Episode 91: EV bargains, bongs and the trillion dollar bonus

Hello and welcome to your weekly recharge of all the latest electric car news brought to

you by the team at electrify.com. On the podcast this week, we're going to be talking about

cars that bong and how the Black Friday bargain seemed to have come early. We'll also be

dipping into the post-bag to find out what you've had to say and answering all your

car buying questions. Welcome to the Kilowatt Half-Hour, I'm Ginny.

And I'm Tom.

How are you, Tom? It feels like an age since we've been on the podcast together.

I know it is an age, isn't it? Well, I did one with Mike last week. The boy's got a

chance, but no, we haven't been doing it for ages, have we?

We've not, we've not. So it's been a lot happening this week, isn't it? Every month

that seems to go by this year, we're like, oh, God, it's going to be quieter. And it's

just not. The rate at which new cars and launches are coming is quite extraordinary,

isn't it?

Yeah, and some really interesting cars, aren't there? Lots from China, obviously,

but the Europeans are fighting back too. So I have faith.

They are, they are. So should we kick off with some of the new things that we've seen

this week? Because it's been, it's been a week of deals, hasn't it, really?

Yeah, the news stories where you kind of go, well, that's cheap.

Yeah, or quite affordable at least. Yeah.

So you saw the Twingo.

I did see the Twingo. I went to see the Twingo and that video is now live on

the YouTube channel if you haven't had a good look at it. And I think the funny

thing with the Twingo is it's almost identical to the concept car.

And isn't it refreshing to have that? Because so often we see these things

and then they don't look anything like the concept car and it's a little bit

disappointing. It's very, very close in how it looks.

I think there's only two things on it for me. A few remember on the concept

it had this kind of little sort of three almost like cylindrical sort of dials

on the top of the bonnet on the concept that sort of were just just stood up

slightly. And there were throwback to the details on the original car.

And it would have been really nice if it had had some kind of maybe charging

indicator or something like that. And instead, it's just got three oblong

pieces of plastic, one of which has this quite complicated plastic thing

that you hook in to remove it. And then in there is your compartment

for filling up the water, the wiper fluid. And the thing for me is

it's this little black plastic kind of like a, it's like a wheel nut kind

of thing that just opens it up. I'll have lost that first day I've got

the car. So I hope they give loads of them to you. The only other thing

that I didn't love about it with the handles. The handles have come

just a bit too big for the cuteness of the car. I'd have loved to have

those circular handles. Yeah, did you? Yeah. Also, it seems

slightly strange because it's a five door. And of course, the very

first original from the 1990s was a three door. And the Renault

five has hidden door handles at the back, doesn't it? So it still

looks kind of three doorish. So I don't know why I just didn't

give it those. I don't know if they're more expensive or you

would have thought that they could have been much cheaper to

use the Renault five once. It's a it is a real shame. And

that thought did cross my mind as well. But I mean, they've been,

you know, they've delivered on a lot of promises, actually, it

does look like the concept. They've said it's going to be

under 20,000 euros. They've not confirmed pricing in the UK

yet. But certainly in Europe, it's going to start at under

20,000 euros. If you do the conversion on that, it should

be about 17 and a half thousand pounds. They're not

confirming it. But I have been told off the record that we

should be pleasantly surprised is all they'll tell me. So I

reckon it's going to come in at around 18,000 would be my

guess.

Pretty good, isn't it? Make it one of the cheapest out there.

And right hand drive, of course, because the original one was

only left hand drive, which was a tragedy in my eyes, because

that was a great time between go.

Yeah, it's I mean, I think the thing is inside for me, it

was really it's really sweet inside. It's got a lovely

interior. If you haven't go and check out the review either

on the website, hopefully we'll have some pictures here. It's

got that big cylindrical shaped dashboard, which is really

lovely. And one of the things I really like is they've devised

their own alphabet for Twingo, their own typeface. So and

that is and it's repeated around the car. So you've got

it like in the headliner. And you've got it in the the

carpets down in, you know, what do you call that? What

do you call those things, Tom? I'm having a it's a

Friday afternoon, the garbage that go down at your feet.

Yeah, yeah, and the font is really fun that they've they've

developed for Twingo. And then it's got all the accessories.

