ᐅ BEV – Battery Electric Vehicle Experiences and Recommendations
Created on: 23 Jan 2025 15:14
T
Tolentino
Dear forum members,
I know this is a homebuilding forum, but relevant car forums tend to be either very brand-loyal or strongly critical of battery electric vehicles (BEVs). Since I assume there is a significant overlap between homeowners and BEV owners, I’m posting my question here. I chose this subforum because it seemed somewhat related—discussing household technology felt off topic.
I’ll soon be returning my ZOE and am currently exploring options for a replacement. It should again be a small to compact car, with 80-90% urban driving and average daily distances of about 25 km (15.5 miles). Occasionally, I drive 40-50 km (25-31 miles) in the city (about once a month) and very rarely 180 km (112 miles) on highways and country roads.
Absolute exclusions:
Tesla, for ethical reasons
Vehicles with a new price over 50,000 EUR (approx. $53,000), because the financing rate would be too high
Less preferred:
VW Group cars
Obvious SUVs
Another ZOE
Models I am interested in:
Renault 5 (possibly too new and expensive)
Hyundai Kona Electric (this is my upper limit for SUV styling)
MG4
Opel Corsa-e (though it didn’t perform well in ADAC tests)
Mainly looking for personal experience reports.
So, please share your thoughts—thanks in advance!
I know this is a homebuilding forum, but relevant car forums tend to be either very brand-loyal or strongly critical of battery electric vehicles (BEVs). Since I assume there is a significant overlap between homeowners and BEV owners, I’m posting my question here. I chose this subforum because it seemed somewhat related—discussing household technology felt off topic.
I’ll soon be returning my ZOE and am currently exploring options for a replacement. It should again be a small to compact car, with 80-90% urban driving and average daily distances of about 25 km (15.5 miles). Occasionally, I drive 40-50 km (25-31 miles) in the city (about once a month) and very rarely 180 km (112 miles) on highways and country roads.
Absolute exclusions:
Tesla, for ethical reasons
Vehicles with a new price over 50,000 EUR (approx. $53,000), because the financing rate would be too high
Less preferred:
VW Group cars
Obvious SUVs
Another ZOE
Models I am interested in:
Renault 5 (possibly too new and expensive)
Hyundai Kona Electric (this is my upper limit for SUV styling)
MG4
Opel Corsa-e (though it didn’t perform well in ADAC tests)
Mainly looking for personal experience reports.
So, please share your thoughts—thanks in advance!
Tolentino schrieb:
Yes, I’m now also registered with goleasy. It’s the most convenient since they automatically scan everything.
Does anyone know if their data is always up to date? Then you could probably skip leasingmarkt and carwow, since goleasy also tracks them. I also check Leasingmarkt in parallel because the data synchronization isn’t 100% complete and often happens with some delay. Often, it’s already too late for really sharp deals, so I usually check manually and sometimes several times a day when I’m ready to act.
For our Ioniq, there were exactly two available, and the dealership said they’d already gotten 30 emails. I called right away as well, and then it worked out. The standard offers do work, though.
Tolentino schrieb:
Ioniq 6 for 210 would be a deal I’d take too. As I said… patience and effort. Sometimes it includes delivery and/or servicing; you just have to check. Currently, for example, the Cupra Tavascan is offered at 259 per month/10,000 km (6,200 miles) including two services; so at that price, you’re pretty much covered.
But again… this is just the approach I chose!
A
Allthewayup25 Jan 2025 14:12CC35BS38 schrieb:
You got two extra cars just so you don’t have to charge the electric ones from the grid in winter? :0 If you can, you can Not exactly. We always lease for 6 months (employee at the OEM). The Mercedes has seasonal license plates because it means a lot to me as a collector’s item, etc. If I have the option to optimize the electricity production throughout the year and positively influence the ROI of my photovoltaic system, why wouldn’t I use it? The cars are always linked to the charge point. That means usually driving the A1 in winter and a larger BEV in summer. So, we have 2 cars, not 4. My wife works full-time like me, and due to different working hours and 2 kids with their activities, having 2 cars is just necessary. But I’m already stealing the spotlight from the original poster of this thread.
My mother has been driving a Kona for 4 years now and it runs without any issues. The neighbor’s ZOE needed new radiators twice?! Renault hesitated to replace them just before the warranty expired. If you value having local contacts, it’s hard to get around the VAG group. ID.3, e-Golf, and e-Up (no longer produced) come to mind. BYD, Nio, and others simply have very limited dealer networks.
A
Allthewayup25 Jan 2025 14:18Tolentino schrieb:
Thank you for the clarification, it initially sounded too absurd. My apologies for not mentioning the OEM earlier. We are always trying to optimize our mobility. The RS3 overlapped with the AMG, which almost led to a legal dispute. This was not explicitly planned. Long story, not important.
Oh dear, I just watched a video summary of an evclinic article.
Except for the Fiat 500e, none of the electric vehicles from the Stellantis group come recommended. Even with very low mileage (<10,000km (6,200 miles)), they show various issues with the motor, charger, or traction battery.
Korean brands are generally unremarkable, but battery replacement is very expensive (40,000) and they all use pouch cells (the least reliable of the three cell designs).
VAG is similar, but offers good warranty coverage.
So, buying a new or used Korean model still under warranty, or leasing a new VAG electric vehicle, seems like the most sensible choice...
Except for the Fiat 500e, none of the electric vehicles from the Stellantis group come recommended. Even with very low mileage (<10,000km (6,200 miles)), they show various issues with the motor, charger, or traction battery.
Korean brands are generally unremarkable, but battery replacement is very expensive (40,000) and they all use pouch cells (the least reliable of the three cell designs).
VAG is similar, but offers good warranty coverage.
So, buying a new or used Korean model still under warranty, or leasing a new VAG electric vehicle, seems like the most sensible choice...