As you might have read in my recent posts, I'm on a roadtrip with an electric Peugeot e-208. I've talked a lot about the great fun it is to drive the car and how (relatively) easy it is to charge the car most of the time. As every product has its negative things and I've now got over a week and 1.500 kilometers of experience, I thought it was good to give a top 5 of things I dislike about the car (in random order). Here we go!
One of the great things of EVs is that they can regenerate energy while braking or going down. Many manufacturers followed Tesla in making this regenerative braking so firm that the car stops when you get off the "gas" pedal. Obviously not straightaway like emergency braking, but slightly and calm. Peugeot did introduce the B mode in which the regenerative braking is more powerful, but the car won't come to a full stop. That's a shame, especially at traffic lights and in congestion where you still need to touch the brake all the time.
The e-208 feels a bit wobbly at high speeds, especially on bad (German) concrete highways. First I thought it might have to do with a (deflating?) tire problem, but I don't get any warnings so I guess it's just how it is. I'm sure you can find many EVs that drive much more comfortable and stable at Autobahn speed.
Probably the biggest thing that divides Tesla and all its competitors is its self explanatory user interface and the tech that lies behind it. Tesla is basically a tech company making cars, while all other companies are car manufacturers that (try to) incorporate tech in their cars. The simple lack of an indication of the state of charge (in percentage) and the charging speed (in kW) is just too stupid. And then I'm not even mentioning how long it takes to find or adjust something in the central display. Not good!
It's nice to see you regaining a lot of energy (green) while going down, but why on earth display this in minutes rather than in kilometers?
In general the (effective) 45 kWh battery is more than enough for almost all day to day driving. In the city and on regional roads the range will easily reach 300km, more than enough! The/One disadvantage of EVs is that they get less efficient when you go faster. I'm a pretty relaxed driver. I usually don't do more that 120 km/h and won't "hammer" the gas pedal often. In practice the highway range of the e-208 is about 200 kilometers (if you don't have too many Baustellen of course: finally an advantage of them 馃槈). Given that you want a buffer at the bottom and it takes for ages to charge to 100%, you use a maximum of 150 km from stop to stop. That is 1 to 1.5 hours in between stops, which is a lot less than what I would do with a fossil car. An extra "problem" is that the car charges to 80% pretty quickly, so if I go to the restroom and grab a coffee (and something to eat) the car is finished before I am. Longer legs and longer breaks (while charging remains fast) would be better for me and the overall time you need to reach your destination.
The car finished before me again...
While being on an EV roadtrip, one of the (current) difficulties is to plan the charging in a way that you can drive fast and comfortably at the same time. You really need a good (up to date) overview of chargers and payment possibilities in order to do so. Ideally you want to select your final destination and let the car decide where to charge for how long. The Peugeot doesn't have such a function at all. In fact, it is even hard to select a charging station and/or multiple destinations in the first place (see 3).
Fortunately there is A Better Route Planner (ABRP) that I would recommend to all (new) EV users. It's so easy to plan your trip and as long as you follow the advice you'll easily reach your destination. And for the experienced people it is possible to make a lot of tweaks to perfectly match the app with your preferences and driving style.
Today's ABRP route suggestion
Let me be clear: the overall experience is very good and I would recommend the car to most people (given their use cases of course). This is just a post to also point to the downsides.
Did I miss something? Or do you have any questions regarding the car or EVs in general? Let me know in the comments below!
