Electric, Hybrid and Alternative fuelled vehicles - News and Discussion

[boxbrownie]

2 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

 

The G-wiz, dear oh dear..... I still see the occasional one in London, it probably did more damage to the image of EVs at the time than the big oil marketing board could ever have achieved. 

One of our senior engineers drove a G-Wiz to and from work for a good few years, he ended up working on our version of EVs and even while we had Think City cars he still drove the Wiz......I thinK he retired before the Focus EV was being developed unfortunately, he would have loved working in those.

[jjb1970]

Something I only realised is that the Toyota hybrid models use NiMH batteries, I had assumed that they would have switched to lithium battery technology. 

I had a Corolla hybrid hire car for a few days last week and was very impressed with it. Urban economy was excellent and it was pretty frugal on the highway. Nice to drive and with a good interior. If people are looking for an ICE family hatchback its worth a look. 

[boxbrownie]

I see Dacia has announced an EV now, release in 2021....but only 125 miles range, will be cheap though.

[Karhedron]

13 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

I see Dacia has announced an EV now, release in 2021....but only 125 miles range, will be cheap though.

 

Interesting. That would probably be just about enough for me to charge up twice a week which would be satisfactory. If the price is right and the quality is acceptable, this might be a car I am interested in.

[Reorte]

18 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

I see Dacia has announced an EV now, release in 2021....but only 125 miles range, will be cheap though.

 

For a car that's only going to be used to do a bit of short range commuting and trips to the shops that'll be fine, and as you point out help keep the price down. It'll be interesting to see how well it sells.

[The Fatadder]

The first undisguised photos of the almost production version of the new BMW i4 were released today.  I can see the large grill being an acquired taste, but as a package it looks very appealing. 370 mile range...

 

 

[30801]

54 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

I see Dacia has announced an EV now, release in 2021....but only 125 miles range, will be cheap though.

 

So long as it has rapid charging that's fine. Honda's eye-wateringly expensive small EV has a similar range.

[jjb1970]

3 hours ago, Reorte said:

 

For a car that's only going to be used to do a bit of short range commuting and trips to the shops that'll be fine, and as you point out help keep the price down. It'll be interesting to see how well it sells.

 

Mazda have gone down the same path with their forthcoming BEV, for a second car or for people who don't travel far it makes a lot of sense. Keep the weight and cost of the battery down.

[jjb1970]

2 hours ago, The Fatadder said:

The first undisguised photos of the almost production version of the new BMW i4 were released today.  I can see the large grill being an acquired taste, but as a package it looks very appealing. 370 mile range...

 

 

 

Is this the first time that BMW have abandoned their kidney grill?

[boxbrownie]

20 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

 

Is this the first time that BMW have abandoned their kidney grill?

Have you not seen the new “corporate” grill on BMW of late.....absolutely makes them look like a clown car, bloody awful.

It’s a cross between a kidney  grill and a 1950’s potato dicer 

 

Edited March 3, 2020 by boxbrownie

[30801]

25 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

Have you not seen the new “corporate” grill on BMW of late.....absolutely makes them look like a clown car, bloody awful.

It’s a cross between a kidney  grill and a 1950’s potato dicer 

 

Hey, let's put a massive grille on the i4 which needs no grille...

[boxbrownie]

31 minutes ago, 30801 said:

 

Hey, let's put a massive grille on the i4 which needs no grille...

Exactly.....really puts us off upgrading from our i3 (very subtle solid grill) to the newly announced “i” range coming.

 

 

 

Edited March 3, 2020 by boxbrownie

[jjb1970]

In fairness car makers have been obsessed with fake exhausts, vents, scoops etc for years. And I remember when bonnet power bulges were quite the thing, almost all of which were unnecessary. 

[Enterprisingwestern]

1 hour ago, boxbrownie said:

Have you not seen the new “corporate” grill on BMW of late.....absolutely makes them look like a clown car, bloody awful.

It’s a cross between a kidney  grill and a 1950’s potato dicer 

 

 

 

 

Mike.

[jjb1970]

I think in general that the three pricey German marques are looking a bit stale these days. Even the interiors which have traditionally been one of their biggest selling points aren't really rocking my boat. I think Volvo are way ahead and I prefer Lexus to Audi, MB or BMW at the moment.

