Electric, Hybrid and Alternative fuelled vehicles - News and Discussion

[boxbrownie]

22 hours ago, Ron Ron Ron said:

 

Except that Tesla are halting production and scaling back for when production recommences at a later date.

So they won't have any cars to sell either.

 

 

.

Apparently Tesla are busy again now.......manufacturing.....https://www.drivingelectric.com/tesla/model-3/1670/tesla-builds-ventilators-help-fight-coronavirus

[jjb1970]

At the moment I actually think that the MG ZS is one of the more attractive EVs. Get past any prejudices about Chinese cars and it is a pretty spacious and practical car with reasonable range and plenty of toys at a very reasonable price. 

 

At the moment the EV market is evolving so quickly that it is like buying a computer a few years ago in that if you wait a few more months you'll have a lot more options and technology will probably become more affordable. KIA and Hyundai changed the game, then the Tesla 3 changed it, and the transition is accelerating. But at the moment the MG is a good option. Good warranty too. 

[30801]

2 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

At the moment I actually think that the MG ZS is one of the more attractive EVs. Get past any prejudices about Chinese cars and it is a pretty spacious and practical car with reasonable range and plenty of toys at a very reasonable price. 

 

It is. It does has a range of woes with underdeveloped software though. No charge timer and no pre-heating. These are major omissions that are baffling.

[jjb1970]

I guess there is always a price for low cost. Something that surprised me about the ZS was the cabin trim. Some of the mainstream reviewers panned it but I found it to be perfectly acceptable with pretty good switchgear and materials. OK it may not worry Audi but I've seen worse and it didn't feel low rent. If anything the touchpoint quality was slightly ahead of our Kona EV.

[30801]

3 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

I guess there is always a price for low cost. 

 

Hopefully at some point future cars will have fixed software. The actual mechanics of it are pretty sound.

[Joseph_Pestell]

Just watched a BBC News report from Tokyo and several of these passed by in the background. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_JPN_Taxi

 

It seems that the factory has been flat out trying to build enough for the Olympics. But hopefully we might see some in London before too long. A stylish repro of the classic London cab.

[jjb1970]

42 minutes ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

Just watched a BBC News report from Tokyo and several of these passed by in the background. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_JPN_Taxi

 

It seems that the factory has been flat out trying to build enough for the Olympics. But hopefully we might see some in London before too long. A stylish repro of the classic London cab.

 

They are not actually very impressive inside, the packaging is poor and not particularly versatile. The current LEV taxi is a much better vehicle.

[30801]

On 13/04/2020 at 14:08, jjb1970 said:

 

They are not actually very impressive inside, the packaging is poor and not particularly versatile. The current LEV taxi is a much better vehicle.

 

It doesn't even merit being in this thread. It's an old school Prius style hybrid with no electric range to speak of.

[jjb1970]

It's interesting that the US EPA tests still seem to give more conservative results than WLTP. In the case of gasoline powered cars the US EPA figures were always more credible than NEDC (NEDC was a joke) but I was under the impression that WLTP was meant to be a global standard. I also find it interesting EV producers are using the same arguments as ICE producers to argue that testing needs to be done in a test cell with a dynonometer. That is true in a sense but it's more true that the only range that really matters is the range you get when driving (the same as for mpg). And that will always vary somewhat depending on ambient conditions, the nature of the road and driving style. 

[jjb1970]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-52328786

 

This is actually an idea that's been going around for a few years but it seems to be steadily approaching a point where it can be commercialized. A much lower pressure hydrogen tank would certainly ease one of the main issues with Hydrogen fuelled FCEVs.

[jjb1970]

I see Mercedes have launched a PHEV version of the CLA, I quite like the Shooting Brake version as it has a good boot that can swallow the boys ice hockey kit bag and looks rather nice (to my eyes). Not the roomiest in the back but it's not bad (acceptable) and the instrumentation/infortainment of the new Mercedes cars is superb (probably the best on the market just now). They've got a good balance between utilising the potential of digital screens and a tablet style interface whilst retaining key physical controls and an instrument display in front of the driver. The CLA PHEV would cover the majority of my driving.

[jjb1970]

Good to see Land Rover getting serious about PHEVs, the new Discovery Sport looks extremely impressive on paper. Great interior space and practicality,  being a Land Rover I'm guessing it has genuine off road capability and prices seem pretty competitive (although LR don't offer anything like the big discounts of German manufacturers for which some discounts can be huge). 

