Less relevant for a HGV as the driver must have taken at least one 45 minute rest break with that sort of distance.
I'm more curious why they've made it so ugly
Re: EV Thread
Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2025 12:09 pm
by Jobbo
Mito Man wrote: Fri Aug 29, 2025 12:04 pm
Less relevant for a HGV as the driver must have taken at least one 45 minute rest break with that sort of distance.
I'm more curious why they've made it so ugly
Driver could combine his rest break with the ferry crossing.
Mito Man wrote: Fri Aug 29, 2025 12:04 pm
Less relevant for a HGV as the driver must have taken at least one 45 minute rest break with that sort of distance.
I'm more curious why they've made it so ugly
Driver could combine his rest break with the ferry crossing.
Wouldn't be very good marketing would it?
Re: EV Thread
Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2025 12:31 pm
by Beany
Mito Man wrote: Fri Aug 29, 2025 12:04 pm
I'm more curious why they've made it so ugly
I was gonna say "I mean, it's a lorry, it's gonna be a bit ugly regardess" but I looked closer, and good lord that headlight treatement and it's surround is truly fucking gopping.
Made me think of a Qvale Mangusta sucking a lemon, although upon checking, it's not quite there, but it's not far off.
Hey, you wanna try this fruit? Just suck all the juice out of it.
Mito Man wrote: Fri Aug 29, 2025 12:04 pm
Less relevant for a HGV as the driver must have taken at least one 45 minute rest break with that sort of distance.
I'm more curious why they've made it so ugly
Driver could combine his rest break with the ferry crossing.
Wouldn't be very good marketing would it?
Doing something pointless does get people talking I guess
Mito Man wrote: Fri Aug 29, 2025 12:04 pm
I'm more curious why they've made it so ugly
I was gonna say "I mean, it's a lorry, it's gonna be a bit ugly regardess" but I looked closer, and good lord that headlight treatement and it's surround is truly fucking gopping.
Made me think of a Qvale Mangusta sucking a lemon, although upon checking, it's not quite there, but it's not far off.
Hey, you wanna try this fruit? Just suck all the juice out of it.
Sure!
Slurp slurp slurp
Maybe they’re trying to make it look like their hypercar but even that makes no sense
Re: EV Thread
Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2025 1:31 pm
by DeskJockey
Reminds me of Marvin from Hitchhiker's Guide (the last movie).
Re: EV Thread
Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2025 2:27 pm
by Beany
DeskJockey wrote: Fri Aug 29, 2025 1:31 pm
Reminds me of Marvin from Hitchhiker's Guide (the last movie).
Marvin having a fuckin' stroke and his mouth drooping.
Re: EV Thread
Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2025 9:23 pm
by jamcg
Jobbo wrote: Fri Aug 29, 2025 11:48 am
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?
Looking at the carbon from the amount of fuel a standard diesel engined Mercedes actros would emit for the journey, using the tunnel- based on a review of the truck where they recorded 8.65mpg- the journey would make 1.1tonnes of carbon emissions
Using the Harwich ferry carbon calculator, based on a full capacity 44tonne wagon, your footprint for that journey is 1.2tonnes for the ferry alone, so would immediately remove any benefit for going electric
simon_g wrote: Wed Jul 16, 2025 9:29 pm
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.
EV specialists Wisely have done a video on i3s tyres this week.
Re: EV Thread
Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2025 11:56 pm
by simon_g
Their "BMW know best, they spent millions developing it, keep it original" stance would be fair enough if they weren't also selling the aftermarket Evolve suspension They're right about not just changing the rear size, but everyone I've come across going 195/55R20 all round seems very happy with the change.
Car is up on stands, cleaned the wheels properly and under the arches, wheels are in the Honda for fitting tomorrow. So I guess I'll find out.
Found both front suspension gaiters have split too, so that (and probably top mounts while I'm at it) is another thing for the list.
