For those sceptics of EV’s, there’s a new kid on the block that could change your mind. The new Kia e-Niro tackles two of the most common issues that people have with; range and charging speed.
With a listed range of 282 miles, tested against the rigorous WLTP standards, and a fast charging to 80% in just 54 minutes, it seems it could help to pacify even the biggest cynics.
Family-friendly crossover
The e-Niro is a family friendly car, designed in a crossover style, allowing it to take a particularly unique stance in the market. However, it’s most appealing features aren’t the sleek and smooth design, instead, they come from the 382-mile range on the WLTP urban cycle.
Design-wise the car is a futuristic dream, with elements of practicality. The blue highlights on the front of the car help to emphasise the electric but also the ‘Clean and High-tech’ overarching plan for the car. With the drawn-back headlights, to an almost cat eye silhouette, the side profile of the car looks elongated and aerodynamic. A far cry for some from the rectangular look of the Skoda Karoq.
The charging port is cleverly camouflaged in the front closed “tiger-nose” grille and blends seamlessly into the overall look of the car. The de-bossed Niro logo is the only giveaway as to where the charging port is.
In terms of in-car storage, the boot is an impressive 451 litres, bigger than the majority of similar cars, and even comes with a storage spot for the charging cable below the boot itself.
Range and performance
The notoriously harsh WhatCar? Real Range tests showed that the Kia e-Niro matched the performance of the far pricier Jaguar I-Pace with a range of 253 miles. Saying that the listed WLTP tests for the e-Niro are higher than the I-Pace, making it much better value for money.
The range for the e-Niro is listed as 282 miles for combined driving on the WLTP, and on the urban cycle, it lists at a huge 382 miles. This is for the long-distance 64kWh battery, which as far as anyone is aware is the only battery available in Europe for the e-Niro, but there is a lower range 39.2kWh battery available in Korea, and other countries.
When it comes to speed, the e-Niro is much quicker off the blocks than other similar models. The 0-62mph is 7.5 seconds, but those who have tested have said that even the lightest touch on the accelerator can send the wheels spinning on the dryest of roads.
The range is one of the biggest purchase factors of this car, it’s the first relatively cheap electric car that can directly compete with some similarly priced combustion engines. For families who are looking at a more affordable electric car, or who have been put off by the lower range can now make the move to electric.
Charging it up
Charging has been another big concern for many people, but using a 100kw charger can take the battery to 80% in just under an hour, which is equivalent to around 250 miles, so all apart from those doing multiple miles a day can suffice for up to a week on one charge.
Like all electric cars, using a fast charger all the time isn’t the best for the battery, but every now and then it won’t harm the car. 100kw chargers are often found in public pay to charge spots, so it might cost you a bit to get to a good spot, but overall, it shouldn’t be too bad.
The e-Niro has regenerative braking so when you are decelerating or coasting you get some of the power back into the battery, meaning the car can maintain charge while driving. Predictive driving assistance looks at the navigation system and determines the level of energy regeneration needed based on upcoming road conditions.
Our view
Over Christmas, we released a report that we had written on electric vehicles and whether they were worth it. While this data was collected last year, the core issue we found was the peripherals weren’t ready for electric cars. This was reflected in a recent statement in response to the news that an electric car had been awarded Car of the Year, by the UK’s National Infrastructure Commission (NIC). They said “While it is great news that an electric car has been awarded Car of the Year, the UK needs to develop a truly visible, national charging network to help more drivers make the switch from petrol and diesel. Our National Infrastructure Assessment includes recommendations to achieve just that and make sure the UK is ready for this growing market, including offering subsidies to support rural and remote areas and getting councils to allocate a portion of their parking spaces for potential future charging points. This would ensure that this growing demand for electric cars isn’t halted by a lack of the charging infrastructure needed.”
For those living in urban or suburban areas, the Kia e-Niro is the perfect first electric car, with a reasonable price, range and charging capabilities. However, for more rural areas, it doesn’t look like it’s ready just yet, through no fault of the car makers, simply the infrastructure.
The Kia e-Niro is released for sale in the UK in April, but if you want to start enquiring about test drives, quotes or brochures, then why not have a look at one of our partners CarKeys. They can save you up to £3000 on the cost of a new car, and are sure to have some great deals on the Kia e-Niro when it is launched in a few months, with a starting price of £33,000. If you’re interested, have a look here: https://landing.carkeys.co.uk/car/kia/e-niro?affiliate=CXK-Affiliate-Ge-General-Buy-Petrol%20Prices
What do you think of the Kia e-Niro? Would the range and charging points convert you to electric? Let us know below
With 250 miles of range, there isn’t a range problem for rural dwellers either. It will be possible to get to a large number of charge points with that range.Most EV drivers charge whenever they stop rather than waiting for the battery to become almost empty. After most journeys users will be able to charge at home using off peak electricity and/or solar panels.
