Family-size electric

Seems odd that our now departed member took someone else's opinion on EV design as some kind of attempt to mandate what kind of car they should and shouldn't buy, and then decided that this would then be grounds to rule out buying a certain type of vehicle, as if spiting someone else's mere opinion was a greater consideration in the decision than anything else. I are confuse. Perhaps a gin was involved.  As I said I hope the departed reconsiders. 

We do know that the Government has mandated no ICE cars of any description by 2035 so it is likely well before that date new hybrids will become a rare beast, just as pure ICE new cars will become in the next couple of years. Al is probably the best example of an early adopter of BEVs, WDB a 'later' early adopted and I am a middle adopter, as the technology becomes more mainstream, more affordable (to an extent) and the choice widens.

By 2025 I reckon all new cars will have some ability to drive at least 30 miles on a battery, unless the model has only a couple of years remaining in the bodyshell.

Just as ICE cars are designed by reference to the location of the engine, fuel tank, driven wheels, safety and styling so with BEVs and no engines but do have batteries and otherwise similar criteria, the designs are not going to be dramatically different initially. Just as the first cars were 'horseless carriages', it will take a while for BEVs to look different to modern cars. And people do like being a bit sitty uppy, if only for ease of ingress. Mercedes, Porsche, Polestar, Hyundai and Kia are managing to produce non-SUV bodied BEVs but I suspect these will be in the minority.

No point in TC getting uppity, he doesn't live in the UK/Europe and fails to see the way the market is totally different to South America..

Very true.

I did go back to ICE, yes cos of charging station faddling. Could not be doing with it.

The phev I am (just) now in is proving its worth for me so far. Did 1000 miles between fill ups, then toodled down to the south west, using fuel and whatever electricity the car garnered on the run. It has about a 30 mile battery range, so starting fully charged on a 160 mile journey gives you how many miles on fuel? Nope. Wrong. It did 69 miles zero emission out of that 160.

Turns out the accomodation is letting me put the granny charger in, so all this week has been mostly electricity for all local sightseeing. Then back to Cambridge in a couple of days, again with whatever fuel is needed, before using mostly electricity locally again.

The advantage (to me) is no worriting with public charging at any point. This pleases me.

About a third of the miles I did in the 330e was electric but I certainly didn't charge it all the time. Only at Tesco shops and when parked up at the tram station (for a trip to Manchester or a local walk).

Overall mpg not too bad but the cylinder on demand 1.4TSI in the A3 and Superb were very good too. Range wise I could get to my mum's in south Wales and back in the Superb easily with plenty over for many more miles before refilling. Typically I'd refill just to know mpg when I got home for the trip. The 330e probably could do the round trip without a refill but it had only a 40 litre tank. The Superb had 66 litres but I think it always fitted in more than that because I did put more in to first click when the light was on for fuel.

Two different machines. The iX is a true EV design and enormous — Q7 sized. The iX3 I drove is smaller but still big, and essentially an EVified version of the fossil X3, so not so spacious. (But remarkably likeable for a mummywagon.)

Don’t ask me how they came up with the names. MB worked hard a few years ago to systematise their naming convention (although the CLS remains an outlier); BMW seems to be going in the opposite direction.