It seems that something is being announced almost every day at the moment in the world of electric vehicles, with mainstream internal combustion engine (ICE) manufacturers giving details of new models and upgrades to existing units, so we want to keep you up to date with all this new-fangled electrickery techy thingy, as only your dedicated newsletter team can!
We reported last month that the UK Government had brought in grants for zero emission sustainable vehicles of up to £3,750. Manufacturers have been quick to lower the cost of some of their EV models that meet these criteria, as well as lowering the price of some of their other models as well. Like MG who have announced a “price cut” of £1500.on it’s MG4 and MGS5 SUV. It will be interesting to see how this pans out over the next year and exactly what manufacturers do to make EV’s more affordable to entice owners to consider the switch from conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) powered cars.
Now mentioning MG (who have a Technical Centre in the Midlands) they have a new upmarket model being launched called the IM6 starting at around the £53,000 mark. It has a 100Kwh battery pack and Qty2 electric motors. Interestingly it is being quoted as having a range of only 313 miles. It will sit alongside it’s stablemate called, you’ve guessed it, the IM 5 (IM being intelligence in motion). The dual motor performance edition has a staggering 741 bhp which gives it more power than a Lamborghini Huracan. The model is planned to be sold at existing MG dealers and will compete with the likes of the Tesla Model Y and Kia EV6.
Now, one of the comments made about electric vehicles, and there are several of course, is that the actual size of the cars is on the large size. I would say this applies equally to ICE vehicles as well as EV’s. Think Range Rover, Toyota Rav series, Kia Sorento, etc etc. However, there are some smaller cars now available and one to be released recently is the BYD Dolphin Surf. It’s a small city car, but has a reasonable range of up to 200 miles with the larger 43Kwh battery pack. It also has the new BYD “Blade” battery that has undergone extensive testing and is said to be one of the safest batteries manufactured. This joins a number of smaller electric vehicles now like the Renault 4 and Renault 5, Fiat Panda EV, and the Kia EV3 (although that is a slightly larger crossover EV) Take a look at the new BYD Dolphin Surf at;
https://www.byd.com/uk/electric-cars/dolphin-surf.
Lots of discussion on the potential purchase of electric vehicles, does revolve around the thorny subject of range. The early electric cars, like the original Nissan Leaf, or the Mitsubishi i-mev had very limited range, on a good day you could maybe get 90 miles. But for many users that was OK. If it was just being used as a “get to work and back” vehicle and it could be charged “at home”, then it was a good option for many users. But, things have changed in the last decade. Now cars are being produced with different technology batteries, better electronics, and more use of regeneration techniques. So, it was interesting to see recently that Polestar had set a new record for range, using their Polestar 3 car. The new record being almost 600 miles, over 23 hours on UK roads. Using 3 different drivers. It was actually 583 miles, with an average speed of 25mph. But the team did manage over 5 miles per Kwh. The actual quoted range for the Polestar 3 is 350 miles, and we all know that in practice, it will be about 310 miles or thereabouts. But it does show how things are moving on. Plus, it set a Guinness World Record whilst doing it! It is worth a look at the video,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOjPP4LZvWE
Finally for this month, the “WhatCar” magazine car of the year 2025 awards have been announced, and the overall winner was a Renault 5, the new small electric car from the French company. Interestingly, the winner for the best family electric SUV of the year went to Skoda for the Elroq 85 edition model. You can see the full results at:- https://www.whatcar.com/news/car-of-the-year-awards-overall-winner/n25379
Well folks, that’s about it for the September edition, we hope you like the world class, award winning, journalism we bring you, not just this month, but every month, so look forward to seeing you again next month. Until then, drive safe and remember to tell everyone about our fantastic, advanced driving course, next one starts on 30th October with an introduction evening at the usual venue, Lostock Parish Centre. If you know of anyone that you think might be interested, then invite them along for a hot drink and a biscuit or two, we don’t bite. Honest!
Remember, if you’re thinking of “upgrading” to electric, please let us know, we would love to hear what you are thinking of changing to, plus if you have any questions, or want to relate any experiences you have had, just shout out!
Barry Sloan – Publicity Officer