You've got all the accessories on the Renault five, sadly, no

baguette basket. But what it has got is, do you know, the

you clip accessories that we get in dashes, the clip in the

car, they've they

Yeah, so you make it individual. Yeah, they that you can

get those now on your bit going to be able to get those on

the Twingo. So those little accessories that you can clip

into the boot and various places around the car. And

they've got things like little shopping bags that you can

clip on or ties to keep your charging cable. Nice and

tidy. It's just a really nicely thought out thing. And

yeah, it'd be interesting to see how well it sells

because the range is modest. And it's got tiny little

LFP battery in it. Not a lot of range. But for me, I think

it's it's absolutely right for the kind of car that it is.

And presumably there's going to be a Nissan version. Is it

going to be a Nissan? Oh, God, let's not get Nicola on that.

I wonder how different they can make it because it doesn't

look very Twingo doesn't I suppose the Renault five looks

like a Renault five and they've kind of managed to disguise

it a bit to make it a micro, haven't they?

They have. Yeah. Nissan's going to slap a Nissan badge on it.

Now talking Renault's my neighbor, my next door neighbor

has got she had some problems with it. She got Renault five

had some problems with it. So rejected it. And then for a

while thought she was just going to keep her Zoe, but

has now gone out and bought another Renault five and

she's got a Roland Garros special edition, which I

didn't really know existed. But you'd be very

it's lovely. It's got special bits on it, including you know

that the gear selector that look is meant to look like a

genel lipstick. It's wrapped around to look like a tennis

racket. It's very

so nice. So nice. Yeah, that that spec is going to be

available on the Twingo as well, that Roland Garros. So

once you go. Oh, yeah, there's yeah, so that will be

the very top spec on the most expensive version. And that

is it's the very, very top spec isn't it on the on the R

five. Is it available on the R four as well? I can't

remember. I don't know. I don't know. It's got sat in

paint as well, which is quite makes it just a little bit

different. Oh, did it make you want one? It does make me

want one, but she's got a Zoe, which has a battery

lease. And it's a 68 plate. So not that old 31,000

nobody wants it. The Renault dealer didn't want it back

because of the battery lease. So it's interesting that that

was a that was a big mistake, a big sort of blind alley,

wasn't it doing that battery leasing? Yeah, there weren't

many, you know, when you look at those early days of

electric, there weren't many things that you look back

and you think, oh, I really didn't work. But that

really didn't work. Did it? It was just confused

people so much that whole concept and still doesn't I

think it keeps down Renault Zoe prices because people

aren't quite sure if they're getting a battery lease or

not. And they have to do all sorts of questions. You

have to explain it to people. They just don't

understand why there are some which are, you know,

1500 quid and another one which is three and a half

thousand pounds and they appear to be the same age

in mileage. So, you know, I think it holds back. I

spoke to a couple of dealers wanting to know if they

wanted to buy it and they're like, oh, battery

lease. No, thank you. So I won't make that take

you again, will they? I won't. So it wouldn't be a

weekend electrifying life if we didn't have the launch

of a new Chinese electric SUV, would it, Tom? Yeah,

it takes confusing, doesn't it? I mean, I need to

have a little list of them and keep learning them

about how to pronounce them as well. I know. Well,

we have the definitive on this because for a

long time, we were unsure if this company is a

Geely or a Geely. And even people within the

company were slightly unsure as well because we

heard it pronounced different ways, but it is

indeed Geely. So the Geely EX5 has dropped this

week. We have been to see it. Depending on when

you're watching this, there may be a first look

video on here on the YouTube channel or it will

be about to arrive if you're watching this

before Sunday. And we have a full review over

at electrifying.com. So yeah, Geely EX5, it's

sort of a rival to Chinese cars like the JQ E5,

the MG S5, cars like the Citroen EC5,

Škoda L-Rock, our car of the year, the Kia EV3.

So it is, as I said, another sort of Chinese SUV.

And I think that you are going to, I strongly

suspect, get used to seeing this brand on the

roads because the pricing is really strong on

it. They've come out the blocks hard, haven't

they? They have. I watched your video and thought,

well, first of all, thought that's cheap and

also lots of bings and bongs, of course. I looked

at the screen and thought, is that the same as

the Volvo EX30s? I know they say that it's

completely different to the Volvo EX30

underneath, completely different chassis, but I

think that all the sat-nav and stuff might

be the same. Well, it may share some back end

technology, but certainly on the screen it's

different. Yeah. If you're a Volvo EX30 owner,

please watch the video and let us know. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, I was told that everything on

it is not, there isn't a crossover, but you

know, you never know with those things, do

you? So should I just run through the pricing?

