Utter noob EV questions
Discussion
Sorry, please point me elsewhere to other resources for my dumb questions if there any.
I am looking to get Mrs Bert a new car to replace her gen 1 mini. She pootles around town, has 10 mile journeys to work a couple of times a week, possible occasional longer journeys to work coming in the future (30 miles each way) and visits to her parents every month or so (100 miles each way). Normally at most 2 in the car, very occasionally 4. No babies, kids, luggage etc. She's not interesting in stuff and fripperies in cars or performance.
So on a practical note, how would one charge up on a 200 mile round trip journey? I can only see it happening in the motorway services as it's not practical at her destination with only on-road parking at her parents.
Then I have been reading about the deals for PCP etc and there are quite a few acronyms flying about which I have no idea what they mean. Can anyone pen or point me to an idiot's guide to buying an electric car please?
And finally, is there a de-facto choice for a car to fit this bill? Eg the Nissan Leaf which gets talked about a lot. Or is there a plethora of choice to suit personal tastes?
Thanks in advance.
Bert
I am looking to get Mrs Bert a new car to replace her gen 1 mini. She pootles around town, has 10 mile journeys to work a couple of times a week, possible occasional longer journeys to work coming in the future (30 miles each way) and visits to her parents every month or so (100 miles each way). Normally at most 2 in the car, very occasionally 4. No babies, kids, luggage etc. She's not interesting in stuff and fripperies in cars or performance.
So on a practical note, how would one charge up on a 200 mile round trip journey? I can only see it happening in the motorway services as it's not practical at her destination with only on-road parking at her parents.
Then I have been reading about the deals for PCP etc and there are quite a few acronyms flying about which I have no idea what they mean. Can anyone pen or point me to an idiot's guide to buying an electric car please?
And finally, is there a de-facto choice for a car to fit this bill? Eg the Nissan Leaf which gets talked about a lot. Or is there a plethora of choice to suit personal tastes?
Thanks in advance.
Bert
Zoe now claim a 250 mile range but effectively right now unless you maybe get a sixty grand of Tesla the 200 mile round trip won't work - you could get Leaf or Zoe for day-to-day and rent a car or lend her yours (!) for the long trips
60 mile round trips are ok with many more recent EV or with a bit of angst for 2015 or earlier
Rule of thumb is assume 2/3 max range with any heating or a/c etc on eg winter or summer
60 mile round trips are ok with many more recent EV or with a bit of angst for 2015 or earlier
Rule of thumb is assume 2/3 max range with any heating or a/c etc on eg winter or summer
Edited by johnnyreggae on Tuesday 14th February 14:07
My wife's usage is similar and we've looked at electric cars. The only way we can imagine it working is if we swap cars a couple of days a month when she needs to do a longer journey. We then have to hope it isn't when I need a longer journey. Maybe the once a year those occasions clash we would need a hire car.
by and large, I use the 'big' car as I work away a lot, so it's not available for Mrs Bert to use for her monthly trip.
I have sent her off to the closest charge point to her parents where she is today (thanks zap-map) which is in a public car park round the corner to see if that looks 'usable'.
I suspect that the uncertainty of the charging will put her off in the end. Just depends if she is excited by being an an electric car.
We'll have a look around this weekend.
Bert
I have sent her off to the closest charge point to her parents where she is today (thanks zap-map) which is in a public car park round the corner to see if that looks 'usable'.
I suspect that the uncertainty of the charging will put her off in the end. Just depends if she is excited by being an an electric car.
We'll have a look around this weekend.
Bert
I think you can safely say two things:
1) There will be more charging options in 6 months than there are now. They're building out stations at a rapid rate
2) The longer you can hold off the better - there looks like a significant wave of new cars with substantially better range becoming available over the next 2 years. We'll also see dramatically faster charging times
In the meantime you need to ensure you get a car with DC charging. It makes the difference between parking mid-route and needing to park at a charger and leaving the car for a few hours. My i3 is far from perfect but it's great on short trips and has worked out as really good value when looking at total cost of ownership. I got an early one a year ago with 17,000km on the clock for almost 45% off the price it was new. I've given my name to Jaguar for an i-Pace when they're launched at the end of 2018 when I suspect EVs will be viable as an only car (A tesla already is).
1) There will be more charging options in 6 months than there are now. They're building out stations at a rapid rate
2) The longer you can hold off the better - there looks like a significant wave of new cars with substantially better range becoming available over the next 2 years. We'll also see dramatically faster charging times
In the meantime you need to ensure you get a car with DC charging. It makes the difference between parking mid-route and needing to park at a charger and leaving the car for a few hours. My i3 is far from perfect but it's great on short trips and has worked out as really good value when looking at total cost of ownership. I got an early one a year ago with 17,000km on the clock for almost 45% off the price it was new. I've given my name to Jaguar for an i-Pace when they're launched at the end of 2018 when I suspect EVs will be viable as an only car (A tesla already is).
Ordered a leaf.. Our situation probably similar to yourself I travel for work 2/3 days all over the country, Mrs maybe 1 day a week and the rest of the time just pottering up to the tram park & ride for work and other local trips, then weekend family visits on top which could be 200 miles round trip.
Current plan is to allow whoever is going furthest to take the Cactus, the other one will then have the Leaf. We can both rent cars for a day through work so as long as a bit of thought is put in neither of us should struggle. We've got a charging point at my office so bit of a winner there too!
Currently toying with the idea of using it for some client visits, if its a day when I've not got to rush I don't mind stopping to re-charge...
