RE: Driven: Renault Twizy

[Corsair7]

Mellow7 said:

Given that I average 700 - 800 miles a week (sometimes even 1300!) my monthly commuting costs INCLUDING £6/day bridge toll is around £400 - 420/month. I'm averaging 47.6 mpg over 30k miles @ 114 mile round trip minimum/day.

So yes, I spend a lot of money on fuel!

in your original post yu said you could save '£250k' a month......

[mat777]

Kong said:

- Decent residuals, the green cars always have.

Oh come off it. EV's have rubbish residuals after a few years as the stupid battery packs die and have to be replaced at X times the value of the crock of crap in question. And even if you did go ahead and replace them, the old ones are full of toxic heavy metals and unrecyclable electrolyte, and to make new ones they basically strip mine most of canada, before shipping the metal to china to be made into batteries, then shipping those to the vehicle assembly plant.

mmmm, so eco friendly

[300bhp/ton]

Kong said:

300bhp/ton said:

Pointless car and a waste of money, resources and time really.

Unless you own a coat?

This 'car' would suit me perfectly. I have a 5 mile commute (cycle sometimes but i'm quite lazy) with a maximum speed limit of 40mph but quite a bit of stop start. Compared to driving my 3.0 six cylinder petrol:

- It would save me about £50 a month in petrol
- Easily do my daily driving, shopping run, commute on one nights charge.
- No tax
- Cheap insurance (one would think)
- Decent residuals, the green cars always have.

Fantastic car IMO

And why wouldn't a £600 diesel Pug 106 not be a better and cheaper bet?

I don't know how these charge, but unless it has a removable battery it is completely pointless for anyone with street parking as you won't be able to charge it.

Also how long do the batteries last (lifetime) and how much are they to replace?

[alfasud1]

I loved my magic powered £600 pug D. Until it tried to kill by snapping the back beam on a B road. Shirley they will put doors on the UK ones ?

[Twincam16]

As a solution to high insurance and running costs for motorists aged 17-20ish I reckon this could be a really good thing, almost like the 125cc bike you ride before graduating up to a full-sized one.

[thinfourth2]

mat777 said:

and to make new ones they basically strip mine most of canada, before shipping the metal to china to be made into batteries, then shipping those to the vehicle assembly plant.

mmmm, so eco friendly

The strip mine in canada where they get the nickel from was opened in the late 1960's

This must mean that they had been stock piling the nickel since at least 1970 so they had enough nickel for all the battery cars

Either that or the nickel is used elsewhere but that would just be silly

[Chrisw666]

XitUp said:

They would suit a huge number of people as a daily driver if it wasn't for the price and lack of windows.

Windows are for girls.

For the money I'd rather run a cheap shed and a scooter for sunny days though.

[XitUp]

mat777 said:

Oh come off it. EV's have rubbish residuals after a few years as the stupid battery packs die and have to be replaced at X times the value of the crock of crap in question. And even if you did go ahead and replace them, the old ones are full of toxic heavy metals and unrecyclable electrolyte, and to make new ones they basically strip mine most of canada, before shipping the metal to china to be made into batteries, then shipping those to the vehicle assembly plant.

mmmm, so eco friendly

Source?

300bhp/ton said:

And why wouldn't a £600 diesel Pug 106 not be a better and cheaper bet?

I don't know how these charge, but unless it has a removable battery it is completely pointless for anyone with street parking as you won't be able to charge it.

Also how long do the batteries last (lifetime) and how much are they to replace?

What's the warranty like on those £600 Pug 106s?

thinfourth2 said:

The strip mine in canada where they get the nickel from was opened in the late 1960's

This must mean that they had been stock piling the nickel since at least 1970 so they had enough nickel for all the battery cars

Either that or the nickel is used elsewhere but that would just be silly

It's certainly not used in stainless steel. Nope.

[thinfourth2]

XitUp said:

thinfourth2 said:

The strip mine in canada where they get the nickel from was opened in the late 1960's

This must mean that they had been stock piling the nickel since at least 1970 so they had enough nickel for all the battery cars

Either that or the nickel is used elsewhere but that would just be silly

It's certainly not used in stainless steel. Nope.

And nickel plating is so called because of the amount of fresh cheese they use in the process

[thinfourth2]

300bhp/ton said:

Also how long do the batteries last (lifetime) and how much are they to replace?

