BBC FUD Fest: Mini-E London to Edinburgh

[JRP3]

Certainly that is a large part of it, but if it were an actual EV with good range, 100+ miles, under $40K and competing with the LEAF, I think it would have sold much better. Or if they had just marketed it as a better Prius with some electric only range, instead of confusing the issue trying to pretend it was an EV, it still may have taken all the abuse but EV's in general would have gotten less of the shrapnel. Bottom line is I feel EV's as a whole would be in a better position right now if the Volt had never been made or at least been strongly positioned as the hybrid it is.

 

[mpt]

As we rolled into the dealer at 13:36 at a chilly -3*C to say goodbye to our MINI E #361 we hit 33,333.3 miles.

'Cos it was a rubbish car that only worked for us 99.99% of the time.

R.I.P. 361

 

[AndrewBissell]

That was remarkably precisely judged!

 

[Norbert]

As we rolled into the dealer at 13:36 at a chilly -3*C to say goodbye to our MINI E #361 we hit 33,333.3 miles.

I suppose the plan was to roll in at 13:33.333...

 

[Norbert]

Certainly that is a large part of it, but if it were an actual EV with good range, 100+ miles, under $40K and competing with the LEAF, I think it would have sold much better. Or if they had just marketed it as a better Prius with some electric only range, instead of confusing the issue trying to pretend it was an EV, it still may have taken all the abuse but EV's in general would have gotten less of the shrapnel. Bottom line is I feel EV's as a whole would be in a better position right now if the Volt had never been made or at least been strongly positioned as the hybrid it is.

GM seemed to have a rather ambivalent position regarding the Volt. Marketing it as "better than electric" (as if anyone was convinced that would mean a lot), and in regard to ICE's, claiming it to be a halo car that helps selling Cruze's, and not really offering a convincing sales strategy (as far as I could tell), plus continuous excuses for this and that. Almost like drawing a crosshair on the Volt and saying "shoot here". Just my impression, not really a Volt expert.

 

[Lloyd]

Government Motors needs to market the volt for what it is.... and not try and make it sonething that it is not!

 

[Doug_G]

GM seemed to have a rather ambivalent position regarding the Volt. Marketing it as "better than electric" (as if anyone was convinced that would mean a lot), and in regard to ICE's, claiming it to be a halo car that helps selling Cruze's, and not really offering a convincing sales strategy (as far as I could tell), plus continuous excuses for this and that. Almost like drawing a crosshair on the Volt and saying "shoot here". Just my impression, not really a Volt expert.

I think Bob Lutz pushed it through, and now that he's gone they've got builder's remorse.

 

[mpt]

I suppose the plan was to roll in at 13:33.333...

We were late; we needed that last drive with the Min', for old times sake.

 

[stopcrazypp]

I think Bob Lutz pushed it through, and now that he's gone they've got builder's remorse.

I think the marketing team ruined the Volt. And now that Lutz is gone, the enthusiasm for the Volt in the company is starting the fade. And it's not going to get any easier with the PHEV Prius and the Fusion Energi joining it in the market. Luckily the sales are picking up in recent months.

 

[rsquared99]

At least Lutz is consistant. He's promoting the same kind of ER-EV drive train for VIA Trucks (retrofit). I wonder if this company will really end up producing anything with the less than enthusiastic (IMO) start for the Volt?

 

[dpeilow]

I stumbled across at least one BBC News <> Oil link the other day. One of the main News Channel anchors:

Carrie Gracie - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gracie's father was a Scottish oil executive; Gracie was born while he was on assignment in Bahrain.

 

[dpeilow]

Well, it's 3 years today since we drove London - Edinburgh.

Now there is an unbroken chain of CHAdeMOs on that route. How times change.

 

[GSP]

Hard to believe it has been three years already. Glad to hear GB is getting CHAdeMo DC fast charge coverage installed. That will be huge for EV use. Perhaps you could use an 80-mile EV now, and still drive to your mother's home at the drop of a hat if needed.

I sure wish we could get more DC fast chargers in my region as well.

GSP

 

[dpeilow]

Yes - it's at the point now where an 80 mile EV can get you to 90% of the country. The notable exceptions are East Anglia and NW Wales and the Lake District, but at the rate of installs those will surely be covered by spring.

The problem we have now is reliability. The Nissan / DBT chargers are having some serious teething problems, but it always seems to be the same ones failing. The manufacturer and operators say they are on top of it now so fingers crossed that is the case.

We will also have to see a big upgrade project this year to install CCS for the BMW i3 and other such cars.

 

[dpeilow]

As I posted on Sunday, it's 3 years since I raced the BBC's Brian Milligan from London to Edinburgh in a Tesla. Some of you may remember that he set out to do the trip in 4 days using a Mini-E.

That was clearly rubbish, as that car had 50A charging and with a proper plan it could have been done much quicker. Anyway, I borrowed a Tesla and did the trip in a day.

The BBC cried foul, claiming I had the EV equivalent of a "jet fighter" and they were trying to demonstrate what reality was like for a family car. Nevermind the fact that the Mini was a prototype that was not on sale and I was driving a production car which showed a glimpse of things to come.


At the time my retort was that the Leaf was going to be on sale within weeks and that it would also be able to do this trip in a day. Well, now we can


I mentioned it to Robert Llewellyn and he jumped at the chance of coming along. The original plan was to do it on the 3rd anniversary but other things cropped up, so instead we are going for it on the 24th.

Robert is going to film it for Fully Charged and he's blogged about it here: The LlewBlog - Electric Cars

 

[mpt]

Brilliant!

 

[Doug_G]

Good stuff. If you can do that in a Leaf, you've really proven the point.

 

[Grendal]

Nothing beats FUD better than a show that proves the truth.

Go get them!

 

[Alan]

Great - what about borrowing a Model S press / demo car? Start off fully charged, top up somewhere around Manchester & that should do it.

 

[Jaff]

Thanks David...well done three years ago, and good stuff revisiting it and reminding everyone how far the EV charging infrastructure in the UK has come!