There’s an idea: how about solar panels that work at night when the car needs to be recharged for the next day’s use?
You can do that, but you’ll need a battery to put the daylight power in, or a turbine. Both are nor without expense or complication so probably it would be best to sell the power to a green supplier and buy it back, they use wind and tide as well, so it’s available at night.
I like Kia. I’ve got a shortage. But I HATE electric cars. So boring, soulless and lacking in character.
You certainly seem to have a shortage of some sort. What soul and character does a Kia Sportage have?
Well, I also have a Mercedes coupe and a lotus, but I’m not big on showing off.
The only thing an electric car lacks is the noise and fumes. Electric cars are really fast and responsive, your comment makes absolutely no sense.
Being fast and responsive only works when new but it is not so fast in a traffic jam of charging up, Hare and tortoise comes to mind but this time the Hare won.
its also not burning expensive fuel in a traffic jam. charging issues are vastly overblown (although I wouldn’t recommend one -at this time- to anyone doing hundreds of miles daily). As I’m typing this my car is sat outside charging. I’m not having to take time out of my journey home to visit a petrol station, I just unplug and step into my preheated and frost free car and drive home. I get back in it first thing in the morning, again frost free and drive straight to work and plug back in. its generally more convenient than a normal car. the only waiting is on a longer journey when I need a rapid charge, and to be fair I charge when I need a loo and brew break. its not really any inconvenience.
Diesel and petrol cars now have stop start so don’t use fuel either. taking time out on a journey for 10 minutes refueling is not a bad thing, gets your circulation going and we can’t all be fortunate to have a driveway or garage to charge a car in
Try driving a V8. Then you’ll understand. Until then, your opinion is defunct.
Dinosaur
Which battety electric vehicles have you driven and for how long?
We test drove a Leaf and a Zoe 2 years ago and are still very pleased by our Leaf 30kW
You hint that using a powerful 100kW charger might not be good for the battery if used regularly. If that is the case, how might warranty be affected if the battery performance or life is compromised by such action?
Is this the lithium’s dirty little secret?
It’s not as simple as that unfortunately. While lithium-ion batteries will see greater degradation with higher charging speeds, how much degradation depends on the battery chemistry.
I won’t give specific examples as I don’t have time to find the reference links right now, but the warranty will also say what is and isn’t covered in terms of usage. I’m not aware of any that are affected by how or how often you charge the battery.
Even lead acid batteries charged on a very high charger will shorten their life. It’s the same for all batteries, no matter what type. Treat them gently and get a longer usable life.
Back in the day batteries would last for yrs due to the lower charge rate from a dynamo. Absolutely useless in today’s cars of course.
rapid chargers aren’t used as much as people think, and even if they were they don’t degrade the battery as much as many claim, just look at some of the really high mileage teslas out there. I put off buying an EV for years owing to all the false propaganda out there. should have bought one a few years back and saved myself mechanical repairs and insane fuel costs
‘Could’ have saved mechanical repairs. EVERYTHING breaks at some point and who you gona call to fix it? How long do repairs take? You can’t call in to Halfords for spares. Of course you’ll have the money to get a spare car. Get real and look at the real world.
Yes, Derek, you save a fortune, dad had a Lamborghini and now has a Tesla, super car performance charges it once a week to get to and from work, service is 100 quid car was 85000, charge may be a tenner? No road tax.Lamborghini 146000, 1800 quid service, 200 quid a week fuel, 500 quid road tax. Fantastic in super car. Still may be savings in a normal car. Work out all your costs to see.
I’ve been driving diesel for the last six years, for the economy and, ironically, the government tax incentives at the time of purchase. Before that, decades of petrol motoring. My next car will absolutely be full electric. This is the future. Manufacturers need to get on board, as do infrastructure providers. It’s great to see an electric vehicle recognised.
I own a Kia now, but the styling of the Niro is hard to accept. I’ve no doubt it’s a great vehicle, but the Kona just looks so much better (from the outside). Not sure which I’d pick.
But the pricing! Admittedly I bought my Cee’d six years ago, but it cost me £14k as a pre-registered model. List at the time was £17.5k. I’d now have to add £20k to that figure to buy one of these. What the hell happened? I know the batteries add cost, but the engineering is supposed to be simpler. It doesn’t add up.
