Electric Vehicles: What have you spotted?

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Re: Electric Vehicles: What have you spotted?

Post by myglaren »

Tesla S on an industrial estate. Thought it was a model 3 as it seemed smaller that usual but comparing it with model 3 photo's it definitely wasn't one of those.

Charging point in Wreckenton Aldi's car park completely surrounded with ICE cars, hundreds of empty spaces too.
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Re: Electric Vehicles: What have you spotted?

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

A few spots of the "others" on our travels

2 BMW I3's and 2 Renault Zoe's a white and an icy blue sort of thing. Not bad for the entire area between Northumberland and North Yorkshire and Tyneside and Teeside's busiest roads and back again (sarcasm emoticon needed). If it wasn't for the usual smattering of Leafs you wouldnt believe that the electric car revoultion was underway in the UK at all. The UK being world leaders in that sort of thing too.....(heavy sarcasm emoticon needed)

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Re: Electric Vehicles: What have you spotted?

Post by RichardW »

How many points for an electric Berlingo?? W reg, not underway, but the fact it was plugged in shows it's still in use!
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Re: Electric Vehicles: What have you spotted?

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

RichardW wrote: 01 Jun 2019, 22:19 How many points for an electric Berlingo?? W reg, not underway, but the fact it was plugged in shows it's still in use!


There always used to be a "50 Points for an Unusual Spot at the back of I-Spy Books"
Dug this out from here a superb nostalgic account of filling in the "I-Spy Cars book" which at that time had some sort of anomalous endorsement/link with popular TV boffin David Bellamy
Worth a look https://drivetribe.com/p/can-i-complete ... hkcNwkpXBw
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So Berlingo Electric first gen definitely gets 50 points.

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Re: Electric Vehicles: What have you spotted?

Post by RichardW »

Saw my first Hyundai Kona (?) today. Down South at present, hardly any electric cars, but this one (and its Kia sister) given away by the solid 'grille'.
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Re: Electric Vehicles: What have you spotted?

Post by myglaren »

A Leaf and an Ioniq, first leccy ones for ages (I forget to look but almost ran into these two, parked together on a bend).
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Re: Electric Vehicles: What have you spotted?

Post by myglaren »

Another Ioniq.
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Re: Electric Vehicles: What have you spotted?

Post by lexi »

I got my first drive in a Nissan Leaf today.............wow!! Thing is unbelievably crazy! Really quick and off from the lights like a dream. It actually rode and handled really well too. The weight seems to be down low and it was very stable. Mrs Lexi should really have one of these!
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Re: Electric Vehicles: What have you spotted?

Post by Mandrake »

Was that the new style 40kWh "Leaf 2" (which has the same styling cues as the latest Micra's) or the old ugly "frog" style Leaf ? The old one had a 80kW motor while the Leaf 2 has bumped that up to 110kW so it will be significantly more peppy than the old one, and would have significantly better acceleration in practice than a 110kW ICE since peak torque and power are available over such a wide range. What you experienced with instant acceleration is pretty much universal across all EV's, and there are plenty that will outperform the Leaf.

(Try to get a drive of a BMW i3 or the Hyunda Kona, or Kia e-Niro - they're all a lot quicker accelerating than the Leaf - comparable to or quicker than a Xantia V6 to 60 and much quicker to 30 - the Kona and e-Niro while heavy both have 150kW and 395 Nm :) )

EV's are usually significantly heavier than the same size ICE (the Leaf is about 100Kg heavier than a Xantia V6 which is already the heaviest Xantia) as current battery tech is still very heavy but the extra weight is concentrated low down under the floor pan and centrally located between the axles which means a low moment of inertia in the yaw axis for cornering and not much impact on body roll from the extra weight as the centre of gravity is usually significantly lower than a comparable ICE.

I'm surprised you found the ride and handling good though - I've never driven a Leaf or even been in one for that matter, but those that have owned and driven the older Leaf usually describe the handling as "like a blancmange". :lol: It also (like a number of EV's) has very crude torsion beam rear suspension so isn't the best at holding onto a rough road at the rear. I've heard that the newer Leaf 2 has significantly improved ride and handling over the old one though with spring and damper rates re-tuned, albeit with the same basic suspension layout including the rear torsion beams.

