RE: Go electric!

[squirejo]

No road tax, no BIK for company car drivers, no purchase tax, no congestion charge. Majority of on street chargers are free or overnight charging using the timer equates to about £1.50 per 100 mile fill up. No cost to install a 7kw charger (3-4hrs charge time) with a purchase or only £100 to upgrade from a free 3kw charger available to anyone, owner or not, thanks to govt grants.

Look how many people are very excited about the BMW i3 on the EV forum.

I was not sure, drove a Zoe and bought it. It's just brilliant as a commuter car where I have no range anxiety given do 12 miles a day.

[moribund]

I test drove one last year (was the first person to go into the dealer specifically about the Zoe, despite it being on sale 3 months by that point...) and came away impressed. It does the supermini job perfectly and is really quite nice to drive.

Almost works out for my driving profile too but the OH now working further away means we can no longer just swap cars for when I need a 4 seat car for longer journeys.

[autofocus]

Hi there,

Submitted my entry, I currently drive around 700 miles a week would love to see if this is actually possible in a Zoe.

Regards

Tim

[jeremy996]

I'm game - think of it as an extended test drive.

One thing I'd like to see is how useful the electric charging stations are. My longest regular trip goes past IKEA in Nottingham, who have a Nissan branded charger. My usual commute goes past a new Sainsburys in Leicester who have another sort of charger; so, how does a Renault work with this stuff?

[SteveSteveson]

squirejo said:

I was not sure, drove a Zoe and bought it. It's just brilliant as a commuter car where I have no range anxiety given do 12 miles a day.

I find this very odd. Why have an electric car for 6 miles? Unless you have some condition that massively limits mobility surely a bike or public transport (depending on wether you live in a city or not) is going to be cheaper, better for the environment, better for you and leave you to get something interesting and more PH for those few days for less environmental damage and cost than using an EV for that short a distance. That and cycling is far more enjoyable than sitting in a soul destroyingly boring EV.

[Regiment]

As someone who is very pro-technology, I do have one question for the masses.

I currently live in a terraced house with on street parking only, a lot of the houses I'm looking at purchasing are also houses with designated parking bays in a private car park or on street parking only. How would an electric car work for me?

[Escort Si-130]

How much does it cost electric wise to charge these. Don't want to be ass raped when the electricity bill hits the door mat.

[moribund]

Couple of quid per 100 miles

[fwaggie]

Parking on driveway : check.
Ideal location for charger unit : check.
Recent car history has been economy driven : check. (sort of, currently experimenting with diesel and praying the DPF regen / failure fairy doesn't visit)
Into 'green' technology, solar panels on the house : check.
Boss at work has a Zoe and his commute is right at the max of the range : should hopefully provide interesting comparisons.
25 mile a day commute : check.
Mix of town and dual carriageways : check.

Will peoples screens shatter when they see my ugly mug? Quite likely, but applied anyway

[chris watton]

I wonder what taxes they'll start to introduce to owners of these EV's when they become more popular, I remember diesels used to be dirt cheap....

[Negative Creep]

squirejo said:

No road tax, no BIK for company car drivers, no purchase tax, no congestion charge. Majority of on street chargers are free or overnight charging using the timer equates to about £1.50 per 100 mile fill up. No cost to install a 7kw charger (3-4hrs charge time) with a purchase or only £100 to upgrade from a free 3kw charger available to anyone, owner or not, thanks to govt grants.

Look how many people are very excited about the BMW i3 on the EV forum.

I was not sure, drove a Zoe and bought it. It's just brilliant as a commuter car where I have no range anxiety given do 12 miles a day.

Until too many people get excited about EVs, then you can watch those free benefits vanish

[squirejo]

Negative Creep said:

Until too many people get excited about EVs, then you can watch those free benefits vanish

Perfectly possible, but at the current takeup (and the sceptical majority judging by this thread!) I'll enjoy them all the more for the next few years. As and when they are reduced, I'll still be driving round in an excellent vehicle which is then merely at an equlibrium level with a normal car on cost grounds, ex fuel which is still a lot cheaper at a few quid per 100 miles if you charge at home.

Edited to add- the following recent announcement makes it also able to assume the benefits are not disappearing any time soon...

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/deputy-prime-mi...