I was similar to yourself, years of petrol then moved to super efficient diesel. moved to electric over 6 months ago and its great (only costing me an extra £50 a month when I factor fuel savings for a much more refined car). Sure people worry over charging but even when I need to use a rapid charger its usually just for 20 mins. The biggest issue in price I think is more down to supply and demand, and this will be the problem with the niro. its sister car the Hyundai kona has a wait time of a year! Need to plan in advance to buy electric unless you do what I did and picked one that was already built. sure it didn’t have the exact spec I wanted and its in dirt magnet white but no regrets!
A guide price would be handy otherwise the article is useless
From £32,995* (after. PiCG deduction)
And there’s the major problem, there’s simply no way I can afford to replace my 17 year old Ford Focus with one of these or anything even close to it. If I ever manage to replace my car it will very likely cost less than £2000, that wouldn’t cover the cost of the batteries in this thing.
There are many of us in the same boat. I had my last car for 9 years and it was 18 years old when I got rid of it. I now have one I bought last September for £2,600, and this one is 12 years old. It’s a diesel Hyundai Tucson which I need to pull my caravan. There probably won’t be an electric car that’s any good for £2,600 for probably decades if ever, and most of today’s EVs are not rated for towing. I wonder how much the range would suffer if they were! I can’t see electric cars being anything more than company cars and rich men’s playthings in my lifetime.
Far too costly to warrant replacing my comfortable capacious much cheaper diesel
it tells you in the last paragraph
The article did say £33,000
Could not have a charging port at you house for the Kia Niro or is it just at shops car parks etc please
Yes, but it will be much slower charging. You can only get 3kw from a standard UK socket but I believe you can get higher power charging sockets fitted. They won’t be anything like the 100kW fast charger through.
If you charged from a regular 3kW socket overnight at home for 8 hours (22:00-06:00 for example), that’s – roughly speaking – 8*3 = 24 kWh of battery power. In this car that’s enough for about 100 miles of range.
If that’s not enough each day, then a 7kW home charger would give you about 200 miles in the same time and there’s government grants to help with the cost of installing car chargers.
You are charging 3kw at 240 volts, but the batteries are lower voltage. 120 volt batteries then charge at 6kw per hour. Still low. Would you use the car up to its max range daily? Or would you be mainly topping up?
Most people install a 32 amp wall box at home, which charges at 7 kw. This will fully charge the Niro overnight. Most of the cost of installing the wall box is payed for by the government also.
If you don’t have off street parking then an EV will only suit if you have really good local chargers or can charge at work.
Love this car but I want an estate.
The boot space is pretty huge for this size of car (I have an Niro PHEV) and wit the seats down its as big as an estate and more
Love the write up on this car but I want an estate car.
I’ve driven an electric car (the Nissan Leaf) and it was excellent. My biggest concern is for pedestrian safety as these cars can do just as much damage if they hit you as petrol or diesel ones do. Does anyone know if this car has a noise generator on it to stop it killing people who are unaware of its presence e.g. people on mobiles while crossing?
Darwin has something to say about people who don’t take sufficient care around moving vehicles…
Turn the radio up LOL, Iget it all the time going past my house Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom,
But that reduces the mileage….
So does blowing your horn, we’ll have to take a step backwards and have one of those on old car the one you squeeze honk honk
Have driven a Nissan Leaf for 3 years. Was worried about the danger to pedestrians at first but have never once had an issue. There is a slight whine from the Leaf at low speeds but really as a driver I am the one who is being careful. Most non electric cars are fairly quite when you are driving slowly through a car park looking for a space so all drivers need to take care and look out for pedestrians
… Then toot the horn and scare them to death!
My Niro PHEV has a noise generator that automatically turns on at low speeds. I can turn it off (although I’m not sure why I would) but it automatically comes back on when I start the car. FYI it also has a subtle reversing tone which does get people’s attention in car parks
So it’s ‘where’s that stupid noise coming from?’ and then BANG!! Call an ambulance
Isnt it called a “horn”
Both the Kia and its sister car, Hyundai Ioniq, have simulated engine sounds, should you so wish . And regarding the cable – you could easily store it alongside the luggage in the boot. So, easy to get to without unloading everything first. It just needs a bit of lateral thought.
So You can turn it off and scare the carp out of the person who cut you up in the checkout queue. You have an evil mind.
Charging points are very few and far between At. Taunton services last week and car were waiting for a charging point to become vacant
Seems like a promising step forward but the same overall problems remain for the many of us who live in a country town: no realistic charging facilities.
We cannot park right by our house and if we could would not consider trying to trail a charging cable across the pavement.
For longer journeys, where are the necessary number of charging points, and who would wish to pause for an hour to charge ? OK for long journeys when a pause is good but even so not always welcome.
