**EV Owners Thread**

Now looking seriously into grabbing a full EV due to rising costs of Diesel and my 100 mile round trip commute to work 3+ days a week, however one serious question I have is how on earth do some of the big manufacturers expect to get high takeup of EV when the lead time on some of these vehicles is so damn long? The actual charger network seems to be coming on decently, there are some nice government grants towards new cars and charger fittings, but availability of the damn vehicles...

Really fancy a Hyundai Ioniq Electric (not hybrid) but the lead time for this and the E-Golf seems to be about 8 months! Certainly makes it harder to pull the trigger; especially with rapid evolution and that niggling feeling a newer spec, or uprated battery pack could be announced in that time. Not like the cars cost £10k either to make it less frustrating!
 
I've had a 30kW Leaf Tekna for just over year now. It suits me perfectly as I typically drive ~10 miles a day to work and back, but if I need to then I can generally get to 99% of my destinations on a full charge. I'll usually charge it overnight at home on the granny charger..think I've only used a charge point while out and about a couple of times. To be fair we generally use the gf's diesel Leon if we go anywhere further than an hour or so away, but that's no biggy.

As much as I dislike the styling, as a car I've been very impressed with it, especially considering the core tech is 8 years old now. It's comfortable and is just incredibly easy to drive. I love that I can pre-heat the car in the mornings, or whack the A/C on before I get back to the car on a hot summers day.

I'm very tempted by the new Leaf as it seemingly only improves on the old one, but as we've now got a 4 month old baby something a bit bigger would certainly be handy.
 
Alexrose1uk said:
Now looking seriously into grabbing a full EV due to rising costs of Diesel and my 100 mile round trip commute to work 3+ days a week, however one serious question I have is how on earth do some of the big manufacturers expect to get high takeup of EV when the lead time on some of these vehicles is so damn long? The actual charger network seems to be coming on decently, there are some nice government grants towards new cars and charger fittings, but availability of the damn vehicles...

Really fancy a Hyundai Ioniq Electric (not hybrid) but the lead time for this and the E-Golf seems to be about 8 months! Certainly makes it harder to pull the trigger; especially with rapid evolution and that niggling feeling a newer spec, or uprated battery pack could be announced in that time. Not like the cars cost £10k either to make it less frustrating!
Click to expand...

The problem is Hyundai can not get the battery supply to sell the cars, I don't know how they expect to sell the Kona when it finally lands. The Ioniq is a good EV after all and would be selling more if they could make them.

Same problem with GM, they din't buy enough batteries from LG Chem. VW use Samsung SDI so not sure what the problem is there but I suspect they actually want you to buy their ICE cars and not their EV's (same with GM).

The problem with the Leaf is because it was such a step change from the last one people were holding out for them. I think the lead time will drop over the next 6 months. I hope they have done their homework when they switch to LG chem for the 60kw version (rumour) next year.

The only people that have done it right at the at the start was Nissan and Tesla. They are the only ones that are able to produce significant volumes because they did their batteries in house from the start and didn't rely on supply from 3rd parties. Nissan have actually now sold their battery business hence my comment above.

People keep saying that EV's are rubbish yet every single one is pretty much sold out that isn't an £80k+ Tesla. The demand is clearly there, but supply has been really slow to react.
 
Yep, and frankly if the Model 3 was available right now, and they'd worked the bugs out, I'd probably have ordered one; I genuinely like the Tesla, but the wait time is looking to be even longer than the Hyundai at the rate they're going, and I dont have 60K for a car floating around to buy one of the other models!

RE: The Hyundai being a good car; if they had better supply they could launch a 40kw battery version and cream the rivals on performance in the price segment, the miles per KW is already higher than virtually everything else out there.
 
Last edited:
I've been interested in EV's for a while now and was having a look around websites the other day and there's still so frustratingly few viable options around.

I'm probably a fairly typical car user, 50 mile round trip commute a day but i can regularly do 130+ miles in a day if i go to work then go somewhere in the evening so i'd need at least 200+ mile range on NSL & dual carriageway roads so i didn't have to faff with charging every single day or when i wanted to visit friends or go on holiday a bit further a field.

I really like the look of the new Leaf but the range is still a bit pants for real world for the money you're paying :( will be interesting to see how much a 60kw version is.

It just seems to a layperson despite the industry generally making a lot of noise only a couple of manufactures, Telsa & Nissan, are actually taking it seriously which really doesn't seem enough to push the market forward.
 
bloodiedathame said:
I wonder if they are hoping that people will retrofit motors and batteries to the petrol and diesel engined cars they already own. I'd consider it on my Golf estate if the price was right.
Click to expand...

That's way harder than it sounds and there just isn't anywhere you can chuck the batteries without gimping another aspect of the car (like boot space). Modern EV's all pretty much follow the same design philosophy which is to make the battery pack a structural piece of the cars floor sitting between the wheels. It's the only way to get the size of the pack up without making large compromises elsewhere.

There are a few classic conversions about now using Tesla modules but they are serious money and effort to convert over and I don't think any of the conversions I have seen have DC fast charging either. Not something I would be considering for a Golf Estate.
 
sovietspybob said:
I've been interested in EV's for a while now and was having a look around websites the other day and there's still so frustratingly few viable options around.

I'm probably a fairly typical car user, 50 mile round trip commute a day but i can regularly do 130+ miles in a day if i go to work then go somewhere in the evening so i'd need at least 200+ mile range on NSL & dual carriageway roads so i didn't have to faff with charging every single day or when i wanted to visit friends or go on holiday a bit further a field.

I really like the look of the new Leaf but the range is still a bit pants for real world for the money you're paying :( will be interesting to see how much a 60kw version is.