Because I think it's really worth talking

about. So there's, the entry-level car

starts at £31,990 and the top spec,

which, you know, you're so used to Chinese cars

being incredibly well-speced and these are

really well-speced. I mean, even the entry-level

has got adaptive cruise control on it, for

example. So anyway, the top spec max, that's

£36,990. So that already puts it, you know,

up there against rivals in the class, makes

it very competitive. It undercuts cars like

the Peugeot E3,008, but Geely has done its

own grant. So obviously, Chinese cars are not

eligible for the UK government electric car

grant and loads of them have done their own

grants. So we've got the Geely grants. The

numbers on this are quite extraordinary. So

you get £2,300 off the entry-level SE, £3,200

off the Pro. That top of the range car

gets £3,750 quid off. And there's more

because if you're trading in from a petrol

or a diesel car, they will give you an

extra £1,000 part-exchange discount on top

of the price that they're quoting you for

the car. So you get that off. And then,

so if you add all that up, that means up

to £4,750 quid on the range topper. So

that's bringing that car down to, you

know, the money that you'd pay for

entry-level cars on a lot of its

rivals. So again, it makes it a really

good deal. Then they're also throwing in

£500 towards an Anderson home charger on

those top specs. If you can't charge at

home, you get a £500 ElectroRus public

charging voucher. So it's a very, very

strong deal on that. Now, we were

looking at the numbers. They've got

some really good deals on PCP on their

own deals. Leasing, they're not coming

out as competitive at the moment, but

I think what we'd expect to see with

that is it start to level off and start

to come down. So, yeah, I think it's

going to be really interesting to see

how that one goes.

Yeah, I wonder why these companies

don't just do what MG did in the end

and just say, look, we're just going to

cut the list price. Because if you

think about it, if you're a company

car driver, you get taxed on the list

price on the P11D value. And so you're

going to get taxed on a higher price.

Now, okay, with electric cars, it's

not that big a value. And it's going

to be a few quid a year. But I still

don't get it. I mean, people, I

suppose, just like the discounts, don't

they? Like when you go to Tescos and get

the club car price.

I think it's the psychological thing

I really do. And I think it's also,

you know, like we say, it's this time

of year, it's Black Friday, it's deals,

it's, you know, the minute you tell

me I'm getting 20% off something, I

want it far more than I did yesterday.

You know, it's, it is, it is what

we're like. But yeah, it was, look,

my favorite thing in the car was,

and they're probably going to get

upset with me about this. It's got

a massive junk drawer under the

backseat.

It's brilliant. Oh, yes, I saw that.

Yeah. Oh, I loved it.

What classic car had that little

drawer underneath? Had baskets underneath

actually.

Oh, I don't know, Tom.

I don't know.

Shall we let people guess? Put the

answers in the comments below.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah. OK, we'll tell them on the next

week's podcast. A very iconic, very

iconic British car had baskets

underneath the backseat when it

launched. What was it?

It's not quite, it's not quite

baskets under the backseat, but it's

just a massive drawer, a massive

pullout drawer that you could keep

your snacks in.

You could keep your special things

in.

It's quite rare.

Because normally it's full of

batteries, isn't it?

Honestly, I just think that's an

absolutely genius.

What I didn't love as much with the

bings and the bongs.

So my goodness me, it's got,

it's got just about every kind of

safety, you know, safety

safety kit on it. You could come up

with.

However, they, as we've seen a lot

with Chinese cars,

the calibration doesn't quite work

for UK roads and it's quite

difficult to turn the systems off.

So it's a keyless entry,

you know, you're straight in, it's,

you know, car stops automatically,

put it straight into, into drive.

The problem with that is every time

you park it, even if you're just

kind of, you know, for a second,

everything resets.

So every single time you want

to go again, you've got to go in

through submenus to turn the systems

off. If you forget,

they are very, very intrusive

because they're calibrated for

Chinese roads, which are not like

ours, which are wider and bigger.

So I was told that there will be an

over the air update coming, which

will hopefully should address that

because it really was going on at

me. It was like, like being, you

know, driven, it's like having the

world's best driving instructor in the

car with me.

Literally, keep your eyes on the

road.

You know, it's telling me off the

speeding when I wasn't speeding.

So yeah, it's surprising, isn't it?

