Electric Cars:what's available?

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Re: Electric Cars:what's available?

Post by Skull »

I've had a few estates over the years (Ford Escort 1.3 Mk II, Peugeot 406 1.9td 7-seater, Mercedes C250 TD and a Citroen Xantia 1.9td)

I like MG5 EV in general but to me an estate should have larger flat loading area, with a suitably large access aperture, this wouldn't swallow a fridge freezer or a bath, I know that's not a negative for some people but I get the impression that even with the rear seats removed the MG would still struggle :?
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Re: Electric Cars:what's available?

Post by Mandrake »

Skull wrote: 13 Nov 2020, 13:42 I like MG5 EV in general but to me an estate should have larger flat loading area, with a suitably large access aperture, this wouldn't swallow a fridge freezer or a bath, I know that's not a negative for some people but I get the impression that even with the rear seats removed the MG would still struggle :?
Yes it looks like the rear seat bases don't tilt up like they do in a Xantia, so the floor isn't anywhere near flat with the rear seats folded down. Unfortunately this seems to be a common problem with a lot of cars these days - the Leaf is the same with only the seat backs folding and a large step in the floor resulting when the seats are folded down.

So while the Leaf has a bigger boot than the Xantia, it's not nearly as useful when the seats are folded down as the good old Xantia.
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Re: Electric Cars:what's available?

Post by CitroJim »

myglaren wrote: 13 Nov 2020, 12:36 A wheelbarrow trumps an SUV.
I fully agree 😉
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Re: Electric Cars:what's available?

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

Rather than bog down David's thread which is really about the Citroen Ami here is another quadricycle. It is currently available in the UK (built in China of course) and is in the category B1 Heavy Quadricycle and hence limited to 50 mph.

Yes the look like little brightly coloured jeeps.

https://www.siticars.com/

4,000 euros equivalent in China....nearly £12,000 here..... like the Twizy not going to make any impact at that price!

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Re: Electric Cars:what's available?

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

Lets hope the Dacia Spring starts shifting entry level EV's down in price



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Re: Electric Cars:what's available?

Post by mickthemaverick »

I love the look of the ME, rugged and cute at the same time!! I could be tempted with the box van version which would be easy to add a rear seat as I did on my Reliant Supervan 3 in the 70s. If the price comes down 20% I could be sorely tempted for a lime green box van version!! :-D
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Re: Electric Cars:what's available?

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

mickthemaverick wrote: 18 Nov 2020, 13:20 I love the look of the ME, rugged and cute at the same time!! I could be tempted with the box van version which would be easy to add a rear seat as I did on my Reliant Supervan 3 in the 70s. If the price comes down 20% I could be sorely tempted for a lime green box van version!! :-D
Wonder if you could do a personal import one direct, ship it over and pay the right duties and taxes for considerably under £12,000.

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Re: Electric Cars:what's available?

Post by mickthemaverick »

That may be a possibility but with Brexit about to go off it may be better to wait and see if a deal with China is set up. Also it would need to be less than 10k to offer the 20%ish discount I mentioned. Nevertheless one to watch, thanks Neil! :)
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Re: Electric Cars:what's available?

Post by c.morewood »

I watched an interesting YouTube video on Wrights law. Regarding the acceleration and price drop of electric vehicles specifically Tesl, but it applies to all EV's.
Enjoy
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Re: Electric Cars:what's available?

Post by myglaren »

May the saints preserve us from announcers/presenters, especially American ones.
Interesting but excruciating.
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Re: Electric Cars:what's available?

Post by mickthemaverick »

Personally, despite my engineering and maths skills I found that video exceedingly hard to follow and understand. Too many randomly mentioned parameters for me to cope with these days!! :( :( :)
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Re: Electric Cars:what's available?

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

c.morewood wrote: 18 Nov 2020, 19:13 Enjoy
Hard work but interesting.

How about a little update on your own Tesla experience so far Chris. :-D

Scottish government appear to be handing interest free loans out like confetti to help plump for an EV.

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Re: Electric Cars:what's available?

Post by c.morewood »

Yes Neil, But the amount has decreased to £28k I believe. I can't fault the Scottish government for the encouragement they give their population in interest free loans, Heat pump, Solar PV and Thermal, wind, EV's, batterys and energy efficiency for the home. Plus a lot of the country has free or reduced fee charging for the Ev's.

