Kilowatt Half Hour Ep 50: Motor shows are back, and so is the Twingo ! | Electrifying.com

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This week, Ginny and Vicky discuss What to Expect from Paris Motorshow, The rebirth of the Twingo and our driving impressions of the Vauxhall Grandland.

And when we do discuss cars, we find out a lot. From industry gossip to the more mundane practicalities of electric car ownership, it’s the place where we dish the dirt on the cars we’ve been driving and deliver our own verdicts on the latest electric car news. We also like to have a good laugh at the daftest bits of anti-electric news that we’ve seen in the press.

We can’t promise that you’ll learn much. You probably won’t. But if you fancy 30 minutes of idle chat and gossip about the world of electric cars, we’re here for you. If you like it / hate it / think it’s too long or too short, let us know.

[WagnerGimenes]

Please, no need to apologise for the dog noises. They shouldn't bother anyone. It proves you are humans, not robots. 😍😍😍😍😍😍

[CoxJul]

I expect a number of manufacturers to revisit their list prices before next April. Unless you want an standard Orange Kia EV3 GT-Line (£39, 495), a standard colour Smart #3 (£39, 950) or the new Skoda Elroq 85 with either the heat-pump or a different colour to the Electric blue (just under £40k) but not both you'll be nudging over the £40k threshold. This means you'll be paying an extra £2k tax (years 2-6) on that now very expensive option!

[kjlovescoffee]

34:55 I heartily agree. My mother drove two 6ft teenagers and two dogs (a German Shepherd and a Labrador) around in a Renault 4, then a Renault 5, and later a Golf MK1. It does my head in when I hear people say they need to buy something like a Rav4 because they're expecting their first baby. To be fair, the child seats required today do take up more space than what was available when I was a kid, but my entry-level Hyundai hatchback has ISOFIX points and more than enough room for a child seat. And it's not even a spacious EV.

[richardpiper]

Hi Ginny and Vicky. Thanks for the mention on the podcast. I been engrossed in all the reports and videos that are currently being released on the Renault 5 but unfortunately nothing yet on the Alpine A290. Hopefully once an announcement is made on prices, spec’s and the date of the commencement of R5 deliveries to the UK Alpine will follow on with more information on the A290. The dealer has always maintained that he does not expect to see any cars until the end of Q1 or the beginning of Q2 of 2025. As you will appreciate there is a huge VED tax implication in getting delivery before next April. The Alpine in full fat trim is almost certain to be well above £40k. I know I am no 54 out of 1955 on the list for the Premier Edition but I fear I am being somewhat optimistic to expect to receive my car before the end of next March. Neither at the Goodwood FoS nor at the Everything Electric Show at Farnborough were even those who had placed deposits given the opportunity to sit inside the show examples. I do however like the repositioning of the drive controls as I have never really felt the drive stalk on my Megane E-Tech is intuitive to use as the twist controller on my previous BMW i3s. My interest in the A290 was spurred because whilst the Megane is not a big car I miss the nimbleness of the i3 and the Minis that I drove before that and I just cannot get excited about the minimalist interior of the new Mini or its flab sided styling. Living in a rural area cars to me have become too wide to thread around the narrow lanes with confidence - and god help you having to reverse half a mile when you meet a tractor. I have been quietly impressed with the comfort and refinement of the Megane - and above all its tech. I think Renault are really nailing it across their range, the Renault 4 being the latest stand out example. They are really combining the best of modernity with the warm fondness of the retro original. From people I speak to past conceptions of the Renault brand are still very prevalent in their current thinking whereas I think they (and Dacia) need re-evaluating in the same way as Kia and, a little while ago, Skoda.
Thanks for your excellent and interesting podcasts.

[jonevansauthor]

People used to say my Smart ForTwo was a 'city car' and what they meant was, you can only use it in a city. They literally thought I wasn't legally allowed to drive it on a motorway, or that I should be an abject coward and afraid to do so. Lots of people claim to be afraid to drive small cars on motorways. I questions whether they are a) British because they have no stiff upper lip and b) should be driving at all if they're genuinely that afraid of it. But no, I never had any problem driving it for hundreds of miles along the motorway, other than the sheer boredom of any drive that long. Now, are they ideal for densely packed European cities? Yes, absolutely but people hear 'city car' and think that's the only place they're useful.

I think if you said, 'this is in the size class we call city cars, but I want to say this is fine on the motorway' or for an Ami 'this is a quadricycle, and that means comparing it to a car is the same as comparing a moped or an e-bike to a car, but it is very much like a car'. I absolutely see the value in saying if an L6e light quadricycle has a limited speed of 28mph meaning you can't take it on some roads, and if it's an L7e going up to 56mph, which roads can you take it, because people need to understand that they're a whole new class of vehicle. I think everyone who is worth listening too, would love to see more quadricycles on our roads, and it'd be helpful if people began to understand them. Lots of reviewers do call them 'cars' but that just leads to them being judged as if they are car - why doesn't it have these car features such as range and airbags? Well... why don't your legs or your microwave have those car features? Maybe because they're not cars either? ;)

[garywilde]

Regarding Road Tax: Worth mentioning that cars registered before 2017 will be cheaper to tax.
From gov website:
"Electric and low emission cars registered between 1 March 2001 and 31 March 2017
These vehicles will move to the first band that has a VED value. This is £20 for 2024 but is subject to change for 2025."

