The Electric Car conversation has been pretty free flowing in our house for the past week..
Swmbo has a Fiat 124 Spyder, a lovely car albeit an MX5 in drag (not that there’s anything wrong with the MX5..)
The PCP deal is coming to an end in the next couple of months, so we have to decide whether we pay the balloon payment and keep the car (which was Plan A) or change the car for something else and if so what.
We drove the Tesla 3 last year and were very impressed, initially test driving it so we could confirm how bad it was and why we wouldn’t want one...but came away with a completely different outlook.
Friends of ours have a Renault Zoe, having bought a Generation 1 car then changing that for a Gen 2 car as they were so impressed by the first one, the range being the compromise.
Renault have just released the Gen 3 Zoe which has a 239 mile range, which to be fair Renault say in the real world will be 150 to 200 depending on the weather (cold kills range) and how you drive.
Swmbo’s car is not used on long runs, most she tends to do in a day is 50 miles.
So after a lot of internet based research, talking to our Zoe owning friends, today we have ordered a Zoe Gen 3 , 135 bhp GT line which should land with us May time.
A big part of our decision was the increasingly hostile UK political environment towards ICE. Obviously we as a country have many years of ongoing ICE enjoyment but I would anticipate more clean air zones in our local cities, and so we thought we’d give it a go now!
Are electric cars really that green? I’m not convinced, but there is no doubt their increasing use will improve local pollution levels and on that basis, given the car fits our needs and budget (Tesla fits needs but not budget!) why wouldn’t you?
I’ve not seen this much reduction In range in the two years I’ve owned EV’s my 40kw leaf did about 160-170 miles in summer and 140-150 in winter. My Kona is around 280 in summer and 260 in winter. Now I’ve traded the leaf for a 38kw ioniq ten days ago I haven’t had chance to check range thoroughly but the guess o meter said 211 miles when I picked it up fully charged from the dealer. I’m seeing around 4.7 miles per kWh so far but early days.
Electric cars are definitely greener than ice cars, in the summer I get 90% of my motoring free from my solar array and battery storage, and in winter I’m on a 100% renewables tarrif with EDF, so no carbon being burnt for my 15k miles a year.
