Would you have an electric car if you had the money for a new car and were in the market for one?

[Stig]

Octopus is good, I used that back when needed and saved a few quid (I was having to use a granny charger as they had no free installs so man maths calculations suggested I’d never return on the investment!) try charging 92kwh to full on a 3pin…

I’m actually considering the new Renault 5 as these look great value

[Horse]

Isn't everyone with Octopus anyway?

They were one of the few that survived when the faecal:fan interface on pricing clobbered the market and got rid of the really dodgy cheap deals.

I've had reasonable fixed price deals from them for several years. Good customer service too.

[Taipan]

Spoke to Octopus who confirmed a switch to a standard tariff is needed to start with,then once they're connected to the smart meter, I can switch to a EV tariff. Smart charger installer chappie, or chappess, will apparently help with the linking to my car etc blah. So all good so far...

New tyre fitted too. Today is a good day for EV ownership!

[Sunny]

I've signed on for an Octopus EV lease this week. A Cupra Born V2, which will take the place of the FocusOfDestiny as my commuter, and reminds me of a Golf.

Went with Octopus leasing as I got a free Ohme charger and install included, which made it a bit of a win.

Leasing one as a second car also makes sense for me to find out what I like and don't like about them - I don't want to own it, and the lease deal was way cheaper than PCP. Plus I can still use the planet-killing diesel VW for trips as and when needed.

Took one for a test drive last weekend. I liked it, though the brakes (in either D or B mode), were not as sharp as I'm used to. And I'm not a huge fan of the 'twist to select' control, but that's a minor thing that I'll get used to quickly enough.

[wheelnut]

I think the braking thing is purely down to weight. You notice it more when braking from a higher speed where there does seem to be a degree of inertia.

[KungFooBob]

Bang the re-gen up to max, should sharpen the braking up a bit

[Sunny]

I will spend some time playing with the settings when it appears - it's a 1-3 month lead time, so that may be a while away, but at least that'll hopefully give them time to install the charger

[Taipan]

On my old plan at 23p kWh that was from 40% to 80%.

[Mr. Dazzle]

That gets you about 100 miles right? Which makes it about equivalent to 85mpg assuming petrol is £1.30/litre. If you were on a 7p tariff it'd be more like 280mpg equivalent.

85mpg is doable in an ICE car, but not an ICE car with the sort of performance your Tesla has. 280mpg is of course well into the realms of whacky hyper mile stuff.

[Taipan]

That gets you about 100 miles right? Which makes it about equivalent to 85mpg assuming petrol is £1.30/litre. If you were on a 7p tariff it'd be more like 280mpg equivalent.

85mpg is doable in an ICE car, but not an ICE car with the sort of performance your Tesla has. 280mpg is of course well into the realms of whacky hyper mile stuff.

Thanks. Yes thats just the rate of my old tariff (23.4p KWH). I've moved to Octopus today and will switch to their EV Intelligent Go tariff once my charger is installed.

Performance wise, I dont run it on full power mode, I use the chill mode which extends both range and tyre life apparently. Its bastard quick in that mode, but every now and again I use full power for a grin!

[Mr. Dazzle]

If you had solar panels at home you might get infinity mpg

Gotta pay for the panels though

Accelerating hard doesn't consume enormously more power BTW, thanks to the mega high efficiency of electric powertrains. It's just distance covered and average speed for the most part. Slow down, but get there as fast as you like

[Taipan]

It feels nicer in chill more,well maybe not nicer, just less brutal? That said, I'm probably okay in FP mode now I've adjusted to an EV and the difference in power delivery?

[Mr. Dazzle]

The thing about EVs (any "modern" EV) is that the motor is computer controlled. They all work in the same way, you very rapidly switch electricity on/off in the motor windings in a precisely controlled pattern to make the motor do stuff.

That just means the choice between "nothing" and "full torque" pretty much comes down to how fast a computer can switch electricity around, which is pretty bloody fast as you might guess. The motor can react (literally) faster than you can move your foot, and in some cases it does exactly that.

And that means the difference in driving mode can be very stark indeed, a million times more so than in an ICE car. It's pretty much just down to how it's set up and how well it's set up. There are few mechanical limitations on it.

So yeah, the modes might feel very very different. Road EVs are all knocked back from what they could do 'cause people wouldn't like it.

[Taipan]

Let my son drive my Tesla last night. I put it in full power mode and as we pulled onto a straight bit of road I said floor it which he did. He said faaaaaaarrrrkkkkiing hell! He also said the regen braking was reassuring!

[Taipan]

Tesla experience part 2.

I took my wife out in it yesterday and did the full power flooring it thing. She screamed at me! To be fair, she was in a head on collision when she was younger and is a bit of a nervous passenger, so that probably wasn't the cleverest thing to do! Anyway, she declared that amount of power in a car was stupid and pointless.

On our way back from shopping I asked her to drive it, which she did. By the time we got home the stupid and pointless car had redeemed itself. She really liked it, said it was very comfortable and silky smooth and she instantly adapted to the one pedal driving.

I suggested we might want to think about replacing her Mini with an electric one, but that was suggestion was instantly dismissed as she loves her Mini and has some sort of weird attachment to it.I'm surprised she hasn't named it tbh!

For my part, I'm really switching on to the car and appreciate it more each time I drive it. Silent performance is just odd though. But as I'm mostly just wafting round town I too am enjoying the comfort an silky smoothness of it. No regrets on the transition from the Rangey to the Tesla thats for sure.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Renault 5 looks like way better value than a Mini with the added bonus of not looking shit.

0% finance available now.

https://www.renault.co.uk/electric-vehi ... t5-htb-ph1

[Taipan]

Thanks but her last 3 cars have been Minis and she is a creature of habit and knows what she likes and she likes what she knows!

[Mr. Dazzle]

Mr 'rents have an EV mini, the same shape as your one. It's the one which is shoehorned together from an originally ICE only design, rather than being a ground up EV. You can really tell, it's compromised on charging performance, price and range

I'd suggest don't get one of them, get a brand new one. Or a Renault 5.

[Mussels]

Renault 5 looks like way better value than a Mini with the added bonus of not looking shit.

0% finance available now.

https://www.renault.co.uk/electric-vehi ... t5-htb-ph1

Unless you want one that isn't dog slow, is there a good reason for such low power or are they trying to push people to more expensive models?

[KungFooBob]

Renault 5 looks like way better value than a Mini with the added bonus of not looking shit.

0% finance available now.

https://www.renault.co.uk/electric-vehi ... t5-htb-ph1

Unless you want one that isn't dog slow, is there a good reason for such low power or are they trying to push people to more expensive models?

Sir would be looking for the Alpine A290.