EV Owners Thread

[CXRAndy]

I found the ride to be quite hard though even on standard 18 inch wheels.

My son's has the 21" wheels and given their size, the ride is surprisingly good. Not harsh at all. they have done an excellent job with the suspension.

Unlike my mate's BMW330D, it nearly knocked my teeth out with its super hard ride, maybe it was the run flat tyres, but it was jarring

 

[Time Waster]

Can you get a secondhand family EV (as in big enough for family camping trip) for less than £10k that's worth considering? To get that would it be close to new battery or low range so as to make it a less than sensible option? I have no idea of where EVs are at. For example s/h diesel and petrol at that price are a developed tech, but I would have thought the early EVs were not as developed in terms of overall usability until battery range and quick charge came in, plus battery life / range too.

Any views on this?

 

[CXRAndy]

Really depends on how far you're driving per day, how big a family and are you carrying huge tent.

Check out autotrader

 

[icowden]

Can you get a secondhand family EV (as in big enough for family camping trip) for less than £10k that's worth considering? To get that would it be close to new battery or low range so as to make it a less than sensible option?

You would probably be looking at a second hand MG ZS or MG MG5. Autotrader has 6 for under 10k at the moment and there is at least one of each with under 50,000 miles. Range is about 200miles (this varies with weather, weight, style of driving).

https://insideevs.com/reviews/552110/mg5-mgzs-ev-budget-ev/

The ZS has a slightly better range and has V2L so you can use the battery to power appliances. I'd be going for something like this:-
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-de...to=10000&advertising-location=at_cars&fromsra

Everything else in the SUV class at that price is the fugly Kia Soul. If you can spring to 12k you'll get much lower mileage MGs, plus the odd Hyundai and DS3 in the mix.

 

[albion]

Better off with a small car and a trailer. That was you have the choice of not pulling an extra ton.

 

[icowden]

Better off with a small car and a trailer. That was you have the choice of not pulling an extra ton.

Actually you probably aren't. The drag produced by a trailer will *significantly* reduce your range compared to buying a slightly bigger car.

 

[fossyant]

Colleague's year old Leaf is off the road for about 6-7 weeks. 12v battery failed. Apparently, Nissan can't get one till the end of May, and as it's a lease car, you can't just nip to ECP and get a new one. She's not happy. Apparently it's quite common on the Leaf for failures (according to the AA).

 

[Cavalol]

You would probably be looking at a second hand MG ZS or MG MG5. Autotrader has 6 for under 10k at the moment and there is at least one of each with under 50,000 miles. Range is about 200miles (this varies with weather, weight, style of driving).

https://insideevs.com/reviews/552110/mg5-mgzs-ev-budget-ev/

The ZS has a slightly better range and has V2L so you can use the battery to power appliances. I'd be going for something like this:-
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202403187682648?sort=relevance&fuel-type=Electric&make=MG&postcode=KT12 2YA&price-to=10000&advertising-location=at_cars&fromsra

Everything else in the SUV class at that price is the fugly Kia Soul. If you can spring to 12k you'll get much lower mileage MGs, plus the odd Hyundai and DS3 in the mix.

My son has an MG ZS EV and absolutely loves it.

 

[Jameshow]

Can you get a secondhand family EV (as in big enough for family camping trip) for less than £10k that's worth considering? To get that would it be close to new battery or low range so as to make it a less than sensible option? I have no idea of where EVs are at. For example s/h diesel and petrol at that price are a developed tech, but I would have thought the early EVs were not as developed in terms of overall usability until battery range and quick charge came in, plus battery life / range too.

Any views on this?

What about a hybrid.

Outlander phev

Volvo v60

Mercedes e250 irrc.

 

[Jameshow]

Actually you probably aren't. The drag produced by a trailer will *significantly* reduce your range compared to buying a slightly bigger car.

But if it's only once a year probably better off with smaller car?

 

[icowden]

What about a hybrid.
Outlander phev
Volvo v60
Mercedes e250 irrc.

Sure - but this is the EV owners thread, and the question was about an EV - thus...

 

[icowden]

But if it's only once a year probably better off with smaller car?

Not really. When towing, range is reduced by between 25% and 50% depending on what you are towing. If you have a smaller car which already only has a sub-200 mile range, if you want to go very far, you are going to need a lot of stops.

With a 200 to 250 mile range, you still have 200-250 miles of range. So London to North Wales = 1 stop instead of 3.
Example:-
A Mini Electric has about 145 miles of range, but about 80 to 100 miles on a motorway. It gets about 4 miles to the KWH when city driving.
An MG ZS standard range has about 115 to 145 miles of range on a motorway, and the long range between 160 and 200 miles.

Stick a trailer on the Mini and you are probably down to 50 miles of range. The MG ZS doesn't need a trailer.

 

[Jameshow]

Sure - but this is the EV owners thread, and the question was about an EV - thus...

But if you only do longer journeys 2/3 times a year then your hybrid is an electric car without the range anxiety on longer trips.

 

[figbat]

Not really. When towing, range is reduced by between 25% and 50% depending on what you are towing. If you have a smaller car which already only has a sub-200 mile range, if you want to go very far, you are going to need a lot of stops.

With a 200 to 250 mile range, you still have 200-250 miles of range. So London to North Wales = 1 stop instead of 3.
Example:-
A Mini Electric has about 145 miles of range, but about 80 to 100 miles on a motorway. It gets about 4 miles to the KWH when city driving.
An MG ZS standard range has about 115 to 145 miles of range on a motorway, and the long range between 160 and 200 miles.

Stick a trailer on the Mini and you are probably down to 50 miles of range. The MG ZS doesn't need a trailer.

You can’t put a trailer on the MINI as it not not type-approved to have one. BTW I can get well over 80-100 miles on the motorway and easily over 4 mi/kWh in town. I got about 5.2 on the drive home tonight, a mix of suburban and restricted rural roads, driving at the speed limit most of the time.

 

[figbat]

Actually you probably aren't. The drag produced by a trailer will *significantly* reduce your range compared to buying a slightly bigger car.

I’d also question the trailer impact on an EV.

When we tow a caravan with our ICE we see approximately half the fuel economy. That’s because it’s 1.5T and has a huge frontal area that is wider than the car. I’d suggest that a camping trailer at ~400 kg and with a frontal area totally within the shadow of the car would make a significantly lower impact on the towing vehicle’s efficiency.