EV Thread

[Carlos]

I think they are cool as

If I had more room I'd buy another.

[Sundayjumper]

Yay ! We've had our (non-S) a year this Saturday and it's been great.

Although did you look at the price of the very special tyres needed for the "S" ?

[Carlos]

Yay ! We've had our (non-S) a year this Saturday and it's been great.

Although did you look at the price of the very special tyres needed for the "S" ?

£450 a pair last year

They also have an unusual size spigot and my local tyre place didn't have the correct size to balance them so had to go again after he had ordered the correct size!

[simon_g]

Yes, fronts are fine but rears will probably need changing by the winter. In the paperwork, BMW quote on its recent health check - £310.42 each

(but then they also 90 quid for wiper blades)

[Sundayjumper]

The "correct" OEM Bridgestones are £214.99 each on Blackcircles atm. Same size Continental or Goodyear £180.

(but then they also 90 quid for wiper blades)

When I had the Flying Spur, the health check carried out for the previous owner included £119.50 for a number plate bulb. I had one in stock, took five mins at most to change it

IMG_0271.jpeg (15.82 KiB) Viewed 4099 times

[Mito Man]

Fun fact on the i3. The OEM Bridgestone tread is so little from factory that a new set will get flagged up as amber on a BMW health check. You'd think common sense would be used but the berk with the camera still mentioned it in their video despite the fact you could see the brand new paint lines on the tyres...

[mik]

Interesting link-up between BYD and Octopus.

Lease a car (BYD obvs) with free home charging, on the agreement that they fit a 2-way charger that allows both charging, and the use of your car battery as a supply to support peak demand periods.

https://octopus.energy/press/octopus-by ... ng-bundle/

[IanF]

Interesting comparison and the time/mileage to parity was shocking!..

[Jobbo]

Is that video worth watching Ian? The image and title are obviously clickbait so I actively avoided it. There’s no indication at all that it’ll have any valuable content.

[IanF]

Yes, I think so. There are several good comparisons in there, for example the amount of CO2 released during manufacture of each car - all figures from BMW as are the cars, so no reason to doubt their veracity. They then do a 60 mile journey, 3 car convoy and then an additional lap with the hybrid starting with zero charge. Then extrapolate the mileage required so the combined emissions from production and driving are equal for each car.

Also, as Carwow, they show current discounted price vs 3 year value and so cost pcm of each. Including if you need to use public charging, BIK, new gov discount plus other points - all valuable info tbh. They also do a quick £15 top up on the petrol car, that has to drive from the charging station, fill up and drive back whilst the other cars charge and then compare range added.

Also, how good does the 5 series now look! especially at the rear!.. I’m not sure when that happened as I didn’t like it when it came out!

TL;DR - personal purchase: buy the 520i

[Jobbo]

CO2 used during production is moot - there's nothing we as consumers can do about that and we don't pay for it; BMW presumably do in their carbon credits.

Starting with zero charge is also a bit false; anyone with a PHEV is going to plug it in overnight so will start each day with a full charge. If you have a 50 mile electric-only range and a 25 mile commute, you could get away without ever starting the petrol engine.

There are two major problems with hybrids for me. First, the tiny fuel tanks. 50 miles of EV-only range does not mitigate the 40l tanks BMW fit to a 330e rather than the 59l you get in a 320i or 340i. Assume you won't use the last 5l because nobody runs themselves completely out of fuel on every tank before filling and you're comparing 35l usable to 54l. At 40mpg that's 308 v 475 miles; add on 50 miles of EV range and it's still less than 3/4 of the range; economy will be a bit better from the regen. Compared to a 330d which is no longer sold and will easily do over 600 miles on a tank, it's obvious that the hybrid doesn't fulfil the same role. If you want a car which will get you to work 30 miles away and back, a full EV is far better. If you want a car to do long distances, a diesel or a modern petrol with a big fuel tank is far better.

Second, the boot space is usually massively compromised. A Merc E53 AMG hybrid loses 25% or so of the boot space over a non-hybrid and in practice it's worse than that because the floor is raised, making what space is left much shallower to the detriment of usability, and meaning you have to lift your luggage higher. I think BMW have avoided this problem but they've lost the under-floor space so still a hit to total capacity.

