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
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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
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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.
Bye.
About this episode
A lively discussion covers affordable new electric cars like the Renault Twingo and Geely EX5, highlighting their design, pricing, and features. The hosts debate the impact of government grants, battery leasing pitfalls, and the challenges of intrusive safety tech in Chinese EVs. They also explore the latest EV deals, off-road capable electric vehicles, and the efficiency of heat pumps. Listener questions address range concerns and tire sizes, while the episode closes with reflections on Tesla's strengths and Elon Musk's massive bonus targets.