Yes thank you
I am interested just need more info
Interested
Range and charging speed main concerns, I drive to Valencia and normally take 3 days 1200 miles, could do it quicker but I’m on holiday, the hotels don’t have charging points so I will l have to charge during the day, while my present car gets there in 2 refueling stops of 10 minute this electric car needs 5 stops of a minimum of 30 minutes and that is not a full charge so the 5 stops becomes 7 or even 8 so now the journey takes 4 days, the car has no boot, boots are handy for luggage and some shopping and for rear end shunts, extra protection, my car has over 500 litres of space in the boot, 25% more than this car so some of her shopping would have to go on the back seats, so no room for grand kids, it seems only mid range cars have boots these days unlike the extended boot on the old Elf and Honnet and even the Astra and Cavalier had a sticking out boot. So an electric car is still no good for me
at this point the only ev you could consider would be a tesla and its supercharger network.
Couldn’t afford one of them, come to that I couldn’t afford one of these but then it don’t do the job so I wouldn’t buy anyway
each generation is getting better but in your case the charging network is more of an issue. might be a while before ev’s can meet your need.
Boot volume is 451litresthat is 90% of your 500 ! But charging for journeys is still a problem.
I did say over 500 litres it is actually 550 and nearly 1500 with the seats down
If we purchase an electric car to help the environment, what happens to all the lithium batteries once they reach the end of their lives? I understand that they are particularly difficult to recycle.
Most car batteries will out last the lifetime of the car and even then are suitable for second life uses such as home storage.
After that there are still valuable materials within the battery to create value for recycling.
“Most”…. and the ones that dont will require a four figure amount to replace them…. that’s just lucky dip with the contents of your wallet…
Should have bought a Rover 75. Mine’s outlasted two batteries already at 17 years old!
So why do NISSAN on lease their batteries? So they can be changed!! Keeping a large battery like that for home storage? Are also going to change the battery yourself? I wouldn’t want to live anywhere near you.
Lithium batteries are recyclable with no contamination problems, unlike most other battery types, including lead acid batteries, which contain dangerous substances
They’re very reusable and then almost 100% recycleable. Their elements are too valuable to waste. Here’s some info:
https://youtu.be/dOn-L6nUS54?t=9m11s
‘Almost’ in other words by a few specialists at high cost
Lithium batteries are THE next global problem after we solve the global problem of plastic!
How do they dispose of all these batteries at the end of life, are we to have dead leaking battery mountains or are they to be buried in some third world country or left to rot and seep into the earth or is there going to be establishments like there is for nuclear waste, how long does it take to degrade. It won’t take long to build this mountain because of damage and write offs in crashes
Lithium ion batteries are difficult to recycle (but not impossible) at the moment. Over time the numbers will work in favour of cost-effective recycling technologies. EU environment legislation requires producers to take back portable batteries for recycling – a good indication this will required for all automotive batteries in the future. Nerd Fact: lithium is an element but it won’t harm you if you put a lithium ion battery in your pocket (unlike plutonium!)
The amount of lithium on this planet is so limited they will HAVE to recycle it – else the first generation of e-vehicles will also be the last.
They don’t get disposed of Geoff, they get reused then they get recycled.
https://youtu.be/dOn-L6nUS54?t=9m11s
I hope you are right, they are digging up Brazil rain forest to get it you, its the trees that eat carbon dioxide and give oxegen you know the stuff we breath and they are chopping it down for batteries. how green is that.
Not a problem. As Mythbusters Jnr. showed pierced and crushed batteries burst into flames. Might kill the passengers though.
Starting price of £33,000 – That will be a no thank you
when looking at the price also remember that electric vehicle tech is usually only found in higher spec trims and you also have fuel savings to factor in.
Don’t forget insurance and possible repairs that very few garages can do and of course getting trapped on a winter road like a driver on the news with only 35 miles left after four hours in freezing conditions. Has it been tested under near freezing conditions with that sensitive accelerator? Don’t think so!!!.
A misfit, thats cheap mate. Most cars start about 22k, mondeo, 35k for a BMW 5 series. Plus cheaper to run once you have bought it, no fuel and service costs are cheap plus no road tax. If you live in the dive that is London it will be just the ticket!
What tariff and company are you on for your electric seeing there are no fuel costs and no road tax for now you wait and see .
I buy £161 of fuel a year @48p per litre before tax. Add tax and car tax it goes up to £700. I have to earn £1000 to have that money. We are sleepwalking into a catastrophe with our electricity. We have only one % capacity spare at the moment. As we rely on coal for most of our electricity we have gone back to steam power. We have just started installing nuclear power stations that will not work. The French installed the same reactors and had to turn them off. They now have to import their electricity from abroad.
Geoff, electric is cheap compared with my diesel car that cost 110 quid to fill an got 360- 380 miles a tank. Electric bout 12 quid for 160 miles and free road tax. Still can use services for free with a card from ecotricity. For now
All very nice, looks aren’t my cup of tea, but the rest looks OK.
