BBC Drives Mini E from London to Edinburgh

[Arragonis]

Not sure where they proved the BBC wrong, but every story has an angle I suppose. I agree though that the beeb guy did concentrate on the limited range and recharging but that will be the consideration of most people buying one of these for everyday use. At the same time we have to note that most (if not all) EM leccy vehicle users have an ice car as well. In the UK having a second car is not feasable for a lot of people.

I hope the Beeb takes this on again, this time on TV. If they did an 'every day living with the Mini E, or Leaf or x....' for a month or so then that would be interesting.

[Arragonis]

To bring the thread from the dead, this is the response from The Register.

Llewellyn was particularly unhappy with the Beeb's description of the Mini E as "a mass market EV ... this is the sort of car us normal people can expect to drive".

Indeed, so cross was the thespian and electrocar enthusiast that he got up at an early hour of the morning last Wednesday to lend his presence to a PR counterstrike mounted by Tesla Motors against the Beeb's journey. The firm, describing Milligan's reporting as "BBC bias" and "myths perpetuated by a BBC correspondent" decided to lend one of its latest, arse-kickingest Roadster Sport models to electric-vehicles enthusiast David Peilow in order to show that a battery car could make the journey to Edinburgh in "a single day".

Peilow normally works as a satcomms engineer, and as such is not enormously rich and cannot afford to own an £88,000 car like the Roadster Sport (an enhanced version of the normal Roadster, itself very much in the supercar price bracket). However he has been lent Roadsters by Tesla in the past for use in publicity-stunt journeys. He drove one from London to Land's End and back in 3 days last year, going so far as to install high-powered 32A power sockets at various handy locations en route beforehand and personally building an armoury of special recharging cables and power bricks ("I think I could have connected to a lamp post if necessary").

Hmmm

The quickest that its bigger battery can safely be charged is 3½ hours, using an extremely powerful 70-amp specialist charging station which Tesla will sell you for a four-figure sum and which must then be installed in your garage by a qualified electrician.

Then we come to the great unmentioned spectre of e-cars - battery wear. The reason you can't buy a Mini-E is not a sinister motor-industry conspiracy: it is the fact that "frankly, at this stage, we're not really sure about the long-term endurance of the batteries of the Mini-E", as its makers say.

I have no opinion either way, the article seems to be anti Kryton though.

[colonelk]

Originally Posted by Arragonis

At the same time we have to note that most (if not all) EM leccy vehicle users have an ice car as well. In the UK having a second car is not feasable for a lot of people.

While I dont live in a big city, pretty much every family I know has at the very least 2 cars. Even people with virtually no money.

G-wizz escapes stern crash testing not by being electric but by weighing less than a certain amount IIRC. Cant remember what the figure is.

EDIT: looked it up, they claim 665kg's? hmmmm thats more than the break point I was thinking. More research needed.

edit edit: quote "The REVA is exempt from most European crash test rules, because its low weight and power registers it in the European "heavy quadricycle" category instead of the "car" category."

[gone-ot]

"...a CAR by any other name would be QUADRA-CYCLE..."