Because I think that the chassis was

tweaked by Lotus engineers, wasn't

it? Who knows? It was about

chassis, but maybe it wasn't

switched on when they were testing

it in the UK.

It would have been terrible,

presumably.

I mean, if you can, you can turn

it all off, right, the start.

So presumably that's what they did.

They turned, they would have turned

it all off.

The problem it becomes when

you're doing what we're doing,

which is driving and filming,

then you might stop to look at

something else on the car.

They keep coming back on.

So it's, you know, to have to go

through that rigmarole every time

you get in the car of turning them

all off. I mean, I don't get me

wrong. I think safety systems are

brilliant.

But they don't need to be

intrusive.

You know, loads of cars have them,

all cars have them now.

And there's so many examples I can

think of where they work really

well. The Renault in the Renault

Renault systems, for example,

you know, they're there, they

remind you, but you're not

getting a shock every time they

come on. I don't feel like I need

to turn them off.

And what was the other car that

we have that was really very

intrusive on the safety systems?

Was it a Leap?

The Leapmotor?

Leapmotor C10 was pretty

undrivable, wasn't it?

It was.

So I do think it's mainly to do

with calibrating the systems

for the different roads that we

have in Europe. But yeah, I

think, I think it's go check

it out, have a look at the

video.

I think it's it's a pretty

impressive package for the

money, actually.

Now, talking of grants

and impressive packages,

so the Citroen EC5

Aircross Long Range

has been announced as the third

car to get the full

three thousand seven hundred

and fifty pound government EV

grant.

Yay, another one, finally.

Yeah. Yeah, but it's only the

long range of us. And so the one

with the big battery because

that battery is built in France

and therefore is considered more

sustainable or has better tracking

than the short range version where

the batteries built somewhere else.

Now, the odd thing about that is

they haven't actually announced

pricing for it.

But we can assume that at least

the entry level model will be

below thirty seven thousand

pounds because it has to be to

get the grant.

So if you imagine that it's

going to be, I don't know,

thirty six nine nine five or

something, and then they're

taking three thousand seven

hundred and fifty quid off.

That's going to be a cheap car

and it's going to have a four

hundred and twenty two mile range.

So you think four hundred and

twenty two miles for

what, thirty three grand.

Yeah, that's that.

It's very compelling.

That isn't it.

But then it's just that weird

thing, isn't it?

That, you know,

that, you know, we're going

to end up in this situation

again where the entry,

where they say the bigger

battery is cheaper than the

entry level.

It's only the second car,

isn't it, that's been eligible

because isn't the other thing

the Ford Tornado?

Is that right?

I might say it's a Tornado,

but it's a Tornado with windows.

So it's the passenger version

of the Tornado and the Pima, of

course.

So, yeah, but the leaf will be

we assume.

And that battery is going to

go into other Stellantis cars,

isn't it? So presumably other

Stellantis long range models

will then eventually get the

full grant as well.

Well, you'd imagine so.

So grand land, that's quite

competitive, isn't it?

They seem to have done this weird

thing with Peugeot, where the

3008 and the 5008 are now

considered prestige and

therefore they're like ten

thousand pounds more than the

Citroën, which I just don't

get really.

I'd love to know what people

think of this.

Do you consider that Peugeot

is a premium brand?

Because that's like you say,

you've got family in Australia,

haven't you? In Australia, I

know Peugeot is thought of as

the same.

It's like a French luxury

brand and it's considered in the

same breath as like Jaguar or

BMW is like, well,

I was like over there going, I

don't understand what you mean

it's a prestige brand.

It's one of the cheapest in the

UK.

It's funny, isn't it?

How that works? Because you're

right, they are absolutely like

moving themselves into that bit

of the market. But then also

Jeep is as well.

You know, Jeep considers

themselves within the whole

that whole Stellantis range as

the kind of the, you know,

the car that we're a bit more

desirable. I don't know.

I don't know.

Interesting. Let's know what you

think in the comments below.

And as always, please email us

podcast at electrifying.com.

If you've got any car buying

questions, if you want to have a

comment on what we've been

talking about in this week's

podcast, we'd love to hear from

you.

OK, so yes, it has been the

week of bargains.

It's also been the week of

trillion dollar bonuses,

hasn't it? Or trillion dollar

pay packages.

Goodness me.

Could only be talking about Elon

Musk. Yeah.

Yeah. So should we put on our tin

hat before we talk about Elon

Musk?

