Kilowatt Half Hour Episode 39: Longboi for life. | Electrifying.com

#electriccars #podcasts #kilwowatthalfhour

This week, Ginny, Mike and Tom shoot the electric breeze on a variety of subjects, including World Car of the Year, the long-awaited return of the Ford Explorer and Omoda's arrival in the UK . The team also answer listeners' questions to help them find the perfect electric car.

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.

[anthonystevens]

Another cracking episode team, I may not be an EV driver right now but hearing what the word is on the Electrifying street is great guidance for when that time comes at some point. Great work.

[scott]

Brilliant! Great fun and soooo entertaining. Thank you! 🥰

[Darthadios]

Nicola is usually so wild and unhinged in her reviews that I didn´t notice the difference. =)

[lm]

Great video. I agree with Ginny, no radio on start-up please.

[Jawlf]

Lovely entertainiung podcast and fun chats, always enjoyed, thank you!

[michaelfields]

Thank you SO much for squeezing in my question! Bless you. Kona had been suggested by me before but I shall try that again. Also contemplating MG ZS. Not a great fan of BMW, personally, but, as you suggested it, I'll have a look at it. Thank you, all.

[MrMorton]

My very old (2011) car has a feature that you can set the max radio volume on start-up. So if you leave the radio on at a high volume the night before it will be lowered to whatever you set the limit at in settings. Seems brilliant.

[bellshooter]

Ref brake lights and Regen, there is an international build standard 'UN Regulation No 13-H' section 5.2.22.2 that above a retardation of 1.3 m/s/s it must show brake warning lights, below that it 'may' show them.

[brianwalter]

I'm 6' 2" tall & drive a Peugeot e2008 most of the time. I love the small, low set steering wheel & the driving position is fine for me. It reminds me of my karting days. It's a great first electric car.

[Flyingtwiglet]

We EV divers don't realise how lucky we are! I've just bought a new motorhome for our retirement adventures. It's based on a Fiat Ducato chassis and cost a whopping £80K. In the Fiat cab you get wall to wall scratchy black plastic, a bolt on Pioneer head unit (albeit with wireless car play) but I can't even adjust the volume from the steering wheel! I have to reach across to a tiny + & - on the screen. The steering wheel buttons control the "crude control" (pun intended - no ACC here) the other buttons toggle through the options on the vintage black & white driving data screen. I can chose between speed, real time mpg, journey mpg, trip etc. Wooo! I've not seen a display like this for about 15 years. The steering wheel doesn't pull out far enough nor is adjustable for rake, meaning you have to sit on the crap van seats closer to the pedals than you'd like in a rather upright position. It has one of those manual handbrakes too - remember those?
Anyway, while we might occasionally curse a haptic control or a slightly laggy screen - when we go from the ID3 to the motorhome it's like stepping back 20 years in driver comfort. Just thought its worth remembering how far we have come and that some things are still waaay behind. It's great to camp in though 😀

[downwind_david]

Bings & bongs... in my 2016 VW Passat you can tie the key to a particular driver and so every time that I get into the car with my key, all the settings automatically set to what I like (which is radio ON, Ginny! 🤣), seat position for me and all driver assist / driving modes as I like them. When my wife gets the car with her key, everything changes to her preferred set up. Surely, this is still possible to do with all the modern tech...

Like Mike, I'm also 6'5" and have always been pleasantly surprised about how comfortable I am in my wife's Audi A3 - Mike's explanation about Germans building cars for taller people was a pleasant revelation. I rented an i3 for a month on a return trip to the UK and also found it comfortable, so I can concur that it is definitely one for the taller person.

[theelectrictransition]

I think a subset of the safety warnings in new cars are not a legal requirement as such, but necessary to get a good Euro NCAP score.

Like you, I worry that an annoying system gets turned off, and thus fails to make the car safer. Lane departure warning on the Renault ZOE is a dream because it vibrates the steering wheel rather than making a noise, which means I always leave it on, and it's truly helpful and improves safety. Other manufacturers should take note - and hopefully are not hindered by Euro NCAP being too rigid in its assessment

[garywilde]

Discussion topic: I've just bought an 18 month old Polestar from a company director for less than half it's purchase price. The seller said that it didn't cost him much as he offset 100% of the value against tax. Someone else I know manages fleet cars. All of them are EV because the employees save £3, 000 a year in tax compared to an ICE vehicle. Others are saving thousands on salary sacrifice schemes. My question is, will the current government clamp down on these tax breaks, which appear to largely benefit the well off?

[MichaelKay]

Another great episode, thanks team. Another consideration for you when reviewing, is any difficulties getting in and out of the car, me and my wife are both 68 young and we have a MG4 Trophy, prior to that we had the ZSEV. Unfortunately the MG4 has divided opinions between me and my wife she really does struggle getting in and out of the car, not because it was lower or anything like that, it is down to the width of the sill, compared to a lot cars you need to do the splits when getting in or out(40 years ago not a problem😁) so I am happy with the car but my wife (and we all know who will win) wants us to change it. So if you could do me a favour and check out the distance from outside of the sill to where you would park your posterior, it could save our 48 year marriage.😁

[robsmitha]

A friend just bought a three year old E-Tron 55 sportback with 40K miles for £22K. A better used buy than new!

[KennethPaul]

I'm 6ft but really struggle to get comfortable in most modern cars oddly most BMW's I am comfortable in as well. The reach adjustment in the steering just isn't enough in most, especially in the Hyundai's and Kia's. Mike you're completely correct and I'm fed up being told " it's fine for most people" I reckon most people sit way too low and too far away from the steering wheel but I've been looking for a car for the last 5 months and it's driving me mad that cars I like end up being uncomfortable and end up shelved because I just wouldn't be comfortable driving it.

[theelectrictransition]

In reference to cars for tall drivers, I'm a bit smaller than Mike, but I'm impressed with the range of adjustment of both steering reach and seat slide in the Renault ZOE.

I like a small car, yet need plenty of adjustment - especially reach adjustment - to get comfortable. Well done Renault.

No longer on sale new, sadly, but one for the shortlist for us tall people looking on the secondhand market.

[MatthewStanford]

Agree, the latest BYD software update is super good - so many things are improved

[dewarmc]

Thank you for another great 45 minute half hour... I don't want to open a can of worms by saying this, but I would like to offer Ginny a can of paint 'Pistachio' which could be added to lighten up the wall, just another square of course, but after a couple of months... a giddy wall, full of squares of various colours :-)

[PaulDee-kp]

I had a Volvo S90 and switched the stop start off as the cut throat drivers I sometimes encountered and with the busy Birmingham roads, that the stop start was a serious risk to my well being. The lost seconds before pulling away being dangerous and risked never being able to pull out safely or causing an accident.