Electric Cars:what's available?

[NewcastleFalcon]

Which electric car has the best ride. After a hydropneumatic citroen c5 i am looking for an electric car that can match that ride?

I would have a paddle round you tube. Fully Charged and Electrifying normally do a fair review, but these pro journalists dont have the cars for long, so I would seek out a few "ordinary owners" who post up their experiences of owning the cars too. Gibbo put this up on one of the cars you mentioned, and in typical youtube fashion it goes for the over the top title. I would very much doubt that the car lives up to the title!



I

I found Mr. Falcon's Leaf to have a very acceptable ride and comfort

Thanks Jim, but I would say that I give the car the gentlest of rides myself as a driver, and I think others jumping into a Leaf and wanting to drive it a bit faster and generally more vigorously could find the ride a bit hard. Tyres and wheels make a difference, and some drivers are more concerned with ride and handling than myself, and notice these things. To be honest I couldn't care less about it and drive well within the capabilities of the car. I would rather get 5miles/kWh than be able to take a 35mph corners at 50mph because of superb handling.

Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Note of Caution...its not meant to be a Ferrari, its a Quadricycle, a light one at that, so no pushing 50mph with this, its meant for for urban mobility. It has a "face" but way off the charm of the Citroen Ami, and more especially the Fiat Topolino clone of the Ami. Plenty in the automotive press about it. Recently launched in the UK with a limited time price tag of £5,995.

https://www.arkmotors.co/

Neil

[CitroJim]

I was temped until I saw it only has a top speed of 28mph. Useless in Milton Keynes and the surrounding area sadly...

[mickthemaverick]

I wonder if they are capable of freewheeling? If so I could buy 2 of them, connect them back to back and have a 4 seater with a range of 100 miles!! I daresay top speed would be reduced but so be it!!

MTM Creation from ARK original

[Gibbo2286]

spoticar.co.uk specialising in used EVs 12 grand about the cheapest.

[mickthemaverick]

Looking at Spoticar's site I came across these:

BFTW

Details here

BFTW

Details here
Any comments?

[NewcastleFalcon]

Decent value for money, and both 30kWh. Mine is an Acenta Spec like the Blue one perfectly adequate.

The more expensive one up at Oldham is the Tekna Spec, leather, different wheels/tyres and claims one owner. Decent enough low mileage to take on. Can't see the battery health indicator. Out the showroom it will have had 12 bars (2 Reds and 10 whites). Mine has lost one and has 11 bars at 66,000 miles. Would expect both those cars to have at least 11.

The mileage would appear right for either and they are well presented.

Currently there is little advantage over petrol in terms of on-the-road charging so the tab packet calcs will not be as advantageous as when I did mine. Home charging is less than half the cost of on-the-road charging or petrol equivalent, but if you are not careful you can end up forking out a decent sum for a home charging point which needs to be at least 7kW. Very few people will now put up with my current arrangement where I still use the "Granny" charger with a 3 pin Plug. I do because it works and if I don't need to spend any extra on a home charging point at 7kWh I won't.

Neil

[mickthemaverick]

Do they have a Type 2 charging connector Neil?

[NewcastleFalcon]

Do they have a Type 2 charging connector Neil?

The socket on the car is a Type 1, but one of the 2 cables which are provided with the car has a type 2 plug on one end to plug into a Type 2 Socket on a charging post/home charger, and a Type 1 plug on the other to plug into the car.

The granny cable is shown in the boot of the blue one here with the 3 pin plug on one end and a Type 1 socket to plug into the car on the other. No image of the other cable but both cars should have the two cables.



Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Just noticed the spec of the Blue one indicates a 3.3 kW on-board charger. Mine has a 6.6 kW on board charger.
This would be very much a negative point for the Blue one. It means that even if you have a 7kW home charger the car will only charge up at a rate of a max of 3.3kW/hour. Twice as long.

Neil

[mickthemaverick]

The black one is defined as a 3.3Kw as well so maybe that explains the apparent cheaper price, I'll have a look at the cost of an upgrade!

[mickthemaverick]

Could be this is a better bet which came up in my search for a 6.6 charger:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204369120858 ... R8qTr9qfYg

[NewcastleFalcon]

The black one is defined as a 3.3Kw as well so maybe that explains the apparent cheaper price, I'll have a look at the cost of an upgrade!

This thread from Speak EV indicated that at purchase time the 6.6 kW On Board Charger was an optional extra on the Gen 2 Leaf costing £1,150

https://www.speakev.com/threads/chargin ... eaf.28265/

Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Could be this is a better bet which came up in my search for a 6.6 charger:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204369120858 ... R8qTr9qfYg

The slight negative with that one is its showing 10 out of 12 bars for Battery State of Health, and its 60,000 miles.
Same age as mine which has now 66,000 miles and 11 bars on the 24kWh Leaf. Not a great deal of difference in reality. The higher spec trim stuff for me is not that important and I wouldn't pay a premium second-hand to get a Tekna over an Acenta, and would probably try to get a lower mileage Acenta, with reliable history and 11 or 12 bars showing on the State of Health.

Neil

[mickthemaverick]

OK thanks Neil, I'll take that on board and return to monitoring the market. I'm not worrying about the Tekna either but I do want to find a 6.6 charger. They are available on ebay for around £500 from breakers etc but I think that is something I'd rather have factory fitted. Not over keen on another black car either so maybe a 2016ish red car with 30kwH battery with 11 bars and 6.6 charger will come up in due course!!