I suppose capitalism

is in the way that

if you do well, then you get

rewarded for it.

But that does seem like quite a

lot of room. I mean, what would

you do with a trillion

dollars?

Honestly, I mean, but you'd like

to think you'd do something

incredible with it, wouldn't

you? Like, you know, solve

world hunger or, you

know, provide drinking water

for, you know, the

20 percent of the world's

population that don't have access

to clean drinking water or whatever.

But I don't know what he'll do.

He'll probably send some more

rockets, won't he?

But he does have to do a lot to

get that, doesn't he?

Because it's actually not.

It's it's it's a massive

bonus. It gets this payout if

he hits some huge targets,

one of which is selling 20

million cars a year, along

with a million robots.

He has to get 10 million

people subscribing to

the Tesla autopilot system.

They need to make a four hundred

billion dollars in profits.

And Tesla's market value needs to

go from one point four

trillion dollars, which is what it

is at the moment to eight and a

half trillion dollars.

So it doesn't come without

some fairly punchy targets.

But you know what? Knowing

Musk is going to do it, isn't he?

Yeah, he probably will.

Or there'll be some like get

around like the robots will

be six inches high or

something. And so

if you haven't got a trillion

dollar pay packet, there

those are some of the electric

bargains that we've seen this

week. Have you got Barnards

bargain for us, Tom?

I have indeed.

So a used one.

I spotted a twenty

twenty two five hundred

a red, which is all in

capitals. You know, that's the

kind of it's an alternative

based on the middle version of

the fifth five hundred.

It's not actually red.

It's metallic gray, but it has

like red accents on it.

Oh, nice.

Quite nice.

Five thousand three hundred

miles. It's got the bigger

forty two kilowatt battery, so

it's quite usable at a

ninety seven percent battery

health score, twelve four nine

nine. Now, the thing about the

five hundred is that when it's

new, it's always the one I

use in comparisons for things

like your your Geely.

So it says it's twenty seven

grand. You think, well, that's

the price of a mid range

five hundred eight because they

are expensive, new but used.

It's a great level of the

used car market.

It's a twelve and a half

grand. I thought that was that's

quite affordable.

Nice thing, isn't it?

It's that's a really decent

price as well. And it wasn't

again that long ago that we

were starting just to talk

about, you know, good buys

that were coming in under twenty

thousand pounds and we're

actually now starting to see.

I was I was looking on the

used car listings recently.

And it's it's really

impressive, the cars that

you're getting now for that

sort of eleven, twelve,

thirteen thousand pound

bracket, isn't it?

You know, it's more and more

used cars are starting to

filter in.

You are starting to see

some really strong buys now

secondhand.

I'd be tempted by that.

Have you got a lease deal for

us? A leasing one.

So it's the same one as last

week just because it's still

around. And I it's such a good

deal. So MGS five EV twenty

four month deal, eight thousand

miles a year, put two thousand

pounds down, two hundred and

twenty seven pounds, nine

nine a month.

I mean, it's so cheap because

the next car the next car of

that size is kind of three

hundred and fifty quid.

So you want something like a

VW ID for it's another hundred

quid at least. It's it's nuts.

Won't last long.

And that and that's where people

like brands like Julia are

going to have to be keen on

their lease prices.

They're going to have to really

try and get those down because

of course, that's a direct

competitor for the ex five

that we've just been talking

about. But all of this

influx of new brands is great

for pricing, isn't it? Great

for competition.

Yeah. I mean, Leap Motor,

that was the the bargain a

few weeks ago, wasn't it?

And they were super cheap,

but they've they've sold loads.

So they'll be out on the road.

People will see them, say,

what's that car helps get their

brand recognition up and then

they can sell some at proper

prices, they'd hope.

Does they are those on the

deals on the deals page over

Electrifying.com?

Yep. So they're the MGs on

there. I think Leap Motors

now fallen off because the

deals aren't quite so good.

But yeah, that's where you

will find all the the keenest

stuff.

OK. And now we're going to

ask a little favor of you,

our listeners.

If you're watching the

kilowatt half hour on YouTube

or on your tablet or on your

phone, it'd be brilliant.

If you could head to Apple

Podcasts Spotify, wherever it

is you get your podcasts,

give us a follow over there

to maybe even leave a comment.

We'd really appreciate it.

And share it as well with

your EV curious or converted

friends to so they can enjoy

it as well.

We do do. Right.

