Renault Megane.....or not!

Moreilly

ive been lurking around the ev forum for a while and was about to get a renault megane ( still might !) but now considering a ioniq after looking at the running costs,and i think an ev might suit. Are these cars that cheap to run or am i missing something

looking at it
I currently drive a Citroen c4 petrol (2005) , so ill be looking for scrappage when it comes back

My commute to work is on good country roads 5 days a week about a 40km round trip travelling between 80-90 kmh

We are a 2 car household ( wife also has a citroen c4)

House is a bungalow out on it's own so a charging point at home would be no problem

theres a charging point about 500m away from my workplace as well

At the moment i probably spend roughly 30 euros on petrol a week and my tax is over 300 a year

Working it out it seems a ev might suit with tax being about 120 euro and for 'fuel' when i put rough figures into the seai website is was giving me back a figure of between 200-300 euro.... is this correct, or am i missing something?, the difference im paying in car tax would nearly pay for my years 'fuel' in th ev. cant be that good, am i calculating things wrong?

unkel

Your calculations are fine!

Problem with the Ioniq is that scrappage is gone for now (as you know) but also there is a problem with the supply, so waiting lists are very long (at least 6 months, and I wouldn't bet money against it being a lot longer than that)

Seeing as you do a low mileage and you have another car anyway, you could consider a cheaper second hand Leaf? You can get an early model for about €6k or a better battery later model for about €10k. Neither is likely to depreciate an awful lot more over the next few years. And neither are likely to cause problems / cost you money to run

ei9go

200 Euro would buy about 2500 kWh (units) of electricity at night rate.

Allowing for 15 kWh per 100 km, that's nearly 17,000 km's worth.

If charging near your work, it's currently free so you could spend an awful lot less.

zilog_jones

My calculations, based on your information:

• Commute is about 10,000 km per year
• Average fuel consumption of a petrol C4 (based on 120 owners, assuming not high performance or a Picasso): 7.38 l/100km - assuming about EUR1.40/litre that means EUR10.30/100km
• Typical EV consumption: 16 kWh/100km (also taking into account option of less efficient Leaf) - assuming pessimistic 9c/kWh night rate (you can probably get cheaper) that's EUR1.44/100km

So for 10,000 km per year you're talking around EUR1,000 in petrol for your current car, versus EUR140 for an EV.

Other things to consider: Maintenance costs will be lower, public charging is currently free, parking in some towns is free, etc.

737max

my Megane 1.5 dci edc is doing about 5 litres/100km.
30k km service interval.
I'm on my second one and both have been totally reliable.

I have this quandry too because for me an EV is so heavily subsidized where I am. Another Megane or an EV? Hard choice.
My big issue is that it gets very cold where I am in winter and I don't think I could put up with the cold in winter.

zilog_jones

What's so bad about an EV in the cold? You can get ones with heated seats, maybe even heated steering wheels, and some can be configured to pre-heat the cabin on a timer. Range will be down a bit with colder temperatures, but fuel consumption is also worse with a diesel in winter.

737max

I'm talking about not above zero for 6 weeks to two months in a year.
The range near halves whereas with the diesel I only loose about 100km in a tank due to the cold.
I've already got heated seats and it is still an icebox.
I'm not in a position to pre-heat in the morning. Charging during work hours is not a problem and pre-heat in the evening is fine. morning pre-heat is not an option.

goz83

737max wrote: »

I'm talking about not above zero for 6 weeks to two months in a year.
The range near halves whereas with the diesel I only loose about 100km in a tank due to the cold.
I've already got heated seats and it is still an icebox.
I'm not in a position to pre-heat in the morning. Charging during work hours is not a problem and pre-heat in the evening is fine. morning pre-heat is not an option.

Morning pre heat is a setting in the Leaf. You tell it when you want the car ready and it pre heats to this time....including seats and steering wheel (at least in the Tekna)

cros13

Anything with a heated pack will handle the cold far better than a Leaf.

Just take a look at the top cars sold in Norway for a good guide on which EVs are good in the cold... the Leaf is not hugely popular there outside Oslo due to it's issues in winter.

KCross

cros13 wrote: »

Anything with a heated pack will handle the cold far better than a Leaf.

Just take a look at the top cars sold in Norway for a good guide on which EVs are good in the cold... the Leaf is not hugely popular there outside Oslo due to it's issues in winter.

Does it matter much in our climate though, save a few days a year? Ireland is no Norway!

zilog_jones

IIRC the Leaf is fitted with battery heaters in markets that need it (probably Scandinavia), but I guess other EVs are just better in general at coping with the cold.

KCross wrote: »

Does it matter much in our climate though, save a few days a year? Ireland is no Norway!

Going by 737max's description, he's either on top of some mountain or not in Ireland

cros13

zilog_jones wrote: »

IIRC the Leaf is fitted with battery heaters in markets that need it (probably Scandinavia), but I guess other EVs are just better in general at coping with the cold.

Yup the Leaf does get a battery heater in scandinavia.... but it doesn't kick in until very low temperatures. It's more for keeping it running at all (I think because of the voltage drop under high discharge at low temp?) than maximising cold weather range.