But my requirements are cars must have seven seats – six of us in the family, so all five seat cars are OUT
How do I select which kid to leave behind?
Must tow at least two tonnes out of muddy fields – Horse box with Horses 🙁
Range at least 200 miles, I live in a rural area of Lincolnshire, most of my travel is in that area, so no Motorway or large retail parks fast chargers to help.
Most places I visit would be lucky to have a caravan hookup point.
I would like an affordable electric car that can do all this, I have 10Kw Solar sat on my roof, ready to help.
Now when are they going to make it….
You’ll be waiting for some time I think, with that list of must haves, even putting one child in the horses box isn’t going to make much difference.
How many charge cycles before the battery capacity degrades to 60% for example and how much will it cost to replace it.
in short a lot longer than the cars life. there are teslas out there with several hundred thousand miles on them and still have over 90% capacity. range depletion is massively exaggerated and is more an issue on smaller batteries than larger ones owing to more frequent charging cycles. generally speaking electric vehicles last longer and take less to maintain than conventional vehicles.
I read a scientific paper a few months ago about tests on the Nissan Leaf battery pack. It considered capacity fade (reduced capacity to store charge) and power fade (reduced ability to extract charge). The Leaf battery lost about 10% of both in its first year, then about 6%-7% each year thereafter. So, the batteries would indeed last longer than the bodywork, but you wouldn’t be going very far on a nominally full charge (which is ~ 70% of the ‘as new’ charge) after five years of use (~50% after ten years – the ‘as new’ WLTP range is 168, What Car got 108 miles in winter real life). Nissan had to introduce a low price deal for Leaf Mk 1 owners to swap out the old cells for ‘remanufactured’ cells, to bring the price down from ~£5k to ~£2k.
as a leaf owner I can say that is completely false (at least on newer leafs) otherwise why are there ones for sale a few years old with almost full capacity? in all likelihood the test hammered the battery as hard as it could and not as one would normally be used. also Nissan would be bankrupt by now as they offer an 8 year warranty on the battery so if it drops below 75% they will replace it. all leafs would need their battery replaced and that has not been the case.
Though electric cars help reduce the pollution in city’s, the electricity to power them is still mainly fossel fuel, so don’t be thinking these cars help climate change…
Check out this excellent website that shows our UK National Grid usage: http://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk
Currently on this cold sunny January day @10:30am only 9% of our UK usage is coming from renewable energy, but 76% from coal, gas and Nuclear….
A good point and others have commented too on how the grid would cope if there were to be a significant switch to electric vehicles, it’s also been pointed out the energy suppliers would be delighted with this captive market, differed level tariffs introduced for peak charging etc.
and during the summer coal stations are pretty much turned off. even if powered by coal stations EV’s are still cleaner. don’t forget all that diesel and petrol needs an awful lot of energy in producing, shipping the oil/fuel and refining it. it doesn’t come out of the ground and straight into your fuel tank. an awful lot of energy goes into getting it to your car in usable form before its burned by your engine
@mark: Correct, coal power stations are only used during winter time and renewable energy generation peaks around 50% in the summer. But the CO2 foot print build a wind turbine should not be over looked..
On a CO2 climate change perspective, a combustion car in the UK only has to do ~44mpg to have the same foot print as an EV, once manufacturing and power source is taken into account. Though France with it’s high Nuclear power production, a combustion car has do better than 123mpg to beet an EV on CO2 foot print..!!
How would the range be affected by heating the car?
Out in the sticks it is generally 3°c cooler than cities. All very well having a car that can get me from Oxford to Southampton and back, on one charge, but if it 4° outside, I don’t won’t to arrive colder than the milk in my fridge!!
Are these figures available?
I have a Niro PHEV and and even with the petrol engine it takes a good few minutes to warm up. I had a Vauxhall Ampera PHEV before that allowed you to heat the car while charged into the charger to avoid draining the battery. This also allowed you to remotely “pre start” the car so the heating (or AC in summer) came on and got the car warm before you even walked out to the car. It even turned on the heated seats and steering wheel. My Niro doesn’t have that facility but it would be great if the e-Niro does.
The general rule of loss of mpg or miles per kilowatt applies for any power unit regardless of whether it is, electric petrol or diesel. The smaller the power unit the greater loss of range when using accessories. The air condition system is one of the biggest consumers of power. next is aerodynamic drag roof racks, trailers particularly when driven over 56 mph coupled with overall weight of the car. The approximate guide for carrying extra weight is approximately 1% more fuel for each additional 25 kilogrammes of weight carried. The only way to find out how the accessories effect the consumption to individual cars is to do a comparison over the same route and traffic conditions, car weight (passengers and luggage) and outside air temperature not forgetting speed. Drag forces increase significantly over 56 mph. Some cars have the aerodynamics of a brick whilst others are very efficient and produce much less drag. Remember if you are caught speeding with low fuel indication; it’s no good telling the speed cop you are hurrying to get some fuel. You may receive a lecture – more speed more fuel!
