Graham wrote:
The various ‘driving aids’ like lane assist and so forth (again not a property of an EV, just a modern car) were not too intrusive but if it were mine I would probably turn them off.
That was my gut reaction too when I got my new car and tried the bz4x. But in the mean time, I’ve come to appreciate them and miss them when gone. By far the best feature is the adaptive cruise control, which measures the distance to the car in front and adapts the speed accordingly. Particularly on motorways with heavy traffic, you can simply select the max speed you wish to drive and forgt about the gas pedal for the rest of the drive, the car will decelerate and accelerate by itself if there is slower traffic in front.
The lane assistant I found intrusive at the start but I have come to get used to it. Again on the motorway it works perfectly, however the problem I have here with it is that it can get confused on local roads, particularly if there are yellow markings for a bicycle lane. But it is easily overpowered so most of the time I have it on. I have noticed that the more I use it, the less alarms I am getting, so it definitly does something for lane keeping.
Friend of mine also tried the Polestar and loved it. He is evaluating which car to buy currently, also drives a RAV4. So far he is trending towards the Volvo EX40. Tesla is not even on his list (he tried it). He wants to try the BYD offerings before he commits and we both are looking if Toyota might bring a full EV RAV4 as the rumour mill has had it for a while…
Recently I also started to get the hang of the eco score system Toyota has for it’s hybrids and managed to get my consumption down to 5 l / 100 km in city traffic and 4.1-4.3 cross country, which I think is pretty impressive for a 2 ton car. I certainly don’t regret my choice. With the plug in hybrid version I’d probably end up with 1-2 l/100 km, as almost all my daily travel would be electric. So given that I can’t charge at home, this would be my favorite for now, combined with a charge card for the Lidl outlets, which are 29 Rappen(cents) per kw/h, which is cheaper than home charging.
Peter wrote:
One is not likely to be renting a car in the area where one owns one.
I regularly rent cars when on vaccation or trips where I don’t take my own. And clearly I am looking for something to rent which is close to what I own, particularly since my current car has quite a few systems I’ve come to appreciate.
@Mooney_Driver do they have the Lidl Plus app in Switzerland. Not only can you use that to get your car charged, if you shop in Lidl you get extra discounts.and special offers😊
According to motor industry research new Evs lose 40% to 49% to depreciation in the first 3 years after purchase.
ICEs lose 60% in the same time. Would that suggest that a 4 year old ICE is better value when buying a used car? At least as long as used ICEs remain on the market.:)
gallois wrote:
Would that suggest that a 4 year old ICE is better value when buying a used car?
Of course it does. An EV experiences none of the temperature variations and vibrations of a car with an ICE. There’s also much fewer parts in the drive train. The only thing is the capacity of the battery. By now, the experience is that the battery lasts seemingly forever.
EVs have one problem now. China and Korea has taken the lead, Tesla too to some degree. This has caused lobbying on a broad front against them to protect the European car industry.
This is now especially the case now that both Korea and China are producing EVs with wireless charging..
There no longer any leads between the car and the charge and less onboard equipment. You just park over the charger in the same.way you charge your electric toothbrush, using induction.
The problem is that while those in the west argue about how much of the market EVs can take from ICEs, Korea and China have been identifying the drawbacks and getting on with solving the problems.and.meeting the market that could be created if problems like cost, range, and charging can be overcome.
Our solution to not needing to rent an electric (or petrol car) for that matter is to not visit car-dependent places!
Or see the real world by spending your vacation riding your own gasoline powered motorcycle, every day from start to finish on an ad hoc route, as I am now 
(and mostly in wonderful places with few other transport options, and none as enjoyable)
Ahh, nothing like enjoying (diesel) fumes directly caressing your nostrils! 
Safe journey and enjoy your rides Silvaire!
Peter wrote:
Re Hertz, I am not surprised EVs were a bad fit for their business. They probably got into EVs to get green credentials, despite warnings, but let’s face it, you aren’t going to rent a car to drive 20km. Most usage is long drives, which exposes the customers to all the charging hassle, and exactly none of them will be charging at home.
I don’t know about that.
I rented the Polestar at Munich airport. Drove ~40km to the hotel we were having our meeting at, and ~40km back the next day. No need to charge, the thing was full when I picked it up and range display indicated 420km.
Many business users at that airport were probably doing something similar. I wasn’t asked to charge it prior to bringing it back, and it was probably a pain in the backside for them, having it back on the line with ~80% charge and needing to take it somewhere and leave it there for a while to get back to 100% before sending it out again.
