parts have had decades of R&D why do manufacturers keep having to do safety recalls?
And you'll find most cars that have electrical gremlins are ice cars.

 

[Simon]

Well a fuel tank is inherently more reliable than a battery pack. For issues I don’t know how there’s enough time to compare yet. Average age of car park shouldn’t be ignored.

I mean the MEB rear hub click is a bit annoying and many seemed to get bricked with OTA updates.

 

[bigmike20vt]

I think this is the key point. An EV is likely on average to be no more or less reliable than any equivalent ICE car because it is rare that it is anything drivetrain related that fails on any car irrespective of the fuel type.

i dunno..... i have changed (by that i mean paid someone to change ) multiple clutches, exhausts, a new gear box, a turbo, 1 cylinder head gasket, engine valves, a couple of radiators, fixed oil leaks and various brake disks and pads on my different ICE cars.... oh and the dreaded DPF issue on 2 cars.

edit oh and i forgot cambelts!. they were a bugger to replace on the fiat coupe. (camchains FTW!)

i am hoping for significantly fewer issues with my EV personally as there is less in them to wear out. of course there are a couple of really expensive parts to replace if they do go....... but the battery has 8 year warranty so that is a tomorrow problem and things like headlights and what not are not an EV issue just a massively over engineered issue in high end cars in general.

the AC or DC charging gear i guess is 1 area which could give me issues unique to an EV.

 

[DarrenM343]

Well a fuel tank is inherently more reliable than a battery pack. For issues I don’t know how there’s enough time to compare yet. Average age of car park shouldn’t be ignored.

I mean the MEB rear hub click is a bit annoying and many seemed to get bricked with OTA updates.

And who has ever had an issue refuelling a car? if have an issue charging an EV, even if it's not the battery pack, the repair costs can soon mount up to thousands. That's one weakness EV's have that ICE cars don't. Some expensive components exist between the charging connector and the battery pack

If ICE parts have had decades of R&D why do manufacturers keep having to do safety recalls?
And you'll find most cars that have electrical gremlins are ice cars.

All cars are subject to safety recalls, often precautionary. Tesla have one at the moment in the U.S I think on the Cybertruck
Sample size of EV's covering a significant amount of time is not available yet. Will be interesting to see how the stats mount up over time.

 

[lordrobs]

i dunno..... i have changed (by that i mean paid someone to change ) multiple clutches, exhausts, a new gear box, a turbo, 1 cylinder head gasket, engine valves, a couple of radiators, fixed oil leaks and various brake disks and pads on my different ICE cars.... oh and the dreaded DPF issue on 2 cars.

edit oh and i forgot cambelts!. they were a bugger to replace on the fiat coupe. (camchains FTW!)

i am hoping for significantly fewer issues with my EV personally as there is less in them to wear out.

See, my experience is very different* with only brakes and suspension bits needing doing over all our cars for the last 20 years. I guess ICE specific would be one exhaust, an alternator on one of my wifes cars and my MX5. I did also have a clutch master cylinder go, again on the MX5 but that is a 20+ year old car. Oh, and a clutch on my Octavia but that was remapped and took a lot of stick! Still, that is over 20 years worth so not too bad!

Funnily enough I saw your name pop up on speakEV today while I was looking into charging issues on an iPace as one of the people at work has one that won't AC charge. Did you ever get to the bottom of your charging issues as the thread just went silent?


*excluding my fist car as that was a basket case that had sat for 18 months covered in salt and with a very sketchy past! I put a new carb on that and had a set of valves.