EV and their range...

What real-world range would make you move to EV?


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mike150

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I’m driving a 2020 leaf .. smaller battery one … the range is absolute garbage

in eco mode with regen brake on, I do well to see over 100miles per 100% charge .. that’s driving not over 55-60mph (as battery drains even faster) which is a bit of a joke (worse in winter)

massive work to do to improve that, it’s been in and checked 3 times .. no faults
I find myself thinking of an EV again and while clearly a Leaf isn't a 'desirable' car it does everything a normal car needs to do and is styled like a Focus. The inside while well spec'd is low rent mind.

99% if the time a 40kw would be ok but theres peace of mind with a 62kw, I'd think a real 100 mile range Vs 150 mile range.

i3 - bit small and quirky
Mini E - 3 door and poor range
Honda E - poor range
208 e - it's a French car, never liked em
Tesla - hate the interior (there isn't one), expensive
Hyundai's - yuck
Kia - yuck
VW id3 - not keen on the interior, expensive......maybe should drive one though.

Everything else is heading to SUV style and I don't like SUV's...........

So imo a Leaf is a normal car but EV. Would love a sports orintatated one like a Leaf Nismo.......there was talk of one with 4wd but nothing.
 

Crow555

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The 2 I am drawn to (if I were in a position to buy new) are the Cupra Born (reskinned ID3) and the Hyundai Ioniq 5, although saw one on the M1 one evening and they are actually bigger in person than I thought.
 

mike150

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The 2 I am drawn to (if I were in a position to buy new) are the Cupra Born (reskinned ID3) and the Hyundai Ioniq 5, although saw one on the M1 one evening and they are actually bigger in person than I thought.
I didn't mention them as while I think both are really good looking cars they're also really expensive and will therefore shed thousands every year in depreciation. That in my mind goes against the main reason you buy an EV..........it's cheaper to run.
 

Mark Irwin

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I find myself thinking of an EV again and while clearly a Leaf isn't a 'desirable' car it does everything a normal car needs to do and is styled like a Focus. The inside while well spec'd is low rent mind.

99% if the time a 40kw would be ok but theres peace of mind with a 62kw, I'd think a real 100 mile range Vs 150 mile range.

i3 - bit small and quirky
Mini E - 3 door and poor range
Honda E - poor range
208 e - it's a French car, never liked em
Tesla - hate the interior (there isn't one), expensive
Hyundai's - yuck
Kia - yuck
VW id3 - not keen on the interior, expensive......maybe should drive one though.

Everything else is heading to SUV style and I don't like SUV's...........

So imo a Leaf is a normal car but EV. Would love a sports orintatated one like a Leaf Nismo.......there was talk of one with 4wd but nothing.
That seems quite poor for a 40kwh battery; my E Golf has a 35.8 Kwh battery with 32 kwh usable and during the summer it does up to 160 miles in mixed driving with air con on and 115 miles in winter using heater. Of course constant motorway miles will drain battery quicker but overall the real world range is definitely better than the Leaf which surprises me.
 

mike150

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That seems quite poor for a 40kwh battery; my E Golf has a 35.8 Kwh battery with 32 kwh usable and during the summer it does up to 160 miles in mixed driving with air con on and 115 miles in winter using heater. Of course constant motorway miles will drain battery quicker but overall the real world range is definitely better than the Leaf which surprises me.
I was thinking motorway winter driving sitting at 70mph which is most of my mileage.
 

davyk31

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I would encourage you to have a look at the ID.3. The interior is pretty easy to live with now after 2000 miles in and to my eyes they look a lot better than a Leaf.
 

KevM

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I had the use of an Ionic 5 for the weekend.

Id be fairly anti-EV as you all know. Having had a bad experience with a Mk1 Leaf and a broken rapid charger, I had fell out of love with the novelty of Electric.

The Hyundai, is on a different level of usability though.

The first nice surprise it gave me, was on day 1. I picked the car up with a well used battery, so by the time I drove the 25 miles home, I had around 60 miles of range left. We had to do a bit of shopping, so headed for the Boulevard, parked up and plugged in to one of the standard 22kw eCar chargers. I wasn't expecting much of a battery gain on the standard charger going by previous Leaf use, but after our 2 hours of shopping/lunch etc, I had gained over 35% capacity, but more importantly, that 35% was nearly 80 miles of range (which is a full-charge for a Mk1 Leaf). Impressive!

Where before in Nissan Leafs, I placed a lot of reliance on Rapid chargers, I think you could happily top up on standard 22kw chargers in current gen cars and the Rapid would be a bonus. I did a quick 15-20 minutes on a 50kw Rapid on Saturday afternoon, more because I could, than because I needed to though. I never had the car charged to 100% and never felt I needed to either.

