Electric Vehicles: What have you spotted?

[CitroJim]

I spotted an electric something in Newport Pagnell Town Centre yesterday... Just outside Costa where Sian and I had just been for a coffee...

It might have been a Zoe or a Leaf... It was silver... Both are so bland and anonymous I can’t remember which it was now...

I have a picture of it on my phone... I'll check and see what it was...

[CitroJim]

Just looked at the picture I took. It was one of these...

Own Work

I do like the blue badge...

[Mandrake]

That's a Leaf Jim. Notice the frog like bulge and large overhang at the front. Difficult to miss!

I always used to say that the GS looked a bit like a frog at the front due to the large headlights and the curve of the bonnet, but I think the Leaf has definitely taken the crown as the most frog like car styling.

[CitroJim]

That's a Leaf Jim. Notice the frog like bulge and large overhang at the front. Difficult to miss!

Clearly not for me Simon It's not silver either... It's parked outside the opticians. I must visit them I fear. In fact saying that, I've just received an email from them to say an eye test is due!!!

Why I thought it was silver I don't know as I really do love that shade of blue

I always used to say that the GS looked a bit like a frog at the front due to the large headlights and the curve of the bonnet, but I think the Leaf has definitely taken the crown as the most frog like car styling.

No way is the GS frog-like Simon, not by today's standards anyway but I can see what you mean if I squint at a GS and engage full imagination mode... Against the Leaf though the GS is a princess and the Leaf is definitely an ugly old frog...

Having said that, the Leaf in that shade of blue is actually very easy on the eye. I could live with it...

[Mandrake]

Still to see a C-Zero/Ion/ Mitsi thingy, or (knowingly) a Kia Soul. Are there any others?

You're unlikely to ever see a C-Zero/Ion/i-Miev on the road apart from mine, there just aren't many around! (Not surprising they didn't sell well when they were so over priced - they were a little bit too early onto the market in some ways)

According to howmanyleft there are only 418 Ion's, 227 C-Zero's, and 261 i-Miev currently on UK roads. (Why the Ion sold twice as many as the other two I don't know, especially when the C-Zero is 100% identical apart from the brown interior vs grey...)

Compare that to the Leaf, which including all its many model variations, (which I'm not going to add up exactly because I'm too lazy and howmanyleft won't do it for me) there are about 14,000 on the UK roads.

Or the Zoe, which there are about 5000 on the roads. There's even something like 4000 Tesla model S's on the UK roads which is a lot considering their price tag so your far more likely to see one of them!

I see them surprisingly often, at least a couple of times a week now, and I have only ever seen one C-Zero on the road - belonging to the Glasgow police department...

Kia Soul I have seen parked charging a couple of times but never on the road. They're a big boxy looking thing, once you've seen one you can never un-see them. Pity about the styling because from all accounts they are actually a pretty good EV.

[Mandrake]

Clearly not for me Simon It's not silver either... It's parked outside the opticians. I must visit them I fear. In fact saying that, I've just received an email from them to say an eye test is due!!!

Why I thought it was silver I don't know as I really do love that shade of blue

I don't think they can correct for blue/silver colour blindness with glasses though Jim.

Yes blue is my second favourite car colour behind red and that is quite a nice blue.

[CitroJim]

I don't think they can correct for blue/silver colour blindness with glasses though Jim.

That made me giggle Simon

[Hell Razor5543]

I saw two Nissan N200 BEV vans being delivered today on the M40 northbound (they were both on trailers).

[electronmirror]

Spotted this afternoon at the Boat and Outdoor Show, Beale Park near Pangbourne, , a Tesla model X towing a boat trailer.

[DickieG]

At work I've had a couple of VW Golf GTE Hybrids on evaluation, the first one constantly suffered a non start problem due to a flat battery and was taken back by VW in disgrace, the second one over a period of 2,000 miles gave average fuel consumption of 30 mpg which funnily enough is exactly the same as the 530D BMW estates doing exactly the same driving achieve so hardly a recommendation for this so called advanced technology.

Oh and the petrol tank is located where the spare wheel would normally sit as in under the boot floor at the very rear of the car, best hope you don't get rear-ended,,,

[myglaren]

I was reading a Swedish review of a new Honda with a 600km range - which is OK as far as it goes but it is hydrogen and there are hardly any fuel stations in Sweden with hydrogen available.
600km is bugger all there too.

[electronmirror]

Oh and the petrol tank is located where the spare wheel would normally sit as in under the boot floor at the very rear of the car, best hope you don't get rear-ended,,,

VW should have learned from the Ford Pinto petrol tank fiasco back in the 70s.

[demag]

The brother in law has just px'd his Renault Twingo for a new Dacia Sandero. Its the base model with the 0.9 turbo engine £6999 and it's actually quite nice inside. The Twingo has a rear mounted engine and surprisingly the boot is in the back over the top of the engine. The bil has always worried about the heat in the boot and when he recently bought a punnet of strawberries and found them fried in the boot that was the straw that broke the camel's back. Ah yes, a Zoe lives up the road.

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[xantia_v6]

About a year ago there were 8 Tesla charging points installed in a hotel car park near here (we are 2km from a major autoroute junction). There would often be one or two recharging, yesterday I walked past and there were 5 recharging, including a model X.
They are busy installing a further 4 charging points. I suppose that means that Tesla are doing OK in France.

[CitroJim]

Installing charging points must be a good business to be in at the moment...

Ours at work are now operational. Amazing how many Teslas there are amongst our workforce.. All owned by over-paid contractors and they're getting free electricity Just goes to prove that money begats money

Staff who have to run old ICE cars because there is no way they can afford electric cars are now asking where their free petrol and diesel is... It's a good and valid point as why should one mode of transport be effectively subsidised and that subsidy going to people who are already very well-off...

Does anyone know if any other places of work are offering free charging points and has there been any reaction from the ICE driving people? Especially from those who have no choice.

As a cyclist I'm demanding a free supply of energy bars