Challenge: During product research, Tesla drive unit oil was sent out for 3rd party independent analysis. The sample oil was from a completely stock 5,000-mile street drive Model 3 SR+. The conclusion by 3rd party testing company Cavpower Pty Ltd indicated “Aluminium levels are elevated” and recommended immediate oil change. The Solution? A magnetic filter is integrated into the oil filter to catch and easily remove the metal shavings
Erm wat
Re: EV Thread
Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2025 11:11 pm
by Beany
I'm gonna guess that marketing puff was written by someone who doesn't understand what I presume is the intended effect - a filter for everything, and a magnetic one to catch ferrous stuff from bearings/gears/etc.
Although elevated aluminium levels (without specifying what is meant by 'elevated') suggests to me the whole thing is bollocks. It's got an alu case, I'd be amazed if there wasn't a measurable (if insignificant in the real world) elevation of alu level, over clean oil in a plastic bottle.
Re: EV Thread
Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2025 11:43 am
by Mito Man
A win for us old school car guys
Re: EV Thread
Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2025 12:18 pm
by Jobbo
That story appears to be 18 months old from the date on the article
Re: EV Thread
Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2025 10:00 am
by Alex88
I'm pretty out of touch with the world of EV's, but was just glancing through Autotrader to see what the situation is now re. Price and range. Few observations; please tell me if I'm wrong:
Firstly, our 2016 Mini Cooper 1.5 Turbot will do about 400 - 450 miles to a tank.
But to get the same same range from an electric car, it looks like we'd need a big SUV, or something similarly sized, which doesn't suit our needs + too expensive anyway.
An equivalent brand new Cooper EV will apparently do around 150-200 miles, so about half what our 10 year old ICE version gets now.
Some EV's appear to be very good value. I had no idea you could pick up a used Tesla Model 3 or a Hyundai Ioniq 5 for under £15k.. I suppose there's a lot of them hitting the second hand market post lease.
I am certainly noticing more public chargers springing up, but not in huge volumes and usually in supermarket car parks. It also appears that attempts to find a charging solution for those without off-street parking have been somewhat forgotten about? Might not be so much of a problem if there was an abundance of cheap public charging infrastructure, but it doesn't look that way.
Most EV's I see on the roads are the large, expensive ones. I really don't see many small hatch variants, and while I hear the new Renault 5 is selling well, I've only seen 2 in person.
It feels like EV's, as it stands today, make sense to those who can justify and afford a larger car, and also have the space at home to plug it in.
So, for people who have a small car like, a modern-ish Mini, which is economical, cheap to tax (£30 or something), pretty cheap to own, and also have no off-road parking, it's a tough ask to get them in an EV. Apparently public chargers are more expensive to use than home chargers, which negates an element of the cost saving, and finding equivalent range requires a totally different style of car.
Perhaps significant progress will be made by the time we arrive at the deadline, or will the government kick the can down the road? Not sure. I might be completely wrong in my observations (probably am!) but that's how the situation looks at this moment.
Re: EV Thread
Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2025 10:54 am
by ZedLeg
Seen a few of these going around, they look pretty good.
Alex88 wrote: Thu Sep 04, 2025 10:00 am
I'm pretty out of touch with the world of EV's, but was just glancing through Autotrader to see what the situation is now re. Price and range. Few observations; please tell me if I'm wrong:
Firstly, our 2016 Mini Cooper 1.5 Turbot will do about 400 - 450 miles to a tank.
But to get the same same range from an electric car, it looks like we'd need a big SUV, or something similarly sized, which doesn't suit our needs + too expensive anyway.
An equivalent brand new Cooper EV will apparently do around 150-200 miles, so about half what our 10 year old ICE version gets now.
Some EV's appear to be very good value. I had no idea you could pick up a used Tesla Model 3 or a Hyundai Ioniq 5 for under £15k.. I suppose there's a lot of them hitting the second hand market post lease.
I am certainly noticing more public chargers springing up, but not in huge volumes and usually in supermarket car parks. It also appears that attempts to find a charging solution for those without off-street parking have been somewhat forgotten about? Might not be so much of a problem if there was an abundance of cheap public charging infrastructure, but it doesn't look that way.
Most EV's I see on the roads are the large, expensive ones. I really don't see many small hatch variants, and while I hear the new Renault 5 is selling well, I've only seen 2 in person.
It feels like EV's, as it stands today, make sense to those who can justify and afford a larger car, and also have the space at home to plug it in.
