For the first time, I am discussing Dacia on my blog. However, Dacia has recently accomplished remarkable engineering work with the Spring. The Dacia Spring is the brand’s newest electric car.
It starts at £14,995, weighs only 975 kg, 26.8 kWh battery, and has a range of 220 km (137 miles). These figures alone are enough to regard the Spring as a marvel of engineering. An electric car that weighs less than a tonne, costs less than a Loro Piana parka (£24,715), and offers features such as four doors, ample space for adults, air conditioning, central locking, electric windows, and a digital instrument panel.
Honestly, the Dacia Spring is the ideal city car. It’s affordable to purchase, likely economical to operate, and incorporates the latest technology (i.e., electric propulsion). If you’re in the market for an electric car and don’t want to spend a fortune, the Dacia is worth considering. Orders can be placed with a £99 deposit.
Keep in mind, Dacia is part of the Renault group, and much of Dacia’s engineering is derived from Renault. I don’t want to delve into all the details about the Spring here; instead, visit their website and make your own informed decision.
London is well known for its congestion, narrow streets, and extensive underground network, known as the tube. However, despite the ease of getting around on the London Underground, if you still wish to drive in the City, this article is for you.
A good starting point is the streets of London, which are very narrow. After the Great Fire of London of 1666, everything was consumed. That was the moment to extend the existing road width; the timing was perfect, the city would be built from scratch, and there was no better time to extend the street widths. However, things didn’t go as planned. Land owners were reluctant to sacrifice their lands for wider streets, and they wanted to keep the existing London road network. And the story ends here.
If you’ve ever been to London, you’ll have noticed that the city is like an open-air museum. Everything is old and preserved. Therefore, at this point, there is no opportunity to extend the street widths any further.
Why am I talking about street widths in relation to London? The main reason is that they are narrow. As a matter of fact, they are exceedingly narrow, and I don’t know how people drive Range Rovers or American SUVs on these streets. Nothing fits into the lanes apart from small cars, such as the Honda e!
Honda e is a tiny, rear-wheel drive, and amazingly good looking vehicle. It offers a luxurious interior within a high-tech car. It is not based on an existing petrol car; rather, the Honda E is designed from scratch to be an electric car. The Honda E’s design looks more expensive than its price tag! I saw it in Mayfair in front of luxurious residences next to Bentleys. Probably no one realised the car was a Honda.
Honda e is one of the cutest and most beautiful electric cars on the market. Even legendary car designer Frank Stephenson has supported this statement (or, in reality, I’ve supported his!). Frank gave the Honda e 10/10 in terms of design, and he made the right call. After all, Honda e is like an Apple device turned into a car.
Regarding the Honda e’s technical specifications, it has level-two semi-autonomous driving, blind spot assist, cross traffic monitor, heated steering wheel, and 360-camera. Honda E has two engine outputs, 136PS and 154PS (315 nm of torque). My advice is to ignore the 136PS and go for the powerful one. 154PS means you will choose the Honda e Advance version. Top speed? 145 km/h (90 mph). 0 to 100 km/h? 8.3-sec!
The battery capacity of the Honda e is 35.5 kWh. Battery capacity determines how much energy the vehicle’s battery can hold. EV operation efficiency, which is similar to fuel consumption, is 17.2 kWh per 100 km. Also, the maximum range of the vehicle is 218 km (136 miles).
Honda e may be a challenging car for longer journeys, but for London, it is the best car available right now. The luxury and technology you will find in the Honda e will surprise you.
So, the perfect London car – for me – is the Honda e.
I’ve never thought to cover the Hyundai brand on my blog before. However, many things have changed at Hyundai, especially its transition from an inferior car company to a competitive EV brand.
To be fair, though, Hyundai doesn’t create dream cars that many people want to own or drive. Their products have been excellent and logical for a long time, but they’ve never been ground-breaking until now.
The Ioniq 5 is a ground-breaking, premium electric car. And interestingly, it offers better features than the VW ID family.
Hyundai’s latest EV entry is available in either a rear-wheel drive setup or all-wheel drive (AWD). I would highly recommend the AWD setup because electric motors deliver their maximum torque at any RPM. So, it’s better to get an AWD setup to benefit from the power. In addition, interior build quality and features are substantially better than the VW ID.
Suppose you’re going to order a top-spec Ioniq 5, ticking all the boxes: eco pack, tech pack, and V2L pack. Maybe even a solid colour pack? But a solid colour pack isn’t a necessity like the other packs.
Long story short, Hyundai Ioniq 5 is a premium electric car. Unlike its competitors, including VW, Audi, and even Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai didn’t cut corners with the luxury aspect in this segment.
Regarding the electric range, this is perhaps the most crucial and annoying thing! It ranges from 383 km (238 miles) to 478 km (298 miles). Two electric motors are placed on both the front and rear axles (AWD version), delivering 305 HP of power.
