306maxi said:

Love the fuel economy I get from my 2l Diesel 3 series estate.

Drove to Spa for the 24 hour race on the weekend and am in Calais at the moment,

Have been doing just a touch under 70mpg on the journey. Nothing short of electric would be cheaper for me to drive.

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70mpg is rather amazing, no denying that. The similarly-powered petrol engine version of the 3 series wouldn’t get close.

Meanwhile I covered over 300km today in my Abarth at an average of 6.2L/100 - 45.6 mpg... I was very happy with that as it’s the same as I get from the 1.4 Lounge was not motorways, was steep hills and bumpy, winding roads... the turbo lightly boosting most of the way surely adding to efficiency.

If a 1.2L was driven hard enough to keep up, I doubt it would have bettered 45.6mpg. That’s my point in this whole conversation, I don’t accept that what’s best on paper is necessarily best in the real world but as a 1.2 driver who’s driven all over Europe, you’ll have a better knowledge than I do!

-Alex

AndyRKett said:

As new generations grow up they will think nothing of plugging their car in like everything else they own that needs charging.

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True!
I’d be happy to buy an electric 500, IF it could cover 300km of real-world driving without recharging, AND it cost about the same to buy as a petrol 500... so it’s not happening yet

Electric cars are catching on fast in NZ, mostly as 2008-2012 used-import Nissan Leafs (castoffs from Japan) which cost a similar amount to my Abarth. At the moment they get an almost free ride in registration/road license and fuel costs, but I’m sure that will change as power companies differentiate the electricity usage and the government figures out how to get their share too. About 65% of pump fuel price is tax, so that’s a huge shortfall if everyone ‘goes electric’.

-Alex

I'd happily go electric if they had 250-300 miles ranges and didn't need 4-5-6h hours to recharge
Also would need vastly more recharge points as virtually no where I visit has them
And when parking in the street I wouldn't be able to charge at home most of the time

chris3234 said:

I'd happily go electric if they had 250-300 miles ranges and didn't need 4-5-6h hours to recharge
Also would need vastly more recharge points as virtually no where I visit has them
And when parking in the street I wouldn't be able to charge at home most of the time

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This will be rather soon. Have a look at the Porsche Taycan. You can give it 240 miles worth of charge in 20 minutes.

Now that’s a 600bhp performance car, imagine what range you’ll get on an everyday car.

The future is just around the corner. Enjoy.

306maxi said:

This will be rather soon. Have a look at the Porsche Taycan. You can give it 240 miles worth of charge in 20 minutes.

Now that’s a 600bhp performance car, imagine what range you’ll get on an everyday car.

The future is just around the corner. Enjoy.

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Perhaps I should have added affordable as well as in the 4-8k used market

The main problem would be the lack of charging points
Especially when go on holiday if there no charging points near where you staying you'd have problems

It should also be mentioned that what you’re asking is pretty much achievable today.

https://pod-point.com/landing-pages/bmw-i3-charging

180 miles with only a 40 minute charge and by putting 9 litres of fuel in on an i3 ReX.

chris3234 said:

Perhaps I should have added affordable as well as in the 4-8k used market

The main problem would be the lack of charging points
Especially when go on holiday if there no charging points near where you staying you'd have problems

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Obviously not everyone can afford a 60k Taycan, but far cheaper cars will be built with this charging technology built into them.

You can get used BMW I3 Rex models under 12k at the moment anyway.

As for charge points, they’ll come when there’s more of a need. Simple as that.

No doubt but still talking 5+ years before they start to become practice for the masses
10 year's for the high distance driver's I'd think

What is a distance driver though?

If you’re able to do 240 miles on a charge, you can get from John o groats to Lands End with 2 and a bit stops. We all know we should probably stop more often than we do on long journeys anyway, the shorter range of BEVs isn’t necessarily the worst thing. My 500 has done many a 450-500 mike tank and the BMW will do 850 miles with little effort.

Talking of range - we often do Calais to the Mosel region of Germany in the Tesla with a couple of charging stops (Belgium and Luxembourg), which is about a 300 mile journey - the Tesla's real-world range is about 250-260miles comfortably, so obviously we need a top up charge to go the whole way, but it's also more to ensure we have enough charge to drive around when we get there, and to have a couple of toilet/coffee stops on the way to break the journey (20mins stops).

The model 3 Tesla has a range of over 200 miles on a charge and will charge to 170 miles range in 30 minutes on a fast charger, and they have fast chargers on main routes all over the uk and Europe. 200 miles would get me down to euro tunnel where they have fast chargers, then across to France, less than 200 miles from Calais to Paris, have a night of cheese and wine while the car charges for the morning, head out in the morning 2 charged 1 hr total and I can be in the south of France. It’s not a massive impact on journey times.

The model 3 is about £30ish K so that’s a fairly reasonable price for a middle range family car now that’s not far off the price of a golf, focus with a similar level of kit. I think the new leaf also had a similar range but uses slower chargers.

This is what my 3 series did while travelling from Calais to north Wales last night. It did actually go slightly higher at one point ?

306maxi said:

This is what my 3 series did while travelling from Calais to north Wales last night. It did actually go slightly higher at one point ?

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:O very nice
Best I've had so far is 71.8 from my 1.3 500

My attempt to get the thread back on topic seems to have failed

EDIT: saw my email, 306maxi did reply but that reply seems to have disappeared?

-Alex

chris3234 said:

:O very nice
Best I've had so far is 71.8 from my 1.3 500

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What’s bonkers is that my car weighs 1500kgs and had two people on board and rather a lot of camping gear.

alexGS said:

My attempt to get the thread back on topic seems to have failed

EDIT: saw my email, 306maxi did reply but that reply seems to have disappeared?

-Alex

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I deleted it as the wrong photo attached.

306maxi said:

This is what my 3 series did while travelling from Calais to north Wales last night. It did actually go slightly higher at one point ?

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My foot is far too heavy for that

About 60mpg average when hitting the french motorways at 80mph for hours on end, but then I have the added drag of not having a roof, and lugging an extra 400KG in body strengthening and roof folding gear.

AndyRKett said:

My foot is far too heavy for that

About 60mpg average when hitting the french motorways at 80mph for hours on end, but then I have the added drag of not having a roof, and lugging an extra 400KG in body strengthening and roof folding gear.

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Doing 70 or higher yielded more like 70 which was still really good.

Just noticed the upcoming bmw 330e. Small print says "zero local emissions".
Indeed, electrical cars might not emit any particles or CO2 - but where does all the electro juice come from...?

Hugely oversubsidised wind generators, or coal-powered electrical plants...