revtothelimit - motorbike forum

Count Steer wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2025 8:37 am Austin 7 Arrow anyone? Some chap got the rights to the Austin name 10 years ago (for £170!) and is making electric ones (for £31k!).

Skinny tyres, 60mph, 100 mile range, no roof but what a great toy.

I'd have one.


https://theconversation.com/the-austin- ... 20industry

Hell YES!!!!!

Dodgy69 wrote: Tue Jan 28, 2025 11:05 am We charge various vehicles at work. Leafs are slow charge only, so need home or work charging facility imo.

Tesla, Polestar and most others have fast charge, so doable on the move. My biggest concern would be availability of working chargers up and down the country.

A 45 min fast charge will get you plenty more miles in fairness.

Since I've started using an EV I've been surprised my how many chargers there are now. I think part of the problem is that, for some strange reason, proper signage isn't allowed for them so you don't notice where they are.

I'm pretty sure, with the exorbitant price they charge, there'll be lots more springing up.

Horse wrote: Thu Jan 30, 2025 9:22 am

Count Steer wrote: Thu Jan 30, 2025 8:14 am Single vehicle collision? Car goes boom? Flames? V topical.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/c4gwpkj21pzo

No need to crash for it to risk fire, just drive

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-64471386

Still, wait until all the battery haters start asking for petrol-powered phones

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx254r6kzpmo.amp

A family who escaped from their BMW minutes before it burst into flames wants to find and thank the strangers who came to their aid.

Dan Scott was driving on London Road in Baldock, Hertfordshire, at about 13:30 GMT on Saturday when his pregnant fiancee, Ellie Payne, spotted smoke coming from the vehicle and they pulled over.

He said four minutes later the diesel car was fully ablaze and another family arrived on the scene and used their van to drive the stranded group to safety.

Harry Metcalfe makes some good points in his latest vid, explaining how we got to where we are in the EV world at the moment and why the current trends aren't "people waking up" or "the bubble bursting".

The one really big thing he didn't mention (and I can see why, it's a bit too deep for this kind of vid) is that manufacturers were semi-forced into making fancy premium stuff because they didn't know how to make cheap stuff. I.e. the industry started with Taycans and moved onto Renault 5s, rather than the other way around, because they needed the high margin sales at the start to be even vaguely in a place they could afford to do it.

Count Steer wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2025 8:37 am Austin 7 Arrow anyone? Some chap got the rights to the Austin name 10 years ago (for £170!) and is making electric ones (for £31k!).

Skinny tyres, 60mph, 100 mile range, no roof but what a great toy.

I'd have one.


https://theconversation.com/the-austin- ... 20industry

& a roll bar that ensures you only remove half your head.....

Pirahna wrote: Mon Jan 27, 2025 11:14 pm Harry seems to like the new Renault 5.

I've just seen an advert for the Alpine A290, a rebadged suped up R5. It's clearly drawing from the Renault 5 Turbo of old with the side strakes.



The top spec GTS is a good chunk quicker than the highest output Renault 5, but it is a good £10k more.

£32k. The base R5 is a smidge over £22k.

Bear in mind for example a Mini Cooper petrol is £22k and a fancy quick one is £32k.

Mr. Dazzle wrote: Mon Feb 17, 2025 8:44 pm £32k. The base R5 is a smidge over £22k.

Bear in mind for example a Mini Cooper petrol is £22k and a fancy quick one is £32k.

They're both on 0% PCP too.

I like the interior and the more fastness of the Alpine, but I actually don't like those side strakes, they're a bit too chavvy imho.

I really like the Yellow R5, complete with denim interior . I'd buy one for Mrs Ds runaround but as above she doesn't want a brand new car.

They're bringing out a Renault 4 too.

The top spec R5 has adaptive cruise and a heated steering wheel. The two items top of my car wish list.

Never buy a yellow car. Unless you love insects and poor residuals.

KungFooBob wrote: Mon Feb 17, 2025 9:07 pm Never buy a yellow van. Unless you love insects and poor residuals.

And unless you keep it for at least 18 years. By which time the residuals are immaterial

Noggin wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2025 5:35 pm

Count Steer wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2025 8:37 am Austin 7 Arrow anyone? Some chap got the rights to the Austin name 10 years ago (for £170!) and is making electric ones (for £31k!).

Skinny tyres, 60mph, 100 mile range, no roof but what a great toy.

I'd have one.


https://theconversation.com/the-austin- ... 20industry

Hell YES!!!!!

I thought that until I looked at the legislation linked to in the article, it's nothing like the car in the article.

With fully charged batteries, the vehicle has a maximum range of up to 45 kilometres and can reach a maximum speed of approximately 15-16 km/h.

New TV and for the range of electric BMWs.

Filly noted "But none have indicators that work ... "

Thought I was the household cynic

Horse wrote: Tue Feb 18, 2025 9:25 am New TV and for the range of electric BMWs.

BMW have been showing off their latest tech demonstrator / concept in the press recently. This isn't a model per se, but the stuff which is coming out soon will be a lot like this. Things like >300kW charging (so add 200 miles in 10 mins), regen braking to a standstill (friciton brakes never come on in normal driving*) and 300-400 miles range in a £40k EV.



Some of the things in this model show where EVs will be going in the next few years. The new Mercedes CLA (linky below) is the same idea, basically the competitor to BMW as you'd expect. It's gonna be in the £30-50k range, so much like a Beemer/Merc/Audi of today and a nice middle ground between short range round around and mega expensive mega salloon.

https://www.press.bmwgroup.com/global/a ... anguage=en

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/mercedes/ ... ybrid-2026

*Everyone always thinks they're the first to point out that if you don't use the friction brakes they might seize up. This ain't a problem, BMW, Merc, Audi, Lexus et al have routinely had systems for years which can actuate the brakes without actually stopping the car. Indeed my car 'skims' the brakes when it's raining to dry the pads and pre-tenses them when it thinks you're about to stamp on the pedal 'cause you're catching the car in front a bit quick.

Tangent - on that point ^^, when you use regen braking, do the brake lights come on? Daughter’s id5 slows quite firmly when you lift off in “B” mode.

I can’t quite see…

Yes. Even in non pure EVs now the brake lights are linked to deceleration rate as well as touching the pedal.

Some of the regen braking can be set quite severe ime, it's good though and reduces the need to press pedal.

I have no idea how much it actually puts back into the battery, not a lot I would imagine. Someone must know.

Nearly all of it. The power train is symmetrical, in that it's power/torque rating is the same in drive or regen. We typically don't make "left" and "right" motors for example, so when you look at a twin motor car one motor spins "clockwise" and one spins "anticlockwise" but they both perform the same.

It's only the inefficiencies in the system you lose, so >90% of the energy in regen braking is saved. Peaks at >95% in our latest stuff.

Dodgy69 wrote: Tue Feb 18, 2025 11:01 am Some of the regen braking can be set quite severe ime, it's good though and reduces the need to press pedal.

I have no idea how much it actually puts back into the battery, not a lot I would imagine. Someone must know.

There's supposed to be a quarry up a mountain, where electric haul trucks are used to bring stone down.

And the downhill loaded regen provides more electric than needed to drive empty uphill.

Mussels wrote: Tue Feb 18, 2025 9:09 am

Noggin wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2025 5:35 pm

Count Steer wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2025 8:37 am Austin 7 Arrow anyone? Some chap got the rights to the Austin name 10 years ago (for £170!) and is making electric ones (for £31k!).

Skinny tyres, 60mph, 100 mile range, no roof but what a great toy.

I'd have one.


https://theconversation.com/the-austin- ... 20industry

Hell YES!!!!!

I thought that until I looked at the legislation linked to in the article, it's nothing like the car in the article.

With fully charged batteries, the vehicle has a maximum range of up to 45 kilometres and can reach a maximum speed of approximately 15-16 km/h.