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From i3 Rex to Volvo BEV

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I test drove one at a volvo event a few weeks ago - beautiful car and the acceleration is pretty violent... how are you finding the range and everyday usability? The price is too much for me but i would love to get one when i next change cars

  • Author

When you adjust the price to allow for the free 3 years comprehensive insurance and tracker as well as the 14 days of car hire per year the price is approximately R1,05m. That blows all the other comparable cars out of the water. 

We mainly drive freeway to and from Durban and we are getting a range of 330km. We average around 22kWh/100km.

The picture below shows the car having driven 248.8km at an average of 21.1kWh/100km and has 31% remaining in the battery.

 

2022-07-14 10.23.01.jpg

Edited by Gerald_db
Wrong Picture

44 minutes ago, Gerald_db said:

When you adjust the price to allow for the free 3 years comprehensive insurance and tracker as well as the 14 days of car hire per year the price is approximately R1,05m. That blows all the other comparable cars out of the water. 

We mainly drive freeway to and from Durban and we are getting a range of 330km. We average around 22kWh/100km.

The picture below shows the car having driven 248.8km at an average of 21.1kWh/100km and has 31% remaining in the battery.

 

2022-07-14 10.23.01.jpg

And the charging network? Are you finding a lot of places in your day-to-day to charge?

  • Author

With the range we have now we normally only charge at my work or home. Longer trips are no issue as there are currently more than enough enroute DC charge units and with AC units being installed at Protea Hotels and other locations also makes life simple. Yes, a long trip takes a bit longer but not massively. There are amazing apps to route plan such as ABRP which structure your stops and percentages required.

Below is a screenshot of the Gridcars network. Its all live online and is very slick.

 

Screenshot 2022-10-13 14.24.16.png

That's quite an impressive route network and i guess that benefit is its only gonna get larger and more diverse...That initial pricing IS quite huge though - but the range anxiety and Volvo's offers do make it more enticing. Food for thoughts

Super interesting, ive been eyeing the Volvo for a few months but bank manager keeps diverting my attention 😉

Out of interest, what average kWh/100km were you getting from the i3?

I thought one could work on average of around 15kWh/100 for most EVs, is the the highway driving that pushes it up that much?

  • Author
35 minutes ago, markus_m2 said:

How much per kWh at the charge stations?

 

At home electricity is aporox R2.50/kWh. On a GridCars 3 phase AC about R4.80/kWh and on a DC at R5.80/kWh. 

  • Author
42 minutes ago, markus_m2 said:

Super interesting, ive been eyeing the Volvo for a few months but bank manager keeps diverting my attention 😉

Out of interest, what average kWh/100km were you getting from the i3?

I thought one could work on average of around 15kWh/100 for most EVs, is the the highway driving that pushes it up that much?

Depends...between 20 and 24kWh/100km. We mainly drive N2 to Durban and back and don't baby the car. 120 to 125kph but then consumption increases. At 90 to 100 this car will be about 18kWh/100km. It is a twin motor chunky SUV that weights around 2400kg. It will never give the long term average of 16kWh/100km we had with our i3.

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