It just seems to a layperson despite the industry generally making a lot of noise only a couple of manufactures, Telsa & Nissan, are actually taking it seriously which really doesn't seem enough to push the market forward.
Click to expand...

Batteries are just too expensive at the moment, hence market pretty much either having expensive £45k+ long range variants (IPace, X/S/LR3) or short range city cars (Zoe etc).

I’m hoping next year production constraints are reduced and things like the Nero/Kona and LR Leaf start to become actual reasonably priced long range options. They may be* the true first mass market long range EVs. Unfortunately it’s all an issue with battery suppply, which is lagging a couple of years behind.

*realistically the Leaf is probably the only contender, unless you’re in Norway.
 
Well one of my 2 local dealers (who actually had great feedback on Carwow) had a show Ioniq Electric Premium SE in Blue...turns out he MAY know another dealer that got a black one in to show, but doesn't think they've used much because of the stock situation etc.

£500 deposit down, and I'll know in the next day or two if he's managed to secure it as he basically has to beg another garage to send and may have to give up his own show model. Wish me luck...

Don't usually get excited about cars, but kinda excited about this...
 
Had a Zoe for nearly 3 years now. Been brilliant as a town car with occasional longer trips. Getting 100+ range now the weather has improved. Very happy and been ultra reliable. The Blue Renault badge peeled and a boot gas strut replaced under warranty , other than that faultless
 
I have a 16 plate Model S P90D. Best car, as a whole, I’ve owned by a significant margin from a history of various muscly saloons M5s etc and a DB9. I’ve had zero issues (touch wood) with it since collection in Sept 2016 (it was an ex-demo w/1k miles) and have done over 13k miles in it now - through Europe and the UK.

I don’t have a home charger (inner London Underground parking) but have plenty of Superchargers within a mile or two so I use them on a weekly/bi-weekly basis (and ofcourse a nice bonus, they’re free). I’m averaging approx 370wpm so well above the recommended target of 300 but I have the P model permentantly in Insane mode (mine doesn’t have the Ludicrous upgrade) and 21 inch wheels which knock down the efficiency 10+%. I get approx 220 comfortable miles to a charge, could probably stretch to 240 if I drove carefully. For this reason I tend top up wherever I can, eg if we’re going into a town center for the day, I’ll seek out 7kW+ points before we leave and aim for one of them to park at - closest I’ve been to zero was 6 miles range remaining. In general I enjoy my weekend morning jaunts for a coffee and reading time to charge but my only real gripe about not having a home charger is that I have to avoid arriving home after a days driving close to 0% as the next time I use the car it would need to be charged immediately - so I tend to charge on the way home which can be annoying (but not as annoying as going to use your car and finding the battery flat).

When going further afield we tend to book hotels with overnight charging facilities so we can start the next day fully charged but incase it wasn’t clear from the above, EV ownership for me would be impossible had it not been for the supercharger network. It is leagues ahead of any other charge network (and I am a member of more than I can count - which is most the problem!)
 
Last edited:
The review embargo for the Hyundai Kona EV was lifted yesterday. Genereal consensus seems positive, though it seems that's in large part down to the fact it's the first <£30k EV with genuinely decent range. The next year should see a lot of competitors join that club.

Shame about the PCP prices. Early quotes have been coming out around £500/month due to the high interest rate (6.3% APR) and unrealistic, low-ball GMFV (~£8k after four years). Presumably Hyundai isn't looking to shift high volumes of the Kona EV just yet? It's a similar situation with other EVs.
 
Last edited:
Tesla P85D black 65 plate here and have to say its the best car I have driven, 21 in wheels but have a set of 19" for winter, I also use the tesla super charger network which is free and pass several on my commute which is about 150 miles daily. I also have a tesla charger at home which manages 8kw if I ever need it. Auto pilot is ok, but never use it really as I like to drive it.
tesla service has been outstanding. to the point where they called and said I had a battery problem, so off to tesla service for a replacement main battery and upgrade to latest spec new battery. I get 260 miles on a charge. they also supply a loaner while its done. cant fault tesla in any way. EV is the way forward and as battery tech improves so will the range. I wouldn't mind a model X next.
 
satchef1 said:
The review embargo for the Hyundai Kona EV was lifted yesterday. Genereal consensus seems positive, though it seems that's in large part down to the fact it's the first <£30k EV with genuinely decent range. The next year should see a lot of competitors join that club.
Click to expand...

I had a look at some reviews and it looks like a compelling option, the interior is a bit 'cheap' and is a step down from the Leaf and doesn't come close to the e-Golf but the drive train looks much better than the Leaf. Apparently the quoted battery size is the actual usable capacity and not not the overall like every other EV which is a big bonus and it has near Ionic efficiency.

It supports 100kw CCS charging which is great but I don't think you will actually ever see that due to the 200A limit on the CCS Plug its self. The voltage of the battery will mean it tops out at 70kw which is still a step up over the norm. It throttles back to 56kw at 57%, 36kw at 72%, 25kw at 77% and from 92% is drops right off. Not bad for a car at this price but as with most EV's don't bother fast charging beyond 77%.

The car its self is pretty small, smaller than your standard Golf, Focus, C4 etc. but that is fairly normal for this type of hatch on stilts car (CUV?).

The range is great, WLTP of 292/182 miles for the big/small battery which is estimated at 250/155 miles on the EPA test. Very respectable, we should be able to achieve the EPA figures with ease.

For the price its a really compelling option but to be honest I don't know why you would bother with the short range version @ £30k, £34k gets you the long range and a better spec car. Either way this EV will suit a wide range of car buyers these days and I expect demand will outstrip supply for a long time.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom