RE: Cars we won't regret going electric: Speed Matters
Tuesday 4th July 2017
What will the Goodwood Festival of Speed be like in 25 years' time? Just as noisy and thick with the smell of tyre smoke and exhaust fumes I'd hope. And populated by our generation, misty-eyed at displays of the machinery of our youth being given a run out. Much as our parents may enjoy visits to volunteer branch lines to relive the glory days of steam or gaze in wonder at Spitfires looping the loop at air shows.
I'd expect there to be rather fewer internal combustion powered cars in the queues for the car parks though. A thought that struck me as I watched a Formula E car whistle past me at the Festival at the weekend. It was fast. But up against the mightiest examples of petrol-powered excess, an electric car was always going to suffer on the excitement stakes. An opinion perhaps not shared by the driver of the Rimac that very nearly 'did a Hammond' in front of the hospitality pavilions. But even that raised little more than a curious shrug from onlookers against the thunder of Jochen Mass power sliding a Mercedes W125 or the sound of the sky being ripped apart by an 8.4-litre McLaren M8F.
A collection of recent experiences have me unexpectedly leaning toward the former. First was driving the Porsche 918 Spyder on the Le Mans Unravelled trip. Before driving it I'd been one of those saying "just imagine what it would be like without all the hybrid gubbins", to which the answer is of course "like a Carrera GT". But, thankfully, that car already exists. Having experienced it on electric power only I actually ended up pondering what it would be like the other way around - as in purely electric powered. OK, you'd miss that epic ka-BOOM! as the V8 fires up and signals your transition from tree-hugging EV to full-blown hypercar. But even with just 286hp of the total 887hp coming from pure electric the 918 is quite amusing in EV mode.
This to me makes absolute sense, Smart boasting it is the only manufacturer in the world offering electrically powered versions of all the products in its range. Given the weakest links in the Smart package thus far have been the laggy internal combustion engines and the slow-witted transmissions it'd seem to be a no-brainer to go for an electric ForTwo over a petrol one. The more so having driven one. What are you missing? Mainly that feeling of not much happening when you mash the throttle, the sudden spool-up into a power 'band' that lasts for about 500rpm and then another head-noddingly slow upshift, even with the more up-to-date dual-clutch transmission.
Cars we won't regret going electric: Speed Matters
Ditching internal combustion may be the best thing that ever happened to the Smart - could any other cars benefit?
Will I be so nostalgic about the car I drive to the event though? Not sure. Accepted wisdom has it that electric cars are interesting. They can be fast - ludicrously so in the case of Tesla. But can they ever be better than their internal combustion equivalents? Does, for instance, the idea of an electric Porsche 911 fill you with hope? Or fear?
Don't worry, I'm not advocating removing the V8 from your 918 quite yet. But I have driven a car dramatically improved by swapping out the petrol engine for electric power. And that's the Smart ForTwo I drove recently in cabriolet form as an add-on to the E-Class Cabriolet launch the other week.
All gone. Instead, a perky, instantaneous response to the throttle thanks to 81hp and on-demand 118lb ft of torque. A smooth and punchy power delivery. And - joy - no gearchanges to worry about. Our man in the presentation for the car acknowledged the official 96-mile range is realistically around two-thirds of that for many owners. But for a Smart car that's OK. £16,420 for a coupe (including the OLEV grant) doesn't seem daft either. And with a bit of extra weight under the floor, it even went round corners without feeling like it was going to topple over. I'll admit it, the car was a hoot. And not once did I miss the internal combustion engine.
Which has me thinking. Which other cars stand to be improved by going electric?
Dan
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Discussion
alangla said:
Alucidnation said:
Love the torque of my diesel so hopefully not for a good while yet.
Take it you've never driven an electric? The starting torque is incredible.MPVs. I have one, due to circumstances beyond my control, and it's got a piddly little 1.6 diesel engine and about 1.8 tonnes to lug around. Not a great combination. It'd be vastly improved by an addition of torque and a lowering of the centre of gravity.
Something like a Tesla Model X powertrain, but with a lower boot entry, a squarer load space, and normal doors... and I'd accept a drop in outright accelerative performance (a "mode" maybe?) to get a few more miles of range?
Something like a Tesla Model X powertrain, but with a lower boot entry, a squarer load space, and normal doors... and I'd accept a drop in outright accelerative performance (a "mode" maybe?) to get a few more miles of range?
The Crack Fox said:
In 1998 I first saw the first electric Smart car.
That's nearly two decades ago. It was finished, working and ready for production. EVs even today still make most sense for those doing long distances - ie; not city cars like Smart.
Surely with the range limitations electric cars make most sense for people driving 10 miles to and from work, or driving in the city? Electric taxi's and buses in London would IMO go a long way to solving the air quality issue.That's nearly two decades ago. It was finished, working and ready for production. EVs even today still make most sense for those doing long distances - ie; not city cars like Smart.
Edited by The Crack Fox on Tuesday 4th July 16:13
I wouldn't want to attempt to drive Land's End to John O'Groats in an electric vehicle with the current charging network and range of electric vehicles, I'd take a conventional petrol or diesel car.
CDP said:
Diesels.
Not strictly an EV but I think VW should make a Golf GTE estate instead of/as well as the GTD estate. It would be the perfect car for me (if they could/would make a manual version); as the boot in the hatch is heavily compromised compared with a normal Golf, the estate would negate that to a greater degree & my wife could drive to & from work (daily compute 15 miles in total) plus usually local stuff using electric only then we'd have the petrol for long trips. But I would like a manual though. I bet we'd only use 6 or 7 tanks of petrol a year.
LordGrover said:
Byker28i said:
Wheres the point of a 60-96mile range though. Needs to be 250 to be useful for anyone outside london.
I travel 10 miles each way to work. Sure I'm not alone in driving less than 60 miles a day.
LordGrover said:
Byker28i said:
Wheres the point of a 60-96mile range though. Needs to be 250 to be useful for anyone outside london.
I travel 10 miles each way to work. Sure I'm not alone in driving less than 60 miles a day.
I could easily use an EV for the majority of my travel. The problem is the 10 or 20 times a year when I need to go 200-500 miles in a day would mean I'd need a ICE second car taxed insured and MOT'd... in which case I might as well use that everyday instead of the EV.
DiscoColin said:
Frankly : everything that spends most of its life in traffic or cities. By definition, viable electric taxis and busses are the holy grail of urban transport.
I've always thought trolley busses with batteries to handle the gaps in the network would be an excellent choice for many cities. Put the wires on the main routes with an automatic system for hooking up the supply when available. All of this would have been possible with 80's tech let alone now. With the research on inductive power supplies under the road it may be possible to do away with all the ugly overhead cables. jayemdoubleu said:
alangla said:
Alucidnation said:
Love the torque of my diesel so hopefully not for a good while yet.
Take it you've never driven an electric? The starting torque is incredible.Alucidnation said:
Yes electric is the best when it comes to that, but which one will give me over 500 miles per charge?
Different ball-game altogether. Eventually that may be cracked, but if you had 250 miles of range and a full recharge possible in an hour-or-so would that make you change your mind?LordGrover said:
Byker28i said:
Wheres the point of a 60-96mile range though. Needs to be 250 to be useful for anyone outside london.
I travel 10 miles each way to work. Sure I'm not alone in driving less than 60 miles a day.
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