About a billion pounds to replace the battery

just as well you lease the battery from renault

[DiscoColin]

mat777 said:

Oh come off it. EV's have rubbish residuals after a few years as the stupid battery packs die and have to be replaced at X times the value of the crock of crap in question. And even if you did go ahead and replace them, the old ones are full of toxic heavy metals and unrecyclable electrolyte, and to make new ones they basically strip mine most of canada, before shipping the metal to china to be made into batteries, then shipping those to the vehicle assembly plant.

I know where you are coming from, but you have missed the battery angle on this one - if you reread you will note that you rent the battery from Renault, so if it turns to mud then it is their problem rather than yours (as is recycling it at end of life) and the fee remains the same.

I actually reckon that given windows, for people with urban commutes between 2 and 10 miles each way these on a conceptual level make loads of sense. This would leave a lot of people able to spend more of their petrol money on a hooning car that stays at home while they are at the day job. Not sure if the Twizy is in itself the solution, but the concept certainly has legs [assuming that unlike the deathtrap G-Wiz, this one has been built with a little more of an eye on crash protection].

[300bhp/ton]

One thing you almost neve see mentioned is how long will the battery last? And I don't mean miles, but self discharge. Ie if I barge it up Thursday night and drive 8 miles, will it still be usable Monday morning to do the other 52 miles before recharging?

[AnotherClarkey]

I think the real cleverness of the Twizy is how it sidesteps some of the problems associated with electric cars trying to pretend they can do everything an ic car can. No doors or windows? - no problems with heating, AC or demisting. Small and light? - means it can have a small battery which charges in 3.5 hours from a standard socket (the article is wrong BTW). Obviously focussed on short journeys? - fewer range weenies whining about their Gran 200 miles away.

People who moan about the windows should just HTFU and buy a coat, maybe some gloves and for the most pathetic, some kind of hat is probably in order. I used to commute by bike for a couple of years and this would be pure luxury.

The Twizy goes fast enough and far enough to not compete with bikes (push or electric) and it looks like fun. Of course it is also RWD so according to most it should be fking amazing to drive.

[Penneth]

300bhp/ton said:

Also how long do the batteries last (lifetime) and how much are they to replace?

You lease the battery so Renault just provide you with a new one when it's at the end of its life.

[XitUp]

AnotherClarkey said:

I think the real cleverness of the Twizy is how it sidesteps some of the problems associated with electric cars trying to pretend they can do everything an ic car can. No doors or windows? - no problems with heating, AC or demisting. Small and light? - means it can have a small battery which charges in 3.5 hours from a standard socket (the article is wrong BTW). Obviously focussed on short journeys? - fewer range weenies whining about their Gran 200 miles away.

People who moan about the windows should just HTFU and buy a coat, maybe some gloves and for the most pathetic, some kind of hat is probably in order. I used to commute by bike for a couple of years and this would be pure luxury.

The Twizy goes fast enough and far enough to not compete with bikes (push or electric) and it looks like fun. Of course it is also RWD so according to most it should be fking amazing to drive.

Windscreen can still fog up.
I stay warm on my bike by, you know, the exercise of cycling. Also, my bike cost less than £7k, so I don't expect windows.

[Chrisw666]

I'd be interested in one if they have solid residuals making the whole life costs low or the leases cheap. Saying that the reason I don't have an EV on trial at the moment is that the insurance would have been well over £1k which was more than a 996 or E39 M5 would have been by a considerable margin.

[300bhp/ton]

Penneth said:

300bhp/ton said:

Also how long do the batteries last (lifetime) and how much are they to replace?

You lease the battery so Renault just provide you with a new one when it's at the end of its life.

Thanks. I went back and re-read that bit. £45/month seems a lot considering the low monthly mileage these are likely to do. In fact at that rate I'm sure running a petrol car would be cheaper.

[mosc7pc2]

only need one smiley to sum this car up..

[BBS-LM]

hahahaha My other car is a Porsche

[RobertDB7V12]

Perfect car for anyone who already has six other cars:

DB9/599 for taking totty to the south of France

E-something AMG estate for talking wife/family to south of France

Ford Focus/VW Golf for leaving at station etc

Caterham/Elise or similar for sunny day messing about

911 or similar for daily business

DB4/E Type/Derby Bentley/Lancia Fulvia/Fiat 130 coupe/Citroen SM etc for anarak/club days

Twizy for some reason I cannot think of but I am sure is a good idea.

However need:
The budget
Somewhere to park/garage them
Squillions for tax, insurance etc

All in all, a bit niche & planet not saved.