An electric car with decent range? Vauxhall Ampera review

Posted by Ross Lammas

Electric cars seem to spark interest and cynicism in equal measures, they somehow conjure up images of the futuristic world where vehicles move silently around our cityscapes, with no nasty emissions coming out the back and costing just pennies to run. Then the cynicism kicks in… oh, it will only get you to the supermarket and back before it runs out of battery.

‘Range anxiety’ seems to be a major stumbling block to the take-up of electric cars, even though the average driver probably only does long trips occasionally. The Vauxhall Ampera tries to address this with a clever combination that combines the benefits of electric motors as a means to drive the wheels, and a petrol engine that works as a generator producing electricity to power the motors. The result is a car with the advantages of electric propulsion; quiet, smooth, gearbox free, plus the ability to go 330+ miles on a tank fuel for those infrequent long trips.

Is the Ampera a complex solution to ‘range anxiety’? We took the Ampera for a Bank Holiday weekend break to test the driving experience and see what MPG is achievable on long trips! Please watch our Ampera review here…

Euro NCAP – Vauxhall | Opel Ampera – Five Stars Crash test

Sust-it test drive the Renault electric ZOE

Posted by Ross Lammas

Apart from the occasional Nissan LEAF and the odd Twizy, you certainly don’t see or hear many pure electric cars buzzing around our streets. Come this summer, this could be thing of the past with the launch of the ZOE electric supermini from Renault. I’ve just driven the pure electric ZOE, and I must say it could be a real game changer and offer an alternative to a liquid fuelled car. See our video take on the ZOE. Continue reading →

I’m all of a Twizy! Sust-it road tests Renault’s micro electric car

Posted by Ross Lammas

A cold damp February day hardly sees the best time to road test an electric car with no windows or heater – we’re brave souls at Sust-it! See our latest two minute EV video road test here:

The Twizy is designed as an urban commuter vehicle, that’s incredibly cheap to run and fun to drive. It offers you a better weather protection and practicality than a scooter or motorbike, and handles pretty well considering narrow track and skinny tyres. Driving it is incredibly easy – as are most electric cars and bikes, as you’ve no gears to worry about.

Twizy’s are powered by 17hp electric motors, with smooth one-speed automatic transmission and lightweight lithium-ion battery pack. Regenerative braking is used for energy recovery, stretching out the range to around 60/50 miles. It’s almost silent in operation apart from the reassuring buzzing of the electric motor. The combination of power and Twizy’s lightweight construction allows it to accelerate to a limited top speed of about 50 mph.

A word of warning… the Twizy performed very poorly in Euro NCAP crash test and showed serious risks of life threatening injuries – be careful!

Renault have come up with a interesting purchasing scheme where you buy the Twizy (prices from £6.5k) and you hire the batteries from them for £45 to £57 per month, dependent on your mileage. If the batteries fail during the hire period Renault will replace them.

Twizy’s equipment includes:-

3m charging cable (standard three pin plug)
Battery econometer and gauge
Range indicator and journey eco-score display
Regenerative braking system
Drivers airbag
Disc brakes front and rear
Electronic engine immobiliser
Lockable steering column and handbrake
4-point front seatbelt and 3-point rear seatbelt
Anti-submarining front seat
Integrated front and rear headrests
Adjustable front seat
Lateral front wind deflector
31-litre lockable storage behind rear seat
Two gloveboxes (one lockable)
Drive and speed display

Use your Green Deal cash back to buy a new fridge!

Posted by Ross Lammas

It seems DECC have gone the whole hog in trying to make the economic argument for the Green Deal in offering ‘early adopters’ a cash back sweetner. The Green Deal is the Government’s flagship carbon emissions policy designed to encourage people to make their homes more energy efficient by installing insulation or replacing on old boiler. Funds are provided upfront and paid back over time through electricity bills. In addition, if you sign up early you could be eligible for upto £1000 cash back, depending on what energy saving measures you go for. And what better way to further save on energy bills and reduce CO2 emissions than by using the cash to replace an old inefficient fridge, freezer or washing machine. Ok, it’s probably a long shot, as if an appliance is working, especially something as dull as a fridge, it seems unnecessary hassle to replace it, particularly when there are more pressing things to spend money on. However, it could be a shrewd move if your fridge is more than 15 years old, as newer models use far less energy. Check out the savings on sust-it’s old appliance calculator.

Now I’m not in favour of replacing items for the sake of it – ask my teenager daughter who wants to upgrade her functioning mobile phone, simply so that she can take ‘selfies’ (photo’s of yourself), as the latest models allow you to, but if something is inefficient, costing a lot to run and you have the funds, it just makes sense!

A testing time for energy labels

Posted by Ross Lammas

A slap on the wrist for manufacturers Whirlpool (UK) Ltd, for displaying inaccurate energy usage information on one of their large chest freezers (model number CO405W). The National Measurements Office (NMO), the Government body responsible for checking up on the reliability of energy labels, found that the CO405W Whirlpool chest freezer used an average of 14.6% more energy than declared on the label. This was part of a wider project examining compliance in this area of the market. The chest freezer displayed its energy consumption as 332kWh per year, but results from an accredited testing process showed it used 381kWh/year.

We need to have confidence that products are wearing the correct energy labels, and that there are appropriate sanctions for manufacturers when they are found to be inaccurate. So was this the case for Whirlpool? Well, when NMO contacted them in May 2012, there were no remaining stocks of the product and they were preparing a new model of chest freezer for release. As no internal tests had been done between 2010 and September 2011, the time the last models were placed on the market, the focus shifted to guaranteeing the current range of freezers performed to the levels declared on the energy labels. To ease their conscience Whirlpool (UK) made a donation of €10,000 (£8,300) to Global Action Plan, a charity committed to changing the way individuals, businesses and schools think about their environmental behavior. This is almost half the amount that Zanussi donated to the Woodland Trust, when, in April 2012 one of their chest freezers (the ZFC321WA) was found to be using 14.4% more kWh per year than stated. Also, what about the consumers who bought a Whirlpool CO405W chest freezer? A difference of 49kWh per year might not seem a huge deal, however over the 17 year average lifespan of the freezer, that could add up to £120 (based on current energy prices). And how many of these chest freezers did Whirlpool sell? That could add up to quite a lot extra CO2! Meanwhile sust-it is showing some surprising results for some budget refrigerators, let’s hope the labeling on these is correct; we’ll keep you posted.

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