Not a drivers car by any means but probably good as a commuter. It's a shame that Nissan is falling so far behind on battery tech compared to most other EV makers. The Leaf came out before nearly all other modern EV's (although the Ion/C-zero/i-Miev beats it by a year) but they are still clinging to air cooled batteries when most others have adopted far superior liquid cooled batteries, including the likes of relative EV newcomers Kia and Hyundai...
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Re: Electric Vehicles: What have you spotted?

Post by lexi »

Mandrake wrote: 13 Jun 2019, 19:42 Was that the new style 40kWh "Leaf 2" (which has the same styling cues as the latest Micra's) or the old ugly "frog" style Leaf ? The old one had a 80kW motor while the Leaf 2 has bumped that up to 110kW so it will be significantly more peppy than the old one, and would have significantly better acceleration in practice than a 110kW ICE since peak torque and power are available over such a wide range. What you experienced with instant acceleration is pretty much universal across all EV's, and there are plenty that will outperform the Leaf.

(Try to get a drive of a BMW i3 or the Hyunda Kona, or Kia e-Niro - they're all a lot quicker accelerating than the Leaf - comparable to or quicker than a Xantia V6 to 60 and much quicker to 30 - the Kona and e-Niro while heavy both have 150kW and 395 Nm :) )

EV's are usually significantly heavier than the same size ICE (the Leaf is about 100Kg heavier than a Xantia V6 which is already the heaviest Xantia) as current battery tech is still very heavy but the extra weight is concentrated low down under the floor pan and centrally located between the axles which means a low moment of inertia in the yaw axis for cornering and not much impact on body roll from the extra weight as the centre of gravity is usually significantly lower than a comparable ICE.

I'm surprised you found the ride and handling good though - I've never driven a Leaf or even been in one for that matter, but those that have owned and driven the older Leaf usually describe the handling as "like a blancmange". :lol: It also (like a number of EV's) has very crude torsion beam rear suspension so isn't the best at holding onto a rough road at the rear. I've heard that the newer Leaf 2 has significantly improved ride and handling over the old one though with spring and damper rates re-tuned, albeit with the same basic suspension layout including the rear torsion beams.

Not a drivers car by any means but probably good as a commuter. It's a shame that Nissan is falling so far behind on battery tech compared to most other EV makers. The Leaf came out before nearly all other modern EV's (although the Ion/C-zero/i-Miev beats it by a year) but they are still clinging to air cooled batteries when most others have adopted far superior liquid cooled batteries, including the likes of relative EV newcomers Kia and Hyundai...


It was a 16 plate? I think going from my 17 yr old C5 Donk to a relatively new car may have had something to do with me thinking it rode and handled good :-D I was like a kid with it really :lol: It felt better than the Jazz at soaking up bumps but then again that wouldn't be hard. It had 40k on it. I had it pushing on a bit and it would do me I think for a runaround. It was the seamless transmission that impressed me and the silent take off. Even reversing it without that straight cut gear noise was really cool . The guy who owned it was an elderly chap and his other 2 rides were concours Austin 7's. You still happy with the Ion? or are you getting the itch?
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Re: Electric Vehicles: What have you spotted?

Post by Mandrake »

