Ampera - talk to me
Discussion
My current commute is a 35mile round trip. Out of town(30mph), round a ring road (mostly 40limit with lots of traffic lights and roundabouts) then a 10mile blat up a dual carriageway and about a mile off at the other end.
Current car is a Volvo S80 D5 and I'm getting around 40-45mpg, I should probably do some maths to work it out properly. It's big, its comfy and when required it can give you a decent surge of acceleration.
Pure EVs at the moment are too expensive and not do-able as when we visit my wifes parents or go to visit friends or other places in the UK they tend to be +100miles away with on street or hotel parking for a week or more. Occasionally we'll do trips covering several hundred miles in a day down to Cornwall or up to scotland etc.
So, is an Ampera the perfect car? At home I can plug it in every night and (in theory) that should get me to work and back every day. Then on longer journeys theres the range extender to fall back on.
The only thing really stopping me in my head is what are they like if you are away from a charging point for up to a week?
Current car is a Volvo S80 D5 and I'm getting around 40-45mpg, I should probably do some maths to work it out properly. It's big, its comfy and when required it can give you a decent surge of acceleration.
Pure EVs at the moment are too expensive and not do-able as when we visit my wifes parents or go to visit friends or other places in the UK they tend to be +100miles away with on street or hotel parking for a week or more. Occasionally we'll do trips covering several hundred miles in a day down to Cornwall or up to scotland etc.
So, is an Ampera the perfect car? At home I can plug it in every night and (in theory) that should get me to work and back every day. Then on longer journeys theres the range extender to fall back on.
The only thing really stopping me in my head is what are they like if you are away from a charging point for up to a week?
I had a 14 plate a few years ago.
A good, well engineered car.
Max 50 miles on battery, dropping to approx 30 in the depths of winter (heater pulls 7kW/hr when heating battery / battery pack). You could improve this by pre heating the cabin at home, whilst plugged in.
As for not being plugged in for a week at a time, no problem. The petrol engine will just come on to provide electricity as required.
I recall some dealer examples had never been plugged in when I was looking. (look at the lifetime MPG on the display. If its 100+mpg then its been plugged in alot. If closer to 50, then its been run on the ICE alot).
Oh, I used to get approx 50mpg on petrol when the battery was depleted.
This one is on 468,000 miles !!
https://insideevs.com/news/343005/this-chevy-volt-...
A good, well engineered car.
Max 50 miles on battery, dropping to approx 30 in the depths of winter (heater pulls 7kW/hr when heating battery / battery pack). You could improve this by pre heating the cabin at home, whilst plugged in.
As for not being plugged in for a week at a time, no problem. The petrol engine will just come on to provide electricity as required.
I recall some dealer examples had never been plugged in when I was looking. (look at the lifetime MPG on the display. If its 100+mpg then its been plugged in alot. If closer to 50, then its been run on the ICE alot).
Oh, I used to get approx 50mpg on petrol when the battery was depleted.
This one is on 468,000 miles !!
https://insideevs.com/news/343005/this-chevy-volt-...
I had one for four years and generally enjoyed it.
Couple of things to note: It's a strict four seater (no central seatbelt), the touch sensitive buttons on the dash are awful, but the ride and handling and general comfort were surprisingly good. Also the engine is pretty rough and basic.
I usually managed 45 miles or so on electricity, but with careful driving and re-gen I saw 52 miles occasionally. Winter was tough to get over 30.
Mainly local use, but we went 'up north' at least once a year which was a 1000 mile round trip. On motorways the engine didn't intrude too much, but I wouldn't want to use it too often in that mode.
When it left me I managed 175mpg long term as it had most use less than 50 miles from home, so suited me very well indeed. The cabin pre-heat/cool was fabulous!
Couple of things to note: It's a strict four seater (no central seatbelt), the touch sensitive buttons on the dash are awful, but the ride and handling and general comfort were surprisingly good. Also the engine is pretty rough and basic.
I usually managed 45 miles or so on electricity, but with careful driving and re-gen I saw 52 miles occasionally. Winter was tough to get over 30.
Mainly local use, but we went 'up north' at least once a year which was a 1000 mile round trip. On motorways the engine didn't intrude too much, but I wouldn't want to use it too often in that mode.
When it left me I managed 175mpg long term as it had most use less than 50 miles from home, so suited me very well indeed. The cabin pre-heat/cool was fabulous!
Edited by Big Nanas on Saturday 16th May 10:56
Always liked these.
On the point that was made about them being well-engineered - I read somewhere (might have been here) that GM made a point of deliberately over engineering the powertrain etc on them as they didn’t want them coming back with issues, given GM’s reputation. So rather than build them to their usual strict budget, they went all out.
I’m sure that’s also why the range on them isn’t as good as it could be given the battery size - they designed it’s limits to maximise battery performance and life.
I’d still love to get one as it would suit me for approx. 80% of my journeys. Only my turn for the commute would ruin the mpg (90 mile round-trip and no way of charging at work). Love the preheat/cool function too, especially in winter when leaving the house at 6am!
They are getting on a bit now though. Warranty is 8yr on the electrics I think, might be a worry if anything did go wrong unless you could extend it.
On the point that was made about them being well-engineered - I read somewhere (might have been here) that GM made a point of deliberately over engineering the powertrain etc on them as they didn’t want them coming back with issues, given GM’s reputation. So rather than build them to their usual strict budget, they went all out.
I’m sure that’s also why the range on them isn’t as good as it could be given the battery size - they designed it’s limits to maximise battery performance and life.
I’d still love to get one as it would suit me for approx. 80% of my journeys. Only my turn for the commute would ruin the mpg (90 mile round-trip and no way of charging at work). Love the preheat/cool function too, especially in winter when leaving the house at 6am!
They are getting on a bit now though. Warranty is 8yr on the electrics I think, might be a worry if anything did go wrong unless you could extend it.
spaceship said:
Always liked these.
On the point that was made about them being well-engineered - I read somewhere (might have been here) that GM made a point of deliberately over engineering the powertrain etc on them as they didn’t want them coming back with issues, given GM’s reputation. So rather than build them to their usual strict budget, they went all out.
I’m sure that’s also why the range on them isn’t as good as it could be given the battery size - they designed it’s limits to maximise battery performance and life.
I’d still love to get one as it would suit me for approx. 80% of my journeys. Only my turn for the commute would ruin the mpg (90 mile round-trip and no way of charging at work). Love the preheat/cool function too, especially in winter when leaving the house at 6am!
They are getting on a bit now though. Warranty is 8yr on the electrics I think, might be a worry if anything did go wrong unless you could extend it.
I believe they have about 10-11kWh available, but the actual pack is bigger. Its basically running 80-20% as 100-0% all the time. Plus the pack is thermally managed with a liquid coolant circuit.On the point that was made about them being well-engineered - I read somewhere (might have been here) that GM made a point of deliberately over engineering the powertrain etc on them as they didn’t want them coming back with issues, given GM’s reputation. So rather than build them to their usual strict budget, they went all out.
I’m sure that’s also why the range on them isn’t as good as it could be given the battery size - they designed it’s limits to maximise battery performance and life.
I’d still love to get one as it would suit me for approx. 80% of my journeys. Only my turn for the commute would ruin the mpg (90 mile round-trip and no way of charging at work). Love the preheat/cool function too, especially in winter when leaving the house at 6am!
They are getting on a bit now though. Warranty is 8yr on the electrics I think, might be a worry if anything did go wrong unless you could extend it.
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