Hi all.
I own an all-electric Peugeot Ion and I live in a terrace with no home charger. I bought the Ion secondhand to see if I could make the jump from petrol to 100% EV without going through the hybrid stage. I also have a petrol car. Buying the Ion seemed cheaper than the idea of trading my petrol car in for a hybrid.
I thought my experiences might interest anyone looking at the Ion, C-Zero or iMiev range or older Leafs. There have been a few surprises.
Prep
The Peugeot Ion is a small 16 kilowatt/hour electric car made by Mitsubishi and sold as a Mitsubishi iMiev, a Peugeot Ion and a Citroen cZero. Range is 60-80 miles. This is a winter test so the usual range is closer to 60 miles. It's supposed to be more like 80 in summer. I haven't driven it in summer yet. The car is four years old and has done around 25,000 miles.
Before I bought the car, I listed all the places my wife and I visit. Looking back, this was the best thing I did. Supermarket, town, shopping mall, cinema, railway stations, doctor, local hospital, some friends and family. They're almost all within 25 miles. The Ion has a range of at least 60 miles. So, the Ion looked quite useful. Parking where I live can be challenging so a small electric car made sense.
Charging options (miles)
The battery holds sixteen kilowatts. The charge gauge usefully shows sixteen bars. So I measure charge in "bars". The last couple of bars (15 and 16) take a long time to charge. Range seems to deplete quickly with the last three (1-3) left on the gauge.
These are my local charging options.
Fast charging versus rapid charging
The round trip to the fast or rapid chargers uses 2-3 bars. My realistic range by the time I get home with a max of 12-13 bars showing is around 50 miles in winter because I need to save the last two bars to get back to a charger. That assumes that I have charged the battery fully, which rarely happens. So much of the time, my useable battery in winter is only 40 miles between charges. That should improve in summer. Maybe 60 miles. But in winter it's not much.
Yes/No?
Would I buy the car again? Um... Looking back, I think I should have bought a cheap Leaf although that would have cost more. The extra 10-15 miles of range would have helped enormously. The iMiev is also said to have a bit more range than the Peugeot/Citroen models because it has extra gears that increase the range and take it closer to an early Leaf's range.
Range isn't everything. The Ion's tiny size makes parking really easy and is fun to drive. It handles and steers well. It is deceptively quick at town speeds, has a tiny turning circle and feels quite authoritative entering a roundabout. It just goes. Even my wife, who refers to the car as my "toy" and suffers extreme range anxiety, grudgingly agrees that it can move when it wants to. The boot is quite adequate for weekly shopping for a small family and the seats drop independently. Anyone who has ever owned a 2CV, as I have, will see a lot in common with the Ion. Ions seem a bit cheaper to buy than the Citroen or Mitsubishi variants and for the same money, they're mostly cheaper and newer than equivalent Leafs. All these cars suffer from battery sucking heaters. Thawing out a frozen Ion using the heater hammers the range. Wrap up warm.
Conclusions
Anybody who wants a small electric car like the Ion needs a charger at home or within a few miles. Because they can (eventually) charge the battery up to 16 bars, I find the fast chargers more useful than the rapids even though they are slower. Buy a fast charge cable or get one as part of the deal. A full battery is generally more useful on an Ion than a 20 minute charge time. However, full battery charging on a fast charger takes several hours, so be sure you have something to do near the charger or that you can get back home.
Having said all that, I use my ICE car far less now. I commute by train so unless I'm driving a distance, weeks go by without using petrol. Despite its limitations, the Ion has convinced me that my next car could easily be a full electric. I just need a bit more range in winter than 60 miles.
I own an all-electric Peugeot Ion and I live in a terrace with no home charger. I bought the Ion secondhand to see if I could make the jump from petrol to 100% EV without going through the hybrid stage. I also have a petrol car. Buying the Ion seemed cheaper than the idea of trading my petrol car in for a hybrid.