With a petrol or diesel vehicle cabin heating comes from waste heat that would otherwise be dissipated through the radiator.
The concept is good, the price is ridiculous. So it’s a no from me.
People purchasing cars and paying under £20,000 for a new vehicle, are hardly going go be able to afford a £33,000 vehicle.
Like myself, many car owners are retired people living on a pension. Although I like changing my car every 3 to 5 years, there is a strict limit on what I can afford as a no they payment. So it looks as though my next car will be another diesel
when you factor in running savings the gap closes a lot. plus you get a lot more gadgets with ev’s
And gadgets use power and who needs or uses most of the normal gadgets anyway? Selling point NOOOOOOO!
More gadgets takes your eyes off the road so not always a good thing. eg sat navs below the dash in the center console eye off the road.
There is a bigger issue here, that petrol and Diesel engine cars production ceases after 2020!
That’s going to be a lot of people keeping their cars for longer out of necessity, with the increasing cost of ownership.
If I had the money, I would like to have this car. The figures look good. I sometimes visit a friend, the journey is 300 miles each way.
If I had the money I would go for this car. A few times a year I visit a friend. The journey is 300 miles each way so if the report is accurate, that would do the trick.
Not for me, I’m afraid. Charging time is still far too long, and range not enough, and it is drastically reduced if you have any form of heating on in the vehicle.
I believe the future will not be with batteries, but by electrically powered vehicles powered from Hydrogen. That at least will overcome the charging time problem as well as improve the range. Until then I’ll stick with petrol driven hybrid vehicles, at least then I can refuel quickly when required and be quickly on my way without worrying how far I can go.
you must have a massive bladder. I cant see many going beyond the range of this vehicle without wanting a loo break and thus a rapid charge. hydrogen is a crock. works out more expensive than normal fuel and it still needs to be produced from electric. the only advantage over electric is a quick top up and with the range of electric vehicles increasing each generation they are making electric a doable option for most. I jumped on at 40kw as it gives me the range I need. lots more with jump onboard with a 60+kw battery which explains why all EV’s have a long waiting list.
well, you must have serious problems if it takes you over 45 minutes to empty your bladder!….’rapid charge’, now that’s a misnomer!
As the OP pointed out, as soon as you start using heating/air-con/any other additional electrical equipment, you are losing ‘tank range’, this is a fact of life when you go electric. When you need to do a more serious length journey, i.e. nice drive to the south of France or into Europe, forget electric, as the real ‘tank range’ will severely impede you, in terms of distance you can travel before stopping and then, of course, the imposed charge-time, before you can continue your journey. And that’s before you think about what an extreme hot or cold climate will have on ‘tank range’, these factors affect petrol and diesel vehicles bad enough. (hint: think about when you take a consumer device out in the cold, and watch how the battery life drops)
There are a number of technical hurdles, but hydrogen is one of a number of potential ways forward, although these ‘electro-addicts’ will continue to use their ‘elec-trickery’ to confuse more into purchasing these vehicles.
EV’s having a long waiting list…..limited choice of vehicles, produced in far fewer numbers compared to ICE engines…….and, as for the ‘green lobby’, if it bothers you that much, simple, don’t buy a car (any car)…..simples………
Stopping for a pee on a motorway services takes 5-10 minutes. With one of these you’ll have to wait close to an hour for it to recharge. Even then long journeys will only work if there are charging options at both ends of your journey.
And in the middle and you will be for ever more thinking how far can I get , should I have stopped at the last charging point, wheres the next one can I make it
How Many fast charging points can you find at motorway services? also as stated ‘constant fast charging is bad for your battery’ or are you just going to sell it on as soon as the battery gets dodgy and land somebody else with your junk. Battery checkers? where do find them?
This New Kia sounds absolutely ideal, seems to have dealt with most of the objections to EV’s, i.e. range and charge time. BUT, The price? £33,000?? Why is it so expensive? The manufacturers keep harping on about less moving parts etc. so I cannot understand why it is so expensive. Ok, they have to recover their R & D costs, fair enough, but surely if the price was more realistic, say in the mid 20’s (000), this would bring it within the budgets of so many more people, they would sell a hell of a lot more.
