When are you going fully electric?

Soldato
Joined
24 Feb 2003
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Porthcawl and Southampton
I must admit our BMW i3 has an intermittent fault where by sometimes we get up in a morning and the charge point is saying EV full and the car is saying charging interrupted with sometimes a few kWh charged and sometimes none at all
it is really quite stressful esp as I am going away for a week in my car the the wife also has a bit of a road trip in the i3. it's almost 50:50 now and getting seemingly worse.

I don't think it is the charge point as it's flawless in my car. it is stressful and the lack of garages to have a clue on them a real issue.
it's going into my local hevra garage when I get back 1st for a 12v battery check in the hope it is simply that throwing a spanner in. (it's a 2018 car so if on factory battery is due replacing)

the thing is I know the EV naysayers will see this as proof EVs are crap.... but I have had plenty of intermittent issues with ice cars as well.
for me the main problem worrying me now isn't the car it is that all the garages I know and trust near me don't do EVs or hybrids. hopefully this will change.

I do have a well regarded hevra garage near me but even they admit by some strange fluke they have not had an i3 in before.

I put a new 12v battery in my 2021 Kona. The kind of behaviour it exhibited before the change was erratic. Wouldn't surprise me at all to see your issues solved by a new 12v battery.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
12 Jul 2005
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Aberlour, NE Scotland
Well I've gone and done it. We went to Inverness this morning to take a look at a couple of Nissan Leaf in Tekna trim level (top of the range). The sales guy showed us around the car and showed how everything works, gave us the keys and said go for a half hour drive. At first when I got to certain speeds I was going for a non existant clutch and gear stick but got used to it quickly. The seats which are full leather and heated/cooled are so comfortable and she handles great. The drive is so smooth and it accelerates like a rocket pushing you back in the seat (my first time in any EV). The ride is firm but not to the point of being uncomfortable and the steering is light but I will soon get used to it. I was surprised at the height you sit at which isn't far off my Ford B-Max. It's a deceptively large car and longer and wider than the B-Max but was easy enough to adapt to. It's a 21 plate with just over 20k on the clock. It has every gadget in the book including full LED lights inside and out and a rear view camera which I didn't realise at first. I thought the mirror was in the "dipped" position but when I pulled the tab that normally sets the mirror back to the normal position the screen turned on so that was a nice surprise. I walked back into the showrrom with a big grin on my face and the sales guy said "I guess you liked that then"? As it's a Nissan approved used it comes with a full years warranty plus I got a three year free servicing thrown in as well. I pick it up next Saturday. I rarely need to do more than 120 miles in a round trip so the range is enough for us. I will miss the B-Max as it's a lovely car but I am not paying Ford £3k in three years time to have a bloody belt changed when it's their balls up in the first place. I will post some pictures next week when I get it home.
 
Associate
Joined
19 May 2010
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1,233
Well I've gone and done it. We went to Inverness this morning to take a look at a couple of Nissan Leaf in Tekna trim level (top of the range). The sales guy showed us around the car and showed how everything works, gave us the keys and said go for a half hour drive. At first when I got to certain speeds I was going for a non existant clutch and gear stick but got used to it quickly. The seats which are full leather and heated/cooled are so comfortable and she handles great. The drive is so smooth and it accelerates like a rocket pushing you back in the seat (my first time in any EV). The ride is firm but not to the point of being uncomfortable and the steering is light but I will soon get used to it. I was surprised at the height you sit at which isn't far off my Ford B-Max. It's a deceptively large car and longer and wider than the B-Max but was easy enough to adapt to. It's a 21 plate with just over 20k on the clock. It has every gadget in the book including full LED lights inside and out and a rear view camera which I didn't realise at first. I thought the mirror was in the "dipped" position but when I pulled the tab that normally sets the mirror back to the normal position the screen turned on so that was a nice surprise. I walked back into the showrrom with a big grin on my face and the sales guy said "I guess you liked that then"? As it's a Nissan approved used it comes with a full years warranty plus I got a three year free servicing thrown in as well. I pick it up next Saturday. I rarely need to do more than 120 miles in a round trip so the range is enough for us. I will miss the B-Max as it's a lovely car but I am not paying Ford £3k in three years time to have a bloody belt changed when it's their balls up in the first place. I will post some pictures next week when I get it home.

When I took my Polestar back for a service just after I picked it up (complimentary) I asked them what it actually involved.

Change the pollen filter, inspect everything, and update the software.

:rolleyes:
 
Soldato
Joined
1 Mar 2010
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22,206
should have bought fsd?
was that with the irony of likely fsd performance in abysmal weather ... I mean lidar's not meant to be good in heavy rain I thought,
but equally the (exclusive) tesla visible light cameras how do they perform to track lane markings & other vehicles, especially at night time,
maybe when they deploy hd radar that will be more cutting (through rain drops) edge.
 