Let's move on now to your

comments and your questions.

As always, we'd love you to

leave the comments if you're

watching on YouTube to leave

them in the comments section

below. Or if you're listening

on your streaming service, you

can email us podcast at

electrifying.com.

So we've had an email in from

Nile Porter. Hello, Nile.

How are you? Niles says,

hello, Ginny. Always watch

your reviews. Thank you for

that, Nile. I recognize

your name actually, Nile,

from the from the comments.

For the BMW IX3, 500 miles

is very impressive.

But I have an Audi Q4 Sport

model. And when you turn on

the heater, it goes from 180

miles to 170 miles, even

with the heat pump. Will the

BMW be the same?

No, it won't.

Well, because it's completely

different technology in this

car. So this is one of the

clever things that BMW

has done with this is the

battery technology is

completely different. So it's

got this cylindrical battery

cell technology. The easiest

way to describe it is imagine

lots of little duracell

batteries, all cylindrical

and all in together. And

that's what they're doing with

it, which means that it's

less expensive to make. So

this is why the IX3 is, I

think it's around 5,000

pounds cheaper than the

outgoing model. But they're

also promising that it's

going to be very efficient

too. We'll be driving that

car soon. We'll of course

report back on efficiency.

But also, Tom, in our

experience, that some of

those Audis have not been

the most efficient, have

they? They're using a

different kind of battery

technology to this. And

we've definitely, you know,

it's the thing we'll talk

about within the team quite

a lot. Do you remember the

early e-trons, they were

not efficient at all, were

they? No, no, especially in

the cold. And there are, of

course, tricks you can do to

sort of mitigate the having

to use the heater like

preconditioning, using

heated seats and heated

steering wheel instead of

heating the whole car when

it's just you in it, that

sort of thing. Yeah, I think

the interesting thing as well

is to talk about the

heat pump and it's

something we're going to be

looking at a lot more over

the coming months as we

head into winter. Heat pumps

are great if you're a

certain kind of driver. So

if you're doing lots of

long distances, if you

charge up a lot, then, you

know, a heat pump in certain

times of the year will work

for you. Heat pumps for a

lot of people, they're not

necessary, you know, you're

better off like Tom just

said, preconditioning

your car, getting your

car nice and toasty, you

know, when you get in

the morning using your

heated seats. So I think we

were probably guilty of

this, you know, in the

earlier days of EVs as

well, you know, we all thought

heat pumps are the great

thing to have. It really

depends on how you use

your electric car, doesn't

it? Because it takes a lot

of heat from the motors

and from charging and

things to to to heat the

cabin as well from. Yeah.

Right, the next one from the

comments. Yes. Go on. So

sorry. So yes, and I'll

keep watching the video. The

first first drive of that

will be coming over the

next month or so and we

will pay particular attention

to the efficiency. Okay.

Fred blogs from the comment

and possibly not his real

name, but who knows?

We've been waiting for an

affordable small all wheel

drive battery electric

vehicle with similar off

road abilities to our

present Suzuki's no mud

pluggers, but not afraid

of car tracks and wet

med knows, the smart

hashtag Bumper Rabbis

almost meets the

challenge, but it's not

really set up for off

road. Say that again. I'm

not sure the ground clearance

would do the X 30 we

wrote off as the worst car

we've ever driven in

decades poor build quality

software faults and

everything on the stupid

center screen. Yeah, this

left us waiting for the

Suzuki Vitara, which drove

the ultra all wheel drive

okay handling but

surprisingly noisy. My

question would be what

other small and cheap

EVs with a bit of

off road ability are

available or coming

on the market?

Well, hmm. Okay, I mean

it's not going to be

cheap, but the recon

I think is going to be the

most capable off road or

what's that electric off

road when it comes and

that's probably why we've

been hearing it's been

coming next month for

quite a long time. So

that's the Jeep recon

which is effectively the

electric reincarnation of

what the Jeep Wrangler

was and of course famously

every Jeep Wrangler has

to be able to do the

Rubicon Trail, which is

the tough off road course

in California, isn't it?

And they are saying that

this will be the car that

we'll be able to do all of

that, but it isn't going to

be cheap. Slate, the slate

with that if that ever

comes to the UK, I don't

know. That would be great

if it was probably two

wheel drive, but it'll be

quite rugged, won't it?

I mean two wheel drive

in these sort of

situations, especially if

it's car track, then

two wheel drives fine

that you just want the

ground clearance, don't you?

And something like a

Jeep Avenger would be fine

in that situation. A Jeep

Avenger with the right

tyres would be quite good

on a wet meadow as well, I

think. If you do need

proper four wheel drive, I

mean, Toyota BZ4X is

really good off road

and there are some deals

on them, so it might be a

bit more affordable than you

think and the Subaru

Sortera, of course, which

is basically the same car.

Yeah, and I would suggest

that the deals on the

Toyota are going to get

even better because there's

a new version of that, which

we'll be driving over the

next few weeks, actually.

So as always, they'll be

keen to shift the outgoing

model, so you might snap up

some bargains on that.

And talking of tooters,

there is the Suzuki E-Vitara

is the same basic car

as the Toyota Urban Cruiser,

isn't it? So maybe it's

got a different, slightly

different setup to the

Suzuki and it might be

a little bit quieter for you.

It's worth a try, I think.

Let's move on. Now we had Dan

Bracken-Neal again, sent us

an email, which is

podcast.electrifying.com.

Hello, the mobility scheme

update their prices four times

a year, first to January,

first to April, first to July,

first of October.

The moment the advance

payments seem very high.

As someone who doesn't have

our street parking and can't

have a home charger, even

the new type spoken about

in episode 90, I need a car

with a high range so I don't

have to charge too often.

I'm due to get a new car

next July, so I hope the

prices come down for

advance payment.

What are your thoughts on that,

Tom?

Well, what was really

interesting about this was

that Dan also sent me the

link to the Motability

Offers, which I haven't

seen for a while.

So it's like, oh, who's

doing what?

And the way the Motability

works is you do an advance

payment.

Well, you can have cars

that have zero advance

payment, which is obviously

there to incentivize people

or you can put a bit of

extra money towards the

finance and there you can

have a slightly better car.

And of course, the manufacturers

use this as a way to

incentivize cars which are

either slow selling or they

want to promote in some way.

So the ones that have zero

advance payment are therefore

the ones that everybody's going

to want, or they hope

everybody's going to want,

Ford Puma, Jenny,

of course, because it's got

the Grant, Dacia Spring,

you know, would you have a

Dacia Spring or a Puma?

I mean, it's just...

Yeah.

Citroen C3 and C3 Aircross,

Kea Nero.

Oh, that's a good one.

Yeah. Elite motor, which

the small T zero three

and the Vauxhall front era,

which is going to be really

competitive as well.

Now, none of those I'm afraid

that have a particularly long

range if you're thinking

I don't know, 300 miles.

So then you have to go up

to another car with an advance

payment and there weren't many

deals about.

OK, so for example, a Renault

five, the advance payment on

the Renault five is four thousand

two hundred and ninety five pounds.

So that's no deal at all.

That's really chunky.

I wouldn't it be good if there's

the the C five.

We've just been talking about

the Citroen C5

that now qualifies for the big

discount, the big government grant.

I wonder if that is going to

make its way onto the scheme.

Because that would be great,

wouldn't it?

Yeah, with the range, the whole

thing might even be

I'd be I'd be thinking about

holding out for that personally.

And see what comes out.

But I did look at the deals and

didn't think there was anything

particularly special, apart from

those. I mean, a Puma just

would be a great car.

But I don't think it's going to

have the range you need.

So I would wait and see what

comes out.

They always do.

The deals always arrive, don't

they?

They do. They do.

They do. Absolutely.

OK. What else have we got,

Tom?

A Sleepjombie.

Interesting. Yes. OK.

A Sleepjombie, which is a

great name.

So so there's an episode about

tires be interesting.

So perhaps you could do a segment

on tires and vehicles that

are sustainably better on smaller

tires. Now, this is a bit of a

thing of mine.

So I'm very pleased that

Sleepjombie said this.

I must admit, I bought my

Keri V6 and started watching

YouTube videos.

And I didn't know about it

before. I had no idea that

bigger tires are seemingly

ridiculous from a comfort and

officially efficiency

perspective.

I can't believe anyone would

sacrifice these for looks.

So I never even considered it.

I always presumed bigger tires

were better.

Well, you kind of would, wouldn't

you? I mean, it's not a serious

thing to assume.

No. And big tires are better

for grip because they've, you

know, if they're actually

physically bigger, then they

grip more. That's kind of, you

know, what you'd expect.