Its just plain and symply toooooo expensive
Why have Kia provided storage for the charging cable UNDER the floor of the boot? That’s just as inconvenient as spare wheel wells* under the boot floor. Users will have to unload the boot/luggage space to get at either item! In accordance with The Universal Third Law of Sod, they’ll be travelling to or from holiday (so fully loaded), it’ll be raining hard when you want to get at either item and the wind will be driving the rain into the open tailgate. It would make far more sense to store the charging lead under the bonnet, even coiled and clipped to the underside of the bonnet.
*Also, who was the first bean-counter to suggest that undersized “emergency spares” were A GOOD THING that would add about £5 to the profit margin on each car, and which idiot Product Design Managers signed off the corresponding reduced-size spare wheel wells, into which one cannot put the full-sized but punctured wheel to take it for repair? I think that is a breach of the “Fitness for purpose” criterion in the Sale of Goods Act.
Very interesting points but major stumbling block remains cost and availability of chargers, including time to recharge.
AGREED INCONVENIENT FOR CABLES TO BE UNDER FLOOR- BUT SPARE NOT SUCH A PROBLEM AS HOPEFULLY YOU WILL NOT NEED IT. I HAVE BEEN LUCKY HAVING SO FAR IN DRIVING 35000 MLS IN 7 YEARS AND NEVER HAD TO USE MY SPARE WHEE, IN FACT I BELIEVE SOME CARS DO NOT EVEN HAVE SPARE WHEELS!
Harry, please don’t use capitals, it’s shouting in forum etiquette.
Still far too exspensive for the average buyer!
too expensive for the ordinary bloke.
There will be alternative fuels before we are told by the government we must all use electric cars there are some now Hydrogen for one No need for charging points obstructing the pavements in every town or city as there are going to be with electric power
£33000 for a fkin Kia???
Looking at YouTube a Tesla has been stripped and examined whilst the motor (cheaper than others) and battery appears unique and very efficient. The build is over complicated and slow. Why are manufacturers not taking advantage of this information? As I understand it Musk has offered access to his technologies? Perhaps Dyson will do something wonderful?
…but will it tow my 1700kg caravan? I suspect not.
A Tesla model x will mate, 2250kg rated tow capacity, pulls like it’s not there due to huge torque of the motors. Only snag is you’ll be down to 120 ish miles before a charge.
WHAT IS THE LIFE OF THE BATTERIES AND HOW MUCH DO THEY COST TO REPLACE. IS IT WORTH LOOKING AT A SECONDHAND ELECTRIC VEHICLE WHEN BATTERY REPLACEMENT IS COSTLY AND IT IS DIFFICULT TO SEE HOW MUCH LIFE THEY HAVE LEFT.
Battery life is now longer than most people keep a car. They do degrade slowly but then so do petrol engines. ‘Used’ batteries are recyclable but also in demand for domestic use. Second hand EVs sell quite well, but avoid anything with a ‘rented’ battery. If buying second hand the instrumentation should tell you the condition of the battery, not just how much charge it has at the time, so it would be useful to talk to some owners of similar vehicles and find out what the fact are. There are a lot of scare stories put about by interested parties, like the oil industry. In the meantime the industry is advancing rapidly, and cars only sell for what the market will bear, so if they are selling the price is reasonable. Look around, work out what range you need, and buy when you can afford what you need, the price will come down and the range is going up. It is a complicated area so ask around, Your average journey and maximum journey are relevant.
Just seen the bill for a replacement battery on a Civic hybrid… no change out of £1400..
If the wheels spin that easily did they test it in winter conditions?
It would certainly make me consider an electric option. I would need to look at the charging infrastructure and how to get set up at home first.
Not if I could not charge it at home. A 1kw fire at 250 volts takes 4 amp. 100kw takes 400 amps. Our home main fuse was, a few years ago, reduced from 100 amp to 80amp so that the electric companies could demonstrate to the government that there was still sufficient capacity in the system. A 6kw shower and a similar electric cooker used at the same time use more than half your available supply. You would have to educate people not to wash and charge at the same time. The Rolec charger for our Mitsubishi has a 40 amp fuse in it. We are not there yet. ( ps regarding an earlier remark – our Mitsubishi has a noise generator that cuts in at 3 mph and cuts off at 12 mph ie no noise when parked, but still ‘on’ and no extra noise when the tyres etc can be heard.)
Never mind folks – once we are out of Europe, the Brexit mandate is fulfilled and Britain is once again the greatest nation on Earth, so much money will be staying in the UK that there will be electric chargers in every square kilometre of the nation and we will all be able to afford two electric cars per household.
I’ll give a thumbs up for your optimism 🙂
I can only drive one car at a time why would i want another.
I’ve got Continental tyres on my truck.
I’m worried they won’t work after “Brexit”. ?
