Adventures in an all electric vehicle.

[daleyd]

The downside though - is that newer cars are getting written off after pretty minor fender-benders.
(My car is worth so little that given the choice I'd not claim on insurance, but either fix it myself or scrap it - by far the cheaper options.... but to have a tiny bump & have many £k's written off, probably not get what it's worth or what a replacement would cost, get clobbered for sn excess & get a premium hike - would nark me no end).

Depends what your priority is I guess - if you’ve had you or your loved ones life saved then I guess you might think it a price worth paying, alternatively if your perpetually looking for a negative aspect then your probably never going to be happy.

Edit - I’m not even sure the write off thing is even directly related to safety, I always thought it’s just the general price of extraneous plastic bits and the cost of parts in general from manufacturers.

 

[OJCar]

Not sure if the Glasgow low emission zone has a classic car exemption. I'm thinking a Renault 4 with a few jerry cans in the back could be a money saver.

The Scottish LEZ all are getting the same "classics" exemption of Over 30 years old and unmodified.
https://www.lowemissionzones.scot/

Running my 1990 Land Rover Discovery 200TDi against the Vehicle checker gets:-

 

[Agrismith]

Depends what your priority is I guess - if you’ve had you or your loved ones life saved then I guess you might think it a price worth paying, alternatively if your perpetually looking for a negative aspect then your probably never going to be happy.

I think you would struggle to find the exact place to draw the line between written off from good crumple zones and written off due to cost cutting engineering

 

[daleyd]

I think you would struggle to find the exact place to draw the line between written off from good crumple zones and written off due to cost cutting engineering

I guess if you find out where it is then it’s probably too late and you wouldn’t care any more

 

[OJCar]

@malcolm
https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/renault/354670/new-2025-renault-4-get-pure-electric-power

Electric New Renault 4.

 

[bricol]

Until the government forced all suppliers of new cars to fit locking wheel studs to at least one on each wheel , wheel thefts were the in thing as a set of mag alloy rims could set you back £ 1500 plus the cost of the tyres .

They did?
When?
Only time I've had locking wheel bolts/nuts was when I bought and fitted them.

 

[malcolm]

@malcolm
https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/renault/354670/new-2025-renault-4-get-pure-electric-power

Electric New Renault 4.

It's better than that:

Renault AIR4 revealed as Renault 4-inspired flying car | Autocar

Real-world trials of the AIR4 "could begin", says the French maker

www.autocar.co.uk

 

[bricol]

Yep, you just have to watch a few of the “just rolled in” youtube videos to understand the state of some vehicles running on US roads. Thankfully, a lot of the vehicles shown in those clips would never see the light of day on a UK road.

You only have to sit for a moment in traffic in a lot of the USA to be gob-smacked at what seems to be allowed on the roads!

I've probably spent half this year so far in the US - some cars I don't understand how the doors still shut after they've been opened, there appears to be so little structure left under them - and they weren't cars with chassis either!

The big problem of course, if the car structure is that bad, one can only guess at the state of say the braking system . . .

I insist on a decent size SUV as a rental these days, in an attempt to be as little damaged as possible if and when one of them uses me as the brake!

I have noticed electric cars are dropped down into enthusiasts who are modifying them as they might have a ICE vehicle. Not seen a low-rider Tesla yet though

 

[keithski122]

Then theres the fact that some people just don't like modern stuff or progress.

 

[Bornfree]

You've got to feel sorry for the kids who will be passing their driving tests in the next few years and getting an electric car. Can you imagine rocking up to the pub in a silent Renault Zoe, probably have to play exhaust noise on the stereo with the windows open.

 

[keithski122]

You've got to feel sorry for the kids who will be passing their driving tests in the next few years and getting an electric car. Can you imagine rocking up to the pub in a silent Renault Zoe, probably have to play exhaust noise on the stereo with the windows open.

See there are other benefits as well.

 

[daleyd]

You've got to feel sorry for the kids who will be passing their driving tests in the next few years and getting an electric car. Can you imagine rocking up to the pub in a silent Renault Zoe, probably have to play exhaust noise on the stereo with the windows open.

Pub?

 

[pedrobedro]

Can you imagine rocking up to the pub in a silent Renault Zoe, probably have to play exhaust noise on the stereo with the windows open.

More likely to be Dominos car park or Tesco after closing time round here.

 

[redlig]

Plastic bottle under the driver's seat Malcolm

Or piece of hose poked through the rust holes in the floor.

 

[dobbslc]

The Scottish LEZ all are getting the same "classics" exemption of Over 30 years old and unmodified.
https://www.lowemissionzones.scot/

Running my 1990 Land Rover Discovery 200TDi against the Vehicle checker gets:-
View attachment 401863

Pretty sure its 40 years old for London.

 

[OJCar]

Pretty sure its 40 years old for London.

It is.
So I'll have to use my Series 2a.

(In the very unlikely event I ever go to London again)

 

[RichardM]

They want to charge my bike in London with the new enlarged ULEZ, no more visits to Hendon Museum from August. Fortunately it's exempt in Scotland.

 

[GRW]

Then theres the fact that some people just don't like modern stuff or progress.

If you actually consider it to be "progress".
Give me the genuine benefits that justify the costs, and where the value is.
Does a 2023 car do the job significantly better as a mode of transport, than its 25-year-old (1998) counterpart? Is it significantly advanced in the objective things that truly matter?
(I can save you the trouble - the answer is no).
I'm driving around in a 1999 Skoda Octavia, and I'm not struggling or suffering at all, not dealing with excess noise or poor ride, while the performance needed to deal with modern roads & traffic are less than when it was new, as traffic moves slower now than then. My travel would not be enhanced or improved in Amy significant tangible way, were I to be doing the same travel in a 2023 car.

 

[atomant48]

Let me answer some of these posts.

The modern car, with crumple zones and airbags would be my choice. Every time. You cannot choose what you collide with in that situation it could be a lorry or maybe something like my Pogo 106. Body corrosion may also be a factor?



Simple answer is unknown. Although available, those chargers could be delivering only 2.3kW and the vehicle was a pool car, available, as required, by hospital staff. A full charge from a low level could take over a day.

There again it could be someone other than the above. Question: Was the other charger used? Possibly the charging tariff was exorbitant for other users. We don’t know from one single observation.



I don’t/haven’t use/used the lane assist much. Only really useful, for me, on longer journeys on motorways, I suspect.

NCAP results are important! Just need to be clever enough to look at the individual results within the overall grade result. A vehicle with poor crash resistance is easy to spot if one looks more closely at the results



Maybe a decade ago, but ten years is a long time. BEVs have only been around that long. Few BEVs and likely even fewer charging stations. It is somewhat different now! The most recent problem in the UK was that of charging points being blocked by inconsiderate ICE drivers. Thankfully, that practice has disappeared.



It is far worse that people don’t know they are on, don’t know how to switch them off, or don’t know that the law states clearly (somewhere) that they should only be used when visibility is less than 100m. Rear fog light users, used in conditions for which they are not needed, are a PITA and potentially dangerous.

Agree with all except one bit - BEVs have been around at least 26 years!. I know this because in 97 I spent some time in LA and went for a drive in a GM “EV1” - looked like a mini E type. At that time they had a few and employees could book them to take them home for the night. The chap I was staying with had his night while I was there. From memory it was quick but very limited battery life - obviously things have moved on! I seem to remember some controversy about it being a project intentionally failed in order to prove they were not feasible. I don’t think they ever went to market though could be wrong on that.

 

[pedrobedro]

Agree with all except one bit - BEVs have been around at least 26 years!.

Bit longer than that, the first production electric vehicle was in 1844.