Anyway, I don't think hybrids are a scam as per Twatson's clickbait title but they are for a specific use case. I could even justify an E53 AMG estate or M5 Touring for my usual commute but the compromised boot space and poor economy over longer journeys doesn't really offer me anything over my S6 Avant which always averages 40-50mpg over a 600 mile tank.

Fuck, I feel like I have ranted there. I really fancied a Merc E53 AMG estate to replace my S6 at some point, but on finding out more about it discovered the things I really value just aren't good enough. Hence my strength of feeling. I just don't want a new M5 either; the F90 was so much more appealing than the new one.

[IanF]

I’d say the co2 isn’t moot for people who wish to have the least environmentally impactful car. If it was specified when Joe blogs walked into a showroom (or online) that over 3 years this car will produce x amount of CO2, and I imagine greener manufacturers will do this in the near future to differentiate their car from another that has the same capabilities, then it will be an affective pull.

Plus the hybrid was driven in an electric only mode for 58 miles of the 60 mile trip, and then again with zero charge to see the ramifications, for example if you were to do a 120 mile journey, so I think that’s valid too.

Absolutely, diesel would be better for some scenarios but nla.

Doesn’t someone on here have a 330e? Do you charge it over night or whilst driving the next day? I think the convenience of hybrid is the removal of range anxiety, but that lots of people end up driving a heavier, slower car because they either forgot or it didn’t charge the night before.

[Jobbo]

I really don't think the CO2 used in the manufacture of the vehicle is going to be a selling point in any way. Tax saving by the manufacturer mitigating its CO2 output from the process of building cars is achieved by buying CO2 credits. If consumers are given any information about this, it's probably going to look dodgy as hell. I seriously doubt anyone will buy a car or not because of it, ever.

[Carlos]

It's not a fair example of how you use these cars though. If you were doing a 120 mile trip and started with a full battery you would run it in hybrid mode from the off and probably use less than 4 litres of fuel.

My wife's Kodiaq PHEV as done 2300 miles in 4 months and we are still on the first tank of fuel despite doing a few 150+ mile weekends away in that period.

I'm not suggesting it's a one size fits all solution but they definitely have their place. The average UK car does 7400 miles per year so even with the odd long journey cars typically move less than 20 miles a day!

[V8Granite]

The whole point of a hybrid is for its versatility.

Your weekly planned trips on the commute, school runs etc are all covered and you may go months without using any petrol. When you do a long trip though it’s just like your old petrol car which does 300 easy miles with zero forward planning.

Ooh you need a rest after 2 hours, I never go more than 100 miles, I don’t tow a trailer, have a roof box, have a big dog etc etc it doesn’t matter. A Hybrid works very well for everyone but misses out a bit on electric and a bit on petrol.

The only people who would care at CO2 during production probably have a Bok Choy on the BBQ and say it’s just as good as steak so they can be discounted.

Dave!

[jamcg]

Doesn’t someone on here have a 330e? Do you charge it over night or whilst driving the next day? I think the convenience of hybrid is the removal of range anxiety, but that lots of people end up driving a heavier, slower car because they either forgot or it didn’t charge the night before.

I believe that’s @Zonda_

[simon_g]

Yes, fronts are fine but rears will probably need changing by the winter. In the paperwork, BMW quote on its recent health check - £310.42 each

Going to go to square setup, 195/55R20 all round. Apparently fits fine on i3s with standard wheels. Booked in at Costco once the kids are back at school for 4x Goodyear Efficientgrip for £280. I'll probably just jack it up and take the wheels with me in the Stepwagon to avoid any "computer says no" nonsense.

Changed the 12v battery today as a precaution. Most labour intensive one I've done, despite being tiny it's a mission to get the old one out and new one in place deep under the scuttle.

[mik]

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CVLLB ... tid=wwXIfr

[V8Granite]

Surely using a bio fuel or CO2 captured fuel would be a better advertisement for the technology ?

A heavier truck arriving at a close circuit where it still had to recharge on the way seems a bit of a feeble step.

Now if F1 teams had to carbon capture to produce all their fuel, imagine the innovation that would produce.

Dave!

[Jobbo]

They could have cut the mileage and not taken any longer to get there by using the Harwich-Hoek ferry. Would that have been possible on a single charge?