I thought my experiences might interest anyone looking at the Ion, C-Zero or iMiev range or older Leafs. There have been a few surprises.
Prep
The Peugeot Ion is a small 16 kilowatt/hour electric car made by Mitsubishi and sold as a Mitsubishi iMiev, a Peugeot Ion and a Citroen cZero. Range is 60-80 miles. This is a winter test so the usual range is closer to 60 miles. It's supposed to be more like 80 in summer. I haven't driven it in summer yet. The car is four years old and has done around 25,000 miles.
Before I bought the car, I listed all the places my wife and I visit. Looking back, this was the best thing I did. Supermarket, town, shopping mall, cinema, railway stations, doctor, local hospital, some friends and family. They're almost all within 25 miles. The Ion has a range of at least 60 miles. So, the Ion looked quite useful. Parking where I live can be challenging so a small electric car made sense.
Charging options (miles)
The battery holds sixteen kilowatts. The charge gauge usefully shows sixteen bars. So I measure charge in "bars". The last couple of bars (15 and 16) take a long time to charge. Range seems to deplete quickly with the last three (1-3) left on the gauge.
These are my local charging options.
- Nearest fast charger: 2.5 miles. Middle of nowhere. Nothing to do except go for a two hour walk.
- Asda fast charger: 4.5 miles. I can shop while charging. However, my hour shopping is just enough to charge the battery to cover the journey to and from Asda. So there's little point shopping there.
- Bluewater shopping centre: 4.5 miles. Eight chargers! With shops, a bookshop, coffee bars, cinemas and both Hyundai and Tesla dealers, I can spend hours at Bluewater. It's where I charge most frequently.
- Nearest rapid charger: 6 miles. It only charges the Ion to 72% full. That equates to 45 miles range in winter. Fast but not useful.
Fast charging versus rapid charging
The round trip to the fast or rapid chargers uses 2-3 bars. My realistic range by the time I get home with a max of 12-13 bars showing is around 50 miles in winter because I need to save the last two bars to get back to a charger. That assumes that I have charged the battery fully, which rarely happens. So much of the time, my useable battery in winter is only 40 miles between charges. That should improve in summer. Maybe 60 miles. But in winter it's not much.
Yes/No?
Would I buy the car again? Um... Looking back, I think I should have bought a cheap Leaf although that would have cost more. The extra 10-15 miles of range would have helped enormously. The iMiev is also said to have a bit more range than the Peugeot/Citroen models because it has extra gears that increase the range and take it closer to an early Leaf's range.
Range isn't everything. The Ion's tiny size makes parking really easy and is fun to drive. It handles and steers well. It is deceptively quick at town speeds, has a tiny turning circle and feels quite authoritative entering a roundabout. It just goes. Even my wife, who refers to the car as my "toy" and suffers extreme range anxiety, grudgingly agrees that it can move when it wants to. The boot is quite adequate for weekly shopping for a small family and the seats drop independently. Anyone who has ever owned a 2CV, as I have, will see a lot in common with the Ion. Ions seem a bit cheaper to buy than the Citroen or Mitsubishi variants and for the same money, they're mostly cheaper and newer than equivalent Leafs. All these cars suffer from battery sucking heaters. Thawing out a frozen Ion using the heater hammers the range. Wrap up warm.
Conclusions
Anybody who wants a small electric car like the Ion needs a charger at home or within a few miles. Because they can (eventually) charge the battery up to 16 bars, I find the fast chargers more useful than the rapids even though they are slower. Buy a fast charge cable or get one as part of the deal. A full battery is generally more useful on an Ion than a 20 minute charge time. However, full battery charging on a fast charger takes several hours, so be sure you have something to do near the charger or that you can get back home.
Having said all that, I use my ICE car far less now. I commute by train so unless I'm driving a distance, weeks go by without using petrol. Despite its limitations, the Ion has convinced me that my next car could easily be a full electric. I just need a bit more range in winter than 60 miles.