Electric Cars:what's available?

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Re: Electric Cars:what's available?

Post by Mandrake »

Hyundai Motor Group (which includes Hyundai, Kia and Genesis brands) has announced their new E-GMP platform - a new ground up platform for BEV cars which will be released starting from 2021-2024:

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new- ... mile-range

Current Hyundai and Kia BEV's, whilst very good (with industry leading miles/kWh efficiency) are based on shared ICE platforms so aren't optimal designs from the point of view of where the battery is located, how the chassis is designed to fit around the motors and battery etc. The E-GMP is their answer to this.

The Hyundai Youtube "presentation" (mostly not in English but you can turn on English Closed Captions in Youtube):



A couple of commenters talking about it in English:





Hyundai group are definitely one to watch over the next few years. They've already proved they can beat practically everyone else on efficiency using a shared ICE platform, (about 25% more efficient than nearly every other EV brand) it will be intriguing to see what they can achieve with a new platform designed from the ground up for BEV's.

Interesting to note the platform is rear wheel drive by default with an option for all wheel drive, but no front wheel (only) drive option, given that all Kia and Hyundai BEV's so far are front wheel drive only. Very Tesla like.
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Re: Electric Cars:what's available?

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

The Dacia Spring. Claimed to be the cheapest new car to run on the market....not just the cheapest electric car.

According to this purchase from Autumn 2021, just shared ownership and ride sharing schemes from April 2021.



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Re: Electric Cars:what's available?

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Cheap Evs?



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Re: Electric Cars:what's available?

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Re: Electric Cars:what's available?

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The Mahindra Group (an Indian international Congolmerate) as well as owning Automobili Pininfarina responsible for that car also own.

Pininfarina
Peugeot Motocycles
SsangYong Motors

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Re: Electric Cars:what's available?

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

Mick recently chose an AC Cobra as a celebratory pic.

AC in the electric car news with this

https://uk.motor1.com/news/458506/ac-un ... -electric/

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Re: Electric Cars:what's available?

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Review (Irish) of the new e-C4

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Re: Electric Cars:what's available?

Post by Mandrake »

And now for something a bit smaller. The Citroen AMI.







Two seats, 30mph top speed limit, 40 miles of range, absolutely tiny. A modern version of the bubble car. Is it for me? No. :rofl2:

It literally is a shopping basket on wheels, but I'm sure someone would like it. I think... :)

It's nearest competitor would be the Twizzy, and like the twizzy it counts as a quadracycle not a car so can be driven in France without a license from 14. (!)

Another weird quirk - one door opens normally and the other door is a suicide door.. :rofl2:
Last edited by Mandrake on 09 Dec 2020, 12:28, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Electric Cars:what's available?

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

At least one of the FCF faithful has more than a fancy for one

viewtopic.php?p=664621#p664621

Nice to see one getting driven around in Bristol. As a "car" (light quadricyle) for what its designed for whats not to like?.

Half a chance that as with the UK Version of the Twizy, the next category up ie. heavy quadricyle with a limit of 80kph/50mph may follow. Would take it up into a higher price band though.

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Re: Electric Cars:what's available?

Post by myglaren »



The Wuling Hongguang Mini EV is an all-electric city car that is manufactured by SAIC-GM-Wuling.[2]

The Wuling Hongguang Mini EV is equipped with a 9.2kWh battery capable of a NEDC range of 120 km (75 mi) or a 13.8kWh battery capable of a NEDC range of 170 km (110 mi).[3]

The Hongguang Mini can seat four people and is powered by a 13 kW singular electric motor producing 17.4 horsepower and 62.7 pound-feet of torque with rear-wheel drive. The Hongguang Mini EV has a top speed of 100 km/h (62 mph) and an estimated range of 106 miles.[3] Based on the NEDC driving cycle the estimated energy consumption of the Wuling Hongguang Mini EV is 8,1 kWh/100 km.[4]

In 2020, the Hongguang Mini had a price starting at (ONLY !!) US$4,162 and ends at US$5,607 for a fully loaded model, making it China's cheapest EV.[5] Standard safety features of the Hongguang Mini include anti-lock brakes, tire pressure monitoring sensors, and rear parking sensors. The Hongguang Mini also has standard features including air conditioning, power windows, stereo system, 12 storage compartments, 741 liters of trunk space with the rear seats folded down, and the accelerating and braking pedals feature positive and negative symbols.[6]

In October 2020, the Hongguang Mini surpassed the Tesla Model 3 to become the bestselling EV in China, with 55,781 sales through the three months ending October 31.[7]
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Re: Electric Cars:what's available?