Regarding 1000km range, looks like the new Tesla Model Y Juniper will have over 800km range, so not far off.

[Hayles]

Yes. I agree with you both. As you know from previous podcasts, I own Careé a Citroën Ami. I live in the countryside, in a village near a small town. I bought it knowing that it could only go 45 miles. I don’t live in the city and don’t intend to. So she is a small country car and is great for my 18 mile round commute trip. Apart from a warranty replacement for a new traction Battery(yes, I’m looking at you Citroën!). I’ve not had any other problems. I’ve driven her a year and a half now and she’s done over 4000 miles. I know through our FB group many more with a lot more miles than that! Small car with spirit. ❤🎉😊

[Jawlf]

On the City Car moniker, to me it seems to be used to describe EV's with low range that they say can not do a long range. We need to show that many of the EV's can do long range trips. I saw a Channel 5 petrol v EV program and they decided as the first test they would attempt a 100 mile trip, but limited charge and fuel tank to a quarter or thereabouts, such that the EV would need to charge. Wheras the 500 mile range petrol car still had over 100 miles range. As reviewers of EV the same can be done when they are talked of as good run arounds. In reality anything with a near 200 mile range can travel cross country with stops after 3 hours.

[JANT]

The BYD Seal U is a plug in hybrid and I think they're advertising a 600mi+ combined range.

[PaulMeier-cuds]

As ever I enjoyed KHH and there is nothing quite like it covering this material.

I hope at some point you will cover Tom’s story about Nissan and partners doing proper plug and play V2G Nissans for households. Writing as someone who already has battery storage for my home renewables, having my car as another source of electrical storage in extremis is really attractive and enough to make me switch car brands. Looking at Nissan, a car from somewhere within their Ariya range is already pretty good. What is sad is that it appears this will not be available until 2026 by which time I think battery technology will be changing rapidly and the cost of investing in large present technology car batteries unattractive.

The big point is that large scale battery storage at home in V2G will solve quite a lot of the grid’s issues with lec demand management, so big story.

[BMWHP]

Thanks folks, for the KHH with the streeam of EV info. Thanks for stopping that "city car" thing.
Since 2000 we had several Smart FotTwo cars. The current one is a Cabrio ForTwo Brabus version. From the Netherlands we do trips to Austria and Italy with it.
Never understood why people would say it is a "citycar", when we never use it in cities. To the city, like Amsterdam, we take the bus.

[worldofcars_ldn]

I’m an avid ‘Electrifier’ so please keep up the good work (always make time for Ginny & Vicky 😍). The latest Whatcar least reliable car results came out a week or two ago and amongst the worst are MG & Vauxhall EVs. Have you at Electrifying thought of doing your own survey of EV owners and publishing the results? Maybe you can add a reliability rating to your reviews and used car sales page? Peace and love! 🖖

[lm]

Thanks for the upgrade in backdrops and video quality - it is appreciated.

[Tradewind]

On the subject of road tax: when we say "buy" a new car, precisely when is that deemed to occur? - upon order, payment of deposit, registration date, taking delivery... I'm very interested in the R5 E-Tech which Renault tell me should be available for delivery from March/April.

[ianrob]

Still awaiting your full R5 review :-)

[davelenderson]

I have an MG4 SE SR and have 2 kids and do loads of miles every day and i do all the weekly shops and have absolutely no need for a large Slow Ugly Vehicles! Why does the MG4 not get mentioned more in terms of car buying advice.

[joshuaburnage]

Hi! Been watching your video for months now and 4 months ago I made the move to electric and got my Smart #1 Premium based on your reviews, I love it. One thing I have noticed is that you often discuss the Volvo EX30 and its flaws but never mention the #1 as an alternative to it which doesn’t have as many flaws and is essentially the same car underneath. Why is this? I feel the smart brand is misunderstood and most people I have spoke to (without seeing the car) think I have an electric fourtwo I think it needs more awareness as people don’t know cars like the #1 and #3 exist- still yet to see another in the wild in my 4 months of owning! Keep up the good work guys!

[markcornwall]

On the topic of EV car tax from next year I know our used Model 3 will be £190, but have had no luck trying to find out how much our Twizy quadracycle will be, can you get one of your bods to find out please? Thanks.

[radfoo]

The new car tax rules are a bit crazy. It will encourage some people (possibly me, LOL) to keep an older diesel longer than they otherwise would have done as that still tax free.

[davelenderson]

How often thos goes over the 30 min mark you should just call it the kwh!