A canvas roof is a fabric soft-top or fabric-covered roof panel used on some cars. Compared with a fixed hard roof, it can change the cabin’s feel and the car’s styling, and it’s often designed to be opened/closed manually or with a mechanism.
The Renault 5 is a well-known small Renault hatchback. Here, the host is saying they already loved the Renault 5, so they were curious whether the newer version would feel just as good.
Term
floppy paddles
They’re talking about the little shift paddles behind the steering wheel. If they feel “floppy,” they don’t feel firm or precise when you pull them, which can make the car feel less satisfying to drive.
In one-pedal driving, you mostly control speed with the accelerator. When you take your foot off it, the car slows down using the battery’s charging effect, so you use the brake less.
WLTP is the official testing standard used to estimate how efficient a car is. If the car is “bang on WLTP,” it’s doing about as well as the manufacturer’s test numbers suggest.
The Alpine A290 is a sporty small hatchback from Alpine (Renault’s performance brand). The hosts are saying it’s a really fun car to drive and makes you feel good behind the wheel.
The Dodge Charger is a large, performance-focused car made in the US. It’s often talked about because it’s powerful and popular. In your quote, “charger” likely means a charging station, not the car itself.
For electric cars, “rapid” means a faster charging mode than a normal wall outlet. The problem described here is that it would begin charging quickly, but then it would stop and wouldn’t charge properly.
Even electric cars usually have a small 12-volt battery. It powers the car’s “basic electronics,” like unlocking doors and letting the car communicate—so if that battery is in a hard-to-reach spot, getting help can be a hassle.
A software glitch means the car’s computer didn’t do what it was supposed to. In an EV, that can cause weird behavior even if the hardware is fine—like the car not responding normally.
AC charging is the common way you charge at home or at many public chargers. The car has to convert that power internally, and if the car’s charging software has a problem, it can sometimes cause follow-on issues.
Concept
software wise
“Software wise” means how the car’s computer systems are working—like the screen, apps, and other digital features. If there are software problems, the car can feel glitchy or unreliable even if the hardware is fine.
Polestar 3 is an electric SUV. Here, they’re talking about problems (and later improvements) related to the car’s software—things like how the system behaves while driving.
Range testing is when someone drives an EV in real conditions to see how many miles or kilometers it can go on one charge. It helps you understand what the car’s real-world range is, not just the marketing number.
Elprie is a Norwegian event where they test how far electric cars can really go. They do it in both summer and winter and follow strict rules so the results are fair.
The Kia EV2 is Kia’s electric car in this segment. They’re talking about how far it can drive in real conditions in Norway, and they say it actually beat the official range number.
The BMW iX3 is BMW’s electric SUV. The hosts are saying it managed to drive farther than the other competing EVs in their range test, which is important if you want to know what you can realistically expect from an EV.
Claimed range is the number the car maker advertises for how far the EV can go on one charge. The hosts are comparing that advertised number to what the cars actually managed in their test.
The official range figure is the EV’s published range number used for comparisons. The hosts are using it to see whether each car actually goes farther than the advertised expectation.
The Mercedes-Benz GLC is a luxury SUV that’s designed for everyday driving. It’s meant to be comfortable and practical, like for commuting and family use. In the quote, it’s being mentioned as doing well in some kind of test or result.
Car
Smart hashtag five
Smart #5 is an electric Smart SUV. The hosts are saying it did well in their range results, which is useful if you’re trying to judge real EV range.
Range anxiety is the fear that your EV battery won’t last long enough to get where you’re going. This segment is basically saying that range test results can help reduce that worry.
“Battery loss” means how much of your electric car’s usable energy you lose in cold weather. In winter, the battery doesn’t work as efficiently, so you can’t drive as far on the same charge.
In EVs, “creep” refers to very slow, low-power movement when the car is essentially immobilized. The host describes a recovery trick: turning the car off, waiting, then restarting so the vehicle can move at low speed to get out of a stuck situation.
A plug-in hybrid is a car that uses both electricity and fuel. You can charge it by plugging it in, and it can often drive on electricity for shorter trips.
Boot space just means how much room the trunk has in the back of the car. It matters a lot for families because you need space for things like a buggy.
Term
litres of space
They’re talking about how much cargo room the car has, measured in litres. Higher litres usually means you can fit more items in the trunk.
“Seven seats” means the car can carry up to seven people. That’s useful for big families, but it can affect how much room is left for luggage or a stroller.
The Volkswagen Golf is a popular small car, usually a hatchback. People often talk about it because it’s practical and fun enough for normal daily use. In the quote, it’s mentioned in connection with a video about a new performance-focused electric model launch.
They’re talking about the size of the electric car’s battery. A bigger battery usually means the car can store more energy, which can help with range and how long it can keep pulling power.
A limited-slip diff is a device that helps the driven wheels work together. When one wheel loses grip, it limits how much that wheel spins so the car can keep moving better—especially when turning.
The Volkswagen ID. Buzz is an electric van. It’s designed to carry people comfortably, similar to a family van, but with an electric motor. The quote suggests the speaker is talking about someone who currently has one and may sell it.
In EV leasing, “miles per year” is the usage allowance that determines what you’re allowed to drive during the contract term. Exceeding the limit can trigger extra charges, while staying under it can help keep the deal cost-effective.
The DeLorean DMC-12 is a sports car with a very unusual look, including a stainless-steel body. It’s well known beyond car circles because it became famous in movies and TV. That’s why it often gets mentioned when people talk about interesting cars.
A conversion kit is a set of parts that lets you change a vehicle so it can use a different power source. In this case, it’s used to convert classic vehicles to electric power.
Car
Harley-Davidson motorbikes
Harley-Davidson is a well-known motorcycle maker. In this story, older Harley motorcycles from the 1920s were converted to run on electricity instead of gasoline.
Unrolling the cable is a safety idea: a coiled cable can hold heat. The question here is whether EV charging makes overheating more likely, and whether the charger’s setup changes the answer.
An electric extension cable is a long cable used to plug in from farther away. With EV charging, it can get hot, so people worry about using the right type and whether it should be fully unrolled.
The Dodge Avenger is a regular mid-size car (a sedan). In the quote, it’s mentioned because the speaker is talking about what they drive and comparing it to a different car with a similar name. It’s not the same as the Jeep Avenger.
The Jeep Avenger is a small Jeep crossover, and in this context it’s an electric car. The speaker is saying one of their team members really loves it and keeps choosing it whenever he needs an EV to drive or film.
“Charging deserts” means places where there aren’t many EV chargers nearby. If you live there or drive through, it can be stressful because you can’t easily find a place to charge.
Term
OACs
“OACs” sounds like a shorthand for a type of charging situation, mentioned right next to “charging deserts.” The problem is the speaker doesn’t say what the letters stand for in this clip, so we can’t be sure what specific term they mean.
Place
A30
The A30 is a main road in the UK. The host is using it like a GPS reference to say where the fast EV charging station is near Mid Cornwall.
Charging bays are the specific spots at a charging station where you pull in and plug your car in. They’re basically the “charging parking spaces,” and in this case they’re very fast.
The Ferrari Luce is a Ferrari model that’s being talked about in terms of how it looks. The speaker compares its shape to something small and simple, like a mouse. It’s mentioned because it stands out visually.
The Audi S5 is a sporty version of a regular Audi model. It’s meant to feel quicker and more performance-focused than the standard car. In the quote, it’s mentioned as the speaker’s previous car while they talk about dealers and service.
Skoda is a car brand that’s part of the Volkswagen Group. In this episode, the host brings it up because the Skoda dealership experience during a test drive felt better.
BYD is a Chinese automaker known for making a large range of battery-electric vehicles and for being heavily involved in battery technology. Here it’s mentioned in the context of how the dealership treated the host during a test drive.
The 5 E-Tech Electric is an electric car version of the Renault 5. It uses a battery and electric motor instead of a traditional engine. In the quote, it’s mentioned because the speaker is thinking about how it may hold up over the long term.
A crash test is when a car is intentionally crashed in a controlled way to see how safe it is. For electric cars, it also helps show what happens to the battery after a crash.
In an electric car, the battery pack stores the electricity that powers the car. The hosts are talking about what people worry about—what the battery does if the car crashes.
LIVE
Hello and welcome to the Kilowatt Half Hour, a podcast about the world of EVs brought to
you by the team at electrifying.com.
And on the show this week, we are talking range testing, breakdance, Hollywood superstars
and we'll be here with a review of course and joining me today is Nick.
Hooray!
Hooray!
I feel like we haven't done a podcast together for ages.
It's been a while, also I apologise for wearing the hat, I haven't washed my head.
I'm actually knocking the microphone over right at the start, okay?
We've done a really good start, one person has greasy hair, the other one's knocking
over stuff.
That's fine.
Welcome to the podcast.
Welcome to your 45 minutes of chaos or more or less, depending on how we feel.
We've got a lot to talk about though, a lot, so much.
I should kick off with driving because that's part of the reason why you and I have just
not been on a podcast together for weeks.
I think actually since the 100th, am I right?
I think I might be right, I don't know.
Blimey, I think you might be right.
It's been a while.
It's been busy as always, but you and I have been like, she's been there, I've been here,
we've never been in the same room at the same time.
Yes, exactly.
It's been a lot.
We're like the government or the royal family in that we don't travel together.
Yeah, no, that's right, we can't be on the same plane just in case it goes down and otherwise
the company will crumble.
Can I tell you something very quickly?
Yes, you can.
I was on a flight back from Barcelona yesterday coming back from a drive, which I'm going
to tell you about in a bit.
And while I was on the plane, Ginny, some random Spanish guys were flying, vewling back
from Barcelona.
Spanish guy, kid you not, shouted down the plane from four rows behind me, Nikolai, electrifying!
I love your videos!
We have fans in Spain, Ginny.
Oh, we have fans in Spain.
Everyone in Spain.
We've got loads of fans all over the world if our comments or anything to go off.
Yeah!
Lots of fans down under in Tassie, you know, Kangaroo Island, Stan from Kangaroo Island,
we've got Canada.
Let us know where you were joining us from for the podcast today, drop us a comment.
It was a very nice pleasant surprise.
That is nice.
That is nice.
I actually, I think we mentioned this, I was in China last month and then the Beijing
auto show and I had about three people come up to me and go, I want to take a selfie and
go electrifying, electrifying.
It's amazing.
It's amazing.
There we go.
I love it.
I love it.
There we go.
Anyway, so why don't you kick us off with what you, when you were being spotted on the
flight to Barcelona.
What were you driving?
Right.
Well, I went out to Barcelona for two cars.
One of them I can't tell you about because it's under embargo, but the second car, I
took it out for a drive and you know what, it's blooming brilliant.
The video is going to be coming out very soon.
I think on Monday the video is coming out, but it was the Renault for Plansud, which
is basically beautifully said.
Plansud.
Plansud.
Plansud.
Plansu.
Plansu.
Plans.
Plansud.
Plans.
But there's bound to be somebody listening from France who can correct us on that.
Yeah.
It's basically the Renault for with a canvas roof and it's fantastic.
And I mean, I really liked the Renault for to begin with.
I spoke to you on the phone while I was out in Barcelona, didn't I?
Because you've been driving one in the UK for quite a while.
And it's one of those where you kind of go, I don't know if I'm going to like it because
I love the Renault five.
So how is this going to be anywhere near as good?
But actually it is.
And then you throw the canvas roof on top, which is, by the way, only 1500 quid more.
Now, when you're paying monthly's, that's nothing.
That's nothing.
And totally worth it.
I know when I when I did the Walker and video with the Renault for it was it was that canvas
roof that really got me.
And it's such a simple thing.
And let's face it, you hardly ever going to open it, particularly not if you live in
Britain, you get in a summer like the one we're getting.
But it's just the fact that it's there.
It's the quirkiness.
And we did.
We had a bit of a chat, didn't we?
Because obviously I have been recently very, very broken hearted by Renault who took away
my Renault five.
Yoda has gone.
Yeah.
I want to find out what happened to Yoda.
I'm going to try and speak to Yoda's new owner at some point in the future.
Find out who owns Yoda next.
You probably spot it on like Coronation Street or something.
That's not what happens with press cars.
I've tried to find solace with some with some new vehicles, two new Renaults.
And one of them has been the Renault four.
Now, I was a little unkind towards the Renault four.
I think when I first saw it, just because I loved the five so much and the quirkiness
of it.
And I just found it a bit like, yeah, it's OK.
It's nice.
You know, it's really, it's perfectly great.
And I did really love the plain sood or the plant sood, however we're saying it.
Plain sood.
But having driven it for a few weeks, the word I think I used to you when we were
chatting yesterday was I'm very fond of it.
Yes, very fond.
Fond, very fond.
Really, really grown on me.
Yeah.
And it and weirdly has had lots of attention from people.
Two people locally have bought one now because they've been around sat in mine,
had a poke around, chatted with me.
I was I was wavering.
I was on the fence.
But yeah, now I've seen it around.
And it's in that lovely kind of pale blue colour.
It's like a kind of, yeah, you just a bit like the colour of my cardigan, actually.
So sorry if you're listening.
It's a bit like a it's like a light cornflour blue if you're not watching.
Lovely when you put it.
I'm going to say I've loved it.
I've really done strikes, got the floppy paddles, got one pedal driving.
Much more practical, which is is I'm not going to lie, that is quite handy.
And I don't get the moans from my 17 year old son when he has to sit in the back
because his head can, you know, has a bit of space in the top.
So that's all good.
Efficient at the moment, getting 4.6 miles per kilowatt hour, which is bang on WLTP.
I've got to say that's the only thing is I think it's mild weather
should be exceeding WLTP in this weather.
But yes, it's really grown on me.
And where the Renault five is that kind of instant crush that like grabs your heart
and, you know, you fancy them right away.
This is more like the one with the nice personality that you've got to know
and you're really enjoying spending time with.
Yes. And I also, yeah, I think I need to say to what was it?
Your neighbors that bought one is the people down the road here.
Well, they've jumped the gun and they've done it too soon.
You should have waited for the plan.
So they've completely messed up, completely messed up.
They they should they should have waited.
Just hold fire for that canvas roof because it honestly, it does make a difference.
And do you know what I even said in the video which you'll spot when you watch
your Monday, I was like, ladies, now, normally, if you've ever been sat in a
convertible or anything with a roof down, your hair goes all over the place
and it's a blooming nightmare.
So you try and sort of wrap it and tuck it in your top or do whatever to hold it in place.
You don't have to do that.
You've still got that feeling of having a roof down, but your hair stays in place.
Oh, I love that.
I love that.
So the other car that I found Solicin after after my my Renault five left
was an Alpine A290 and I'm so late to the party with this
because I think I was like the only member on the team who hadn't driven it.
Yeah, I think, yeah, I drove it for UK car of the year, for our judging day,
for UK car of the year.
And I was like, this is great.
What a fun little machine.
Absolutely bloody brilliant, good fun.
And you feel cool while you're driving it.
Absolutely nowhere to put your coffee, which I know you have
ranted about on this podcast before.
I have run to about that.
I just I really loved it.
I've really enjoyed, really, really enjoyed it.
And I love how it looks.
Yeah, it's just, you know, so I have the sportiest version
and it's got a bit of body care and, you know, just just look.
And in that really bright, electric blue colour.
Look, it's not that punchy.
I think you, you know, it's a very lukewarm hatch at best, really.
But it's just fun to drive.
And again, bang on range.
I've been getting about 200 and sixteen miles out of that.
It was about four point three miles per kilowatt hour.
And again, you know, I'd really love driving it.
So I just come like something that we've talked about on the podcast a lot.
Renault are doing good, aren't they?
They're doing really good.
Smashing it. They are smashing it.
So I was even I was chatting to Christian, who's one of the PRs for Renault.
And I was like, what a time to be part of this company.
I was like, you are literally like this is the best time to be a PR.
Because when you're part of it, when you're part like a PR
for a company that's not doing so well in terms of their cars,
that must be the hardest job in the world.
But actually, he can just turn up to a car launch and just know that the car's fine.
What a time to be alive if you work for Renault PR.
I hope you'll really appreciate it.
And can I tell you something super exciting?
Because it's good with the speed in a few weeks, isn't it?
Yes, I'm going to be there.
Yes, I'm going to be there.
Renault turbo 38 going to be there.
Oh, my God.
Wait, is it dry? Is it going up the hill?
What's happening? Maybe.
Are you going up the hill on it?
I can't say yet.
Ginny Buckley.
You were busy.
You said you were busy.
I'm doing hospitality hosting things.
OK, darling. OK, darling.
I'm doing it with the fancy people that want to drink champagne and stuff.
That's what I'm doing for the weekend, which I'm just looking at cars.
Anyway, there is loads of great electric stuff fast this year.
So we're going to do an episode, I think probably the week before
that we'll talk about all the stuff that you need to see if you're into these
and you're heading to Festival of Speed.
I'm going to try and catch you while we're out there.
I'm going to try and sort of nab an hour and see if I can bump into you
and we can record something, maybe.
We are. We're going to do video from there.
We'll do a podcast from there, but we definitely will have a catch from there.
So should I have a little rant?
Oh, I'm excited. OK, let me let me just grab my coffee.
Have a little sip. Well, I listen to your rent.
But I since recall the last time you and I did a podcast together,
you you ranted quite a lot about a car, didn't you?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yes, I did.
I'm talking about the Polestar 4, Ginny.
Yes, yes, yes.
So I've had a Polestar 3 dual motor performance, which is a lovely thing.
Drives beautifully.
Goodness me, the suspension is fabulous on it.
It's it's just a really nice car to drive.
Yes.
Until it's not so you can't drive it anymore.
So I don't know what's happened with this year.
I'm going to report that properly when Polestar come out to me and explain
exactly what happened.
But I was stranded in a car park with a charger.
And it wasn't because I'd been driving it badly.
It's because it wouldn't charge.
So it wouldn't.
It didn't charge.
It charged on a rapid and then it wouldn't charge.
And then it started doing weird things like the doors wouldn't open properly.
And and then I could get in, but the it wasn't coming alive.
And I had to get the breakdown people to come.
And we managed to get to the 12 volt, which is in the most ridiculous place.
You've got to basically take the front apart.
Sure. Now, yeah.
Can I just talk to all car makers?
Can you put the 12 volt battery somewhere that is accessible?
Because I can't know who it was, but Sony was
telling us on the team that in one kind of car in the car, it's under the back seats.
That is not useful.
What? No, I know, that's crazy.
That's a really stupid edit.
So was this all down to software?
Because I do remember seeing in the WhatsApp group.
That you were like, I'm trying to find where the information in the car is
about the breakdown cover and and if it's in the glove box, I can't get into it
because I can only open the glove box through the screen and I can't.
So we will we will report back and I will save the round.
But yeah, I think there was a software glitch on it.
And I actually strongly suspect it's something to do with it, perhaps
not liking AC charging, but that's just me stabbing in the dark and guessing.
So yeah, we'll report on that.
So I think my rant was reasonably not as not as ranty as yours was not as
ranty as mine, because I live with the Polestar four for six months.
And it was it was a nightmare for me software wise.
And obviously you've had issues with the Polestar three software wise.
But I do want to say in a positive way, where I recently drove the Polestar
five on a road trip down from Malaga down to Gibraltar, the five is fantastic.
And over the entire two days of driving it nonstop, we had no software issues
whatsoever. So that that's good.
And also, I've got like two friends who have been running in Polestar four
is Ben, who who pays our wages at electifying.
He has a little star four. We do love you, Ben.
You're so lovely. Ben's the best personality.
We love Ben. He's so handsome.
Rain it in a bit, Nick.
You're not getting the pay rise, love. I'm trying.
But but but Ben and then these two mates of mine have bought no problems
whatsoever. So maybe they the Polestar's just got my cuts.
Maybe it's us. Maybe it's a nurse, a nurse problem and not a them problem.
Maybe. Maybe. Anyway, there you go.
Shall we go and talk about about cars that
that do charge and actually go a very long way on their charge?
Yes.
Should we talk about the the range testing that I know Vicky touched on last week
and there's a brilliant video.
You haven't seen it that's gone on the YouTube channel.
Yeah, it is where Vicky went and did the range test.
Now, you know about this because you've done the winter test, haven't you?
Yes. So if you're not aware of this, in Norway, they do a thing called the Elprie.
So twice a year, they take all new cars or as many new cars as they can get their
hands on and they do a proper range test.
They do it in summer and they do it in winter.
Now, winter in Norway, when I did it, it was minus nine when I did the winter test.
And I did it in a Kia EV9 and Vicky did it in a Kia EV2.
And honestly, it's kind of all proof that Kia is absolutely smashing
everything that they're churning out right now, because in the EV2,
I think the range is about 256 miles.
But even though.
So what you have to do is you have to follow the road rules.
You're following the speed limit.
You have to have the climate control set to 20 degrees.
You're not allowed to move from that.
You stop when they tell you to stop.
So you can go have a coffee break in a wheel, whatever, and you drive
until the car stops completely.
And you have to then take notes every 50 kilometers of where your range is at
and all that kind of things so they can keep track of where you're going.
And it turns out in the end, she got more than the WLTP range.
She got 275 miles, which was not claimed on the EV2, but they did it.
Amazing. And they tested that this was on the bigger battery car.
So we were doing this in a prototype, bigger battery version.
And I think it was the smaller battery version actually did take part in the
official El Prix and Vicky was sort of driving behind that under the same
conditions with with Kia, wasn't she?
Yeah. But that of all the cars that competed, our car of the year,
BMW ix3 actually did went the furthest and yeah, it did.
400 and 85 miles.
It did 700 and 81 kilometers and it beat the beating
the clone range by one point five percent, which is really impressive.
Incredible.
But actually the one that the car that of the 11 cars that exceeded
the claimed range, it was the X-Pen X9 that did it by the biggest margin.
So that covered just over 400 and one miles.
That's 600 and 46 kilometers.
Yeah, which was great for this.
A whopping eleven point four percent above its claimed range.
Yeah. And the key EV2 standard range, which was in the official El Prix,
that came next.
So that went five point four percent over its official range figure.
It got 200 and two miles, which is 300 and 25 kilometers.
GLC did really well.
Smart hashtag five, KPV five also did well.
So yeah, it's a really interesting thing, isn't it?
It's honestly it's it's worth if you're sort of into that kind of nerdy range
stuff or if like range anxiety is an issue for you.
But go on the El Prix website.
It is all in Norwegian, but you can kind of switch it back over to English
so you can kind of see where everything comes.
Every time they do a test, but they do it every winter and every summer.
And it's it's so fascinating because a year that I did it when I did the winter
test in the EV9, it with the way that they judge it is the the average
battery loss that a car will get in winter, which is 21 percent.
You'll normally lose about that during winter time.
And the EV9 lost twelve point three percent.
Which is just incredible.
It did so well.
And it's so interesting because it's so fascinating and satisfying
to drive a car until it dies.
It's brilliant. Yeah, it's kind of like, oh, no, oh, here we go.
Oh, God. And then it just completely comes to a stop.
And then fun fact that I learned from the El Prix.
If you ever get stuck, if this ever happens to you and you get stuck
and your your car is completely stopped, if you turn the car off,
wait for about two minutes.
You can turn the car back on again, and then you'll basically be able to creep.
If you end up in the middle of nowhere and you don't know what to do
and you just need to get to somewhere not that far away,
you can easily whack out an extra ten miles if you're stuck in that situation.
Then you can do that.
You're welcome.
Right, yeah, fun, full of fun tips, isn't it?
So come on, let us know your range stories.
Are you eking out incredible amounts of range out of your cars at the moment?
Are you hypermiling?
Are you doing all that kind of stuff?
So send us an email podcast at lectrfine.com
or you can drop us a comment in the comment section
and let us know what you're doing and we will read them all out next week.
Very nice.
What else has been happening, Nick, in the world of news, of EV news?
Well, I mean, should we do another Kia?
Why not?
I know, I don't know.
So, I mean, we're both a fan of this car anyway, the PV5, right?
So the PV5, I went on the launch of the cargo version.
You went on the launch of the People Carrier version, the five-seater version,
and they have now officially released the seven-seater.
And it looks and I'm assuming will drive just as brilliantly
because I mean, you're going to have a bit more balance going on in the back
with the amount of people and the amount of seats.
But what I like about this, right?
So I always have to think about seven
seats, I think of my sister because she's got she has five children.
So she she's like, I need the seats.
She must be so tired.
I have your sister.
She's like she's borderline minivan, man.
That's where she is.
It seems that she just keeps turning them out.
She loves it.
So she has had for the last few years, she's had 7000 eights back to back.
And now she's in a Cherry Tigo eight, which she's struggling with a little bit.
She's not very happy with it.
It's the plug-in hybrid version.
But for her, the important thing is, can I get me, my husband and my five kids
plus a buggy in the boot?
That's the most important thing for her.
And for that, for any, any family that's got a big family to have the boot space
as well as the people space, it's really important.
And in the PV five, you still got with all of the seats up, 300 and
eighteen litres of space.
That's amazing.
Easily get a buggy in the back.
It's fantastic.
Absolutely brilliant.
And actually, if you again, with this, they're really nailing it on pricing.
So prices start, I think it just under 37000 pounds for that
essential sort of entry level version.
And again, it feels like a lot of, a lot of money, a lot of, a lot of car for your money.
Not a lot of money.
You know what I'm saying.
But you and Batch were doing seven seats recently, weren't you?
We've got a review coming, I think it'll either, depending on when you're watching
this, it will either be coming to the website, to the YouTube channel soon,
or it's already on the YouTube channel.
Yeah.
And actually, when you start to look at where that sits price wise among some
of the other seven C EVs, it is.
It's really good value, good.
And you know, it just, it drives really well.
It does for such a big thing.
It does drive really well.
I mean, don't get me wrong.
End of the day, it is a van.
It's whether you're happy to be that person driving a van rather than what would look
like a car.
But I think because of the styling of it, I think it looks quite quirky and I'd
quite happily have one of those if I had five kids, but I don't just got two dogs.
I love it.
I'd have one anyway, I think, even though, again, I only have a, you know, a dog
and one tail.
Yes, yeah.
But yeah.
And also, just quickly, before we move on to comments and all of that kind of
stuff and our bargains, Peugeot have shown or about to show that GTI Hot Hatch,
aren't they, a version of the E2O8.
Why are they doing this again?
I know, because this is what, this is the one to talk to you about it,
because didn't you see this last year?
Yes.
I went to Le Mans last year with Peugeot and that's where they launched the
E2O8 GTI and I did a full video, full walk around video in their little studio
space. But now what I heard is they're revealing it again.
And apparently the one I saw was apparently a concept car.
But no one told us that at the time.
It was, it was a concept.
And I think now they ask you are going to see this weekend the real one.
It's using the standard E2O8's 51 kilowatt battery.
It's going to have a tiny bit of extra punch just engineered into that.
I think it's going to be just under 300 horsepower and would probably get a
limited slip diff as well, I think, just to give it a bit of extra umph around
corners, which seems to be the thing that yeah, Le Mans,
they had some spare stage space and they were like, do you know what?
Let's just do the E2O8 again.
Why not?
People have just forgotten last year.
People have got very, they all had a very late night last year.
So everyone will have forgotten that we showed this car last year.
We all had a lot of champagne at Le Mans last year.
I can't tell you that much.
I have heard, Nicola.
Well, it was a good way.
It was a lot of booze, but Peugeot ended up coming bum last in the race.
So it's fine.
And it was a nice trip.
Anyway, do you have, Miss Hume, a bargain of the week for us?
Right.
Let's have a little scroll down my little notes here because actually,
funnily enough, I was doing a job last week and a guy that I was working with
currently has an ID buzz and he went, oh, I'm looking to get rid of the buzz.
Should I get an ID seven?
And I immediately went, yes, yes, you should, because it's a lovely car.
The ID seven, I would say probably one of the better cars back when it was
like the ID three, ID four, that kind of era of VW.
I think the ID seven is actually brilliant.
It rides really nice.
So we have a very good price on the Tora Match Pro S with the 86 kilowatt hour battery.
So what have we got here?
So it's starting.
So this is when we do, this is over 24 months.
So it's 8000 miles a year and putting down just under three and a half grand,
£378 a month, which is pretty blooming good for a big car.
And Vicky would love that.
Vicky Parra.
Oh, our Vicky loved the ID seven.
She's got actually, she has a poster of it on her bedroom wall, you know.
Does she?
She does, she does.
Yeah, she does, she does.
She has the ID seven on her bedroom wall.
Yeah, I would.
I would say that's weird, but I've got, I've got a lot of hot wheels and weird cars
and McLaren things, so I can't really judge.
But she just loves that car.
So, you know, you put what you love on the bedroom wall behind you, don't you?
That's nice.
I've got Johnny Depp on my wall as well.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And I've got to use, should we do it?
I know what I've got to use one.
Yeah, so this is a good one.
This is an X10 G6, 750 miles only on the clock.
So just a pre-registered one, 29,495 pounds.
That is 10K off the new list price.
So if you don't mind being the second name on that long book and walking you
away with a car that's got 750 miles on it, you can save yourself 10,000 pounds.
That is a lot of car for the money.
750 miles and it's lost 10 grand.
Yeah.
That's insane.
Yeah.
But somebody can get a bargain.
So that's over at the Used Car Listings at electrifying.com.
So if you do want to go and peruse those, there are some great
deals on there for used electric cars.
Let's do some perusing.
I have a welcome to our electric virgin of the week.
Oh, exciting.
Exciting.
Welcome.
Join us.
Welcome.
Welcome to Hollywood superstar, Jason Momoa.
Oh my God, he's so fit.
He's...
And he's got, he's now got EVs.
So got to welcome him.
He's so fit.
Can I just tell you he didn't email us, though?
Or maybe he did, but I just haven't seen it.
But I heard he's a really big fan of electrify.
Yeah.
Well, that's what, that's what I've been told as well.
But anyway, so have you heard of a brilliant company
called Electrogenic, Nick?
Yes.
Yes.
So, Electrogenic are amazing.
So they do conversions of classic cars.
They've done some absolutely brilliant things that they do a lot
of work with defenders.
So they've done all the, the cultural defenders that they have
done at Worthy Farm, Blastonbury are all electric.
They converted, they do minis, they do Beatles,
they do the DeLorean, they do all kinds of stuff.
And they actually make conversion kits as well.
So they're quite unusual in this, that they, they're in Bista,
near Bista, they've produced the conversion kits
and you can, those kits can be sold around the world
and people can get licenses to fit them.
So they're, they're doing, I think, you know,
often we look at these really expensive classic conversions
and they're one offs and it's still an expensive thing to do.
But I think Electrogenic are making it more affordable.
Anyway, they have converted two of his Landrovers
and three of his 1920s Harley-Davidson motorbikes
to run on EV power.
Wow.
Isn't that brilliant?
And it's been filmed for this TV series called On The Roam
or Something, which is going on some channel somewhere.
But I'm just really happy that this, because I've known this
company for quite a long time.
So when they were like almost just starting up
and I just like so chuffed that they're now like appearing
in like the American TV series with Hollywood super stars.
Do you think he's the fittest?
He's so fit, like he's proper fit.
I mean, I'm not going to lie, he's fit, but I'm not, I don't know.
I mean, I can, it's top 10.
I'll give you top 10.
Johnny Depp, Hugh Jackman, Chris Hemsworth and Jason Momoa.
OK, OK.
Yeah, up there for me.
Anyway, he's our electric virgin of the week.
So welcome, Jason.
Do let us know how you go on.
Do let us know.
Do do get in touch.
You can get in touch.
Podcaster, let's find.com or Jason, if you're watching,
just drop us a comment below and Nick thinks you fit by the way.
You're so fit, you are really fit.
Let's stop it.
Right, we've got the is a podcast about you these niggas.
They're not about who we fancy.
You started it.
You brought him up.
I just ran away with it, you know.
What can I say?
Right, we've got a lovely email here from Roy Ajay.
I'm hoping that I pronounced that correctly.
He says, hi there.
We recently had an Anderson A2 home charger installed.
We are yet to purchase our first EV,
but we'll probably do this later in the year.
We just wanted to get ahead before buying.
Do you know what?
I respect that.
But my question is, when charging,
do I need to unravel the whole cable or just what I need?
I believe that normal electric extension cables
like the ones that come in a small round plastic drum
need to be unrolled in case of the heat produced.
Is this necessary with the Anderson
as there's much more power going through the cable?
Or is it designed to deal with this?
Keep up the great work and the interesting videos and podcasts.
Well, I can tell you, you don't have to unravel it.
Well, well, what?
What are you going to say?
I don't unravel mine.
So I had a chat with David who owns Anderson.
Am I going to get in trouble now?
Well, you do need to.
Well, that's we've got the official
because I just thought I have always thought
you need to unravel it a little, you know, you know,
more than see there's got to be a decent size loop.
So I have actually the official response from Anderson.
If I can find it somewhere in all of my messages,
give it a minute, find it in a second.
In a second, it's coming.
There it is.
It says, Anderson recommends that at least 50% of the cable
is unwound from the storage position.
This is normally the typical situation to connect to the car.
So it's not something one really needs to specifically consider.
Oh, well, I've been doing wrong.
OK, because I think because my so my charges right up against
the wall of my house, which is right next to my driveway.
So I literally just I unplug it from my child.
I've got a zappy.
So I unplug it from that.
And I literally just go straight into the the Jeep Avenger
that I've got at the moment.
So I don't really unravel any of it,
unless we've got to park something further along the driveway.
Well, well, the the official answer from from the big bus
of Anderson Chargers is that it is that 50% is ideal.
Oh, there we go, Roy. OK, there you go.
Roy, like Nick said, bravo.
You are so organized.
I reckon he's a spreadsheet guy.
Oh, do you know what I mean?
He's like, let me get a holiday itinerary and let me get a spreadsheet out.
He's obviously that guy.
I'm I am literally the person who has the car for three months
and has to use the rapids before I finally get around to ordering it,
because I am not the spreadsheet woman.
And I love somebody who's like that.
Honestly, I've I've had the Jeep Avenger now for a month
and I still haven't set up the app.
Just so disorganised.
I will do it this weekend.
It's interesting, isn't it?
Because I know, like, we get a lot of messages and things about
when you run long term as can you set up the app?
When you have a car for a week, can you set up the app?
A, we don't always get the logins,
because it's not it's often not as easy as you think,
because the press cars that might be with us for a few weeks
and then they go to somebody else, we often don't get the apps.
And I've started, obviously, now I've got loads of mates who drive EVs
because I bully everyone I know into doing it.
And if they don't drive an EV, then I threaten to not be friends with them anymore.
Oh, good. Yeah.
I think that's quite a fair thing to do.
Yeah, that's nice.
But I was having a chat to a group of EV owners, friends of mine,
who are a bit like me and you, like they love the EVs,
but they're not down the rabbit hole and they do you know what?
They don't even think about what efficiency they get.
Yeah. So and I said, oh, how do you find the apps?
And not one of them had downloaded the app.
And it is interesting, isn't it?
Because I think, you know, for some people, the app is so important.
Yeah. And apps can make life so much easier.
And particularly, you look at, you know, Tesla with that.
And Tesla apps, brilliant.
So many apps are good, but so many people don't.
And I would love to know if you're listening and you're an EV driver,
are you an app person?
Do you app or do you not app?
Do you app to app or not to app?
To app on.
That's the question.
OK, nice you're done.
So let us know and we'll read some of this out next week.
But yeah. Anyway, by the way, what's the what are you loving the adventure?
And my other question is, how on earth did you manage to keep that out
with the hands of Manos?
And he's he when I told him about it, he didn't talk to me for a couple of hours.
I was like, I hate to break it to you.
But my next long term is a Jeep Avenger.
And he went, oh, and then he just went silent.
He was really upset about it because he loves that car so much.
And do you know what? It's cracking.
It's good. No, it's such a great little easy, just so easy.
Everything connects as soon as you sit in the car, connects instantly.
And do you know what? I mean, range wise, I mean, I always need a little bit more
because I end up on the motorway more than anybody else, really.
Like I live on the M25, M4, M40, whatever.
But I've been getting around 180 to 200 miles, which is obviously, you know,
less than you would expect. But because I'm on motorways,
I don't think that's a bad thing, considering I'm at 70 mile an hour
most of the time. And it's the indicators are nothing but a joy.
We do love those indicators.
Such a vibe.
We haven't done an indicator thing for a bit.
Remember, there was a phase where you used to mention indicators
in every single video you did.
I feel like we need to still do it.
But I think, you know, Manos and Johnty now just cut them out
because they're bored of me talking about it.
How dare they?
How actually dare they?
If you're wondering about a comment about Manos, Manos has been with us since the beginning.
He's he's in our video team along with the lovely Johnty, who has just joined us.
And Manos has a full on crush on the Jeep Avenger of all the cars.
I mean, literally, he's been in pretty much every EV that's been on sale
over the last six years, 56 years, and he's obsessed with that car.
Obsessed, you know, like even when like he goes abroad to different places
to go and film other bits, if he needs to hire a car, he hires an Avenger.
I know he does.
Oh, I know.
I know how cheap it was to hire this Avenger.
I'm like, I really don't care, Manos. Please go away.
Bless him. Bless him.
And right, there's gone some more comments and they were talking about
sort of charging deserts and OACs, OACs.
Places with lots of charging or no charging, basically.
And John Nudge, 4327
Isn't that a good name, John Nudge?
John Nudge. I like that name so much.
Anyway, John said, being a Cornish resident,
I know of a rapid charger location just off the A30 of Mid Cornwall,
which has 700 and fifty kilowatt charging bays
at a very decent 52p per kilowatt hour,
which is never for this.
It's basically unknown.
And I noticed, John, that you haven't shared the location
and I go to Cornwall all the time
and I've been rocking my brainstorm.
I think which one it is because I go down the A30.
Come on, John, share it.
Yeah, but sometimes people don't want to share.
I know. Do you know what I mean?
Like, if you find a really good charger,
you kind of want to keep it to yourself sometimes.
I know, I know.
Do you remember when certain shopping centres and places
used to offer free charging
and people were always really cagey about telling you about that?
Yeah, yeah, for themselves.
Yes, I understand that.
God, does anywhere offer free charging anymore?
Because I used to love there was a there's a multi-storey car park
at the I think it's the Eden shopping centre in Oxford.
I might be wrong on the name of the shopping centre. Free charging.
Nice. You used to go and do loads of shopping in Oxford,
even though it's a bit too far to drive for me,
because I could charge there for nothing.
I can't even think of there is one anymore.
I can't. I can't.
Anyway, let us know any any charging tips as we're approaching
the summer months and I know it might not look like that.
If you're looking at the window,
let us know any any top charging tips around the UK.
See, I can't say that.
Right, we've got a message here from Ken H 63.
Maybe he's a George Russell fan. Who knows?
And I know that they're called cup holders,
but surely they are for water bottles.
Coffee stays warm for about 10 minutes.
Water keeps you hydrated for the journey.
We all buy coffee for a journey. Come on.
But I always put coffee cups in the coffee cup holders
because they're just cup holders to hold your cups.
Unless you're in an LP in 1890.
Exactly. And then it has to sit on your lap between your legs.
Yeah, try not to spill.
And as I reported recently that burns you.
So yeah. Yeah.
Anyway, and also, can I just say you're not buying the right coffee cup
because I have a drink in the car with me every single morning
and sometimes the drunk is still worn at the end of the day when I'm coming home.
You've got a Yeti, haven't you? I've got a Yeti.
I've got a massive Yeti.
And it's not a plug for Yeti because I buy them and I lose them all the time.
But it's so good. Keep warm.
So Ken H, your coffee will stay warm for a lot longer than 10 minutes.
If you get one of those. Shut your face.
You know what? You and I haven't chatted about the luce for our luce, have we?
Oh, cool. Yeah, I hate it.
Let us now hold back.
Yeah, I'm spotting.
There's been some comments that have come in.
Comments. It's still rolling in.
It is. It keeps on giving the luce.
It's, you know what? I've tried.
I tried, right? I've looked at.
I've watched every video I could and I've looked at every photo that I could
and I'm just like, what on earth have they done?
I know. I'm just, I'm not.
I can't. I just, I can't.
I know. It's a no from me.
There were two that really made me chuckle.
So I'm going to read these two out because they said they just keep coming.
One from SWR 112.
The new Ferrari would look brilliant if it was a 50 K Honda electric,
but not a Ferrari.
I was like, but it would really would.
Because there was there was the Honda Sony car that got rich.
Do you remember they were doing this car, Honda and Sony in a joint venture?
Oh, yeah. And then they they dropped the idea really quickly.
So I actually saw that car last year out in Los Angeles at the Motor Show.
And I was really like disappointed in it.
But if they'd shown me that with a Honda badge on,
with all kind of Sony stuff inside, I'd have thought it was cracking, blooming, brilliant.
Yeah. So I'm a Ferrari.
I'm down with that.
And then the other one, Christopher Nunn 1536 Ferrari Luce looks like a wireless mouse.
And it does look like a wireless mouse.
Have you seen it from above?
There's some brilliant stuff.
I can see what you mean.
Yeah. I know that.
Yeah. It's it's terrible.
On your marks gets it terrible.
I do keep the comments coming, though, because, as I said, the gift that keeps on giving.
The flies just come into the room.
Oh, Nick, it's fine.
The hopefully Larry will catch it. We'll carry on.
So I don't catch his flies.
I thought it was just mine.
Ziggy's or Sassie catching flies.
I find it really weird.
Yeah, but it's bad if a wasp comes in.
Yes, don't do that.
Don't be stupid.
Yeah. Anyway, we digress.
So people have been ranting.
It's not just us ranting.
People have been ranting about dealers, haven't they?
Yes. Right.
So this is a message from Paul Paul.
That's a Paul D 7 8 2 7, who says, I've had two MG EVs.
The first, the facelifted MZ MZ ZS MG ZS, I'm assuming.
And my present one, the MG S5 EV.
The cars are great, but the dealers are awful.
I think I'm probably going to go for a JQ next.
Oh, that's interesting.
How bad are they?
What's going on?
So this was on the back of that great story that I think it's on the website.
And they talked about on the podcast last week, which is a friend of our parish,
who you and I know, Mr. Steve Fowler has set up a brand called Carblare,
where people can leave reviews of cars and stuff.
Good website, it is.
And they were sort of early results were coming back and saying that,
actually, the new Chinese brands and terms of customer service,
people were really happy with that.
And we and then we had lots of messages in sort of agreeing with that,
disagreeing with that.
So we've had a message in from DFID7 Tura, wonder what car you're in.
When I was test driving these nearly two years ago,
I found the most attentive dealerships to Viscoda and VW,
as they seem genuinely interested in their products and in giving me a decent test drive.
Ford were not far behind, although not quite as attentive.
I found BYD to be quite arrogant, only offering a chaperone driver on the block,
which is not what you want.
Hyundai were poor too in what they offered and the whole test drive experience.
But this was probably due just to a poorly managed local dealer.
But it does show that it still sadly really hit and miss, isn't it?
And it's not even like certain brands are good and bad, I don't think.
You can just get a bad experience sometimes.
And I know in the long term review of the Renault 5 that I did,
and I think this may have kicked off this whole conversation
because I was talking about it on the podcast a while ago,
that friend of mine bought one and got absolutely no hand over whatsoever from the dealer.
I mean, she came away like literally not knowing what Regen was.
Oh, I know.
What a shame.
I know, so it is very hit and miss.
Well, if you're a dealer, you need to start watching Electrifying
because then we can give you information about cars that clearly you don't know about.
And you need to pass it on to your customers, you're welcome.
There's another one here from Tony Sava, N4E, who says,
I don't agree, I went into BYD in Milton Keynes and the staff didn't even acknowledge me and my wife.
And then you've got JJ's.
JJ's?
Ray Jones.
Ray Jones 9231, who says,
I recently went to three Chinese dealerships and found that the salespeople
knew very little about the cars that they were selling.
I knew more from watching YouTube videos.
You see, this is what you just need to watch Electrifying.
And you're good to go, babes.
Yeah. And then Fingalbat, who's a regular, had commented on that.
Obviously, watching Electrifying YouTube videos.
Of course.
Of course.
Fingalbat, what a great name.
I know, we love Fingalbat.
And Kis Paul Stanley, who's another regular, said,
I found the same with many cars I bought from multiple brands.
You should do your own research on the car before visiting the dealers for test drives.
And that is what we're here to help you with.
And then David Jones, JZ9SB said,
it's not just Chinese I bought on Audi a few months back.
They were absolutely clueless.
Oh, we have a positive.
Yes. A positive one.
OK, this is from Todd Thorpe, who says,
a big shout out to DM Keith BYD in Leeds.
Shout out.
Push, push.
And I popped in to have a browse and was very impressed with their knowledge.
And no, I didn't buy a car or have any connection with them.
I think it's important to check the products in person.
But that all sounds very positive to me.
So that's nice.
Shout out to DM Keith BYD in Leeds.
It is. And we're going to end with one from SWR, who just said, to be fair,
I find that just the norm with most dealers, regardless of brand.
It was actually refreshing at a Renault dealer recently
when I was looking at the new five and the guy said, do you know the car?
Do you need me to explain anything?
If you do, just give me a shout.
So it's all you need, isn't it?
It doesn't have to be rocket science.
It's that ask the question, but also then have the answers
are very important things.
Yes. Yes, yes, yes.
Stunning. Yes, yes, yes.
So we've got videos coming from you next week on things we can't talk about
and things we can.
What? Wait, what have we been?
What? Wait.
So, OK, so you've got the Renault four plan, so that's going to be coming out.
The twin test with batch.
Yes, the seven seat twin test with batch.
That was the Mercedes GLB versus the 5008
So actually, it's quite a good video.
Yeah, that was a seven seat test.
So that's coming out next week.
I have got a crash test video, which is on the channel now.
Yeah, yeah.
So go and check that one out.
So we were in China and let's just thought, you know,
and we know that loads of people, the big questions they have around batteries
and what happens when an EV crashes.
So we're like, OK, let's just show them.
So we went and filmed a crash test, which is really interesting to that video.
That's very cool.
That's very cool. And we've got loads of stuff coming up.
So if you want already, do subscribe to the channel.
If you're enjoying their podcast, make sure you watch our videos too.
Yeah, subscribe, tell your friends.
Subscribe wherever you listen to your podcast as well,
because it's always nice to have the numbers.
It is. It is.
And it's been it's been very nice to catch up with you, Nicola.
I'll see you in another six weeks.
Yeah, I'll see you in the sky somewhere.
I'll see you at Goodwood for an hour.
There we go.
If you're coming to Goodwood as well, let us know and what you spot.
We'd love to hear your thoughts on the Festival of Speed,
because it's becoming a little bit more EV friendly now, which I quite like.
So there's loads of great stuff happening,
and as I said, we'll be reporting on that over the next few weeks.
But as always, keep your questions coming, car buying questions,
anything you want to have a moment about.
Podcastatletofind.com.
Drop us a comment in the comments below.
We do read them all.
We do. We do.
We do. We do get upset about some of them.
If they're horrible, we might delete them.
But yeah, we don't. We don't.
We don't delete them. We just don't read them.
We've got to keep them there, because it's good for the algorithm.
Absolutely.
So thanks very much for joining us.
We will see you next time from us. It is.
Bye.
Bye bye. Bye bye then. Bye bye.
Bye now.
Bye. Bye. A whisper bye in your ears.
Bye bye.
Bye then.
You take care.
See you next time.
I enjoy your weekend.
Bye bye.
About this episode
A trip to Barcelona for two car drives kicks things off, including a Renault 5 variant with a canvas roof and a later comparison to the hosts’ own EV’s one-pedal driving and WLTP-matching efficiency. The conversation then turns to Polestar troubles—charging failures and a Polestar 4 that wouldn’t “come alive”—before diving into Norway’s Elprie range-testing and Kia EV2 results that beat WLTP. Kia’s PV5 seven-seater, Peugeot’s E2O8 GTI speculation, and practical EV charging and deal talk round it out.
This week on the Kilowatt Half Hour, Ginny and Nic are back with tales from behind the wheel, fresh EV news, and another packed mailbag.
We’ve been driving some of the hottest new electric cars around, including the Alpine A290, Renault 4, Polestar 3 and the eye-catching Renault 4 Plein Sud. We also chat about the world’s biggest real-world EV range test and reveal which manufacturers exceeded expectations when the batteries met reality.
Elsewhere, Kia opens the order books for its seven-seat PV5, Peugeot gives us our first look at the new E-208 GTi, and we round up the latest videos landing on the Electrifying YouTube channel.
In Bargain of the Week, we uncover a tempting Volkswagen ID.7 Tourer lease deal and a nearly-new XPENG G6 that’s already shed £10,000 from its list price.
Our Electric Virgin of the Week features Hollywood star Jason Momoa and his electrified Land Rover project, while listener Roy gets in touch with a practical question about home charging cables and whether they need to be fully unwound before use.
Plus, your comments on hidden charging gems, cup holders, the controversial Ferrari “Luce”, and why dealership experiences can vary wildly depending on where you shop.
Got a question, comment or EV dilemma? Get in touch at [email protected].
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