I used to turn the heat on in the Nissan and loose 12 miles of range. That's all gone now. The Ionic 5 was comfortable and warm to be in without feeling I was compromising.

The higher 'miles per hour' charge rate of more modern cars, & Pay per Charge, should also cut down on Charge-point selfishness & all-day charger-parkers. I had noticed on the app, that one of the points near me, had an active session, live from just after 8am & this was after 3pm in the afternoon. Not really that considerate to other users...

All in all, I feel EV's have got to a standard that puts range-anxiety out of the equation, but for me, they are still a little bit emotionless. They just feel a bit 'White-goods'. Perfect for the commute & really good at it, but you'd still need a 2nd car

Vegetarian during the week and a proper Slice of Bacon at the weekends :grinning:
 
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davyk31

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Good review but vegetable through the week and sirloin at the weekend would be even better 😀
 

Eddies

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I still don't think it's there yet for the average customer. For self employed and business's I find it great. As it can be put through the business and all the benefits with it and as its not there sole car then you get the best of both worlds. You can charge at work and still have the benefits of a weekend car tucked away. I think it still has a long way to go. Even with the type of tyre effecting the milage most places don't even care what tyre they fit now never mind one that will keep the milage correct on ev's.
 

Coog

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Shocker: EV's have come on leaps and bounds in recent years.

Lots of places offer company cars and for that reason, right now, EV's are where it's at. It's extra money into your sky rocket without taking the cost of anything else into account.

Unless you're driving the length and breadth of the country day & daily they're a great job. I can get enough juice into mine doing the shopping in Lidl once a week that covers the commute +/- 5% until the next time I'm in. I'll perhaps plug it in once a fortnight after that if there's a bigger trip planned.
 

Mark Irwin

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I think cost v range and the state of the charging network are still big issues that will put most people off. On Saturday 3 out of the 4 rapid chargers between Dungannon and Belfast were out of action. In Cookstown on the same day none of the ordinary chargers close to where I was going were not available due to hogging, inconsiderate parking by ICE cars or simply not working. Having said that I went to Derry/Londonderry yesterday and had no issues at all so it is a bit hit and miss.
 

Eddies

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Shocker: EV's have come on leaps and bounds in recent years.
No doubt they have but they aren't at the point for everyone to buy them. I know it would never work for me currently.

Living in the city or has a company car with a 2nd vehicle at home yeah it makes sense but not for every cusomer.

The cars may have come on leaps and bounds but the infrastructure isn't there to match it with chargers and when they start to charge for that and try to claim milage back from you it will be a different story. The government isn't going to let you charge from home and lose the money from you not buying fuel they will hit you in some way yet which is only a matter of time.
 

Crow555

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With the daily driver holding together and my new job looking like being a hybrid office/WFH role, I have been keeping an eye on lease deals for EVs. Still lots to do to the house but the Cupra Born is what's caught my eye. It's convincing the other half that a lease would be value for money or not.
 

KevM

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I think cost v range and the state of the charging network are still big issues that will put most people off. On Saturday 3 out of the 4 rapid chargers between Dungannon and Belfast were out of action. In Cookstown on the same day none of the ordinary chargers close to where I was going were not available due to hogging, inconsiderate parking by ICE cars or simply not working. Having said that I went to Derry/Londonderry yesterday and had no issues at all so it is a bit hit and miss.

I think I could count on my two hands, the amount of times I have travelled by car, to the far extremes of Ireland. If that Hyundai was sitting fully charged, I would have no issues setting off anywhere in Ireland by road. I would probably need to stop, before the car would and if I planned the stop somewhere with a Rapid charger, I would have no concerns with making it there and back.

In previous places of work, I have had a finite weekly fuel allowance. It gave me as much 'range anxiety' as what the EV would. I begrudged spending my own money on fuel for commuting to work!
 

davyk31

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2030 and the ban on the sale of new Petrol and diesel cars is just around the corner so many people will be forced into an EV then.
 

Eddies

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2030 and the ban on the sale of new Petrol and diesel cars is just around the corner so many people will be forced into an EV then.

I'd say we'll not see the full effect for 10/15 years as there will still be enough metal sitting to be bought up plus you'll get people importing. It will hike pricing up and will push people into evs more but not everyone. You'll have people with multiple cars at home and ones tucked away and people doing limited milage etc.
 

big_pete

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It’s something you will think isn’t viable until you have one.

