[Poley]

About to pull the trigger on a eNiro 4 for £430 a month over 48 months.

I also have the option of a Kona Premium 64 for £420 but only 36 months, both on lease.

Would you say these are good deals?

The eNiro felt like a lot more car for the price but I am not sure if I should go for the lower term Kona and in 3 years move to a lower price EV (Assuming the price of EV’s around that 270 mile range comes down in that time)

What would you suggest?

Another option is go cheaper on a e208 and save £100 a month and 36 months, only issue with that is I do a 110 mile commute with 80 miles of it on the motorway, not too confident that in the winter in 1 or 2 years the e208 will make it.

Appreciate any advice!

 

[Brian G]

Prices are likely to fall and range will mainly stay at 250 real miles for 'average' cars. Battery technology will improve and cars will get lighter. The Premium Expensive cars will offer range at a price. I don't see the need for range over 250 miles for the majority of drivers your commute is a bit exceptional if you have to do it daily. Is there no prospect of plugging in at work? I chose the MG ZS EV over the Kona. It seemed quieter and more practical in size. I believe it is a little bigger than the E-Niro too? The 160 mile range is achievable in summer and if you could charge at your destination you could save a lot of money.

 

[mikegs]

The eNiro felt like a lot more car for the price

It's bigger than the Kona, but basically the same drivetrain. If you don't need the space being bigger is a negative really.

Is commuting (alone presumably) your only requirement? If family trips at weekends or other uses are a factor then you need to let us know or the advice you get is worth 💩

 

[Poley]

Prices are likely to fall and range will mainly stay at 250 real miles for 'average' cars. Battery technology will improve and cars will get lighter. The Premium Expensive cars will offer range at a price. I don't see the need for range over 250 miles for the majority of drivers your commute is a bit exceptional if you have to do it daily. Is there no prospect of plugging in at work? I chose the MG ZS EV over the Kona. It seemed quieter and more practical in size. I believe it is a little bigger than the E-Niro too? The 160 mile range is achievable in summer and if you could charge at your destination you could save a lot of money.

I do the 110 mile commute 3 days a week. Hadn’t thought about the MG, will have a look. I can charge at work and was planning on mainly charging there. The size of the vehicle doesn’t bother me, just the range. Thanks!

 

[Poley]

It's bigger than the Kona, but basically the same drivetrain. If you don't need the space being bigger is a negative really.

Is commuting (alone presumably) your only requirement? If family trips at weekends or other uses are a factor then you need to let us know or the advice you get is worth 💩

By more car for the money I mean stuff like the heated seats/steering wheel, heat pump for battery and ACC etc.

commuting alone 3 times a week, will occasionally use it for longer trips but I only tend to drive around 40 miles a week on average (outside of commute) if I was to guess. I don’t mind what size the car is physically

 

[BigT]

Doesn’t sound like a great deal to me. Battery technology is currently undergoing constant improvement and three years is a long time. Three years ago I signed up for a Leaf with a 30kw battery and now a 62kw battery can be had for relatively little. In another three years, 300 miles is going to be the new minimum and current vehicles will fall in value as a result.

 

[SueH]

But if the car still does what you need it to and you can keep it then the fall in value is not so important. I've been lurking on this board for ages, but in a such fast moving environment you have to move sometime. I've gone for a higher spec MG at under 22K and the range should do me easily allowing for extra time for longer holiday/leisure trips.

 

[Brian G]

If you look at the MG ZS EV section of the Fora you will see a lot of happy drivers but with some criticisms of the car. Many have been ironed out with software updates now, MG have listened to users. Check out the Youtube vlogs of Bjorn Nyland and James and Kate all of whom have been keen Tesla owners but see the value of the MG. It is a car built to a price but if like me you only care about practicality it should suit fine. I have been 'sheltering' over the last few months so not really getting to enjoy mine (delivery mid May) my one and only long journey needing a rapid charge ended with me using an Ecotricity charger at Clackets Lane where I was delivered 43 kW maximum and took on the 10 kWh i needed in 12 minutes. Pity I hadn't realised it was on free vend or I would have stayed longer.

There have been issues with the recommended home chargers by Rolec so check out Ohme chargers and Octopus Agile.. see below to share £100 if you move to Octopus. Happy to chat privately off post.

 

[Gt6k]

"Most people don't need more than 250miles". Sounds suspiciously like "640kb is more memory than any user will ever need"

 

[Big277wave]

I don't see a dramatic fall in prices in the next 2-3 years. The supply is currently limited by battery production. Yes there are several factories planned for Europe but not many of them are at the stage of putting buildings up yet so it's going to be a year or two before we see a lot more capacity. Then there's mining for the metals required. Cobalt, Lithium and Nickel are all in heavy demand and it takes quite some time to ramp up capacity or build a new mine.

Batteries are getting more capacity at around 5% per year, quite a lot of cars have had bigger batteries fitted. this improvement is an interesting one, the increase of capacity has been partially due to increasing the density of the cells and partially due to better chemistry. With a 62 kWh pack the current leaf can't charge any faster than the original leaf that came out around 10 years ago. It's the same with the Zoe, the larger battery hasn't lead to faster charging and this is probably down to the inability to cool the batteries adequately as the density of the cells has increased.

Consumers expectations of range have increased over the years, when the original leaf came out with around 90 miles range lots of people have said they would be satisfied with 150 to 200 miles range. There was a survey by Castrol published recently which said the average consumer is now looking for 291 miles of range. Will this expectation continue to rise? If so don't expect dramatically cheaper cars.