lexi wrote: 13 Jun 2019, 22:08 It was a 16 plate?
This is the old ugly frog model of the Leaf with 80kW motor and 24kWh or 30kWh battery:
Leaf1.jpg
This is the newer slightly less ugly but still odd looking Leaf 2 with 110kW motor and 40kWh battery:
Leaf2.jpeg
16 plate means 2016 ? In that case its the older model as I think the new one came out at the start of 2018, so the newer one is at least a couple of seconds quicker 0-60 than what you drove.
I think going from my 17 yr old C5 Donk to a relatively new car may have had something to do with me thinking it rode and handled good :-D
Maybe, somehow I don't think it will ride or handle as well as a Hydractive 2 Xantia V6 though! I'll be sad to see it go when I have to get rid of it... :(
I was like a kid with it really :lol: It felt better than the Jazz at soaking up bumps but then again that wouldn't be hard. It had 40k on it. I had it pushing on a bit and it would do me I think for a runaround. It was the seamless transmission that impressed me and the silent take off. Even reversing it without that straight cut gear noise was really cool.
Yep, the smoothness of the motor and gearbox in an EV, any EV, is quite something and you have to drive one to appreciate it - you won't find any ICE that has a motor and gearbox that is as smooth - at any price. The gearbox is super simple - just a single speed reduction gear (approx 9 to 1 is typical) from the motor output shaft that is typically implemented as an input gear, an idler and an output gear that drives the differential. The idler gear is only needed to give sufficient offset to fit the differential alongside the motor body in a transverse layout...

Permanently engaged, even in neutral/park - neutral just means turning off the power to the motor and letting it freewheel..... no clutches and syncromesh to wear out, no control linkages. To go in reverse the motor just spins backwards by reversing two of the three phases like any three phase AC motor. If it wasn't limited by the control software it could theoretically drive just as fast in reverse as forwards. :lol: (How long until some idiot modifies an EV to lift the reversing speed limit I wonder...)

Oodles of torque from 0 rpm on most EV's (not my Ion sadly which has a slow torque ramp up to 10mph) and theoretically "instant" throttle response. In practice all EV's apply some deliberate smoothing and delay to the throttle position sensor otherwise if you could apply full torque in an instant it would just break traction without the car moving. :twisted: So there is a slight amount of delay/ramping of the torque to make it more manageable.

I love driving my Xantia V6, and I do like the noise the engine makes and the "fuss" of racing it noisily through the gears if you're in a hurry, but after driving the Ion for a couple of weeks and getting into the Xantia its amazing how rough and agricultural even a V6 petrol feels to drive, although that's partly down to the unpredictable gearbox which likes to change up or down gears when I least expect or want it...

Some people say they'd miss the noise and gear changing of an ICE but personally I find the high torque, smoothness and lack of throttle response lag of an EV quite addictive, even on a tiny little 47kW model like mine. I'd love to drive an EV that was actually properly fast and powerful...
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Re: Electric Vehicles: What have you spotted?

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

Mandrake wrote: 14 Jun 2019, 14:26 Some people say they'd miss the noise and gear changing of an ICE but personally I find the high torque, smoothness and lack of throttle response lag of an EV quite addictive, even on a tiny little 47kW model like mine. I'd love to drive an EV that was actually properly fast and powerful...
You could try renting one Simon, or maybe just walking into a showroom showing an interest and booking a test drive. They would probably offer you a job by the time you had finished!
Ecosse-EV at Ingliston have one listed through TURO but you would be paying £200/day. Peer-to-peer renting from a commercial host. May do you half a day if you asked.
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Not sure if that is the "going rate".
This firm way on down south in Kent is £80/day plus add ons taking it up to realistically around £140/day ish unless you wanted to carry a £4,000 excess.

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Re: Electric Vehicles: What have you spotted?

Post by Gibbo2286 »

Only just noticed one of my neighbours has a Toyota Yaris Hybrid.
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Re: Electric Vehicles: What have you spotted?

Post by Skull »

23 JUN 19 BBC2 8.00pm TOP GEAR's new crew are doing an electric vehicle special - each making their own battery powered sports car on a budget .....
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Re: Electric Vehicles: What have you spotted?

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

Skull wrote: 23 Jun 2019, 12:57 23 JUN 19 BBC2 8.00pm TOP GEAR's new crew are doing an electric vehicle special - each making their own battery powered sports car on a budget .....


Would be surprised if one of the three didnt do a Triumph Spitfire. First ever post on the Electric Cars/Vans/Bikes Conversions thread was this Triumph Spitfire converted by North Carolina High School!

Image

Interesting to see what sort of budget they set. Components can be pricy especially Lithium Ion Battery packs although I have seen various projects on you tube, recycling the 18650 cells from used laptops. Early conversions used good old heavy lead-acid batteries.

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