Current plan is to allow whoever is going furthest to take the Cactus, the other one will then have the Leaf. We can both rent cars for a day through work so as long as a bit of thought is put in neither of us should struggle. We've got a charging point at my office so bit of a winner there too!
Currently toying with the idea of using it for some client visits, if its a day when I've not got to rush I don't mind stopping to re-charge...
We just did a trip from Welwyn, Herts to Brighton, back to Mercedes Benz World, Camberley and home again, for £6 ie one ecotricity charge. 24kwh Leaf.
I had lost a bit of faith in longer trips, but this was fairly painless with a Polar RFID card. Used Maple Cross chargers, and Pease Pottage was free vend. Central Brighton parking and charging for free.
I had lost a bit of faith in longer trips, but this was fairly painless with a Polar RFID card. Used Maple Cross chargers, and Pease Pottage was free vend. Central Brighton parking and charging for free.
This seems like the right place, so this is my utter noob question as a non EV owner.
In Bolton at the weekend, at an NCP car park, there were a few EV spaces with charging points. When we came back, there was a Zoe parked up and plugged in. I went over to have a look at the charging point, it was lit up green and the readout said it was charging, and had a figure of 2.1kwh. What did the readout mean? I thought kwh was the capacity of the battery and kw was the charging speed?
In Bolton at the weekend, at an NCP car park, there were a few EV spaces with charging points. When we came back, there was a Zoe parked up and plugged in. I went over to have a look at the charging point, it was lit up green and the readout said it was charging, and had a figure of 2.1kwh. What did the readout mean? I thought kwh was the capacity of the battery and kw was the charging speed?
So had a mooch around the Leaf and the Zoe on Saturday. As an aside, going in the Nissan dealer was really odd. They make really, really ugly cars! The Leaf wasn't quite right as it's a bit big for Mrs Bert and she is a slightly odd shape 
Long legs and short body (it's good this isn't it?). The Leaf steering wheel seems very low and even with the seat cranked right down, she couldn't get comfortable. However on the plus side we were largely ignored by the sales people which was nice.
Then off to the Zoe which seemed to suit Mrs Bert a lot more. Got a comfy seating position and the overall size works better for her. We didn't manage to get away without sales attention though and had to suffer the sales person who kept telling us there was no torque in an electric car and who abjectly failed to try and describe the difference between the models!
Ideally now we'd borrow/rent one for a few days to see if Mrs Bert can live with it. She loves the concept, but is nervous about dealing with the small range. At the moment, the petrol fairy intervenes and fills her mini up every two weeks.
Do Renault do extended test drives?
Cheers for all the help so far!
Bert
Long legs and short body (it's good this isn't it?). The Leaf steering wheel seems very low and even with the seat cranked right down, she couldn't get comfortable. However on the plus side we were largely ignored by the sales people which was nice.Then off to the Zoe which seemed to suit Mrs Bert a lot more. Got a comfy seating position and the overall size works better for her. We didn't manage to get away without sales attention though and had to suffer the sales person who kept telling us there was no torque in an electric car and who abjectly failed to try and describe the difference between the models!
Ideally now we'd borrow/rent one for a few days to see if Mrs Bert can live with it. She loves the concept, but is nervous about dealing with the small range. At the moment, the petrol fairy intervenes and fills her mini up every two weeks.
Do Renault do extended test drives?
Cheers for all the help so far!
Bert
We bit the bullet and opted for a Zoe @ christmas, wifey only does short journeys locally, if your the fuel fairy then prepare to save. I dont have to worry that her car has no fuel as if its low she plugs it in when @ home.
Realistic on our 22kw is around 60 miles, altho that is creeping up with the warmer weather. Wifey really enjoys it also.
Realistic on our 22kw is around 60 miles, altho that is creeping up with the warmer weather. Wifey really enjoys it also.
yep the bose sound system is not as good as the DAB factory fitted one in my 2009 ford mondeo titanium. How/why I've no idea. not enough depth, base, or all encompassing sound to it I think.
I also don't like the fact there is no auto dimming rear mirror. i'd be happy with less toys to some degree, but have the right ones fitted.
but as a car, we loved it- can't wait for it to arrive.
I also don't like the fact there is no auto dimming rear mirror. i'd be happy with less toys to some degree, but have the right ones fitted.
but as a car, we loved it- can't wait for it to arrive.
So by way of an update, we have looked in more detail at the Zoe and had a test drive. I really enjoyed driving it (which is immaterial), and Mrs Bert really liked it and wants to have one.
So I think we are going for one.
Although of course car sales people (other than any on here of course) are the lowest of the low. The dude was pretty poor at answering questions and even though we made some huge buying signs (Mrs Bert even said she couldn't think if a reason not to buy one), guess what, he's not made the promised call back.
So rather than go to the closest dealer, I'm tempted to shop around for the best deal. What's the best way to do this (other than the obvious, call them, go see them and play them off)?
And why does the Zoe have a 'normal' 12v car battery in the engine bay?
Cheers
Bert
So I think we are going for one.
Although of course car sales people (other than any on here of course) are the lowest of the low. The dude was pretty poor at answering questions and even though we made some huge buying signs (Mrs Bert even said she couldn't think if a reason not to buy one), guess what, he's not made the promised call back.
So rather than go to the closest dealer, I'm tempted to shop around for the best deal. What's the best way to do this (other than the obvious, call them, go see them and play them off)?
And why does the Zoe have a 'normal' 12v car battery in the engine bay?
Cheers
Bert
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