I'm sitting at amost 10k miles for 8 months 3 of those in lockdown and for the last month I've only done a couple of hundred miles whilst the Xantias rear brakes were put through the wringer with 4 concrete paving slabs in the boot, for the MOT. Brakes passed but track rod ends didn't and I've got the dreaded 9 fuse blowing with a short circuit.

It gets difficult sometimes swapping cars I've founfd myself reaching for the gear lever o go into reverse in the Tesla and putting the wipers on to go into reverse in the Xantia.. I have a little smile to myself.. You can't just erase 400k miles and 20 years of Xantias like that.

Yes the Tesla gets better and better. I don't have full self driving so I'm not looking forward to the big update they have in the USA being released over here. But the next update for my car is slated to be a complete software rewrite which will change the way the screen looks and reacts.

I've had 3 updates this month, each adds a small amount of funcionality and changes the car, eg. I was on the point of giving up on voice controls over the summer, 1 out of 5 or six times you'd get it to work and forget complicated words.. with the latest update they work perfectly I haven't had one problem.

The residual value seeems to be much better than an ICE car with demand meaning there aren't many secondhand ones around.

I put Goodyear performance plus wnter tyres on a month ago when there was a frost forecast.. I've only seen 3 cold nights since then! They don't like +15C cornering like I was doing today but tonight and tomorrow night is forecast frost so they'll earn their keep then.

I was down in Montrose today picking up the colour co-ordinated Model 3 Frunk bags which I've had a local company make and I'm selling them on EBAy if I'm allowed to plug them.. Mods feel free to delete this bit if i'm not.
I went down the dual caridgeway with a hefty cross wind, (52kts at inverbervie I believe) at 60 mph due to the tyres, on "Autopilot" and it did a good job and was certainly coping better than the white van in front of me.
I came back with a tail wind, over the winding Cairn O Mount road which rises to almost 1500' in a couple of miles and usually a great view from the top. But the windy roads were not enjoyable with the winters on at that temperature.
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Re: Electric Cars:what's available?

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

c.morewood wrote: 18 Nov 2020, 20:39 Yes Neil, But the amount has decreased to £28k I believe.
Thanks Chris I've updated it on that thread it is now £28,000 down from £35,000.

I presume you dont have to "pay" additional amounts for the software updates Chris. Is there a bit of upselling done at software update time with optional extras offered?

Seems like you are enjoying it as you should!

Ive just completed 12 Months electric vehicle apprenticeship, and done 10,400 miles, bit less than I would normally have done. So far so good no regrets, and taking advantage of very cheap fuel.....spent less than £100 in total with most of the chargers in our stomping ground being currently free.

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Re: Electric Cars:what's available?

Post by c.morewood »

Thats good to know Neil, Any particular charging operator or are they all free? I've been taking advantage of Octopus Agiles plunging prices over the past few weeks. a couple of weeks ago I managed to use 67kW and they paid me £1.25 I'm managing to keep under 11p/kWh and last week I'm down to 4.29p/kWh and 31.47 a day. bear in mind that north of Scotland prices and the most expensive tariffs you can get. ( I have an Octopus referral if anyone wants to make £50 for the switch)
There's no pushing to buy extras.. its available in the app that controls the car if you decide you want it .. they change the prices occasionally, usually to coincide woith the end of the quarter, just to get a little more income but thats one place I don't visit. I'm happy with the car as it is. Full self driving would not be worth it up here and the car is too fast for me on "Chill" mode never mind having a performance boost!!
There's no extra to pay for all the updates .. they download automatically and you choose a good time to install. i've had an average of just over 2 per month since March and my car is much better for it.
I've spent £420 for nearly 10k miles so about 4p a mile.. but that will go down now I'm back at home and not using the superchargers so much.
Alltogether I'm running at £2.40 per mile for everything I've paid out on the car this year deposit, loan payments, accessories, insurance, winter wheels tyres etc.
I've spent £730 on the Xantia and only done 2500 miles and I have no deposit, loan winter wheels/tyres to pay for.
I think I've become a Tesla convert but that being said I'd like to see what other EV's drive like to make a comparison. I'm hoping that there may be an oppertunity to hire electric in the near future.

Chris
Chris
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'94 Fiat TipoTd 40K

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