I still don’t have a proper charger at my house so have been sticking it on the granny charger a few nights a week and going to the rapid charger.

Honestly it isn’t an issue. If I’m heading to Dublin, I can stop at a supercharger. I haven’t had my car 3 weeks yet and I’ve put 1300miles on it so I do a lot of mileage and range isn’t an issue in any way.

I drove the M4 over the weekend purely for the pleasure of it and it was fantastic but if I’m using the car for work, going shopping etc the tesla is so much better.

If you are a petrol head, 100% you need a second car for the thrill but you definitely don’t need one to “make it work” having an EV.

When I get my proper chargers put in at work and at home it will be even more of a no brainer.

I last charged my car on Wed night to about 75% battery. I commuted, thurs, Fri and Sat and back in today plus doing customer drop offs etc and I have 39% left. I could have left it plugged in while it was parked and I would have gotten in today with loads of range but I’m sussing it out as I go.

By comparison between Sat night and driving about yesterday I chinned £60 of super through the M4 😂
 

gary1365

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I'd be in an EV today if they weren't £40k+ or £400 P/M for one with a 200 mile real world range. In an EV I'd be £80-100 better off not paying for fuel but that + more would be wiped out by the monthlies. From my house to my parents and back again is 160 miles I'd need something that could do that in the darkest of winter with all the lights, wipers, heaters etc on.

I do quite a lot of short couple of mile journeys and a PHEV would suit me well but even hybrids are prohibitively expensive and on a longer motorway journey thirsty. I can do 55-60mpg in my derv vs 40-45mpg in a Prius at 70mph on the motorway. Depending on where I need to go and if I'm not working that week I could potentially go a week without turning on the ICE in a PHEV. I've done the calculations for a few hybrids both plug in and self charging in balance I'm still better off in my derv. That's without working in the extra monthly costs of changing cars. I don't think hybrids where the ICE engine powers the wheels makes sense either. Surely an ICE that generates electric to power the wheels like a train would be more efficient with a small battery for regenerative braking. Maybe it's not I'm no engineer and am probably wrong :joy:


I don't think the whole 2030 is that big a deal either sure hybrids will still be allowed.
 

KevM

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It’s something you will think isn’t viable until you have one.

I still don’t have a proper charger at my house so have been sticking it on the granny charger a few nights a week and going to the rapid charger.

Honestly it isn’t an issue. If I’m heading to Dublin, I can stop at a supercharger. I haven’t had my car 3 weeks yet and I’ve put 1300miles on it so I do a lot of mileage and range isn’t an issue in any way.

I drove the M4 over the weekend purely for the pleasure of it and it was fantastic but if I’m using the car for work, going shopping etc the tesla is so much better.

If you are a petrol head, 100% you need a second car for the thrill but you definitely don’t need one to “make it work” having an EV.

When I get my proper chargers put in at work and at home it will be even more of a no brainer.

I last charged my car on Wed night to about 75% battery. I commuted, thurs, Fri and Sat and back in today plus doing customer drop offs etc and I have 39% left. I could have left it plugged in while it was parked and I would have gotten in today with loads of range but I’m sussing it out as I go.

By comparison between Sat night and driving about yesterday I chinned £60 of super through the M4 😂

Pete Pete Pete.....

We have just had an older Model S 90D dual-motor delivered fresh off the transporter. I took it a run there.

Its just stupid. The type of acceleration that literally makes you feel dizzy & weird. Its totally unnecessary, such a laugh!! I think my back is sore.... 🤣
 
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big_pete

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Pete Pete Pete.....

We have just had an older Model S 90D dual-motor delivered fresh off the transporter. I took it a run there.

Its just stupid. The type of acceleration that literally makes you feel dizzy & weird. Its totally unnecessary, such a laugh!! I think my back is sore.... 🤣

It’s just a different feeling than any other type of fast car. You try to explain it to people but it’s something people need to experience.
 

Rocko

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Pete Pete Pete.....

We have just had an older Model S 90D dual-motor delivered fresh off the transporter. I took it a run there.

Its just stupid. The type of acceleration that literally makes you feel dizzy & weird. Its totally unnecessary, such a laugh!! I think my back is sore.... 🤣

Can I book a test drive?

(With no intention of buying...)
 

Graham2

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It’s just a different feeling than any other type of fast car. You try to explain it to people but it’s something people need to experience.

I find people think it won't feel as fast because there's no noise. They soon find themselves to be wrong :joy:
 

KevM

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When I said I think have pulled something in my back driving it, that wasn't me trying to be funny. That's real life!! lol
 
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