Smart electric drive, cant wait to get one :-)

[jacko]

think electric cars are rubbish.....check this video out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEfhYmRikGA" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

guy drives his electric smart car from his city house to the top of a mountain in the states. takes about 50 minutes and uses 55% of his battery, turns around and the regen basically means his entire journey back down costs him about 5% of the battery! at 1hr 30min hes tanking home on the freeway at 35% power when his battery dies....the battery in his camera!!!

went to test drive a phase 2 just before it went back for the phase 3 to be delivered. had been left flat, managed to get 20% in the battery and it still got me around at good speeds for 10 miles using only 5%. waiting to test drive the brabus version

my plan is to get one as my daily; 40 mile commute, about £20 a month on 'fuel' compared to 200 in the puma! save for a kit car / camper van resto / aston for weekends. 2 seats are fine as I don't have kids, tiny car means I can park it backwards into parallel spots. charge it at home or work while I work or sleep.

good for the environment....zero emissions from the car and VERY reduced from the grid. for example; 100 units of coal can be turned into approx. 70 units of electric which goes into an electric car which is 80% efficient....equals around 50 units of movement

coal 100 into 70 electric into about 50 by the time youv refined oil to petrol into a 25% efficient combustion engine equals less than 15 into movement

or basically about 250mpg equivalent! REALLY want one. official figure is 120 after 'battery rental'

anyone got one / getting anything similar?

 

[Cartman]

Electric cars have defenetly improved.. stil a little sceptical as a car nr1, but if seriously considering one as car nr 2. I drive just over 1 mile to work, and the same mile back again...

 

[XIIVVX]

I spent the back end of last year working for Nissan doing dealer staff training on Leaf.

Sceptical to start with, the car won me over completely. Fair enough it has been worked over with an ugly stick, but if you can get past that then you will find an incredibly different (and better) driving experience. It's not just about money-saving, though that helps. It's about what a nice place it is to be, so relaxed and somehow stress free, even in traffic.

I personally wouldn't want a Smart - too small to be practical. But the Renault Zoe - basically an electric Clio - has to be worth a serious look. I think 120 miles range is achievable, which must cover the requirements of every second car in the UK surely?

 

[jacko]

Statistically 80 miles covers 90% of the driving population...

I'm going for a smart as I literally need one seat!!! A second seat and a boot is a bonus!! My wife has the 'family' car, a pug 107 4 door, does us fine, even for Ikea and b&q.

1 mile to work!!!! Walk!!!!

 

[Neil]

I'd love a go in a Twizy, but unfortunately until the infrastructure improves, it's nothing more than a toy.

Shame though, as it looks fun

 

[XIIVVX]

Perfect for city commuting, but with 60 miles range a little more limiting than the grown-up ones.

Then, of course, there's the Tesla!

250 real world miles range. What's not to like?

 

[jacko]

yeh, id love a twizy. if I lived in the suburbs and worked in town etc id have one in a heartbeat! its basically a scooter with a roof that doesn't fall over...awesome for just getting about town. but I drive 20 miles each way and in winter your only going to get 35 miles from it...bit too limiting for me

tesla.....erm....if im spending that much im saving up for an aston, which will be a weekend car subsidised by the very cheap electric car

the smarts are a touch more in electric form but the price per mile is stupidly low, at 10,000 miles a year im going to save fortune.

 

[jacko]

drove the smart again today

love it! keeps up with traffic absolutely fine. not going to light my trousers on fire but its going to be so cheap to commute in I can save for a vx220 and then an aston

 

[tuonokid]

Still can't beat a small diesel for the whole picture.

 

[jacko]

yeah you can....the smart electric!!!!

I have done the sums; I can run an electric smart BRAND NEW (and the silly high monthly finance) cheaper than a second hand diesel.

2 main reasons for that;
TAX, approx 70% on fuel plus vehicle tax whereas electricity is around the 5% mark.
Efficiency; the internal combustion engine is 20% efficient overall, electric motors are 80%. And that's after the petrol / diesel refinery have wasted 20% using electricity to turn oil into fuel.

that basically means I can have an electric commuter for around 30p a day instead of £8 if you were to compare 2 new cars with similar finance. or it means I can save up for an aston martin v8 vantage (currently £26-30k)

my plan is to lease one for 3 years, charge it at work and home easily enough, have something fun for weekends. if I like it I will buy one (cheaper than constantly being on finance)

it will do 90 miles (a guy on youtube just drove one up a mountain!) and stats show 95% of drivers do less than 50 a day. you also spend 8 hours at work and 8 hours asleep....both are more than the 6 hours charge time, 1 hour if you upgrade it. 90 miles for just over £1......its about 250mpg. factor in the battery rental / servicing / recovery and its still 20ppm at the outside, less if you do more miles than average

yes, its a small car but my wife has a pug 107 4 door and we brought a wardrobe back from ikea in that this morning so were sorted for a 'big / practical' car. (I know that sounds mad but it works for us until we have kids)

like jay leno says; petrol cars saved the horse (for leisure), electric cars will save the petrol cars (for petrol heads). I still want a fun petrol car but at future fuel prices its gonna have to be something worth it.

even kit cars are going electric

 

[XIIVVX]

Still can't beat a small diesel for the whole picture.

Except for short commutes for which they are highly inadvisable.

 

[tuonokid]

Still not convinced.

 

[jacko]

your not the only one....which? consumer magazine rates electric cars as 0.1% of all new cars this year!!!!

Im Head of Technology so teach this stuff all day to kids going off to do engineering and even i think its only just become affordable / sensible. and thats with a smart car... you dont get a massive amount of features for quite a lot of money with smart!

the people who have had them on test have ended up using them as their primary car though, says a lot about how practical they actually are. Im gonna give it a go! the miles i do it will work out cheaper than a diesel.

 

[yippeekiay]

Paul, have you had a look at the Renault Zoe? Not much more than the Smart but a lot more practical and more equipment even in the base model so I'm to believe by what I quickly read online.

Also saw somewhere that they fit a free electric point at your home for a quicker 3½hr full charge time.

Could do away with the 107 with the above although your wife might not approve :lol:

 

[jacko]

Not had a proper look. but my thoughts are;

my wife frequently drives 100+ miles to see her folks
we have just bought the 107
she likes rear doors
2% of the time we have rear passengers so the small 4 door type car is absolutely fine

i hate rear doors!
i only do 20 miles to work, less at weekends
95% of the time its just me, 5% just me and the wife
i want to save driveway space for a 3rd car (soonish; vx220 hopefully, long term an aston as i have promised myself one before my 40th so got 7 years!)

if i was looking for her / family car and she didnt do a lot of miles i would be tempted. right now i just want something little to try all this new fangled stuff out. if it really works as well as everyone is saying then a zoe or similar may be on the cards as well (but id still prefer a splitscreen camper with a subaru boxer on biodesiel as a family car when we have kids; no depreciation!)