Edited by squirejo on Sunday 8th June 15:36

[squirejo]

Regiment said:

As someone who is very pro-technology, I do have one question for the masses.

I currently live in a terraced house with on street parking only, a lot of the houses I'm looking at purchasing are also houses with designated parking bays in a private car park or on street parking only. How would an electric car work for me?

That's a good question and you are really reliant on public chargers.

Renault s website is just one of the places you will find a current map. They are expanding a great deal and very fast chargers are already at most service station son the m4 and m40, and ikea stores to name a few. So the only answer is to do some due diligence on your local area and see if it can work for you. I do not have off street parking, but it's feasible with a public charger very near my home and my office, plus London availability quite strong and due to treble in the coming few years.

[Justaredbadge]

Sorry if I missed it, but what dates are you planning on doing this for?

I want to see if it will tie in with a sprint at Curborough...

[squirejo]

SteveSteveson said:

I find this very odd. Why have an electric car for 6 miles? Unless you have some condition that massively limits mobility surely a bike or public transport (depending on wether you live in a city or not) is going to be cheaper, better for the environment, better for you and leave you to get something interesting and more PH for those few days for less environmental damage and cost than using an EV for that short a distance. That and cycling is far more enjoyable than sitting in a soul destroyingly boring EV.

Don't.

Like most things in life it's about appropriateness relative to circumstances. At the time i commute, my journey time is halved by road compared to public transport and more enjoyable as I get to choose my own music, temperature and route, whilst avoiding the fat man with BO who tends to grace the tube. I save my cycling for leisure/ pleasure to avoid death by lorry and breathing the taxi and bus carcinogens deep into my lungs that grace our Capital. It's far from boring to drive a Zoe, (or an i3) with instant torque and low c of g, it actually a very effective way of slicing through London. Nor am I bored by getting into a perfectly cooled interior activated by iPhone on these warmer days. (Or a defrosted car in winter...)

Clearly Evs are not for everyone and this PH initiative is interesting. It seems to me that those who have experienced one are less sceptical than those that have not. We have come a long way from the hateful G wizz...

I don't think Evs (with the possible exception of Tesla, as yet a bit untested in the UK) can be a realistic only car in the uk yet don't worry about the need for something a bit more 'PH' as yesterday I was blasting thru the Cotswolds in this:

[McWigglebum4th]

squirejo said:

I don't think Evs (with the possible exception of Tesla, as yet a bit untested in the UK) can be a realistic only car in the uk yet don't worry about the need for something a bit more 'PH' as yesterday I was blasting thru the Cotswolds in this:

lovely car

Would you want the last gallon of petrol in this world to be burnt in it or taking my micra to the shops?

[squirejo]

Am I allowed to set fire to the Micra with it? :-)

[TheBALDpuma]

I'd love to have a go at this, as a two car household an electric car would be perfect as the wifes car - she does a 2 mile commute! My big old 25mpg estate for work and trips.

However, I rent, so given the short time frame not sure I could get the landlord on board. Shame!

[KTF]

McWigglebum4th said:

I'd love to enter this as i would love a charging point fitted for free

You can get them for free from BG:

http://www.britishgas.co.uk/products-and-services/...

[Andurron]

jeremy996 said:

One thing I'd like to see is how useful the electric charging stations are. My longest regular trip goes past IKEA in Nottingham, who have a Nissan branded charger. My usual commute goes past a new Sainsburys in Leicester who have another sort of charger; so, how does a Renault work with this stuff?

From when I worked at Nissan, the gist I got was that the Renaults shared a charger (sister companies) so the Fluence, Zoe and Leaf all were built to the same principles. However, when we had test cars in from other companies, we were able to hook up Mitsubishi i-MEVs, Vauxhall Amperas and Toyota Prius Plug-Ins into the same systems. I think there was a worry of having different plug shapes at first, but the companies who make the actual charging points found it was much more efficient to have a single one across the whole motorworld, and it saves a lot of costs generally as well.

I don't know for sure about BMWs, since the i3 seems popular enough for people to want to switch, and this is a Renault/Nissan charger, but my guess would be they're working towards a universal plug much the same way we have the same type of hole in which dino juice goes in.

Re the competition, I would absolutely love this, but my home is a flat with a shared parking.