Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

The Ratio of Lamposts to cars is about 6:1 so even if they are all converted we will have a shortfall.

KMB (bus company in Hong Kong) were planning to roll out electric buses with rapid chargers built in at every stop so the bus would quick charge while passengers were getting on and off.

There's lots of solutions to the charging problem and it really would be quite feasible to add charging capabilities to parking spaces without the need to plug in across footpaths if councils were bothered.

There's also a huge potential for linking EVs to the grid to provide storage capacity when not in use. The biggest problem with production of green electricity is the difficulty in storing in and the idea that there would be tens (or hundreds) of thousands of cars with c.10kWh storage capacity linked to the grid as potential storage capacity would be a game changer, it would just require some sort of smart charging setup and probably some sort of learning of individual user habits but it's far from impossible.

The Lexus ones are (or were at least) appalling, they didn't even have tax benefits as they were all relatively big and dirty engines with a hybrid element. I feel like Lexus were treating them as a real world test bed moreso than anything else to get the technology out there and also establish themselves as the "Hybrid" brand early...

You should be able to add an aux-in at the back of the headunit and get a bluetooth dongle to connect to it?
Have a look for Honda Civic FN Owners groups on Facebook and someone will be able to point you towards the best product. Car owners groups have really thrived on Facebook lately and it's a great source of information!

I really like the look of these a lot and would strongly consider one as my next car. I've managed to get away from diesel with my last buy (although not exactly efficient) and I think my next purchase will definitely be petrol/hybrid if not fully electric depending on range requirements when the time comes.

(Queue render of aforementioned car slammed on airbags with snazzy wheels.)

I've just done a monthly costs comparison between my diesel passat estate and the polestar, looking at lease vs depreciation, servicing, insurance, running costs, parking, VED, ULEZ and CC.

Eye opening how similar the costs will be. If my assumptions hold up then it is less than £100 per month extra to run the polestar! That is for a low spec circa £20k VW against an all bells and whistles circa £50k Polestar. Insane.

Oooh... lease numbers.

The V60 Polestar:
48 months, 10k miles per annum: £350 per month

However that was achieved with a £17k deposit and a final payment of £18k. The APR is 1% and the final total is about £55k including all costs.

The large deposit was both strong intent to keep the car for a very long period of time, and to ensure that the monthly costs are not too burdensome whilst I save for the final payment.

Other factors:

1. Insurance is high because it's over £40k
   
2. ULEZ will not apply
   
3. I have 100% discount on congestion charge because it can run pure electric mode (and I do this all the time in the city now)
   
4. I have a £21 per year parking permit because the emissions are so low
   
   

This is a PHEV with 2 drive trains... electric rear wheels and the capability to run just these... and petrol front wheels, but no capability to ever run these without some electric being used (although the Polestar Engineered mode relies on petrol far more than electric above 50mph it seems).

At the end do you own a car tho?

Yes, because I will pay the final sum and keep the car.

I could've paid cash for the whole thing, and received a 19% discount on sticker price... but I chose to finance as the APR for this model was ridiculously low and it means I could manage the cash flow and de-risk having to empty the bank to have bought a car. I'm still in the position to settle the finance immediately, but still prefer the peace of mind of the cash flow being managed until my savings have got well ahead of themselves again.

Interesting. So you still need £35k of cash to buy one.

isn't a hybrid basically like charging your car from a petrol generator? Its just the same fossil fuel going in? I heard those Lexus ones had a hilariously low mpg.

There are 3 types of hybrid:

1. Mild Hybrids: Charged by braking regen and reduce fuel consumption and emissions within city type driving. Fuel is saved by not a great deal.
   
2. Full Hybrids: Charged by braking regen or the combustion engine acting as a generator. Can run fully on either combustion or electric or a combination of the two. Fuel is saved, and IMHO the generator mode is wildly inefficient as you're combining the inefficiencies of both the combustion and the battery, but it is possible to give yourself the illusion you're doing well here... but I'm unconvinced it's real.
   
3. Plug-in Hybrids: Charged by braking regen, combustion engine as generator, but more typically by plugging in to the grid. Can run fully on either combustion or electric or a combination of the two. This for me is the sweet spot, plugging in makes a world of difference to round trips < 10 miles where I run full electric only.
   
   

The first was the first to market and have set most people's understanding of a hybrid... but the PHEV is the one now appearing in far larger numbers and that is typically running pure electric or a very fuel efficient ratio within cities (low speeds where batteries shine).

Most parking discounts, congestion discounts, relate not just to the emissions, but to the distance the vehicle is able to do on pure electric as that influences whether people are likely to achieve the low emissions.

So you still need £35k of cash to buy one

To buy one you ultimately need the price of it.

But the cheapest deposit I saw for the V60 Polestar was £7k, but the monthly payments were more than double what I'm doing and the final payment was large... in this scenario most would be unlikely to have the final payment, and you would've been better off leasing rather than doing a contract lease purchase thing.

wrt electric cars A to B magazine recently did an issue on them (no 126)

http://www.atob.org.uk/eco-car/

Always quite like their analysis of things.

Some Hybrids are just an electric motor bolted to the back of a the gearbox.

On my Pug 3008 hybrid they just whacked an electric transaxle in the back and kept the entire front drivetrain from a 2.0HDi, with a French brain to control it all. Genius or what?

My Full Hybrid has a CVT gearbox meaning it always runs at the best RPM for the mode Eco/Normal/Sport.

Sometimes you notice the ICE(Internal Combustion Engine) both powering the wheels and charging the battery, presumably this is where there is a slight economy gain by running the ICE at a higher power than is needed to maintain the speed.

This does mean when you accelerate the Revs stay the same the gearbox changes gear, the engine note stays the same just becoming louder which a lot of people hate.

The engine is Atkinson cycle which isn't as flexible across the rev range as Otto cycle but the motors and gearbox fill in the gaps.

Efficiency wise West Norwood through the Rotherhithe tunnel to Enfield 58mpg in an SUV with roof bars on, 44-45 mpg motorway cruising.

I wouldn't say taking the dash apart was easy, the clips are right fuckers! But I didn't manage to break any and I could do it again.

If I dropped mine round..?

Traction Control light and Tyre Pressure light popping up when I went to Screwfix today. Its happened at the same point a few times previously - I'm assuming its the speed sensor either dirty or throwing a fault. Annoyingly the car doesn't tell me which tyre has the pressure drop so I don't know what sensor it is.

Aftermarket for a VW. I think I might get away with ~£60 with a bit of looking.

450:1 vs 6:1

Looks better to me. But yeah. Assumptions built on top of assumptions and rounding errors. Probably deserves some more of my brain time to work that out.

Is that on a mini? mine does it all the time

BMW - it probably wouldn't bother me much if it was just the tyre pressure as you can reset it. The Traction Control is frustrating as it stops acceleration and makes for some uncomfortable "juddering" when pulling away from roundabouts etc.

aaah my bad, mine is the ABS and the Tyre Pressure light. as you say no doubt a dodgy sensor somewhere

What gen BMW is it?

Have you looked at tread depth? Assume you're not running bald on any tyres?

Difference of wear between tyres can upset some systems.

Check the toothed wheel on the rear driveshafts, they corrode and expand then start chafing the speed sensor , so creating a larger air gap causing false activation around 30-50mph.

BMW only sell complete driveshafts but I know many people that have successfully changed the pick up ring available from Eurocarparts or ebay.

Fast forward to 7.35 on the video to see the corroded ring and shiny at the high spots, you will probably need a new sensor as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PdnFRMMnEQ