When are you going fully electric?

Soldato
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Yep, I agree. This is the first time we've had a company leased car, we got it because of the BIK tax benefits, but it may be the last!
I had a fully maintained leased Focus as a company car once and it was a pain in the rear. Car needs new tyres so I call the lease company. "Has the garage said it needs new tyres?" er... no the fact it is down to the limit markers tells me it needs new tyres. "Well you'll need to take it to *insert close(ish) as the crow flies but bit of a pain garage* for them to take a look" Take it to garage "Yes, it needs new tyres." Great, can you fit them? "No, we need to instruct the lease company and they'll get back to you once they've approved it." :rolleyes:

Not sure if it was just the company we dealt with but everything seemed like a royal pain to get resolved. They also picked a random recovery company that also did servicing work for the annual service, not a Ford dealer. They called me 20 minutes after it should have been collected to cancel because "the man who does the collections is off". Great...

Back to the topic of EVs... I'm seeing loads of occurrences of EVs flying past at warp 9 only to pull back into lane one and then brake. I assume what is actually happening is that they are getting caught out by the regen when coming off the throttle but it does get on your wick when you are having to brake for a car that literally just came past you seconds ago.
 
Soldato
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Back to the topic of EVs... I'm seeing loads of occurrences of EVs flying past at warp 9 only to pull back into lane one and then brake. I assume what is actually happening is that they are getting caught out by the regen when coming off the throttle but it does get on your wick when you are having to brake for a car that literally just came past you seconds ago.

Sounds like any other driver on a motorway/fast A roads who can't drive properly to me, not limited to EV drivers.
 
Soldato
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some of this additional braking on motorways (agree seen it too) maybe the automatic cruise control system itself avoiding over-speed or proximity to next vehicle
(recent acc discussion in enegry saving thread hadn't discussed if deceleration from auto brakes is sufficient to cause brake lights)


e:
coincidental ?

Tesla in new car quality ahead of VW​

To calculate its IQS values, JD Power determines how many problems per 100 vehicles of each brand are reported by customers in surveys. For 2021, that averaged 162 across the industry, and Tesla was third from bottom at 231, ahead of only Audi and Chrysler . This year, market researchers recorded an average of 180 problems per 100 new vehicles. Polestar fared worst with 328 problems, while Tesla surpassed several other brands with 226.

Together with Mitsubishi, Tesla came seventh from last in the 2022 IQS evaluation , putting it ahead of the Volkswagen brand, which has significantly worsened to 230 reported problems per 100 new cars.
In general, according to JD Power, the increase was to be expected due to supply chain disruptions, among other things, and could have been even more serious. Ironically, at a time when many critical components were scarce, car manufacturers were launching technically increasingly complex models. In some cases, vehicles would therefore be delivered without certain functions, which customers would at least have to be informed about.
...

Smartphone integration remains the biggest problem​

Overall, volume brands performed better at the IQS 2022 with 175 problems per 100 new vehicles than the premium segment with 196 problems. JD Power sees a connection here with more modern technologies in this class, which also mean more complexity. The most problematic category again proved to be the infotainment category, from which six of the ten most frequent customer complaints came.
 
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Soldato
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West Midlands
New MG5 looks pretty good, and still the only estate type car on the market.

Brochure Link.

Seems like the interior and technology has made a big jump, and the the styling looks less old Passat and more modern, and aerodynamic. Has V2L at 2.2kW output which will be handy for camping or charging electric MTB's if you do that sort of thing. Not sure on the real range, but the old LR you could do 250 miles in mixed driving/good weather.
 
Soldato
Joined
30 Sep 2003
Posts
15,875
Location
Norwich
some of this additional braking on motorways (agree seen it too) maybe the automatic cruise control system itself avoiding over-speed or proximity to next vehicle
(recent acc discussion in enegry saving thread hadn't discussed if deceleration from auto brakes is sufficient to cause brake lights)


e:
coincidental ?
Regarding Tesla quality vs that of VW... I'm not sure I'd use VAG as a yard stick for quality and reliability these days!
New MG5 looks pretty good, and still the only estate type car on the market.

Brochure Link.

Seems like the interior and technology has made a big jump, and the the styling looks less old Passat and more modern, and aerodynamic. Has V2L at 2.2kW output which will be handy for camping or charging electric MTB's if you do that sort of thing. Not sure on the real range, but the old LR you could do 250 miles in mixed driving/good weather.
It looks ok I guess. I'd have one as a company hack but it just looks so slab sided it is bordering on SUV proportions anyway.
 
