[80698]

Can I please pick the hive-mind of the e-Niro drivers on here?

I have a 30kwh Leaf at the moment. I love almost everything about it, except the range when on a longer motorway run, especially in cold/wet weather.

I've also got a second car, which basically only gets used for those longer journeys.

I'd like to sell both and replace with one EV.

However, it would need to cope with a 200 mile round trip without charging. That's 100 miles out, and the same back again. No charging at the destination. Mostly motorways, sitting at 70mph.

It would need to do that summer or winter, dry or rain, and with the heater or a/c on! And it would need to get me home with a reasonable margin left so I'm not panicking all the way home about if I'm going to get stuck...

And it would need to do it today, and for the next six or seven years (as that's how long I tend to keep my cars).

It feels like a lot of demands! Can the e-Niro do that? Or am I expecting too much?

I'd really appreciate the wisdom of your experience before I make an expensive mistake!

The Kia/Hyundai batteries tend to do very little in the way of degradation. So you should be fine in that sense, even in 6 years time. As for the use of heating or cooling, as long as you do the usual things like preheating your car before departure, and are willing to set the climate to a comfortable temperature, and not hot - This again should be fine too.

You're looking at a touch over 3 Miles per kWh needed to achieve 200 miles. In a car like the Niro that shouldn't be too hard to do at all, but in the very worst weather (sub-zero temperatures, strong winds, snow and ice etc.) then you may need to accept that dropping your speed or stopping for a brief rapid charge could be necessary.

I Don't own one of these cars myself, but based on my knowledge of it's sibling the Kona, and a few chances I had to play with the Niro that would be my guess. Hopefully someone will be along soon who has had the chance to put this to the test in bad winter conditions and can speak with their personal experience of this to either confirm or deny my suggestions for you for sure.

 

[80698]

So, if I'm going to have to stop somewhere for a top-up, am I better off buying something more like a Ioniq 38 or an MG5? Admittedly one of those would turn a 10 minute top-up into a slightly longer break, but I could save a good few £thousands on the cost of the car!

The 38kWh Ioniq is going to have significantly less range than the Niro, and significantly slower rapid charging too. For these longer journeys it's going to be a pain to deal with. The Niro definitely seems like it is the answer to me. It will do these journeys most of the time. Only a small few times will you ever have to either drop your speed or quickly rapid charge. This car still makes sense if you ask me.