Brand New Dacia Spring

ididgetwhereiamtoday

On YouTube there’s a Kia eniro ex taxi that has done 330,000 miles and has just had a battery health check report stating it has 100% battery health. He proved this was correct by doing a real mile long drive range test.
EV battery’s love to be used , that’s what keeps them healthy. This ex taxi will have been regularly rapid charged and charged often to 100% and afaik it is ‘old’ battery tech.
I would plump for a used Eniro which still has warranty remaining over a new Spring any day.

WellKnownSid

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81923443#Comment_81923443

Chemical battery wear occurs whenever the battery is away from the equilibrium point, nothing to do with software. Although 100% isn't really '100%' - the issue is that it's away from the equilibrium point.

If you think of a high mileage car where the battery is charged to 100% and hammered down the motorway, for most of the time the battery will be at a much lower charge level - probably closer to 50%. That is why a heavily used EV which costs £££s less than a low-mileage example could have a higher state of health. That's good MSE…

Bigwheels1111

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81923431#Comment_81923431

It’s all about, lane correction, autonomous breaking etc that gets 5 stars.

I drive an EV every day, I don’t think it would get 1 star. They cost 360,000 to 550,000 each.

It’s a bus, No seat belt, no air bags, no nothing.

Herzlos

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81923505#Comment_81923505

The software comes into play determining which cells need charged in an attempt to wear level; Normally a battery has something like 10% more capacity than claimed to allow for the wear levelling and to disable some failling cells without hurting the claimed capacity.

On the usage you're right; a battery that's regularly run down to near empty will have an average charge of 50%, whilst one that gets recharged every night and never drops below 95% obviously won't.

malcolmK

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81923570#Comment_81923570

5 star safety

: Overall excellent performance in crash protection and well equipped with state-of-the-art crash avoidance technology.

1 star safety

: Marginal crash protection and minimal crash avoidance technology beyond the legal requirement

https://www.euroncap.com/en/about-euro-ncap/

WellKnownSid

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81924308#Comment_81924308

4 star safety

: Overall good performance in crash protection and prevention, but does not reach the highest standards in all key assessment areas.

5 star safety

: Overall excellent performance in crash protection and well equipped with state-of-the-art crash avoidance technology.

Bigwheels1111 is spot on - it’s all about, lane correction, autonomous breaking etc to get the full 5 stars…

malcolmK

5 star safety

: Overall excellent performance in crash protection and well equipped with state-of-the-art crash avoidance technology.

I was reading this part as being a requirement for a 5 star rating.

facade

I just bought one! (In stonewash blue) I had a whiz around and the ride is ok. It certainly goes well enough around town.

100 finest Chinese horsepowers, looking forward to collection next week.

Hopefully Dongfeng do a better job of building cars than Stellantis, but it looks like there are some ties between the two that Donfeng need to cut……

The only thing to criticise is the seats are absolutely ROCK HARD, but my special eggshell foam cushion sorts that out nicely….

WellKnownSid

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81928473#Comment_81928473

I've taken a fair few taxi rides in Renault (Kwids?) which are the same car, albeit much lower power, and they've been perfectly good.

Out and about in Montevideo last week and every other car seems to be a BYD though…

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I want a small car, I find the behemoth that is the eC4 far too big to take it anywhere, because when I get there (unless it is at some antisocial time) I struggle to find a space wide enough to fit it in and open the door to get out!

I get that there is virtually no side protection in a Spring as the doors are thin to trim the width, but it is a risk I have to take for the convenience of having a car that I will actually be able to use. (So there is more chance of crashing it….)

The current darling of the influencers is the Leapmotor T03 which is better in some ways than a Spring- like more range, heated front window & seats, worse in others- like no Android Auto, plus I don't like the appearance of it.

BYD do the dolphin surf, which is a lot more money, and quite a lot bigger too- NCAP rate it 5 starts for accidents.

I will undoubtedly miss the comfort of the eC4, it is a great car for cruising on a motorway (except it won't go very far….) with a lovely ride over what passes for "roads" in the UK at the moment, but cruising 100 miles on a motorway isn't what I do anymore.