Associate
Joined
26 Oct 2007
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1,323
was that with the irony of likely fsd performance in abysmal weather ... I mean lidar's not meant to be good in heavy rain I thought,
but equally the (exclusive) tesla visible light cameras how do they perform to track lane markings & other vehicles, especially at night time,
maybe when they deploy hd radar that will be more cutting (through rain drops) edge.
It was because it costs a fair bit more than 9.99
 
Caporegime
Joined
21 Oct 2002
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Location
Here
was that with the irony of likely fsd performance in abysmal weather ... I mean lidar's not meant to be good in heavy rain I thought,
but equally the (exclusive) tesla visible light cameras how do they perform to track lane markings & other vehicles, especially at night time,
maybe when they deploy hd radar that will be more cutting (through rain drops) edge.
Maybe maybe maybe. Got any real experience or we being forced google again. This is getting really tiresome reading your google copy pastes.

Fsd in uk is nothing special in my experience. Certainly not worth the thousands they charge.
 
Soldato
Joined
9 Mar 2003
Posts
14,699
Correct. Definitely do not spend money on that, well unless it was someone less money :p

The core of Autopilot in the U.K. (and the wider EU) is really old and isnt really being developed. I understand there is a few Tesla development cars on the roads but that’s about the extent of it.

It’s not that it wouldn’t work over here, it’s that you can’t deliver it within the existing regulatory framework. Until that changes the U.K./EU is going to be stuck with what we have. There are restrictions on key things like steering input which basically makes an ’FSD’ like feature impossible, even if it was supervised/level 2 whatever the yanks call it.

Perhaps something for the new government to pick up sometime in the next 5 years.
 
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Soldato
Joined
23 May 2006
Posts
7,059
no experience of it but I hear the blue cruise on the ford Mustang is pretty good.
motorway only however at least for now.
if they start putting it on smaller cars , esp if it gets licenced for dual carriageway as well I think it would be great for my folks . my dad is pushing 80 so the 200 mile drive to my house is becoming a trek, but if he could hands free autopilot on the M6 and A14 he would only need to actually drive 30 miles.
 
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Soldato
Joined
9 Mar 2003
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14,699
I doubt you’d bother for said 3 trips per year in reality. Unless you are pounding up and down the same motorway regularly, it seems rather poor value. It’s not like you won’t have TAAC to fall back on.

It also takes a non-zero amount of time to get comfortable using such a system which will put people off subscribing for short periods/one off journeys.
 
Associate
Joined
16 Jan 2005
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2,253
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South Wales
To be fair, I used ‘Autopilot’ when driving back on Friday (other than when the downpours were too bad that it would be dangerous) and it worked well - no phantom braking which is a huge improvement over when I owned a Model 3 a few years ago. Might have been a fluke though.
 
Soldato
Joined
9 Mar 2003
Posts
14,699
Same, i drove down to the airport the other day and it was faultless. Some people still report issues with phantom braking but I’ve not had the car slam on for no good reason since they moved to camera only back in early 2021.

On another note, I popped into the new gridserve forecourt at Gatwick airport and it’s a very nice facility. It’s impressive what they have managed to tuck into such a small site.

There are only 4 Tesla bays which is a bit un-Tesla but better than having to drive 5 mins around to the service centre for reasonably priced charging. There are a load of BP hyper chargers by purple parking on the south side of the airfield so the airport is very well served.

I popped into the Amazon style just walk out shop to make an obligatory purchase to get that out of my system too :p
 
Caporegime
Joined
21 Oct 2002
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26,458
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Here
To be fair, I used ‘Autopilot’ when driving back on Friday (other than when the downpours were too bad that it would be dangerous) and it worked well - no phantom braking which is a huge improvement over when I owned a Model 3 a few years ago. Might have been a fluke though.
You still have to hold the wheel and dunno now but the two model 3 I used would get upset if you didn’t react in time and ban you from using it for the rest of the trip. Annoying when on a long motorway. The active cruise isn’t great for keeping distance or traffic either. It accelerates too fast then has to brake.

MEB is one for the best in regards of speed and following traffic. Especially the cupra with the HUD augmented reality showing you what the cruise sees (draws a line under the car in front and the lanes if you go near the edge of any lane even country roads). Ev6 HSD is also pretty good and the latest ipace software needs a mention.

 
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Soldato
Joined
1 Mar 2010
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22,206
MEB is one for the best in regards of speed and following traffic. Especially the cupra with the HUD augmented reality showing you what the cruise sees (draws a line under the car in front and the lanes if you go near the edge of any lane even country roads). Ev6 HSD is also pretty good and the latest ipace software needs a mention.
so when does your Googling say that tesla will update the radar , or resolve the parking sensors ...

but if you spend most of your time on A roads, east of the country anyway, steering around pot-holes is the self-drive capability required.
 
Associate
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16 Jan 2005
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2,253
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South Wales
You still have to hold the wheel and dunno now but the two model 3 I used would get upset if you didn’t react in time and ban you from using it for the rest of the trip. Annoying when on a long motorway. The active cruise isn’t great for keeping distance or traffic either. It accelerates too fast then has to brake.

Yeah you still have to have some force on the wheel but I’d be doing that anyway, I’m not trusting a computer to anticipate how terrible some other drivers are so I’m not letting go of that wheel even when the law/legislation says I can.

In terms of following traffic, it performed perfectly for me. Hit traffic on the M4 at Newport as usual, and it dealt with stop/start and then slow moving traffic really well. None of the harsh jerkiness that I’ve previously experienced with it years ago.

Is it as good as the radar adaptive cruise I had on the Golf R? It was pretty close.
 
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