[number6]

Hmmm the i4 doesn’t really float my boat. I really like the i3 grill - if it had something more like the i4 the pheasant I ‘caught’ the other day would have cost me double in repairs. Got it square in the middle under the ‘kidneys’ and it made a big V shaped dent. 

 

Talking of fake bonnet scoops - maybe we weren’t? - I popped the bonnet on my old diesel Subaru and there was a roasted blackbird lying on the air intake. I then dimly remembered hearing, a month or so before, that blackbird chatter they make as they take off in a hurry which then went suddenly all quiet. 

[Ron Ron Ron]

[boxbrownie]

Ron Ron Ron.....please can you not post any more unsavoury and disgusting images, thank you....there is a good conduct policy in the forum 

[Karhedron]

18 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

 

Mazda have gone down the same path with their forthcoming BEV, for a second car or for people who don't travel far it makes a lot of sense. Keep the weight and cost of the battery down.

 

Is that the MX-30? Not sure how many people would buy an SUV as a second car.

[30801]

43 minutes ago, Karhedron said:

 

Is that the MX-30? Not sure how many people would buy an SUV as a second car.

 

Seem to be using the same approach as Honda. Fit a small battery to keep costs down and then charge £27,000 (after grant) for it.

 

The Citigo will go 40 miles further for 10,000 fewer monies.

[jjb1970]

1 hour ago, Karhedron said:

 

Is that the MX-30? Not sure how many people would buy an SUV as a second car.

 

I think there are plenty of people who will happily pay for a premium product if the product is right. Especially when cars like this are probably going to sell on style/showroom appeal.  Many dismissed cars like the Mini, Audi A1 and MB A class as over priced when launched but they have been very successful.

 

Mazda have a well deserved reputation for designing cars with sweet handling and driver appeal, and the MX30 has some interesting styling touches.  I think they may be onto something.

[jjb1970]

Some PHEVs now seem to be priced very competitively against equivalent regular models. The MB A250E isn't much more expensive than the A250 despite being more powerful in hybrid mode.

 

With a 44 mile electric range and hot hatch performance (in a straight line at least) the A250E seems to be a very attractive proposition. I am tempted by the saloon to replace my A6. The electric range would cover 90% of my driving. 

[jjb1970]

The PHEV I like is the Volvo S60 T8, but that is expensive. Very clean styling and a beautiful interior. And crazy performance.  But even after big discounts it is a lot of money and about £10k more than the A250E saloon. The Volvo is much nicer, but not sure I would value it as £10k nicer.

[APOLLO]

On 28/02/2020 at 09:11, 30801 said:

 

 

 

 

What about our four legged friends who pee on every vertical & tubular in the street ?

 

 

I wouldn't like to handle / coil up / place in car a lead full of dog pee (or worse !!) - VERY unhygenic.

 

Also a word about street lamps. most are fed from a small 250V low amperage cable. Lots of times multiple lights are linked to one cable. NOT very good for the high amperage rqd for fast charging, and low amps for one or two hours will be of little use for EV's also.

 

Over the years supervising gas escapes lots of small street lighting cables have been observed on excavating - most are similar to house lighting ring cable and are certainly not capable of carrying car charging currents on top of the street lighting loads they were designed and sized for years ago.

 

I think these post chargers (as shown) are fed off higher current cables which happen to be close by - so not all street lamps / parking locations will be compatible with them.

 

Back to the drawing board.

 

Brit15

 

 

Edited March 5, 2020 by APOLLO

[30801]

34 minutes ago, APOLLO said:

Also a word about street lamps. most are fed from a small 250V low amperage cable. Lots of times multiple lights are linked to one cable. NOT very good for the high amperage rqd for fast charging, and low amps for one or two hours will be of little use for EV's also.

 

Over the years supervising gas escapes lots of small street lighting cables have been observed on excavating - most are similar to house lighting ring cable and are certainly not capable of carrying car charging currents on top of the street lighting loads they were designed and sized for years ago.

 

I think these post chargers (as shown) are fed off higher current cables which happen to be close by - so not all street lamps / parking locations will be compatible with them.

 

Back to the drawing board.

 

Brit15

 

 

 

They're fed from street lights. Where the light is better positioned there is no post. The charger simply replaces the light's access panel. Power ranges from 2.3 to 5.5kW.