But if you have low profile

tires, they have less squidgy

sidewall and they're not as

good on potholes and

bumps. But you do feel more

in the steering. So there are

trade offs. There are reasons

why big wheels, other than

styling, are used.

And why car manufacturers,

especially ones who want a

sporty feel, will use them.

But I'm too old.

I'd like squidgy tires.

I would sacrifice the blingness

to have the better ride

and also on electric cars.

Do you remember on an Audi

e-tron?

I think we looked at it and the

difference between the smallest

tire and the biggest tire was

like 35 miles on the range.

It was a long range, isn't it?

Can you imagine thinking, am I

going to get home? No, I'm going

to have to stop.

And change my tires.

Get them, get them.

Get the small tires out for the

longer journey.

You're on a long journey and

think, yes, yeah, change the

tires for your journey.

Just so you get like.

Yeah, you go to Leedson back

with something.

Yeah, ridiculous.

It's interesting because I

talked about this in the

Twingo video because the

Twingo has got 18

inches, which are big for

a little car like that.

They look gorgeous, though.

They completely fill the wheel

arches.

And because it's such a little

cute thing and you've got, you

know, the wheels pushed right

out to the edges of the

platform.

Visually, it looks great.

And I did say in that video,

you know, you can spec 16s,

but you just wouldn't on that

car. You would just you would

just you would.

I think even you, Tom, would

take the trade-offs

on the Twingo because the

18s just look so nice.

No?

I'm not sure.

I look back to the days of that,

the 205, the Peugeot 205

GTI, the 1.9 version

had 15 inch wheels in

everyone's mind. Oh, and now

there's 18s on the Twingo.

It's I mean, 18s on the

Rotorigo.

Oh, dear.

Let's start to wrap things up

with a comment from Stan

at Kangaroo Island TV.

Yes.

A good friend, Stan, who lives

in Australia at Kangaroo Island.

One day we'll go and see you, Stan.

Well, he said, yeah,

he says, I think there should be

a swear jar for every time Tom

mentions Tesla in the same way

that you have when you mention

the the Skoda word.

And I'm surprised.

I'm surprised that I don't think

I was I think last week

I was saying the model

Y was quite a good car

and how

I don't I wouldn't say that

disappoints me.

I was just surprised that it was

such a good car because, you know,

we've been, I suppose, trained

to think everything Tesla does is

bad. But no, I didn't think

I was going on about it too much.

I certainly wouldn't say I'm a Tesla

fanboy.

But but Stan, we will keep

an eye on it.

Absolutely.

And, you know, if I've got an

any square jar, then I think it's

only fair that another member of

the team has one.

It's interesting because the video

for that has just gone live,

hasn't it?

And

I think to be fair, we've got to

say Tesla's a good cars.

You know, yes, we may not always

agree or like the politics, but

we've had this conversation on

the program, on the program, the

podcast and on, you know, videos

and all kinds of things. But you

can't deny the charging network is

fantastic. The cars themselves

are, you know, good to drive.

Yes, they're very, you know, they

look the same.

And they're not the exterior

isn't changed that much

dramatically that often.

But they do what they need to do

really well.

I mean, I could certainly live

with the Tesla every day.

I really could. And then we've

had, you know, we've had models

on the team that have done

hundreds of thousands of miles.

We have that one that had done

half a million miles.

So they do what they need to

do. So yeah, I think we do have

to give credit where credit's due.

So maybe Elon will get

his trillion dollars

because you're not going to bet

against him getting his trillion

dollar bonus, are you?

Absolutely not.

And on that note, let's go

off and say enjoy our weekends

and say goodbye to everybody.

Thank you so much for joining us.

We'll be back next week with another

episode of the Giliwot half hour.

Please do drop your comments

in the comments section below

or email us podcast at

electricmine.com.

Thanks for joining us. See you next

time. See you next time.

Bye.

Episode 91: EV bargains, bongs and the trillion dollar bonus

Renault Twingo

Renault ZOE

Galaxy Geely Ex5

Audi S5

Kia EV3

Chevrolet C10

Bmw Ix3

Audi Etrons

Suzuki Vitara

Jeep Recon

Jeep Wrangler

Dodge Avenger

Toyota bZ4X

Evitara

Toyota Urban

Ford Puma

Dacia Spring

Citroen C3 Aircross

Chevrolet C5

Citroen C5

Peugeot 205

Volkswagen Gti

About this episode

Original notes