Battery Electric Vehicle News / Enjoying the Transportation Revolution

shinytop

I was getting quite excited about these 250 miles in the cold and wet EVs until I looked at the price.  How much ???!!!!

45 grand for a Skoda.  Who'd have thought... 

Grumpy_chap

Martyn1981 said:

Not sure if the electric Nissan Micra has been mentioned, but one is planned, built by Renault, and I'm sure would be very well received.

Won't an electric Micra be basically the direct successor to the original Leaf which was a smaller car compared to the current Leaf which is more Focus-sized?

Martyn1981

Grumpy_chap said:

Martyn1981 said:

Not sure if the electric Nissan Micra has been mentioned, but one is planned, built by Renault, and I'm sure would be very well received.

Won't an electric Micra be basically the direct successor to the original Leaf which was a smaller car compared to the current Leaf which is more Focus-sized?

Great minds ...... LOL.

I was pondering the same. Our 2014 Leaf had a little snout (?) and tail, which if chopped off, would make them smaller.

JKenH

Martyn1981 said:

Grumpy_chap said:

Martyn1981 said:

Not sure if the electric Nissan Micra has been mentioned, but one is planned, built by Renault, and I'm sure would be very well received.

Won't an electric Micra be basically the direct successor to the original Leaf which was a smaller car compared to the current Leaf which is more Focus-sized?

Great minds ...... LOL.

I was pondering the same. Our 2014 Leaf had a little snout (?) and tail, which if chopped off, would make them smaller.

The current Leaf and current Micro are very similar to look at. I had been wishing for a while they would make an electric version of the Micra. I just hope it stays the same size. 

NigeWick

SWMBO says she preferred sitting in our 64kWh Kona to the TM3LR. I'm visiting the Hyundai dealer on Friday...

Grumpy_chap

JKenH said:

Martyn1981 said:

Grumpy_chap said:

Martyn1981 said:

Not sure if the electric Nissan Micra has been mentioned, but one is planned, built by Renault, and I'm sure would be very well received.

Won't an electric Micra be basically the direct successor to the original Leaf which was a smaller car compared to the current Leaf which is more Focus-sized?

Great minds ...... LOL.

I was pondering the same. Our 2014 Leaf had a little snout (?) and tail, which if chopped off, would make them smaller.

The current Leaf and current Micro are very similar to look at. I had been wishing for a while they would make an electric version of the Micra. I just hope it stays the same size. 

I think that is quite important and I agree that the current Leaf can be mistaken for the Micra (or vice-versa).  This is a big and positive step forward as it allows people to choose a car they like that just happens to be EV.

It is not long ago that EVs were designed to stand out (or just "weird") and allowed owners to be smug but maybe not much else.  The first Leaf, BMW i3, even the Jaguar iPace were all a bit weird compared to the ICE offerings from the same manufacturers.

I want to be able to choose an EV that I also want to have as a car.

JKenH

Since I have had my Leaf (actually this is my third) I have become a great fan, not only of the car but the brand. It has a frumpy interior and indifferent range but, perhaps because of experience with the first Leaf, it seems Nissan know how to build a good electric car. Prior to the Leaf I last had Nissans back in the 1980s when I had the legendary Sunny and Cherry as company cars followed by the not so legendary Stanza.  

The Japanese are great at building reliable cars (my MR2 which I had for 9 years never missed a beat) and I am very much looking forward to Toyota’s electric car offering.

Martyn1981

Sort of BEV news, couple of articles both covering new battery recycling facilities (Europe and US). Helps with the life cycle, and may even make batteries 'cleaner' or lower CO2 in the future by reducing the total amount of mining needed for a growing fleet.

Stelco Enters EV Battery Recycling Market Through Primobius

Stelco, which is a steelmaker producing flat-rolled, cold-rolled, and hot-rolled steel products, has announced that it is entering the electric vehicle battery recycling market through agreements with Primobius GmbH.

The company executed binding licensing and option agreements with Primobius to commercialize Primobius’ EV battery recycling and processing technologies in North America.

Li-Cycle Announces First European Battery Recycling Facility In Norway

Li-Cycle announced its first European battery recycling facility in Norway. The company formed a joint venture with ECO STOR, a second-life energy storage development business focused on converting used lithium-ion batteries into energy storage systems and Li-Cycle will be the majority owner of the joint venture. ECO STOR and Morrow will be the minority owners.

The new joint venture will construct a new spoke, which is a reference to its spoke and hub technologies used in lithium-ion resource recovery. The company touched upon Norway’s leadership in the global EV adoption rate and its path of phasing out sales of new internal combustion engine vehicles within a few months.

[Not sure about the name, I'm reading 'lie cycle', or 'lice-icle' ...... Mmmm a nice refreshing licicle on a hot summer's day!]

michaels

shinytop said:

I was getting quite excited about these 250 miles in the cold and wet EVs until I looked at the price.  How much ???!!!!

45 grand for a Skoda.  Who'd have thought... 

Plus the cold and wet range is 180 miles

JKenH

Despite having been a car enthusiast all my life I would struggle with my financial conscience spending over £30k on a car now. I did in 2003 treat myself to a new Mercedes E-class which was around £33k but I had a good job, a 100 mile commute everyday and was getting £500/month from the company towards it. I told myself I deserved it. 

I doubt many people are splashing out £45k cash from their own pocket for a Skoda but when you can get that sort of car for perhaps £350/400 per month on Salary Sacrifice and save loads on fuel it makes a lot of sense. Being retired I can’t use SS and so have to take the whole hit of the leasing cost plus VAT myself which would double the cost on a lease or use PCP or cash.

I am old fashioned and usually buy outright although I have used PCP where there was a good deal. I take the view that the less I pay for a car, the less I can lose in depreciation. I was looking at an E-Niro when I got my Leaf but that  was working out at around £36k compared to £23.5k for my Leaf. As things have turned out because of the shortage of new cars depreciation hasn’t been as high as expected.

I also look at opportunity cost and by going for the Leaf I have had the benefit of an extra £12.5k in my ISA. As I got my current car on 2 March 2020 at the height of the stock market panic over COVID, that £12.5k saved is now worth around £20k, although if I had bought on PCP or a lease I would have done even better with the saved capital.

If you can get salary sacrifice then the savings on cheaper cars/smaller batteries are hardly worth bothering with. Getting a new EV is a totally different ball game, though, if you have to finance it any other way and it makes a lot more sense to be looking at cars at the MG end of the  market.