Norwegian family fleet

[sneijder]

..Whenever electric cars get mentioned in media Norway often pops up due to the high uptake.

I moved here 10 years ago when there was, even then, a tiny domestic electric car market. I never thought I'd own an electric car..yet here I am.

There's me and the Mrs and our 7 year old daughter, Mrs commutes about 25 miles in medium traffic daily, I commute 45 miles on a clear motorway daily. We're a 2 car family, using public transport whilst cheaper would double our commuting time.

Estate cars are pretty much essential in Norway for lugging skis and weekend away things around over long distance. I had a Ford Focus diesel estate (we lived in the centre of Oslo at the time, anything bigger would have been a struggle). We're in the suburbs now so parking isn't an issue.

I'd been looking at plug in hybrids as a no-brainer. The ranges on offer mean the Mrs can drive to work on electricity only. We tried the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, didn't find it as solid as it looks to be honest and the demo we drove looked quite tired, after only 6 month old. The Passat GTE was the one for me though. There was a 3-4 month wait for them, I mailed all the dealers in the area and found an ordered demo on the boat already in the spec I wanted.

Soon as we got it, I knew I wanted it for my daily slog so started looking at full-on electric cars for her.

This was September 2016 and I'd heard about the (not yet announced) Opel Ampera E (GM Bolt re-badge) I ordered it there and then. It was promising around 250 miles range which wasn't to be sniffed at.

9 months later and the Opel arrived this week. I was lucky to order just at the right time, there's about 500 in Norway now and over 4000 on back order, which aren't coming any time soon. They're selling used at roughy 10% premium over list, so if we don't get along with it .. no harm done.

I appreciate this section of PH is a bit slow so I'll not waffle on.. but if anyone has questions about the VW Passat GTE (I guess the Golf GTE is more or less the same animal) or the Opel Ampera E (Which won't come in RHD to the UK)...or how/why electric cars work so well in Norway then please ask.

[brycheiniog1]

Hi,

Interested in your views on the Passat GTE. I am about to order one as a company car.. What options did you go for?

What is the real world performance of the battery like? I have a 25 mile commute and it would be nice to do the entirety on electric..

Jonathan

[Minemapper]

Interested to hear how you get on with the Bolt. We just took the plunge with a Leaf, which appears to be the most cost-effective UK-available EV right now (for our situation). Not that I expect it to be available here any time soon, but the Bolt intrigues me.

[sneijder]

brycheiniog1 said:

Hi,

Interested in your views on the Passat GTE. I am about to order one as a company car.. What options did you go for?

What is the real world performance of the battery like? I have a 25 mile commute and it would be nice to do the entirety on electric..

Jonathan

I have black headliner / nappa / towbar and keyless

Essential : Discovery Pro Sat Nav / App Connect / Electric boot lid / Adaptive cruise control / Drivers assistance and Active info display.

I just came back from driving Fredrikshavn / Billund / Copenhagen / Gothenburg back to Oslo. The speed limits are 130km/h tops, so stuck to 140 wherever I could (85mph) I got home with 40mpg. I didn't charge it at all, but kept the battery topped up by regenerating if it got low, otherwise in hybrid mode all the time.

50km (31 miles) off battery is easily done as long as you drive normally and don't need aircon blasting. When its below zero though, 32km / 20 miles is your lot.

Edited by sneijder on Thursday 6th July 20:03

[sneijder]

Minemapper said:

Interested to hear how you get on with the Bolt. We just took the plunge with a Leaf, which appears to be the most cost-effective UK-available EV right now (for our situation). Not that I expect it to be available here any time soon, but the Bolt intrigues me.

It does the job, batteries are just off the floor so it handles quite well. Bit squirmy if you nail it and can pull to one side under heavy braking....that's me driving like I stole it though.

In the real world it's very efficient in regenerating, and you can ramp that up as much as you want. The missus drives frugally, it's always got 400 km / 250 miles real world range minimum in the bank.

Build quality is a real let down though, there's a closed Facebook page for them in Norway... we're all seeing the same pierce of interior trim coming adrift. Acres of hard plastic too.

[Evanivitch]

Shame about the build quality on the Ampera E, always felt the Ampera originally was well put together.

If the bring the Ampera E to the UK I would definitely consider it as my first BEV.