The Electric vehicle continues to dominate this industry in its thinking. Has anyone anycextra info on what is behind recent articles on tests of hydrogen production using water and some ‘alloy’? Allegedly the US military is behind it and China seems to have been active in this arena as well. Late 1990’s BMW even ran a hydrogen fuelled cR fleet of IC engines vehicles as Ivrecall when there. IF the foregoing articles are remotely true then electric vehicles with their deadweight batteries will not be the Nirvanah politicians and the media seem to think that they are. Yeah I realise this is all a bit flakey but I will wait with interest!
A company in India runs electric tuktuks. When the batter y gets low it drives up to a bollard, the driver presses a button and a robotic arm comes out, removes the battery, and replaces it with a fresh one.
The tuktuk is on its way within a minute.
We need a scaled up version for cars. Sitting for hours waiting for a fixed battery to charge is pathetic.
That concept interested me so I did a search and found that there is a company that has started operating in Israel and Denmark based on exactly that idea. The article says Renault is manufacturing the cars for them and the company has built a network of change stations so you just drive in onto the start of the moving ‘assembly line’ and a few minutes later your car emerges at the other end with a fresh battery in it. It seems they picked Israel and Denmark as they both have small land areas so that keeps costs down on the number of change stations they need to make a viable network. Interesting I thought. I gather there are, inevitably, teething troubles, but I suppose that is inevitable. Here is the link https://www.npr.org/2012/08/21/159355676/dont-charge-that-electric-car-battery-just-change-it
Thanks for a very interest interesting link. Sadly, the company you refer to has gone bust.
At £33,000 its still very expensive, and most people forget that the majority of people in the UK live in terraced houses without the ability to plug a car in overnight. So not only are they still too expensive they are still impractical for the majority of British households.
Electric cars are all well and good at the moment because there are so few but what happens when every other car is electric. Currently at most service stations there is a continuous stream of cars trying to fill up with fossil fuels, what’s going to happen when there is a continuous stream of cars waiting for a quick hour long electric charge at limited charge points. Chaos comes to mind with cars trying to limp home on almost flat batteries after any lengthy journey. Ahh but your going to say car owners should use trains etc for long journeys, may I remind you to look a the inability of trains to run a reliable service taking into account industrial disputes, lack of service provider funding and finally 1cm of snow or a leaf on the railway tracks.
Cars full of screaming kids, barking dogs trapped in the car cos it’s raining & nowhere to go whilst you queue & then wait for it to charge 🙁
Anyone tell me what happens if you’re stuck in a motorway jam with a low battery?
I think if your electric car is stationary it won’t be using power for the drive motor unlike petrol or diesel. You would only be powering dashboard and similar functions.
So if your stuck in a traffic jam on a snowy day….. you can run the heater so your buggered.. and all for the princley sum of £33k….
Also batteries are less efficient in cold.
One electric car, I forget which , has – wait for it – a petrol fired heater!
Lights, heating, air con, wipers, the list goes on
What are the running costs for electric vehicles (just fuel, not tax and insurance etc)?
How much does it cost per mile and how does that compare with combustion models?
Not sure I am ready to convert to EV just yet. What happens if run out of “juice” down a country lane, you can’t just carry a gallon of “energy” in the boot. And how are breakdowns dealt with? Can the rescue companies give you a jump start?
Finally what about maintenance and repair costs?
They claim 8.5/mile but you have to be getting 4miles/kWh. It drops to 3.3 with the heater on. Then you’ve 14p/mile battery rental and electricity prices are going up. Diesel is about 10p/mile. Maintenance costs seem to be the same. Then the Nissan leaf is the worst car in the UK for depreciation. Not cheap and electric costs away from home is more expensive, apart from Dundee!
Price puts car completely out of the question for most buyers. Until electric cars can compete with both distance covered, charging time and price they will remain a tiny % of cars sold.
I wondered whether keeping warm in today’s sub zero temperatures would reduce the range of the car. I also wonder how much a full load of luggage would affect the range. My typical long journey is 250m with one 20m stop, so range is crucial.
282 miles sounds good, but many of my journeys would need 4 charges.
Therefore, is is useless to me.
Most domestic properties have an incoming electricity supply rated at best 100A. Older properties 60A.
So using all the capacity of the supply. This will mean a charger rated at 15kW for the 60A or 25kW for the 100A supply. Provided you don’t want to have anything else on in the house. If everybody had an electric car charging the National grid would go into meltdown. That’s before you consider how occupiers of terraced houses and apartments would be able to connect to the supply to charge their cars.
The Government needs to consider the infrastructure required to support ecars before issuing edicts on electric only vehicles.
One day the politicos will realise that most motorists cannot afford to go electric, let alone access charging in a practical way. That is not just in UK, but all over the world.