So, for people who have a small car like, a modern-ish Mini, which is economical, cheap to tax (£30 or something), pretty cheap to own, and also have no off-road parking, it's a tough ask to get them in an EV. Apparently public chargers are more expensive to use than home chargers, which negates an element of the cost saving, and finding equivalent range requires a totally different style of car.
Perhaps significant progress will be made by the time we arrive at the deadline, or will the government kick the can down the road? Not sure. I might be completely wrong in my observations (probably am!) but that's how the situation looks at this moment.
You're not wrong, but perhaps coming at things from the wrong perspective with regards to range. As ever it boils down to the use case: how often do you need to do 400-450 miles without a break(s)? Yes, it will be a longer break than if filling up with dino-juice, but doesn't (infrastructure and car permitting) have to be significantly longer. As a family our stops on longer journeys are rarely less than an hour, so in theory it wouldn't change much for us (but five up in the Zoe is not an experience I am keen to try again unless circumstances forces it) anyway.
But, you're right about the issues around public charging infrastructure/no-offstreet-parking options.
As for the SUV argument, it is, I would argue, dictated by what people otherwise buy and perhaps a convenient way to hide the added weight. We've got a Renault Zoe as a second car, and that works well for us. My wife commutes to work in it three days a week, and while we charge it daily (charger attached to the house, we have a drive) it could easily manage her commute two, possibly even three days between charging. Rest of the week it is the runabout for errands and appointments.
Re: EV Thread
Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2025 1:01 pm
by Matty
Public charging cost needs to reduce significantly as well.
For example, if you charge out and about @80pkw, that about 20p per mile. That's the equivalent costs to a car that does 30mpg.
Add in the longer fill times, and you can understand why people who don't/can't home charge aren't bothered.
I mean, I'm looking to switch to EV this year, but only because of the car, not the drivetrain. I doubt it'll save me any money, even if I charge at home.
Re: EV Thread
Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2025 5:13 pm
by Alex88
DeskJockey wrote: Thu Sep 04, 2025 12:33 pm
You're not wrong, but perhaps coming at things from the wrong perspective with regards to range. As ever it boils down to the use case: how often do you need to do 400-450 miles without a break(s)? Yes, it will be a longer break than if filling up with dino-juice, but doesn't (infrastructure and car permitting) have to be significantly longer. As a family our stops on longer journeys are rarely less than an hour, so in theory it wouldn't change much for us (but five up in the Zoe is not an experience I am keen to try again unless circumstances forces it) anyway.
But, you're right about the issues around public charging infrastructure/no-offstreet-parking options.
As for the SUV argument, it is, I would argue, dictated by what people otherwise buy and perhaps a convenient way to hide the added weight. We've got a Renault Zoe as a second car, and that works well for us. My wife commutes to work in it three days a week, and while we charge it daily (charger attached to the house, we have a drive) it could easily manage her commute two, possibly even three days between charging. Rest of the week it is the runabout for errands and appointments.
It's a very good point to be fair, and I'll admit that it's one that I am guilty of neglecting when thinking about EV's more generally.
Last week, partner and I drove from Bedfordshire to the Lake District, spent 3 days driving about to various places, and still had fuel left over. However, we did stop twice on the way up here. And I did notice that there were chargers available at the services. A quick top up can be had at the supermarkets when food shopping, too.
I suppose it's about reframing your thinking a bit and planning ahead a bit more, but to be fair, I can see how it makes sense for a decent number of people. Your Zoe use makes sense and is probably applicable to most circumstances.
But as I don't have a drive (I can park out the front without issue, however) it does feel like a bit more of a ball ache, and I am loathed to pay so much for public chargers when those who can charge at home are getting it so much cheaper.. I'm sure others feel the same, hence occasionally seeing people running cables from their house to the car on the street.
It does appear you have a couple of types of EV owners - those who run a large SUV style EV through a lease/company deal, and those who have one as a runaround but the second car is an ICE.
I'm sure they'll be another breakthrough in the technology that will allow EVs to go further and charge quicker. Combine that with a far better availability of public chargers that don't penalise you for not having a driveway, and I think it's hard to argue against unless you're in quite specific circumstances.
Will be sad to see no more new performance combustion cars, though
