Hi All,
Firstly, misterbleepy - sorry I didn't see your reply.
When did you buy yours? How many miles have you done, now?
Please see my other questions at the end of this post...
Hi,
I thought UK readers might be interested in the following (I have already posted this on the EVDL, BTW) ...
I bought an Ion (Peugeot's incarnation of the i-Miev and much easier to type) last Friday from Howard's Peugeot in Taunton. I paid £9k5 (still too much) for a July 2011 one with 3k4 miles. They retail new over here for £28k. They have more apparently if anyone is interested. I suspect they would take less than this. I am not a very good haggler. Contact is Martin Joseph -
[email protected] - 01823 321321 - 1 Priorswood Rd, TA2 8DN. Nice chap and very efficient.
I then drove it to my Brother's in Dorset Friday night (charged) then back home 240 miles up M5, stayed overnight Saturday at my Sister's (charged again), then on Sunday, M4, North Circular and A10. In the end I used 6 Ecotricity ChaDeMo chargers located at motorway service areas (MSAs) at Bridgewater, Sedgemoor, Aust (by the Old (!) Severn Bridge), Membury, Burghfield and Heston. The longest distance travelled was between Heston and home (47 miles) and I had about 3 miles on the range dial remaining - though I gather there's a good 5 miles in 'reserve' at reduced power.
Had I done the return, direct, 225 mile trip in one go, it would have taken about 8 hours - 7 if all the chargers had worked. As it was, one at Bridgewater and another at Sedgemoor were not working. I nearly had to queue at Sedgemoor (Leaf)! PM Cameron is going to have to do something to bolster Ecotricity's valiant fast-charge network efforts if he is serious about EVs. At a bare minimum EVERY ONE of the 110 existing MSAs plus another 90 or so (to service the non-motorway parts of the country), needs at least 2 ChaDeMo chargers per direction - more as EVs become more common. This would cost barely £4m initially for the chargers - more, obviously, to install them. But not much considering the £500m pot the UK government has already provided for help in buying new EVs in the UK - £30m for grants of up to £5k per new EV - although the grants side of things is being phased out soon. Ecotricity have quite a good map of their chargers here… http://www.ecotricity.co.uk/for-the-road/our-electric-highway
Meanwhile, in doing any sort of trip that is out of the ordinary, you have to plan, quite carefully, your route, checking up to 4 or more web sites for latest charger status, location etc. If we knew that all the motorway service areas had at least 2 fast chargers, you would not need to plan ahead other than to check the next MSA is within range.
Of course, given that ChaDeMo chargers are supposed to be phased out of the EU in 2019, what is going to replace them? No sign of the EU version of the CCS yet. I don't think they have even decided a standard!
As for the Ion, generally, I am very pleased with the car. It is nicely equipped for such an unprepossessing little thing, comfortable in a basic sort of way, quite nippy and wonderfully smooth to drive. The Ion (and C-Zero) version has only P, R, N and D, as opposed to more flexible regen-optimised options on the i-Miev, but they have managed to get the regen to work very well, IMO, with the accelerator and brake pedal - almost seamless. Very easy to pop into N at the lights so you can take your foot off the brake, too.
Good lights - the main beams appear to be projector halogens - with equally effective good front and rear fog lights, front running lights and an auto light switch position to bring on side and dipped main automatically according to ambient external light. Front (13W) running lights come on with the ignition and are under the same lens as the front fog lights. The rear side and brake lights are LED. It has a high level brake light, again LED.
Max acceleration is really quite acceptable. I haven't done my own 0-60 test yet but I gather it can be done in just under 10 seconds with just the driver on board.
I have been commuting the 40 miles and back to work this last week or so and find that with resonable use of the heater I getting about 15 miles remaining (so 20 probably including the 'turtle mode reserve') when I get home. It is also taking about 12kWh to charge it back up which tallys quite nicely with the miles remaining. SO, range generally about 60 miles at 60 mph with no heating or A/C - much as I had previously read.
So, having done 550 miles or so, some Q's for those who may know…
Is there any way to get the US version's remote, cabin pre-conditioning facility on the European version? It must be a simple mod to the car's firmware and suitable radio transmitter/receiver? Likewise, why do we have to sit in the cold when fast-charging? Bearing in mind that the A/C comes on anyway when connected to the ChaDeMo, why can't we have some heat as well?
Does anyone have any info on the built-in telematics? I have already bought a OVMS module but not yet fitted it. I gather the standard built-in Peugeot Assistance system has location info (GPS?) already and no doubt other information sent via a built in GSM system. Why can't we access that instead of having to install another system? (Is its antenna under the panel next to the aerial above the windscreen?)
Any information on installing an alternative entertainment system would be appreciated. There is already an aftermarket bluetooth connected Android app to access the car's CAN bus data - called caniOn… https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=emobility.canion&hl=en Would be nice to be able to have it displayed in place of the stock bluetooth-equipped radio - tho it is quite a good one. (I have made some progress on this since I first drafted this post... more to follow later but I have put some trim and radio pics on the
http://myimiev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=509&hilit=stereo&start=40 thread.
Has anyone used a Mennekes to J1772 converter to charge their i-miev? I used a 'non-standard' one when I got stuck on the M5 with one of the Ecotricity chargers and, whilst it appeared to work fine, the engineer on their help line asked me to disconnect it saying 'it shouldn't work'… Hmmm. I have a British Gas POLAR EVSE at home which I ordered anticipating buying a Zoe. In the end the Zoe's battery rental was a deal-breaker for me and now that I have the Ion, the 2 are not compatible - tho I am using my 'adaptor' in the meantime to charge normally. It would be a lot easier using the proper 'thing'. Having all that charging info done for you on the POLAR web site is very helpful.
Does anyone have any info on the possibility of timing a charge (ideally remotely) so I can use Eco7 power - short of using a mains timer? I gather, the American version gets this as standard, too.
Has anyone wired up a 'dash' cam? Installing the power to the camera behind the rear-view mirror is quite a job.. Is there power any closer than under the dash? If not, any ideas on removing the necessary trim without causing any damage? (Again, see above link to fitting an aftermarket stereo)
Does anyone have a workshop manual on a CD? (On ebay.com.au but won't automatically ship to UK!)
Is the built-in bluetooth mike located in the rear-view mirror base? (yes, it is - my pics as above)
Lastly, can a moderator move this thread to the more appropriate 'Buying/Leasing the iMiev', please?
Regards, MW
