Electric runabouts

[Drago]

Discretely browsing another forum and a member there made mention he had a Renault Twizy. This caught my imagination, as I do very little mileage and don't need 4 seats when I do. A personal sized electric scoot for occasional local journeys would be ideal.

An exploratory surf of the small ads shows they depreciate quicker and Eric Pickles at a bakery closing down sale, so very cheap used ones with tiny mileages abound.

Very cheap servicing (no engine or gearbox), free road tax, cheap insurance...what's not to like?

Well, having to rent the battery is not to like. I don't like the idea of having to fork out each month, and then being stuck for electrons if the lease company decide to stop renting them out at some point.

The idea really appeals, and the battery is the only major fly in the ointment.

What do you fellows and fellowesess think?

 

[biggs682]

I agree with the concept that for short urban journeys electric powered vehicles are quite appealing just not practical for longer journeys .

 

[Drago]

I'm not worried about longer journeys. Apart from my Dads, which is easy on the train, there's no where In regularly go these days. My Sister is an idiot and I don't associate with her, and my girls all come to see me, attracted my free Nespresso and the bank of Dad

Mrs D has a motabilty car, so if some kind of unforseen need arose its there.

Its just I'm getting increasingly unsettled by the environmental and societal cost of having 1050kg of metal, plastic and belching fumes, to move a 116kg man, even if its rarely used. I'm becoming an old hippy

 

[biggs682]

i made the decisions to cycle to work the whole 1.25 miles four times a day after i started to think the same about 12 years ago , we now only cover about 10k a year in the car .

years ago i would have chased and bought a new one every couple of years but current one is just about 10 years old and was bought 2nd hand

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

Saw one of these on a dual carriageway near Newcastle recently and wasn't too impressed. Looks incredibly flimsy and the driver is very low down with what looks like zero side protection. I'd imagine they'd feel quite scary in amongst trucks and buses. I know the same could be said for bikes though I suppose.

 

[Drago]

By the standards of what they are they're supposed to have reasonable crash protection, although I'm keen never to test any cars safety features.

 

[ufkacbln]

I seriously looked at these and decided against. Limitations on charging, prohibitive battery costs were the main issues.

Charging is from a number of companies and can require a raft of accounts and a number of adaptors. Otherwise, even when you find one you may not be able to use or be compatible.

ZapMap is a useful site to assess local charging , which vehicles can be charged and which connectors are needed. They also do Smart Phone Apps so you can find ones when outside your local area.

They are a good idea and perhaps the closest yet to a semi-practical commuting vehicle

However they can be more expensive to run than a small city car, which to me was more versatile

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

Not sure about that -

“Euro NCAP has tested the Renault Twizy 80 in front and side impact at 50km/h to get a picture of the safety level of this heavy quadricycle. The vehicle performed very poorly and showed serious risks of life threatening injuries.”

http://insideevs.com/renault-says-twizy-safe-crash-test-video-suggest-otherwise/

View: https://youtu.be/-9WgaoDF3_Q

 

[ufkacbln]

By the standards of what they are they're supposed to have reasonable crash protection, although I'm keen never to test any cars safety features.

EuronCap gave it a two star rating, 39% for occupant safety and the following report:

Structure
The structure of the Twizy stood up well to the tests with little deformation in the front or side impacts. Rearward movement of the steering wheel was well controlled and it was apparent that the structure could cope with a more severe impact.

Restraints
The Twizy has an airbag and a four point seatbelt as standard. These worked correctly; the driver was well restrained in the frontal impact and protection of the head was good. However, owing to the very stiff structure and restraint systems, the dummy neck recorded dangerously high forces and protection of this part of the body was poor. The region in front of the driver’s knees contained a lot of hard structures. The dummy recorded high values for knee and femur loading and protection was poor. In the side impact, the head of the dummy was exposed outside the structure of the vehicle, increasing the risk of dangerous head contact in real-world accidents, and the score was penalised. Much of the force on the dummy was deflected to parts of the dummy which do not reflect a real body and protection of the chest area was penalised. Combined with dummy readings which were marginal, protection of the chest was rated as poor.

Note: Posted at same time as Diogenes

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

I joked the other day that I was considering an electric car as I work in a power station with two charge points outside. They also have two electric vans for ferrying visitors, stealthy machines!

It doesn't seem that bad an idea with some thought

 

[keithmac]

Holy sh1t that side impact test didn't look good!.

 

[Drago]

By the standards of a quadricycle class vehicle its very good, far more protection than when on my motorbike, or bicycle, or on foot. Having been cycling with zero protection for 4 and a half decades, to suddenly have a little bit of protection is bad because...?

@Cunobelin I must agree. The range doesn't worry me for local pottering, but the idea of never owning a battery and being beholden to a company that might stop renting them out one day as numbers dwindle is the major objection for me.

I've just done an insurance quote, £101 comp with a 3000 mile limit. I'm unlikely to do 2,000 between MOTs, so that's ample.

Negligible fuel costs.

Ditto maintenance.

Its just this battery ownership issue that I can't get comfortable with.

 

[ufkacbln]

Holy sh1t that side impact test didn't look good!.

It is a compromise..... and a choice to be made in perspective

Ever seen a side impact test on a bicycle?

 

[Drago]

EuronCap gave it a two star rating, 39% for occupant safety and the following report...

How many stars does your bicycle score? Seriously, after decades of being the most vulnerable road user to suddenly have a tiny bit of protection is a zero issue.

Compared to a conventional quad, which I have in the past also owned, its pretty decent.

In any case, the arms race of driving around in ever heavier lumps of metal to protect oneself from other people in ever heavier lumps of metal is utter madness. I'm trying to get away from raping the planets resources for my own convenience, not perpetuate the problem.

 

[screenman]

Go for it.