When are you going fully electric?

Tested the Abarth 500e today, it’s a car we were looking at as something I can use for a bit and then pass on to my daughter, nice little motor, drove well, very compliant compared to 500s of old, good on road noise, looks good and good enough space but dear me, how slow!!!

I know it is really an city car but zero oompfh above 60mph and putting my foot down early on roundabouts just faced with understeer and power reduction something my LSD adorned Abarth would have ate up no issue, I thought they might have better represented an LSD in software by now, shame really as it’s nice in every other aspect, I even enjoyed the fake sound, made the EV experience better IMO.

Needs another 50-100hp as the little Abarths generally feel fast even when they aren't the quickest things and that's what this lacked, think the weight dulls it, didn't have the peppy enthusiasm of the petrols, though its fair to say I have never driven a lower power Abarth perhaps this is how they feel, nothing up top.
 
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steve5424 said:
It's just amazing how many people fall for all the anti EV BS. Then don't actually think to do their own research in to the subject or fact check what they read or see on FB.

Most common thing I see is that there is not enough infrastructure to support all the electric cars etc. However there are over 43000 charge points at over 25000 locations which is a 38% increase since May 2022.
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steve5424 said:
Car sales in MAY 2023.

23.1% were EV or plug in hybrid. Not sure what the increase since last year was though.
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Thats the issue. It looks good but EV car sales were up 40% in 2022 and already in 2023 they are up 39% on last year.

So that 38% increase in charge points isnt keeping up with the amount of new EVs and our starting point was that we had one of the worst ratios of EVs to public chargers.
 
Jonnycoupe said:
The last few months of rapid charger installs with a model moving to hubs of 6 or more units has been frankly incredible from what i have observed.
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This IMO. Particularly at Moto services delivered by Gridserve and Tesla.

They are already going back over sites they installed last year and expanding them to double the size they were.
 
Just on a family holiday and drove in the Cupra from Surrey to Aviemore, Scotland

Absolutely no bother at all. Stopped more often than we needed as someone inevitably needed a wee or food before the car needed charging. Bunch of big hubs along the route with no queues at all - couple of Gridserve hubs, a couple of Ionity, a Fastned outside Glasgow and then a Tesla hub in Aviemore. Only slightly ropey one was Sandbach services where there are just 2 slightly older Gridserve units and we were lucky to get one but that was our choice to risk it because we wanted McDonalds for lunch otherwise would have stopped at the Stafford Ionity instead.

Going back down the A1 on the way back so will see the other side too in a few days

9gvBH4O.jpg
 
chanjy said:
Just on a family holiday and drove in the Cupra from Surrey to Aviemore, Scotland

Absolutely no bother at all. Stopped more often than we needed as someone inevitably needed a wee or food before the car needed charging. Bunch of big hubs along the route with no queues at all - couple of Gridserve hubs, a couple of Ionity, a Fastned outside Glasgow and then a Tesla hub in Aviemore. Only slightly ropey one was Sandbach services where there are just 2 slightly older Gridserve units and we were lucky to get one but that was our choice to risk it because we wanted McDonalds for lunch otherwise would have stopped at the Stafford Ionity instead.

Going back down the A1 on the way back so will see the other side too in a few days

9gvBH4O.jpg
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I couldn't deal with stopping so often, last trip from Worksop to Newquay we stopped once, looking at Google timeline it was a 7 minute stop.
 
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Iamzod said:
I couldn't deal with stopping so often, last trip from Worksop to Newquay we stopped once, looking at Google timeline it was a 7 minute stop.
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Well the reality of travelling with young kids is more stops. We hardly ever got below 40% battery so the car itself could have managed with fewer
 
We've got a journey coming up - and think we'd be better doing it in the diesel at the moment. The trip involves a round trip around France - which should be pretty simple using Ionity chargers. However we'd be catching a ferry to Poole, then on to Wadebridge.

The South West looks like it's a bit of an infrastructure dead spot. Is this feasible to do in an EV, or should I give it another year before trying something like that in an EV?
 
Iamzod said:
I couldn't deal with stopping so often, last trip from Worksop to Newquay we stopped once, looking at Google timeline it was a 7 minute stop.
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Same but really that just describes the difference between a work trip (where I'd stop once or twice in that distance) and a holiday trip with the wife where we would stop almost that often, probably for 20 minutes plus at a time. Distances that I'd cover before even starting my days work seem to take FOREVER!
 
Greebo said:
So that 38% increase in charge points isnt keeping up with the amount of new EVs and our starting point was that we had one of the worst ratios of EVs to public chargers
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Wondering what the profitability is from these - Pulse had said last year they were nearly as profitable as petrol stations, and with recent govt demand for more openness on forecourt petrol pricing,
is the ev owner, similarly, being ripped off - based on 50p/kwh & 70p/kwh for std/super a 40mpg car is costing £7 vs a 300Wh/mile ev at £6 for 40miles.

Lucid Aston tie up - who is throwing who a lifeline - I didn't think Lucid financials & production capability was good - but we now have UK national treasure locked in.
 
sandys said:
Tested the Abarth 500e today, it’s a car we were looking at as something I can use for a bit and then pass on to my daughter, nice little motor, drove well, very compliant compared to 500s of old, good on road noise, looks good and good enough space but dear me, how slow!!!

I know it is really an city car but zero oompfh above 60mph and putting my foot down early on roundabouts just faced with understeer and power reduction something my LSD adorned Abarth would have ate up no issue, I thought they might have better represented an LSD in software by now, shame really as it’s nice in every other aspect, I even enjoyed the fake sound, made the EV experience better IMO.

Needs another 50-100hp as the little Abarths generally feel fast even when they aren't the quickest things and that's what this lacked, think the weight dulls it, didn't have the peppy enthusiasm of the petrols, though its fair to say I have never driven a lower power Abarth perhaps this is how they feel, nothing up top.
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I had one of the original run Abarths from 2009. They were lively even with only 135hp. Remapped it to about 170hp/300nm and it shifted even above 100mph.

I don't see the point in these e ones. Why buy this over a used i3 for half the price? A lot more expensive than the petrol Abarth, way heavier, and no performance. Without the nice exhaust note. And ofc no tuning potential which is a big thing for Abarths.

I wonder if they are still using the same fragile suspension/bearings as the other 500s too :/
 
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I'd take one over an i3 all day, it's a lovely car, it's a ,much nicer looking thing in and out, but thats obviously a personal thing, just needs more power.
 
Bug One said:
I expect most people buying a 500e aren't concerned about the exhaust note or remapping.
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Exhaust note on Abarth 500e was present, sounded awesome :p It's clearly a great speaker :D

Just need to synthesize a manual box and EV hot hatch life would be golden
 
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