 

[80698]

"Most people don't need more than 250miles". Sounds suspiciously like "640kb is more memory than any user will ever need"

But it's also kinda true. Most people don't need to drive more than 250 miles on a single charge. And when you start adding more than that you're adding more weight to the battery which will almost never be fully used, as well as the cost for that extra capacity. Batteries are still fairly expensive and if you are insisting on 100kWh for example it's going to put up the price of the car significantly.

People need to be realistic when calculating how much battery they actually need. Someone who drives only 20 miles a day but insists they need a 300 mile range for that trip they make once a year is a great example of this. Save the money and get something that matches your daily needs, and then for that one long trip, either use some of that money to rent a longer range or ICE vehicle, or just deal with stopping at a rapid charger along the way.

It's not like memory where things advance all the time and we can make more and more use with the new developments. The country isn't going to get bigger over the years. People are going to have the same short distance commutes, and drivers needs to stop using range as an excuse to make the switch at this point.

(If you want a new excuse to use, try blaming the state of public charging! People moaning about range resulted in the batteries getting bigger. If everyone starts complaining about public chargers next we may actually see more widespread improvements made to them too)

 

[Poley]

If the e208 has just 20 miles more on the range test from Bjorn I would save money and get that. Is the general consensus that ZS is better than the e208 or 2008? Both I would have to charge at irl and at home. Only the eNiro and Kona I would feel comfortable doing the round trip in the winter.

 

[80698]

If the e208 has just 20 miles more on the range test from Bjorn I would save money and get that. Is the general consensus that ZS is better than the e208 or 2008? Both I would have to charge at irl and at home. Only the eNiro and Kona I would feel comfortable doing the round trip in the winter.

As long as you aren't speeding, and have the heating set at a comfortable warm temperature rather than hot, I don't see why 110 miles would be a problem in such a car. I can manage such a journey in the winter in a Renault Zoe ZE40 which has a smaller battery than the 208.

 

[Jimlad]

Just to throw another one in the mix....If you fancy an estate rather than an suv, the MG5 EV is being unveiled next month and has a 55kwh battery.

 

[SCanfer]

Well if you can charge at work, what about Ioniq, great economy on the motorway. Lease a 38 if you prefer, or get a cheap loan for a 28 if you're on a budget. You''ll get to own a great EV into the bargain!
Either will do your 110 mile commute, you may have to slow down in snow- but we've done 120 mile drives in winter in our 28. See Bjorn Nyland's reviews of the Ioniq in Norway.

 

[Poley]

Well if you can charge at work, what about Ioniq, great economy on the motorway. Lease a 38 if you prefer, or get a cheap loan for a 28 if you're on a budget. You''ll get to own a great EV into the bargain!
Either will do your 110 mile commute, you may have to slow down in snow- but we've done 120 mile drives in winter in our 28. See Bjorn Nyland's reviews of the Ioniq in Norway.

I can charge at work but I can’t have a charger installed at home for a while (renting for next 6 months to a year) so will only be able to plug in to my home socket or get it charged locally. That’s why ideally I would want one that I only have the charge at work and would cover me for evening trips and only need to charge at home/locally if I do bigger weekend trips. That’s why I was looking at eNiro or Kona. Thanks!

 

[MrMoonUK]

I can charge at work but I can’t have a charger installed at home for a while (renting for next 6 months to a year) so will only be able to plug in to my home socket or get it charged locally. That’s why ideally I would want one that I only have the charge at work and would cover me for evening trips and only need to charge at home/locally if I do bigger weekend trips. That’s why I was looking at eNiro or Kona. Thanks!

The Zoe ZE50 fits the bill if you Don’t want the space, 230 miles is easily achievable. I did 210 at 70mph motorway the other day and had 25 left

 

[mikegs]

I can charge at work but I can’t have a charger installed at home for a while (renting for next 6 months to a year) so will only be able to plug in to my home socket or get it charged locally. That’s why ideally I would want one that I only have the charge at work and would cover me for evening trips and only need to charge at home/locally if I do bigger weekend trips. That’s why I was looking at eNiro or Kona. Thanks!

As I said in another thread - buy the biggest battery you can afford, which is going to be one of the 60+ kWh as you are considering Niro/Kona. You really can't have too much while public charging is so fragmented.

You might be able to 'manage' with a smaller one, but if you have other things in your life than hyper-miling while wearing layers of warm clothing it won't satisfy you.

 

[Jimlad]

As I said in another thread - buy the biggest battery you can afford, which is going to be one of the 60+ kWh as you are considering Niro/Kona. You really can't have too much while public charging is so fragmented.

You might be able to 'manage' with a smaller one, but if you have other things in your life than hyper-miling while wearing layers of warm clothing it won't satisfy you.

This is sound advice. Especially as the Koreans are so much more efficient. Having a 60kwh battery in an eniro is probably the equivilent of a 70 in an MG

 

[Sandy]

But it's also kinda true. Most people don't need to drive more than 250 miles on a single charge.

True indeed. This year my longest single trip was 105miles. I had a longer trip planned by CV-19 put paid to that. Most of my trips are half a dozen or so miles. So much so I decided to not charge after Friday and by last night I had covered 170miles in my MG and still had a couple of % left in reserve. Charged up to 85% and don't think I'll bother topping up to 100% like I usually do on a Friday night.

Got a possible trip planned to York area in October If I had a eNiro I'm sure I could cover the 230miles with Zero stops, would take about 4 1/2 hours based on the roads in question. But I'd stop en-route for the kids to stretch and probably have lunch. That'll add at least 30mins to the trip so say 5 hours if we are rushing the break. Or.... 5hrs 45mins if we take a leisurely stop for lunch and charge up to 95% in the ZS. Alternatively stop for 30mins a bit earlier and a 15min splash and dash near the final destination.