Also, keep in mind that compared to traditional cars, EVs offer a larger interior space and lower centre of gravity (good for handling). Ioniq 5 not only paves the way for level 5 autonomous driving but also shows how cars will become living spaces in the future. We can see a preview of this movement with the Ioniq 5.
Would I buy the Ioniq 5? Yes. I know it’s still a Hyundai, but it’s not like the other Hyundais.
Over the last three years, we have witnessed a considerable increase in the number of electric cars in the market. Starting with Tesla, many other manufacturers introduced electric vehicles in their range of models, including Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi.
This trend is not something new, and it was ignited by Tesla. Early in 2013, BMW introduced the i3 and i8 models. At this point, there were only a few electric cars. Now, Mercedes literally offers every ICE car in an electric version. BMW and Audi are going in that direction as well. I am sure VW Group will implement this strategy in the rest of their brands.
All of this is good news for the consumer, and it’s nice to see a shift from ICE to electric cars. The rise of electric vehicles in the market will increase competition, quality, and the range of choices.
There is one thing unique to electric cars, and many people haven’t realised it yet. They realised it as a benefit! Servicing! Electric vehicles have literally no moving parts. The Porsche Taycan is the only electric car with an automatic gearbox.
Electric motors don’t need servicing. This is because there is no engine oil, air filter, spark plugs, clutches, or catalysers. As a result, servicing your electric car will be cheap. Probably, brake pads and brake fluid will need to be replaced from time to time. You may also need to check the condition of the electric motor, and maybe few other bits.
This is good for consumers but bad for car companies. These companies make lots of profit from servicing. Manufacturing a car is an expensive process, but servicing it is really easy! So, the profit margin for servicing a vehicle is high.
Given the limited servicing frame for electric vehicles, then, how will car companies compensate for the lost profit? One option is to increase the price, but this may backfire.
Now let’s have a look at Apple’s business model. You buy an iPad and keep it for a long time; Apple can’t sell you an additional iPad that easily. So, how does Apple make a profit from you? The answer is, again, services! These include Apple Music, Apple TV+, and all the other apps you’ve subscribed to. Your iPad is nothing without those services.
I believe the car industry may go in a similar direction. That’s to say, after you buy your electric car, you may be required to pay a subscription fee if you wish to use services.
Mercedes-Benz is already doing something similar with its EQS. You have to pay for it if you want to have extended angle rear-wheel steering, and Mercedes-Benz will enable it over-the-air. This model is similar to how Apple’s AppStore used to work. If you pay once, the model doesn’t work; everything needs to be on subscription.
Over the next ten years, we will probably see car manufacturers rolling out many subscription services to compensate for the financial loss of vehicle servicing.
Over the last few months, we experienced one of the highest numbers of electric car reveals. Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi released a substantial number of electric vehicles to market, and here is a list of them.
Mercedes EQA (electric version of GLA), EQB (electric version of GLB), and EQS (electric version of S-Class). Soon to be EQE (electric version of E-Class).
BMW iX (electric version of X5), iX3 (electric version of X3, with only rear-wheel drive) and iX4 (electric version of 4-Series Gran Coupe, coming soon).
Audi RS e-tron GT (Audi version of Porsche Taycan), Q4 e-tron & Sportback (electric version of Q4 and based on VW platform with rear drum brake), and soon to be A6 e-tron (Electric version of A6).
Don’t worry; it’s not the end of the internal combustion engine, but the end is within sight. As far as I can tell from the press releases, VW Group, Daimler, and BMW will not be developing new internal combustion engines, and they will revise their existing ones. Honestly, this is a great way to improve the internal combustion engines (ICE); these engines are efficient, and improving them will help to increase efficiency levels.
Mercedes-Benz’s electric car range is a carbon copy of their existing ICE cars. Audi and BMW are following the same strategy. This means one thing: we will be moving from petrol to electricity without even noticing. The range anxiety is still here, but the ranges are getting better than better. Mercedes-Benz offers a 770-km range for a single charge, and that’s good. Also, we have many charging points.
The only issue is that electric cars are expensive, but their prices will go down eventually.
Recently, Rory Sutherland mentioned how cool electric cars are, noticing that they have motivated people to talk about their cars again. Honestly, if you own a petrol/diesel-powered car and talk about it all the time, it makes you a bit weird nowadays. The era of car-based status or showing off is gone, but if you buy an electric vehicle, you have a brand-new experience that people would love to hear about. I feel like electric cars will make cars cool again.
Will I buy an electric car? Yes. I am especially interested in the Mercedes-Benz EQS.
Renault commercial vehicles at the CV Show 2014 featured wide range of electric vehicles. I have never expected to see this wide range of electric vehicle on commercial range. Of course, the electric vehicles were not the vans or trucks. There was a Twizy commercial version with a missing rear passenger seat. And electric version of Kangoo Van Z. E.
BMW X5 eDrive, xDrive40e. BMW recently revealed their concept plug-in hybrid BMW X5. And soon to be on production, like next year. Personally, I really admire the BMW’s ambition to introduce new electric and hybrid vehicles to their range. Unfortunately, we cannot see this ambition with Mercedes and Audi.