[boxbrownie]

1 hour ago, jjb1970 said:

Good to see Land Rover getting serious about PHEVs, the new Discovery Sport looks extremely impressive on paper. Great interior space and practicality,  being a Land Rover I'm guessing it has genuine off road capability and prices seem pretty competitive (although LR don't offer anything like the big discounts of German manufacturers for which some discounts can be huge). 

Yes it is.....and being a LR it’ll keep the EV drive on the rear axle even when the battery indicates depleted, some clever PHEV trickery going on there......and as soon as it’s on the discount listing we’ll be looking very closely.

[30801]

Kate seems remarkably cheerful fixing her stupidly complicated Tesla door handle for a trivial fault.

 

 

[jjb1970]

Some things are best left simple, but it's clear that style sells and these flush pop out door handles seem very trendy. They do look very clean. 

[boxbrownie]

13 hours ago, 30801 said:

Kate seems remarkably cheerful fixing her stupidly complicated Tesla door handle for a trivial fault.

 

 

What heat shrink?  I think Kate forgot to slip it on before soldering......all I can see after is a load of insulating tape over the wire, we’ve all done it. 

 

She was very cheerful about a repair I wouldn’t have even bothered to look at myself nowadays.

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

Whilst I was in there, having gone to all that trouble and faff, I personally would have replaced the microswitches anyway to prevent a possible future problem.

 

Mike.

[Ryde-on-time]

Considering that range anxiety is a stumbling block for some people, this story is interesting (perhaps helped by the Tesla charging network being so good)

 

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/tesla/352144/tesla-drivers-cover-higher-annual-mileages-owners-any-other-car

[Ron Ron Ron]

EV Estate Car ????

 

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/new-mg-5-electric-estate-coming-uk-year

 

https://insideevs.com/news/414209/uk-mg-soon-electric-estate/

 

https://insideevs.com/photo/4910710/saic-roewe-ei5/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Vistisen]

On 28/04/2020 at 12:13, Ryde-on-time said:

Considering that range anxiety is a stumbling block for some people, this story is interesting (perhaps helped by the Tesla charging network being so good)

 

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/tesla/352144/tesla-drivers-cover-higher-annual-mileages-owners-any-other-car

They are trying to find a charging point

[Nick C]

On 28/04/2020 at 11:13, Ryde-on-time said:

Considering that range anxiety is a stumbling block for some people, this story is interesting (perhaps helped by the Tesla charging network being so good)

 

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/tesla/352144/tesla-drivers-cover-higher-annual-mileages-owners-any-other-car

 

Looking at the breakdown of other manufacturers though, it doesn't surprise me - the highest milages, generally, are going to be covered by salespeople driving big, expensive 'repmobiles' - and the companies at the top of the list are those who make lots of them - Tesla, Mercedes, Volvo (i'd also expect to see Audi high up, but perhaps they've been lumped in with VW?). Tesla don't currently make any small 'shopping cars' to bring the average down

[jjb1970]

12 hours ago, Ron Ron Ron said:

EV Estate Car ????

 

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/new-mg-5-electric-estate-coming-uk-year

 

https://insideevs.com/news/414209/uk-mg-soon-electric-estate/

 

https://insideevs.com/photo/4910710/saic-roewe-ei5/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interesting, the MG estate will fill a gap and based on the ZS I would expect it to be a good car at a great price.

[jjb1970]

26 minutes ago, Nick C said:

 

Looking at the breakdown of other manufacturers though, it doesn't surprise me - the highest milages, generally, are going to be covered by salespeople driving big, expensive 'repmobiles' - and the companies at the top of the list are those who make lots of them - Tesla, Mercedes, Volvo (i'd also expect to see Audi high up, but perhaps they've been lumped in with VW?). Tesla don't currently make any small 'shopping cars' to bring the average down

 

Indeed. With Audi I suspect a high proportion of their sales now are the A1 (which is actually quite a large car) and A3 and large SUVs like the Q5 which probably not high mileage company cars of choice. At one time Audi's core model was the 100 which became the A6, a typical German big saloon built for sitting on motorways for hours, but the A6 is a bit of a niche car now. Even the A4 doesn't seem to be the sales force it used to be.

[boxbrownie]

44 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

 

Interesting, the MG estate will fill a gap and based on the ZS I would expect it to be a good car at a great price.

Absolutely guarantee it won’t come to the U.K. with that lovely light leather interior shown in Autocar.......  

[jjb1970]

A friend has the current model Honda Civic Type R with a black and red interior, including some bonkers bucket seats in suede/Alcantara. It sounds garish and over the top but in the Type R it works. Not sure I would like it in a less OTT car though.