This week, our man is impressed by the real-world usability of even a short-range electric car, ponders the relationship between average speed and efficiency and compares London's fearsome 20mph speed limit zones with Germany's limit-free autobahns.
Friday
Headed eagerly out of The Smoke for a weekend update in Autocar’s electric Fiat 500, because EV life keeps changing. Paused my usual London-Cotswolds trip at Membury services to try the Gridserve chargers that last year replaced those woeful Ecotricity units on motorways. Mine worked well: it connected quickly, read my credit card without drama and boosted the battery 30% by the time I’d downed a coffee.
Saturday and Sunday
Lots of local zipping about the Fiat’s speciality. It’s amazing how a semi-rural life advances your car’s odometer in 30-mile chunks, but our home charger obliterates short-haul EV problems. Still, I wasn’t confident we’d pull off a 127-mile round trip to meet a son for Sunday lunch – not least because Fiat has always been hopelessly optimistic at forecasting how far any 500 will go on a ‘tankful’. (Remember when it advertised the 50mpg Twinair’s fuel consumption as 68.9mpg?) The EV’s WLTP range is 199 miles but none of us has ever got closer than 150, and even a modicum of leadfootery slashes it further. This time we made it with 22 miles to spare.
Monday
Back to London in the Fiat, indulging my long-time preoccupation with the fact that aerodynamic drag rises as the square of speed. I’m no theorist but, as I understand it, if a car encounters an aero load of A at 50mph, it’ll be close to 2A at 70mph and one-third A at 30mph. Such considerations really matter as fuel costs head skywards (and as new EV drivers become more aware of energy consumption).
I believe there’s a trade-off in many a driver’s head between how much energy they aim to save and how much dawdling they can tolerate. For this experimental journey, I decided the right speed was 58mph – and was rewarded with a journey that took about seven minutes longer than usual, and an apparent range of 166 miles, which (for once) is a whisker better than what you’re offered on start-up at this time of the year.
Tuesday
Very sorry to hear of the untimely death of Mark Vinnels, brilliant and much admired British engineer, whose name always seemed to bob up when interesting and challenging projects were in the news. I met him as a team leader on various Lotus projects (the Vauxhall VX220 was one) and he subsequently did much to propel McLaren’s bold advance from 2010. More recently, he took his renowned skills as a ‘leader and maker’ to Rivian, the electric pick-up company. Vinnels rated that project highly so he came to our offices in person to make sure we understood it, too, which was typical. He’ll be sadly missed by his many friends and admirers.
Thursday
Could some experienced inner-London driver please give me a bit of practical advice about coping with 20mph speed limits? I do obey them but it’s unnerving: drivers behind (white vanners, motorcyclists, middle managers in Audis) become furious and vindictive, pulling phenomenal passing manoeuvres in the most terrible places. Accidents in the brave new slow-motion world may be less serious, but they definitely seem more likely.
I’ve seen many try 25mph, but that feels a bit quick if someone’s up ahead with a radar gun. Others settle for 23mph, which still seems to offend followers, especially if like me the person in front is driving a Fiat 500 EV or a Dacia Duster. A surprising number of drivers behave as if 20mph limits don’t exist. Perhaps they’ve heard that no one implements them. If so, it’s something we all need to know. Can someone (preferably not a cycling zealot or a smug law maker) explain the realities? I’m okay going slowly but what I most desire is a peaceful driving life.
And another thing…
Liberating return trip to Frankfurt that included a couple of seriously fast autobahn taxi trips: what a pleasure doing an unbridled 100mph for a while, even in a 100,000- mile Opel Zafira. Arrived home with time to spare.
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There's a lot going on in that piece. Happy to plod along at 58mph and arriving only 7mins late or happy to drive at 100mph and arrive with time to spare? If that 58mph was on motorway then happy to cause frustation around you but unhappy when it's in the city?
Here's my tip. In mid 90's I'd spend 5hrs a day commuting fromTunbridge Wells to Camberley ( when M25 was being extended from 3 to 4 lanes ) with thousands of drivers pushing and shoving to gain 4 car spaces over a distance of 30 miles. I was one of them!
I gave the rat race up long ago and now take pleasure watching it unfold around me. 20mph zones are easy - just give up looking in the rear view mirror. If someone wants to pull off a crazy overtaing move then why should it be my problem? And why should that frustrate me - I'm not the traffic police, who am I to tell others how to drive?
You say it'll increase the number of accidents but that's plainly not true.
My issue with 20mph speed limits is that I find myself concentrating more at the speedometer than I do at the road in front of me. It's fair enough built up areas and near schools where I don't need a speedometer to tell me how slowly I'm driving, but on a wider A road, 20mph is mad. I challange anyone in a modern car to stick to 20mph on a wider road without looking at the speedometer.
As for unlimited speed restrictions - you make no mention of accidents at 120mph? And to the best of myknowledge, it's only legal to drive at these speeds on German Autobahns, it doesn't occus anywhere else in the world. Doesn't that tell you something?
Talk about people seeing what they want to see.
I was in Germany last week. Rented a 5 Series to enjoy the A5 Autobahn (much to the amazement of my travelling collegues who didn't get it). I was lucky to get above 90mph due to trucks and sheer volume of traffic. Literally had a 2 mile stretch to floor it and that was it. Average speed = 56 mph!! The world is just too crowded...
I really like the 500 electric, yes the range isn't realistically 199 miles, but which EVs ranges are realistic?, it still has a very useful range, plenty of performance and it looks great, looking forward to the abarth version, but I also think that like their petrol equivalents, fiat should do a sport spec with the current motor etc.