Why I liked the BMW X5 eDrive? Because, it is a new technology, you will consume less fuel, less tax, probably no congestion charge for London and enjoy the same performance of a larger engine. And the experience of electric engine on a full size SUV.
The BMW X5 eDrive is powered by a 2-lt petrol engine with 245 HP and 350 Nm of torque. The electric motor is 95 HP and 250 Nm of torque. In total, the output of BMW X5 eDrive is 340 HP and 600 Nm of torque. And also you can charge at work, at home, at shopping centre, at your annoying neighbour’s house and more. Electric mode drive the X5 up to 32 km and up to 120 km/h of speed.
Basically, BMW X5 eDrive is the coolest SUV or SAV you can have.
Details of BMWi3. i3 was a bit mystery, it was the BMW’s first step to enter to electric world with a brand range of vehicles. BMW named the range with “i”. And i-Series does not share any designed or infrastructure similarity with the existing BMW vehicle range. It is a brand new range with a brand new perspective.
That’s why everyone was curious about the BMW i-Series, hopefully BMW released the official details of the i3 today. BMW i3 shares the same 50:50 weight distribution like all other BMWs. i3 is made the passenger cell from carbon-fibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP). It is powered by a 50-kg, 170 HP / 250 Nm electric motor. Zero to 100 km/h acceleration is only 7.2 seconds and the range of electric driving is around 130-160 KM. BMW i3 also features a tiny on-board generator to avoid running out of charge. 0.65-lt two-cylinder engine is placed at rear axle for better weight distribution and it produces 34 HP to charge the batteries and extend the range up to 300km.
The interesting feature of BMW i3 is the single-pedal concept. According to press release, there will be only one pedal acts as throttle and brake at the same time. As I understand, when you leave your foot gently, BMW i3 will be coasting. Basically, if you leave your foot from the pedal gently, it will be coasting; if you leave your foot very rapidly it will be braking and someone will crash you from the rear. Because, we always leave the throttle very rapidly. This feature was never used at any type of vehicle and hinders potential accidents! I am definitely sure, BMW will remove the single-pedal drive concept. This system may sound very efficient on paper but when you consider the average drivers, it will be a huge disaster!
Anyway, BMW opened a new chapter in premium electric car market with i-Series!
Renault Twizy is powered by a 20 HP electric motor with 57 Nm of torque. The top speed is 75 km/h, thus there is no 0 – 100 km/h acceleration. And the range is 100 KM with a 3-hour charge with 220 Volts.
How to charge your electric car for free? This is one of the biggest question silently goes around everyone’s head, who are planning to buy an electric car.
Some of the electric cars come with on-board generator like OpelAmpera, so you don’t need to find a socket to plug your car. But you will still use petrol to charge your car, that’s the problem. And some electric cars come with nothing more than batteries and no generator on-board. So, you have to find a plug to charge your car.
Using electricity to charge your car might be cheap in UK, but there is a global perspective. In many countries electricity is very expensive and people try to reduce their electcity consumption in many different ways. For those people, charging their own car from their house is not a very brilliant idea! If someone is trying to reduce electricity consumption by replacing light bulbs, you cannot sell them an electric car! This is the ugly truth.
So what to do? There are couple of tricky ways to charge an electric car for free. You can visit your friend and plug your car to their socket and you will be the loneliest person on this planet surrounded by six billion people. This option is not very plausible and a bad attitude. Another option is to visit a university campus and try to charge your car for free. In some universities they offer free chargers but not in every university so keep in mind. There are some other ways to charge an electric for free but you may end up in police station very quickly.
The fundamental solution to charging an electric car for free is to have a solar panel installed at your home. Sun is free and solar panels transfer the sun light into electricity. Of course they do have limitations; solar panels provide the best efficiency at 25 degrees Celsius. Extreme hot and extreme cold reduce their performance but still you will have the free electricity.
You may find solar panel instalment is a very good solution but it is not cheap as well. When you invest a serious amount of money to an electric car, you will not be happy with the price solar panels.
My suggestion, automotive industry should create funds to provide free solar panels to customers who buy electric cars. However, creating a fund for solar panels is not easy. There should be a government incentive and automotive industry should be motivated as well. I have some doubts about that, because automotive industry is designed to take money not to cash-back to customers. Finance industry does this very well, give money and take it back ;)
But the solar panels are one of the most fundamental parts of the electric cars. Without providing free electricity, why people should buy electric cars?
Another solution is, automotive industry can manufacture solar panel but it won’t go well.
Back to basic, make a contract with solar panel companies and provide them for free to customers. Thus, motivation to buy an electric will dramatically increase. I don’t think anyone will say no to free electricity :)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
+eletric+motor+engine.jpg)
.jpg)
+eletric+motor+engine.jpg)
+eletric+motor+engine.jpg)
+eletric+motor+engine.jpg)
+eletric+motor+engine.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)