Soldato
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It looks ok I guess. I'd have one as a company hack but it just looks so slab sided it is bordering on SUV proportions anyway.
Yeah it is about 60mm taller than an Octavia estate, so a bit on the tall side. Had the old one for a while as a loaner and was a really nice ride, and I was honestly surprised how efficient it was compare with its size.

I thought you were going company car free, or did they pay you more per mile now?
 
Soldato
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Yeah it is about 60mm taller than an Octavia estate, so a bit on the tall side. Had the old one for a while as a loaner and was a really nice ride, and I was honestly surprised how efficient it was compare with its size.

I thought you were going company car free, or did they pay you more per mile now?
No, it was made quite clear to me a few years ago that a company car was a requirement for my job and a car allowance wasn't an option unfortunately. Prior to that I costed up several options including car allowance and short term rentals but was told no and they changed my car instead.

I've just swapped to paying the company the HMRC rate for my private miles instead of claiming back work miles at that rate. When I started at the company the sales people did that anyway and prior to that it was company policy for support as well but the department manager worked out he could beat the HMRC rate at the time hence why he swapped it for his department. Basically locks my fuel economy at 52.7 mpg at £1.65/L until September at least.

I'm sure I'll go EV or at least plug in hybrid at some point but for now I like having the option of ploughing through a 4 hour trip (off the back of a site visit with no charging opportunity) non stop if it means I get to spend a bit of time with my boy before bedtime :)

Also means I can stay in quaint little village pubs and independent hotels without having to base my accommodation on charging opportunities. I'm sure even these places will get setup with chargers at some point. When you are parked up overnight you don't need mega charging speeds.
 
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Soldato
Joined
9 Mar 2003
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14,058
Liking the Polestar O2, hope they actually make it so it actually looks like it

Call me old but I just can’t get excited about concept cars, particularly when it’s obvious the real car will look nothing like that.

Just design the actual car and show us that!!!!1

[/rant]

I really do hope someone makes a decent roadster that isn’t £LOL at some point in the near future.

200HP, 50 (ish) KWH usable battery and under 1.5t; that will make a great little car. Come on Mazda, you can do it!
 

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Soldato
Joined
21 Nov 2004
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Wishaw
should have went electric already privately,

we had a Mini electric 3 ordered until they kept pushing dates and cutting spec off it 4th call with another delay after already cutting 2-3 bits of kit from the spec we pulled the plug on teh deal and went shopping ended up with s SQ2 instead oops
 
Soldato
Joined
13 Apr 2009
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UK
The main thing stopping me going electric is that I live in a terraced house so charging from home is off the table.

Otherwise, give me that torque!
To torque feels so good. My Kona is a "compact" SUV, and weighs 1.8t unladen. The motor is only 150kW (about 200bhp), however has 400Nm of torque and it doesn't half pull. Can't imagine what it's like in a dual motor Tesla for example.
 
Associate
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Bristol
What's on the list?

A fairly eclectic mix of PHEVs and EVs over a broad range as the missus is not bothered what she drives, so at the high end targeted around towing there's the FPACE and XC60 PHEVs, mid range CX-60 PHEV, XC40 EV and at the low end targeting a cheap non towing EV and buying a motorhome that can tow as an alternative, it's the Niro EV.
 
Soldato
Joined
13 Apr 2009
Posts
6,165
Location
UK
New MG5 looks pretty good, and still the only estate type car on the market.

Brochure Link.

Seems like the interior and technology has made a big jump, and the the styling looks less old Passat and more modern, and aerodynamic. Has V2L at 2.2kW output which will be handy for camping or charging electric MTB's if you do that sort of thing. Not sure on the real range, but the old LR you could do 250 miles in mixed driving/good weather.
This looks great. Love a good estate - this looks like a nice improvement on the old Rover-esque original. Glad to see LED headlights, as the last car has halogen headlights :eek: huge power waste for little light output.
 
Soldato
Joined
14 Dec 2003
Posts
5,683
A fairly eclectic mix of PHEVs and EVs over a broad range as the missus is not bothered what she drives, so at the high end targeted around towing there's the FPACE and XC60 PHEVs, mid range CX-60 PHEV, XC40 EV and at the low end targeting a cheap non towing EV and buying a motorhome that can tow as an alternative, it's the Niro EV.
That really is everything!

Wouldn't fancy towing with an XC40 EV though, the range must be atrocious.
 
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