The electrolyte literally freezes at approx. -20'C and the car has to be taken in to thaw if this is allowed to happen. Mobile devices etc. don't work very well in extreme cold due to the same.

Moreilly

Thanks for the replys, I think ill have to take the Ioniq for a test drive just to see what it is like having never driven a ev before, i like the leaf but im not sold on the look of the car. p.s. With waiting list for the ioniq is so long will the next leaf be out around then?, when is it expected? , just thinking if it takes any of the styling cues from the new micra it would be a lovely looking machine and i guess range ect will be much improved.. ?

zilog_jones

Some info about the new Leaf here: www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057721778

A lot of things are still not confirmed though.

Moreilly

Had a quick look at the Ioniq last week and I liked the look of it but preferred the renault megane, had no time to test drive the ioniq at the time but managed to take it for a quick test yesterday and i have to say im very impressed.
It was my first time driving a electric car after taking it for a quick spin it seems beyond me why more people don't drive ev's. hope to have it for a 24 hour test next week and going to take it on the work commute to see what the efficiency is like with normal driving ect, seems to be a great little car and lovely to drive. really noticed the difference in the ev when i hopped back into my old car to drive it home !

beauf

samih wrote: »

The electrolyte literally freezes at approx. -20'C and the car has to be taken in to thaw if this is allowed to happen. Mobile devices etc. don't work very well in extreme cold due to the same.

I realised that when we had that really cold winter, it hit -10c overnight, I think it was -6 in the morning the battery in our 1L petrol car took till noon to defrost then it worked fine after that without needing to be jumped.

cros13

Moreilly wrote: »

after taking it for a quick spin it seems beyond me why more people don't drive ev's.

So say we all...

Moreilly

Moreilly wrote: »

hope to have it for a 24 hour test next week and going to take it on the work commute to see what the efficiency is like with normal driving ect, seems to be a great little car and lovely to drive. really noticed the difference in the ev when i hopped back into my old car to drive it home !

Don't worry too much about efficiency, you've got 180-200 kms range with normal driving 100-110 kph. And it will get from 30-90% charge in 25 mins on a fast charger. Enjoy the drive and as long as you have the range for most of your driving on one charge then put the boot down and enjoy it, drive it like it's meant to be driven , that's one of the joys EV motoring brings back, fun cheap motoring.

I drive the leaf like I stole it most of the time, and sometimes I just want to chill out and drive easy.

Anyway, you'd be mental to choose the meagane......think you know yourself !

Moreilly

Decision made after the 24 hour test, great little car. bought it, miles ahead of the megane............ now just to wait.....

man_no_plan

Moreilly wrote: »

Decision made after the 24 hour test, great little car. bought it, miles ahead of the megane............ now just to wait.....

How long is the wait?

Moreilly

Originally when i inquired it was not available in black until October, but when i dropped back the test car we checked the system again and there was one that became available (probably a cancellation), should arrive in ireland late June and i should have it in the first two weeks in July

unkel

Swap for my Platinum Silver one?

Black is a great colour on them. You can also get the "Black Pack" with a front plastic grille in black, which turns the one particularly ugly feature of the car into a much smarter looking car

Moreilly

unkel wrote: »

Swap for my Platinum Silver one?

Black is a great colour on them. You can also get the "Black Pack" with a front plastic grille in black, which turns the one particularly ugly feature of the car into a much smarter looking car

Seen pic's of the silver one and it looks great imo ,the black pack would be cool but i think the car is probably on the way already , hopefully soon the esb will be fitting the charge point to the side of the house - does this have the cable from it to the car or do i use the cable that comes with the car? if so how long is the cable, i.e is it long enough to reach the 'fuel cap' if my car is parked pointing the other direction and the fuel cap is the opposite side of the charger ? ( want to get the location right for the install !! )

ray o

Moreilly wrote: »

Originally when i inquired it was not available in black until October, but when i dropped back the test car we checked the system again and there was one that became available (probably a cancellation), should arrive in ireland late June and i should have it in the first two weeks in July

I was talking to a salesman yesterday and he told me that I could have a white one straight away or a black one in June - so I guess there must be a few black ones sitting on a lot somewhere. Hoping to get a 24hr test early next week.

unkel

Moreilly wrote: »

hopefully soon the esb will be fitting the charge point to the side of the house - does this have the cable from it to the car or do i use the cable that comes with the car? if so how long is the cable, i.e is it long enough to reach the 'fuel cap' if my car is parked pointing the other direction and the fuel cap is the opposite side of the charger ? ( want to get the location right for the install !! )

The one that comes with the car is 5m long. It is very likely you will only be able to charge if you reverse back in. Even then it might be tight. I had to remove the other car from the drive, reverse in to literally 10cm from the wall of the house and park at an angle to be able to charge

I've since got a custom made 15m cable and I can now just drive straight in like I used to. You will like charging the Ioniq up from completely empty to 100% full for €1.75 at night rates :cool: