“Run-in” is the idea that when a car is brand new, you should drive it gently for a while. The question here is whether electric cars still need that kind of careful start.
This references the traditional break-in practice for new cars—driving a set number of miles gently before stressing the drivetrain. Modern cars (including EVs) often don’t require the same strict mileage-based break-in, but the idea is still commonly remembered by owners.
RPM is how fast the engine is spinning. During break-in, people often tell you to keep it under a certain RPM so the engine isn’t working too hard too soon.
A turbocharged engine uses a device that forces extra air into the engine. That usually makes power show up earlier, so the engine feels strong even at lower RPM.
A “gearbox” is the transmission system that changes gear ratios to match engine speed to road speed. The speaker describes early gearbox feel—“clunky” and “notchy”—which can be more noticeable on very low-mileage demonstrators before break-in.
Enterprise is a big car-rental company. The point here is that even if a car has only one “owner” on paper, it may have been driven by many different people.
The Kia EV2 is a future electric car from Kia. The podcast says someone has seen it but hasn’t been able to drive it on normal roads yet. It’s mentioned because it’s coming soon and people want to know what it will be like.
The Kia EV3 is an upcoming electric car. The podcast mentions it because it seems to be closely related to the EV4, so they may feel similar. It’s being discussed as part of Kia’s next EV choices.
Suspension tuning is basically how the car’s ride is set up. Different settings can make the car feel softer and floaty, or more controlled and connected to the road.
The infotainment system is the car’s main screen and electronics for things like music, maps, and phone connection. The host says theirs has been glitchy and even crashed.
Volvo is the car brand being criticized here. The speaker is saying it feels wrong that even a Volvo requires several screen steps to turn on fog lights.
Harman Kardon is a company known for car audio systems. Here, the speaker setup takes up space in the dashboard area, which makes it harder to add a head-up display.
Speed sign recognition is when the car tries to read the speed limit signs and tell you what the limit is. Here, it seems to get the limit wrong for a long stretch of road.
A “sandwich floor” is a design where the important parts sit between layers of the car’s structure. For EVs, that often means the battery is placed low and protected, which can improve safety and driving feel.
The MEB platform is Volkswagen’s “electric car building system.” If VW updates the platform, it can change how the electric parts fit together and how the car works.
They’re describing a feature where the car turns itself off when you get out. In this story, it matters because the music stops when the car shuts down.
Some car buttons don’t just click—you feel a vibration or feedback when you press them. It’s meant to help you know you pressed the right spot, even without looking.
A digital key is like using your phone or watch as your car key. If you walk away without your phone, the car may lock itself and the alarm can go off.
Alloy wheels are wheels made from a lightweight metal, usually aluminum. “Three spoke” describes the wheel’s shape, and the hosts are saying some people love it while others don’t.
SMMT is the UK’s Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, which publishes industry statistics including vehicle sales and registrations. The speaker is saying they’ll wait for SMMT data to see how EV, plug-in, and petrol variants perform in the market.
The Hyundai Ioniq 5 is an all-electric Hyundai. It’s popular because it’s efficient and charges quickly, so someone with one might want a smaller version for everyday use.
Even if you don’t use much electricity, you still pay a fixed daily amount just to have the power connected. If you only charge your EV rarely, that fixed cost can hurt the savings.
A kilowatt hour (kWh) is the amount of energy you’re buying when you charge. If the price per kWh is high, charging costs more for the same amount of energy.
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 Well, here we are, the three amigos. Tom, your
return last week was very popular. Tassie Evie on the YouTube channel said, welcome
back Tom. Next week, can we see Mike? Well, there you go. Your wish is our command. I'm
back. I don't know for how long. Anyway, I'm back and you may notice if you're watching
us on YouTube that we've got a new face with us this week. He's our newest recruit on electrifying.com
and this will be his first podcast with us. You may have seen him on some of our recent social
media posts. He's a very talented Lucas. So welcome Lucas to the pod. Hello. Thank you very much for
helping me. I'm glad to be here. Yeah, sort of across everything. I've done a bit of writing,
I've done a bit of social media and hopefully I should be on some of the long form stuff
sooner or later as well. So yeah, keep an eye out. But here I am for now.
Excellent. Well, welcome to the crew. It's good to have you with us. And thank you also to all
the people who have been typing messages out to us. We've had so many emails since the last pod
and the previous one and loads of comments. It seemed absence maybe makes the heart grow
fonder with our listeners and followers because we've been absolutely inundated. So thank you
so much. But please carry on on doing so. We'd love to get that feedback. Good or bad. So please
continue to send us messages and everything. Now, we're going to start this week, as we always do,
with asking what we've all been driving. But I'm sensing already from a chat before we just
started recording this, this section might be a bit thin this week. Tom, have you been? What have
you been driving this week? Well, yeah, I've been regular listeners will know that last week I announced
that I have a new car, which you know, actually bought and paid for, which is a Cooper born. And
I mean, I've only really had brand new cars before have been company cars or test cars.
And this is the first one of actually, you know, my own money. And I'm wondering, do you have to run
in electric cars? Do you remember like in the old days, you had to do 1000 miles very carefully,
and then you had to take it for a service. It's only really long time ago, but you had to take
everything gently. Do you have to do that with electric cars? I mean, I'm not going to keep it
below 4000 RPM or whatever it is. I'd imagine that you don't. But if there are any experts out
there who know, do you have to run it doesn't mention anything in the manual. So maybe the
tolerances are just enough that you don't have to bother. But I'm taking it easy anyway.
Yeah, they always run in press cars. I mean, I know that they there's always an obsession
with with putting 1000 miles on a on a press car before it goes out to journalists. But I don't
think that I think that's more to do with finding any bugs and glitches in it,
rather than any kind of bedding in prep. But I mean, I'm old enough. And as you are, Tom, to
remember when people used to drive down with a piece of paper taped to the back window would say,
please pass running in. I mean, Lucas is shaking, Lucas is laughing. I was going to say I've not
quite I do remember the days of having to run cars. And I mean, to be fair, if it's still
internal combustion these days, you still do. But no, not not quite that old with with telling
people to pass by. But it's yeah, you have to be quite facidious with these things or at least
you used to be and obviously, you know, that first oil change is just rinsing out all of the
tiny little bits of swath that are inevitably in there from tolerances. And electric cars do have
oil. I mean, some of gearboxes and motor oil still. But again, the servicing tools for that
quite a bit longer than your equivalent ice car, I guess. So no idea really, take it easy in any
case, right? I suppose you used to have to have that sign on the back, because if you had a
Morris Minor or an Austin Center or something, then if you were keeping it below 4000 RPM,
it meant about, you know, walking pace, didn't it? But if you had something more powerful,
it didn't really matter, you know, 4000 RPM in a modern BMW is probably as much as you'd want to
do anyway. I was going to say anything turbocharged and you're hitting peak torque like before 3000
anyway these days. I think it is still a thing with, you know, I went to test ride a motorbike
the way a Royal Enfield and it had 30 miles on the clock, the demonstrator. And the bloke said,
well, it will, it was a bit, you know, clunky on the gearbox, a bit notchy and everything,
but that all eases up after the first 1000 miles. And it was like going back in time to think, well,
okay, I mean, it's a great cover all, isn't it? Because if you buy the thing, you know,
you're probably going to be six months down the line before you've done 1000 miles on a motorbike
in winter. Then you take it back. So yeah, I don't know, it did feel, it was a strange phrase
that I hadn't heard for a long time. So, but I've never had that with a new car that I bought.
No one's ever said it could easy, but. I once got a rental car and it had, they hand it over to me,
there you go. I had seven miles on the clock. And I thought, little car, you're going to be
pleased you got me because I have mechanical sympathy. Okay, drives it like a normal rental.
Don't be gentle. It's a rental unless it's only got seven miles on it in which case,
please, please, please be gentle. I just thought of the poor owner, you know,
you imagine your grand going to buy it after, oh, it's only a six month old nice car. Yeah,
it's been owned by some company. Yeah, it's been hammered by somebody. Yeah.
Yeah, one owner is just that owner is enterprise. Speaking of being old, and if I'm allowed to
slightly kind of go off, go off subject of cars, I was reading in the paper last night,
the iron newspaper, there's a list of things that qualify you as being old, right? And I want to
find out from you to, given that we've got, certainly with me and Lucas, Lucas is a half my
age, I'll be interested to know which of these you actually qualify for. So, right on the list,
using Microsoft Word. Does that make you old? Yeah, it does. This is the, this is the definitely,
this has been written by a young person. So, when it wasn't me, I'll tell you that for free, I still
use Microsoft Word quite regularly. Right, okay, so you're old. Tom, I know you do keep sending
Word. Making phone calls. Do you actually make phone calls? It says nobody under 14
makes phone calls anymore. I do understand the reduced rate of making phone calls, but I still
like to hear a person's voice every now and again. Texting isn't the same. And granted,
a lot of people send voice notes these days, which a lot of the time I despise. So, yeah,
phone calls, I'm old as well. Okay. Yeah, you win this one. Not understanding social media.
If you say yes to this, you're out of a job. You realise that? Yeah, I'm in danger there.
No, no, I get it pretty well, roughly. Okay. Turning off a computer at night.
What? You realise it has a plug, right? Yeah, okay. No, no, no. Do people not turn their computers
off at night? Of course they don't. Nobody turns their computer off at night. Do you turn your
computer off at night? Are you scared it's going to catch fire? I put my computer in
hibernate overnight, so it's not off. Then is it? It's functionally off. You could unplug it,
plug it in again, and it would be fine. But I also have a server, which I leave on 24 hours a day,
so. Right, okay. This is out. Okay. Where else is on it? Oh, emailing as well. Apparently,
that marks you out as old. Is it just because there's the unemployment rate for young people
is so high at the moment that none of us have to email for work? I don't know. I didn't write the
list, but I think you're older than perhaps, you know. I mean, we've really established my love
for classic cars as well. Turning your computer off at night and using my word. We will tell
Jin issue. I think you're still on your trial period, so. Lucas, have you driven anything with
a battery this week and 12 volt battery doesn't count? I have 12 volt battery. Well, to be fair,
most EVs do also have 12 volt batteries in them. Yes, yes. Anyway, I have actually driven a couple
things. I haven't had any press cars in just yet, but I was down at Kia. Well, I was down at Bista
I had a quick look around the upcoming EV2, but haven't been able to drive that on public roads
yet. So I can't comment possibly on how it drives. But it was just nice getting some seat time in.
I've not driven any electric years in the past. As a matter of fact, the number of electric cars
that I have driven is quite small and we're working on that. But the EV3 and the EV4 feel
very similar because obviously they're both EGMP. It's the same platform and functionally,
it's the same chassis as well. But the you can tell the tuning difference between the two as
far as suspension goes. I mean, the EV3 was tuned on the continent. I can't remember specifically
where I believe some ways in Europe. So it's a lot softer and the body feels a lot less connected.
Whereas the EV4 has the same suspension, but the tuning is built much better for British roads. So
everything feels a lot tighter. And I wouldn't say instant. But still, it's you feel more in touch
with the road underneath you. So that was great. But besides that, no, I've not got any press cars
or anything interesting in yet. First press car comes at the end of the month, actually. That's
a Hyundai Ioniq 9. So I've got the barge, the double decker almost bus. No idea where I'm going
to put it. But I'm going to have a laugh in it. So I can't wait for that. But in the meantime,
I've just got my little 987.2 Cayman, which Vicky likes. But I can't say that it's exactly on brand.
We'll edit that bit out. Don't worry. I have been driving a long term, which Vicky and I
were supposed to swap at Christmas, but didn't because we've all been busy. So I've only swapped
with the last week. So I've got a Volvo EX30 cross country for just over a month. And yeah,
it's I went on the EX30 launch years back, feels like years back. And it was half finished. It was,
you know, it was buggy, the steering on all wheel drive cars was terrible, but really nice on
rear wheel drive cars. It was, you know, it felt like it needed another six months of testing before
it should have been unleashed on the public. And it is a lot better. It's, it's, it's actually
really nice to drive the steering is really nice. It's an all wheel drive one. So does it need 460
horsepower? No, it would manage perfectly well with half that. But it's nice to have, but it generally
works out. I mean, there's still the main issue is that no buttons, one big screen. Was it that one
that had the infotainment issues at launch? Or was that the fault? Yes, it did. And they promised us
that it was all entirely going to be fixed by the time the first customer got their car. And it runs,
it's crashed twice on me. The infotainment system. Yeah. So and I think it's that's, I think it's
the carplay that's triggering it, which is a really clunky integration. But I think it's probably
been done under sufferance because it's a Google based system is still so it's imagine they kind
of did it as a we have to. So it's slightly kind of clunky. And I dare say they'll probably blame
Apple for it, tripping the system at times. But yeah, it's okay. It's just, it's just really,
you know, if you want to turn off the lane keep assist, it's a two stage lane keep assist, you
can turn off the likely emergency one. But the other late one is three menus in before you can
turn that off. And as soon as you try to turn something off, it beeps at you because you're
not paying attention. So you have to turn the attention thing off. But you've got no option
because you've got to look at the screen to change things because there are no buttons.
So it makes you one way or the other. So that's irritating. I don't think that's
an easy fix because I think it was the fog light that got me because yeah,
that's two menus in. Yeah, yeah, I was driving came across a fog bank tried to find the fog light,
realized it was in there nearly had an accident and then came back and there was some poor
engineer lady who was in charge of all the software and stuff and said how did you find it?
And I didn't hold back and she looked a bit crest forward. I just thought that was dangerous
for a brand like Volvo to have you have to go to a screen and tap three buttons in order to turn
the fog light on, which is something that you it's not like, you know, changing the radio
station where you can say, well, you should do it when you stopped. Yeah, turning the fog light
on is something you have to do genuinely on the move. And you might glance down and press a button
and that's all it should be to have to go in a foggy situation is bad.
Yeah, I mean, it desperately needs a head up display, but I can see why they can't fit one
because you've got this dirty great Harman Kardon speaker bar across the front of the car.
So you can't easily integrate it into the dashboard and that's kind of what it needs because
the speed, you know, sim that's the size of the speed font is, you know, it's not tiny, but it's
not huge. And you've got to take your eye off this looking dead ahead, see what speed you're doing.
It's also terrible at recognizing speed signs. I mean, the entire distance of the A34, it thought
we're in a 30 zone, the entire distance because it didn't get any other kind of clue that we weren't.
So obviously it doesn't read off GPS or if it does, it's on a very old map.
The A34 may have been 30 miles an hour 60 years ago, but it's
so yeah, so there's some baffling kind of bits of software, but it is a way
better idea. I am enjoying it more than I thought I would. So yeah, looking forward to getting a few
good looking things. It's very nice and cross country is lovely because you got the black wheels,
which I know you don't like, Tom, but um, yeah, I kind of, but they're dull colors. There's kind
of gray or sort of muddy gray. Those are the, I think, white and black. So that's, you know,
didn't do that yellow sort of color. Yeah, in the normal one, that's gone, you know, it's like,
I always think that we know if you buy, if you buy cars, you really like colors,
you have to buy them in the first six months before, because like the white interior on the
ID threes and ID fours all disappeared because nobody ordered them apart from me.
This is first six months or 10 years later. Yeah. So we end up with, you know, kind of
plain colors that actually people actually buy. There we go. Been a busy week for news,
as usual, in the word of electric. Tom, what's anything caught your eye? Well, the thing that
caught my eye was the return of the Audi A2, which I remember the original one went on the
original ones launch. And they showed it, you can have a look on the website, they showed a
silhouette of it, kind of lit from behind. And it does appear to be kind of the shape of the old
Audi A2. But I suspect that's all it'll have in common, because the original Audi A2 was
very innovative, wasn't it? It was made of aluminium, very lightweight. There was one which did
three litres per 100 kilometres, which was, you know, sort of 98 MPG or something on that diesel
engine, and lost them loads of money. So although it was revolutionary and way ahead of its time,
they didn't make any money on its side. Imagine that this one, I'm guessing, is just going to be
based on Volkswagen ID Cross and Cooper Ravel style platform will be an electric car that's
fairly conventional, in the same way that Audi Q4 Eutron is, you know, basically the same as an
ID4 underneath, isn't it? So I think it'll be a posh Volkswagen ID Cross, I'd imagine.
I've owned an A2 and I loved it. And it was a car that was almost crying out for an electric,
because it always had that sandwich floor, didn't it? It kind of was already kind of
built for it. Are you spending time in an A2, Lucas? I've never actually driven one, but I've
always looked on them from afar with great awe. I think they're brilliant. I mean, obviously they'll
do silly master-gallon. They're really intelligently designed. They're Alibody.
I say intelligently designed to a degree, because we all know how you put screen wash in those things,
and how you have to sort of remove the bonnet if you want to do any service work. But besides that,
they're really great to look at and they're really well put together. And I for one am a big fan of
cars that look the way they do, not because they're not trying to conform to current design standards
or anything like that, but just because it's fun. So it's your fear multiplers, your microlinos and
eyesetters, the A2. I'll try and get this quick. I was at a classic car thing a couple of weeks ago,
Southside Hustle, and AutoCar brought along a Cybertruck. And they put a pull quote from me
in their article. And it was just me being like, yeah, I'm glad it exists. No, I wouldn't want one.
Yes, it's stupid, but I'm glad it exists just because it looks different. And the same sort of
lineage applies to the A2 for me. Okay, yeah. Tom, do you remember, was it motoring folklore?
Is it something that's grown up as a secret? I mean, when Volkswagen were talking about doing
the three liter Lupo and the three liter Audi A2, there was a story that's doing that they did the
rounds at the time that Renault was also developing a three liter Clio. But they were talking about
a three liter engine Clio, but they got wind that Volkswagen were developing a three liter Lupo.
So they thought we've got to be ahead of them on this. So when the Motor Show came.
Yeah, so it was a Paris Motor Show and I was there and I went on to the Volkswagen stand
and a chap called Wayne Bruce, who was at the time at Volkswagen said, can you spare us a couple of
hours? And I said, well, probably, yeah, I can give you some of the stuff that we said, right,
we'll come with me. And we've got in taken to a Volkswagen transporter and gone went to a heliport
and we went from the back of the Paris Motor Show to the Saram test track, which was just outside
Paris, where they had these three liter Lupo's for us to try. And they had heard that there was
this three liter Clio, not realizing it was a mid-engine three liter V six, they thought it was
going to be the same thing. They wanted to get ahead of it. Under the, the boss had said, you
have to get ahead of Renault here. And we drove it around somewhat bewildered, got back in this
helicopter and went back to the Paris Motor Show and went in and I looked a bit shocked and people
were like, what? I said, I've just been to a test track and a helicopter. Like, what? Well,
we had no warning of this. I'm like, it was really bizarre. It was the engine in the Lupo for three
years. It was the three cylinder. And yeah, 1.4 diesel. I mean, it's the same engine that was used in
the A2 anyway. They just, the semi-automatic gearbox on it, the chain Europe, the obsession
with it. Yeah. Yeah. So it's really three. It's not even the same class as the Clio, is it?
A Lupo is a lot smaller. Yeah, there was just this obsession at the time with getting cars as
economical as possible and three liters per hundred kilometers consumption, which you worked
out about 98 MPG was this thing that they all wanted to do. And Volkswagen were there with the
the Lupo, but they also did it for the A2 TDI. But it was ridiculous to drive. I mean, it kind of,
you imagine this diesel engine, it just goes, and you're being like sixth gear on one of those
semi-automatic gearboxes doing 15 miles an hour. Is it going, what's all this about?
It's some sort of American semi-truck. Yeah. So yeah, I'm glad that story was real because it
was actually motoring. I was there. We were just thrown into this helicopter and taken to a test
track. Amazing. Speaking of Volkswagen, the new story that caught my eye this week was the fact
that the ID3 is going to get a facelift. And you're not listening to this two years ago. It's
actually going to get its second facelift. Now, Tom, you know cars as well as I do. Can you remember
another car that's had two facelifts in its lifespan? Oh, there will be one. There'll be
things like Saabs, which have lasted so long. We're going to, but it is very rare.
Yeah, okay. Yeah, I'll take that. I mean, yeah, I can't feature it. 10 year life spans they might do.
Yeah, I'm not talking about sort of model year updates, which often many, maybe.
Old many. Yeah. Yeah. Are we going about that far? No, anyway, it's not a quiz.
Yeah, so it's going to be officially revealed next month. So yes, the reason why it's having
the same cars having a second facelift is because, A, they're introducing some other
updates to the MEB platform. So you're going to get a vehicle to load for the first time,
which is what, five years late, some other bits and pieces, other bits of tech that's
moving in. So you're going to have keyless entry, proper keyless entry. So you can open it with a
phone or a watch or anything a bit like this Volvo I'm saying at the moment. And it's also,
it's got to carry them through to the point where ID Golf is going to come, which is 2028, I believe.
So there's no point building a whole new ID 3 that's going to take you through to golf. It's too
early for golf. So it's kind of, it's two model strategies trying to meet up in the middle,
really. So I think that's why I'm looking at the picture. It's on the site now.
There's bits of it that look like the original ID 3, Tom. So I'm wondering if they kept the tooling
from that first generation one. Leave it at this time, wasn't it? Hope everyone's forgotten it.
And then suddenly put the bumpers back on from the first generation one. They could save, save,
you know, so it's an interesting thing. It doesn't look that different, I would say from the front,
but who knows? I've seen, I like the ID 3. I think it's a good car, but I've realised I'm in the
minority with these things. But I don't mind it. I just always preferred the Bourne. That was the,
the Bourne just seemed a better car, a bit like the ID 4 and the Enhyak. You know,
you just have the Enhyak, wouldn't you? Unless you... A lot of it is just down to the early cars,
having really silly infotainment stuff with sliders and all of that sort of jazz and
capacitive steering wheel buttons and all of that. Yeah, I think there's an element of truth
that my buzz has all those haptic buttons and sliders and nothing, nothing's backlit. So at
night, you just, it's just, it's just nothing. Nothing else fumbling around in the dark. Yeah.
And then that for a few years. So yeah, it's, yeah, it is, it is partly that. And I think buttons
are going to come back on, on Nio as well, because it's all the, all the sort of new design language.
Yeah. So we'll see. Actually, talking of those buttons, one thing about the Bourne,
which I'd kind of forgotten is that it doesn't have a key that you, you know, turn or even
a start, stop button. You just get out of the car and it's off, which is fine, except that
my mrs likes to have her music loud. So she pulls up onto the driveway and she opens the door
and the music's still loud and it doesn't stop until she's gone out the car.
So I'm like, what's the film?
It is a bit like that. And she, she has to turn it down using the haptic buttons,
but she hasn't worked out yet entirely. And of course, on those, you can't just go like
rip with a knob to turn it down quickly. You have to go stabbing at the buttons.
Yes.
That reminds me, I have a question for any ex 30 owners who use the digital key, so it's on your,
it's on your phone or your watch if you're using that.
At the weekend, I pulled into the car to go and get a newspaper. My wife decided
what you were going to sit in the car. She doesn't need to come in to come up with me
to go and get the newspaper. So I effectively took the key with me. So as I walked away,
the car locked because it's not with me. And of course, within three seconds,
the alarm goes off because there's motion inside the car. I need my phone to be able to pay for
my newspaper, but I also need the car to stay unlocked. And I haven't found a way of
I'm switching off that, you know what I mean? It just locked and as soon as it locked,
they hit the clunk of it. I thought, right, it's going to go off. Can we just rewind a bit there,
Mike? You know, you were talking about, you can tell you're old.
Buying a newspaper. Buying a physical newspaper made of dead trees. You went and bought a
newspaper. I buy two newspapers every Saturday. Yeah, on the way back from Paran. Yeah, that's
what it does. Makes me old, doesn't it? Yeah, the way back from Bowles, was it?
Going round and round and tea. Hey, I like undigging. And I went to an old stately home.
Yes, parents do. Garden Centre Cafe. Nice National Trust. Yeah, Garden Centre Cafe's a call too.
Yeah, well, I guess everything comes back into fashion at some point, doesn't it?
Going to cruise hill from time to time. Okay. We're rattling on. Lucas, what's
called your eye this week in the news? Oh, that would be the new Astra, the new Voxel Astra.
Firstly, looking at the thing, the green that they had at the launch event was absolutely
gorgeous. And Tom, I know you and I discussed this as well. Those lovely Nova GSI looking wheels
they put on it too. Yeah, three spoke alloys. They're always a bit controversial, aren't they?
It's maybe it's just a car, car geek thing, but the three spoke alloys are in the max power era.
Which is a little bit, yeah. But there were big star boners that would take you to task for that.
They weren't in the max power era. I was sort of born at the end of the max power era. So yeah,
make of that what you want. But even still, the main point about that, that Astra launch is that
they now have complete parity between all different drivetrain choices. So the electric
version costs the same as the plug-in version, which costs the same as the pure internal combustion
version. And I think that's great. I mean, it means you just get to make the choice based on
how you drive, how far you drive, you know, what your values are in the car. And you are not penalized
for going electric or for going plug-in. Which is great. I mean, I think that's sort of emblematic
of the curve that a lot of new technologies follow in many different spaces, but cars do it too.
And the take EVs, for example, early days, they're really expensive and really judging by where we
are now, they're not that good. Whereas as time goes on, the good ones get cheaper and the cheap
ones get better until eventually you meet in the middle. And that's exactly what's just happened
with this Astra as well. And it's a great turning point because it means that, you know, the choice
is down to the consumer. Which actually now I say that it will be very interesting to see
how the sales figures go between the three different power trains or drivetrains, right?
Because it's no longer that you have to pay the premium to go electric. So now that that's
more accessible, will we see a larger market share for the EV variant of that new Astra?
We'll have to see. Wait for SMMT to come out, I guess.
But it's come a long way, hasn't it? I mean, we think that Corsa was always kind of like the
poster boy for the price difference, wasn't it? Because you'd always say a petrol Corsa was X
amount and the electric Corsa was always, it was almost like six grand more, wasn't it, Tom?
It was. I always remember you used to say things like, I remember Tesla Model 3 used to be the same
price as a top spec Corsa electric. And it was like, well, this is ridiculous. And you'd say to the
Vauxhall people, how come it's 42 grand for a top spec? And they say, well, that's not the transaction
price. It's like, well, it doesn't matter. Yes, cost to run, cost to run, all this.
And now the 27 grand, they just had to have a good think about it, didn't they? And work it out.
And if you look at the leasing costs, we're looking at the the bargains every week. And it's
always a Vauxhall that's at the lowest. And it used to be Astra sports Taurus or something.
Then Grandlands are ridiculously cheap. And now it's the front era, you know, they're like 20
to be a week or something. It's also worth considering that the the Astra does also qualify
for the EV car grant. So you'll get another 1500 quid off that as well. So even cheaper, perhaps.
Yeah. And I think this parity thing is even the brands are starting to get proud of it now. And
Escoda always said that LROC was on brand parity with Karoc, which is similar and Epic will be the
same as Kamiq, which is, you know, small, small SUV, they're all no bigger sellers. You know,
so it's kind of, it is getting there though, which is not the point where it's just a little bit
more now. It is the same. Will we see it go the other way? You know, will we see electric stuff
become even become cheaper? I don't know. Mayhaps. I mean, it's a it's a simpler thing to put together,
right? So basically comes down to bill of materials at this point, like, what's it costing? You want
the difference? Will we end up cheaper? I guess any time will tell.
Indeed. And tying those two stories together beautifully, Escoda's and cheap cars.
Barnard's bargain this week, Tom. Yeah, well, I spotted an ENYAC, which Ginny would love. It's
one of her favorite cars, but and it's £364 a month, which doesn't sound particularly
bargainous, but it's the 85x sport line, which might even know these things. That that's
absolutely top of the shop, isn't it? That's a 50 grand car. Yeah. Yeah. 4x4. Yeah. That's
8,000 miles a year. Yeah. So yeah, that'd be quite a nice thing.
Very much so. Very much so. Shall we do some comments and questions?
I've never driven one, so I have to take your word for it, but it definitely is.
Well, yeah, I think it's one of the things, if you if you say you don't like an ENYAC in Ginny's
it a shot, then you might be looking for a new outlet. Well, I have to get behind the
wheel of one at some point. So we shall see. Maybe not. No, it's easier than that. Just say you
agree. That's the best way. Yes. Yes. Yes. Sorry. I tell you. It seemed it's great until proven
otherwise. But there we go. Tom, sorry. Yes, I interrupt. We've had loads of comments.
Comments and questions. Yeah. Yeah. From last week. We have one from Ohio. So we were talking
about Ohio and Buckeye, which I'd never heard of the Buckeye, but it's a tree and a nut, apparently.
I have to search it out. It says, hello from Ohio. Hello. I wanted to chime in to agree with my
Ohio neighbour from last week's poll. I'm very jealous of the smaller cars you guys get in Europe,
especially the upcoming Ioniq 3. As a current Ioniq 5 owner, I'd love something just a little
bit smaller and more efficient. Ginny, the fall here is definitely amazing. I think he means
autumn, doesn't he? Yeah. After you move to Ohio, make sure you grab an EV with all-wheel drive
for the winters, though. Thanks for all the content. Keep up the name banter so we keep
getting the kilowatt hour. Yes, I think we're adding that word again, aren't we?
Yeah, I think we are. And I'll add the name off with some Andy Miller in Ohio. So thank you
very much for messaging in Andy. Lucas, you got anything else? Right. My comment comes from
Alistair Johnston. He said, great to have the podcast back. You were missed. Some of us genuinely
wondered whether work had swallowed you up for good. I've been on Good Energy's EV charge
tariff for the past year, a simple setup with five hours of cheap overnight charging that suited me
perfectly. My fixed term has just ended and I've been told that the tariff has now been withdrawn
for both renewals and new customers due to the situation in the Middle East. That means I currently
can't access any good energy tariff with the low overnight rates, which is pretty frustrating,
that I can understand. And honestly, it feels like a step backwards for EV adoption.
Have you heard of any other suppliers doing the same? It seems like the wrong signal at the time
when we should be encouraging people to switch. Now, this did fly around the office as a topic
earlier this week, didn't it? And it seems that there's quite a lot of it going on at the moment,
Yeah, so I wanted to switch. I mentioned this last week that I wanted to switch to
Octopus Intelligent Go because my Coop Pro is compatible with it and discovered that it would
actually cost me more because the overnight rate had gone up to 8p. I had to lock myself in for 12
months and the daytime rate, which I use slightly more during the day still, was 37p kWh rather
than the 30p. I'm currently paying. So I asked Octopus and they said, well, there'll be news
soon. There'll be news soon. And then I looked at all the other suppliers because I do a tariff
update on the website. And there were two who had withdrawn their products completely. So,
So Energy and Ecotricity had just said, no more electric tariffs from us for a while.
And they said we're trying to find something and there will be some news soon. But as of today,
Octopus has said, right, well, we're going to cut the rate from April the 1st to, for me,
5.5p kWh. And Mike, I believe somebody else in the office, Helen, said that she's been offered
4.9. I heard of something else. He's got 3.4p kWh is what they've got in an email. So
they've gone down. But the daytime rate and I think the standing charge has gone up a bit.
So I need to do a spreadsheet to see how it'll affect me. But I did speak to Octopus customer
services today. And the guy said, I think that's only for existing customers, not old customers.
I said, that's not what it says on your website. And he said, I'll call you back, which he hasn't
done yet. Changing the website for you. Yeah, it seems to be an awful lot of confusion. But
I was worried. And it seemed for about a week, it was going to be that we're going to be
in real stuck because it was going to be expensive. But it seems that things are going to get cheaper
for people who can charge at home and overnight by some margin. So don't change your tariff yet,
because I think it's all just about to change quite a lot. I suppose they want to get people
going overnight rather than during the day when there's still some capacity. But I certainly
didn't expect it to go down by no three, three per kilowatt hour in the currency. And I wonder how
all the other companies are going to react. I was going to say these things are constantly
evolving, aren't they? And the rate at which things are changing both here and overseas,
especially at the moment, it means these things are really unpredictable.
Yeah, well, that's the octopus make you sign up for 12 months. And you think, well, I suppose in
the moment, you'll take whatever you can get as long as it's cheap. But I mean, it is changing all
the time, isn't it? And signing up for 12 months seems almost a little bit risky, but perhaps it's not
today. No, that right. I can't see it going a lot lower than that. No, well, if it's if it's going
to be 35 per kilowatt during the day, and five and a half or less at night, I'm going to do night
shifts. I think that's the only way we're going to cook all our food. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Makes sense to Tom. I gather we've got some some people who are new to the
electric, the EV world that we're messing with last week. So Hasbury said I've just bought my first
EV Renault for the comfort and quiet are unbelievable. I'll never go back to internal
combustion. And Pat Regal said this month, I drove my first EV after seeing your Volvo EX30
versus Kia EV3 test. I've ordered the Kia EV3 long range. It was marvelous. So much better than my
Toyota. Our is hybrid. Keep doing your great car tests. Oh, that's nice to know. Okay, so this
is in comments in relation to sort of policy mandates and the big picture about going electric,
which we discussed last week at Mr. Claw UK. So I don't think we should let the market decide
when we switch to EVs. We didn't let the market decide for seatbelts, emissions or drink driving.
If this transition is necessary, give manufacturers a clear roadmap and stick to it. And on the other
side of it, the electric transition, which is the handle on YouTube says, people underestimate
how slow this transition is, even with mandates, internal combustion engine cars will still be
around in 30 years. It's a gradual shift, not a sudden change. And finally, at Pfeiffer, Chris
says, Norway is at 97% EV sales. What did they do right? And why can't we replicate it instead of
watering things down? The Norway thing is really interesting, isn't it? Because they packed in,
well, they decided that they weren't going to use any of their own oil and they were just going to
sell it. And the money they got in for it, they built into the sovereign fund, which is worth
trillions of euros now, isn't it? And that money helped them build the infrastructure for EVs,
which is incredible. But it means they kind of, they dabble in oil in as much as they sell it,
but they don't use it themselves. I don't think that will ever work here. They've got lots of
geothermal. Yeah, they've got lots of hydro as well, haven't they, for electricity generation.
So it's kind of a study. Yeah, and a tiny population.
Cost me £100 more per year. The standing charge is the killer. Well, I'm not sure how that would
work, because in every, there's an article on the website about, I only do low mileage,
is it still worth me going to an EV tariff? And I did the sums and it did, it almost always makes
sense unless you're doing like four miles a year or something to switch to an EV tariff. So I'd be
interested to know the numbers, because yeah, the standing charge and the off the on peak costs are
higher. But if you're driving a car more than 5,000 ish miles a year, I'm sure it makes quite a lot
of sense to switch. So I don't know, maybe DEMPSEX send me your figures and I'll run them through my
spreadsheet. James BB 70 says still using a granny charger after 18 months, works fine,
just slow, install costs are non standard extras of the real barrier. Yeah, there's a chap in the
village with an Nissan Leaf who does about 20 miles a day, he's just used a granny charger,
so it's not worth his investment. Yeah, I've got a neighbour with an i3 who does the same,
just runs a power socket out. And then yeah, six years, I've been doing that, no problems at all.
So yeah, you don't need one. But if you're using a car regularly, and you need that kind of overnight.
It goes back to what we were talking about consumer choice, right? It depends how you drive,
if you're just going around the town, you just pop into the shops, get a cornetto every day,
then you're fine. Which is what we're all doing, we're all popping the shops to get a cornetto
every day. But yeah, I know what you mean, but it's, yeah, and a ground is a chunk of money,
you know, just you outlaid for a car, that'll probably clear you out the insurance will clear
you out. And then think you've got to spend another 1000 pounds to get it. I can see why
people stagger their purchases and just think, well, I'll do that now, or they do the do the
charger first, and then leave it six months and then get the car. But yeah, it is an outlay. And
we all know from having had chargers fitted, those of us who have, it isn't always straightforward,
it is in most cases, but there's usually more kind of shenanigans and faffing around than you
perhaps might think there will be a running a cable from the fuse box to the thing that is,
generally is more complicated than that. So it can be a bit of pain, but yeah, nothing wrong with
a granny charger, as long as your electrics are all we're not plugging it into a spur of a spur
and a 20 year old extension cable, then then you're fine. So yeah, there's no problem with that.
I think pilot woo 3824 goes from a discussion we were having last week says range doesn't
solve the no home charging problem. Cost does a bigger battery doesn't make public charging
cheaper. I get his point. But if you have a 500 mile range, I think you have a lot more choice
about where you want to plug in. So if you're not desperately going from charger to charger or
thinking I need to charge at this one, and otherwise I'm going to be knackered. You might
be able to charge a Tesla point where it's 30 per kilowatt hour rather than at one on the motorway
where it's 95 per kilowatt hour. I think that's where it comes up, or you can make it to your
destination and charge one of those uber tristy lamppost ones where it's 40p, you know, that's
the choice you're being given. It's the it's the same sort of philosophy as it has always been
with petrol cars, right? I mean, you can fill up whenever you want, but we're not always going
to stop at Shell and pay one pounds. God help us all per liter when you can wait a while and maybe
go to Costco, which is saved my bacon a few times and get it 10p under. It's the same sort of story
if you've got more flexibility and you can pick where you charge. True, true.
Andrew in Vanessa says I want to need to be without home charging. I need a real 300 plus mile range
and affordable price not quite there yet. Unless you buy a used one in which case, quite a lot.
It will change, I'm absolutely sure. Gentlemen, I think we must leave it at that point. We're
up to three quarters of an hour. We don't want people complaining that we've been offering
off for too long. If you're still with us, thank you very much for listening to the podcast. If
you're listening to this on one of the podcast platforms, please do give us a review and give
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So that's it for this week. We will see you next time. Thanks very much. Bye. See you next time. Bye.
About this episode
EVs, software gripes, and pricing parity take center stage. The hosts swap driving stories: Tom debates whether EVs need “run-in” care, Lucas gets seat time in the Kia EV3/EV4 platform cars and previews a Hyundai Ioniq 9, while Mike reviews a Volvo EX30 Cross Country and complains about crashes, clunky digital-key behavior, and screen-only controls (like fog lights). News covers Audi’s rumored A2 throwback, VW’s ID.3 facelift with MEB updates, and Vauxhall’s new Astra lineup achieving drivetrain price parity. Listener questions shift to EV tariffs, home charging costs, and Norway’s EV success.
Episode 98 of the Kilowatt Half Hour is here, as Nicola, Tom, Mike and newcomer Lucas dive into the latest in the world of electric cars. There’s first-drive chat on the Volvo EX30, plenty of lively debate, and a packed news section covering everything from Audi’s plans for a new baby EV to the latest updates on the VW ID.3 and Vauxhall Astra Electric. As always, your emails and comments take centre stage, with discussions on EV tariffs, charging costs, real-world range and whether the industry needs stronger rules to speed up the transition. Throw in Barnard’s Bargain, plenty of listener shoutouts and the usual inane banter, and you’ve got another must-listen episode.