Post by mickthemaverick »

myglaren wrote: 20 Dec 2020, 10:33

The Wuling Hongguang Mini EV is an all-electric city car that is manufactured by SAIC-GM-Wuling.[2]

................................

In October 2020, the Hongguang Mini surpassed the Tesla Model 3 to become the bestselling EV in China, with 55,781 sales through the three months ending October 31.[7]
Looks like a perfect shopping and around town car for SWMBO. Will they come here for a sensible price I wonder? :?
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Re: Electric Cars:what's available?

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mickthemaverick wrote: 20 Dec 2020, 10:44 Will they come here for a sensible price I wonder? :?
My guess is that currently the Chinese home market is gobbling up production of the Hongguang Mini ev and the next targets are likely to be the rest of Asia and India. The characteristic of those markets is that, as has been self-evident with its sales volumes, there is a large demand for low-price small cars.

The USA has never been a great market for that sort of vehicle and up to now neither has Europe, with manufacturers pulling the plug on that end of the market as being unprofitable because it isn't high volume enough, and the profit margins are small (as well as the cars!).

It may not be a good thing to see loads of Hongguang Mini ev's or even Citroen Ami's on the roads of the UK.
Its about time there was a bit of glove taking off, even with the likes of MG who have broken into the UK market and reciprocate the Chinese stance of "If you want to sell cars here build them here". The "Green Revolution" needs some teeth, if its not just going to buy all the gubbins and support the economy and jobs outside the UK.

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Re: Electric Cars:what's available?

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

Mandrake wrote: 19 Nov 2020, 14:55 And now for a quick video review of the Peugeot e-208:


Well that was November, and today December 24th a blue Peugeot E208 is in the news in Northumberland.

Story here
viewtopic.php?p=669443#p669443

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Re: Electric Cars:what's available?

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

No similar scheme exists in England as far as I know but in Scotland there is big encouragement towards buying an electric car right now.....sooner or later it will be withdrawn but right now substantial interest-free loans are available, up to £28,000 for a new electric car, £20,000 for a used electric car.
Note Scotland only.

https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/travel ... and-loans/

The electric vehicle loan is funded by Transport Scotland and can help you purchase a new electric car.

Thinking about purchasing an electric car or van? The interest-free electric vehicle loan, funded by Transport Scotland (an agency of the Scottish Government), currently offers drivers in Scotland loans of:
up to £28,000 to cover the cost of purchasing a new pure electric vehicle
up to £10,000 to cover the cost of purchasing a new electric motorcycle or scooter
The loan has a repayment term of up to six years.
From 28 September 2020, the Low Carbon Transport Loan was extended to cover used electric vehicles. See more information and eligibility criteria for businesses and individuals.
the Used Electric Vehicle loan offers eligible drivers in Scotland an interest-free loan of up to £20,000 to cover the cost of purchasing a used electric car, or up to £5,000 for the purchase of a used electric motorcycle or moped
loans of up to £6,000 are available to Scottish residents to cover the cost of up to two new ebikes, a new family cargo or ecargo bike or an adaptive bike or ebike
I would have thought if you live in Scotland and are thinking about having an electric car/bike in your fleet, now is the right time to take the plunge. I hardly think the incentives are going to become more generous.

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Re: Electric Cars:what's available?

Post by Mandrake »

Just a heads up for anyone thinking of getting an early Leaf as a cheap potter around car - beware the heater!

Gen 2 Leaf's (dark interior) from 2014 onwards (at least Acenta and Tekna) have a heat pump and also a barium titanate PTC heater which directly heats the air flow - like a fan heater. These work well and warm up very quickly.

Gen 1 Leaf's (light cream interior) from 2011 to 2013 do not have heat pumps and only have PTC heaters, however I was not aware until today that the PTC heater in the Gen 1's is of completely different design - it's actually a PTC water heater much like the one in the Peugeot Ion, which heats water and pumps it through a conventional heater matrix, so it is considerably inferior in performance and efficiency to a direct air heating element like the one in the Gen 2.

Furthermore they are apparently very unreliable and all likely to fail sooner or later!

https://ev-olution.yolasite.com/Nissan- ... -Fault.php

Doh! So I really can't recommend anyone buying a Gen 1 Leaf for any reason. They really are almost a "Beta" product and a lot of design changes were made going to the Gen 2 car which is much more reliable and solid.

Among the problems with the Gen 1 (cream interior) models off the top of my head:

1) Much higher battery degradation rates than later cars especially in hot weather
2) Expensive electronic parking brake that tends to fail, (Gen 2 actually went back to a mechanically operated foot "handbrake"!)
3) PTC water heater which apparently is unreliable and very likely to fail, and nowhere near as efficient as the heater on Gen 2 models.

So just don't do it. Stick to a Gen 2 car.
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