Eletre Ownership - 2 weeks in......

[FastLaneJB]

27 minutes ago, Footie said:

The Base and S quote between 304 miles - 354 miles, so I imagine the 354 miles is for the 20” and the 304 miles is the 23”, the 22” will probably be closer to the lowest quoted range.

I am not saying Lotus aren’t being a little optimistic with their quoted range but temperature does effect the range so if anyone is seeing as low as 210-220 miles on a long motorway stint then during the summer in more normal driving conditions I reckon 300 miles is very achieveable if not a little more.

 

p.s. actually after checking the base mode quotes up to 373 miles so maybe it’s the only model offered with a possible swap to the 20” rims. Which if true then the 354 miles quote for the S is on 22” rims.

OK so did a not all that long trip but trip none the less in Range mode, about an hour up the A1 and then back again. Mixture of 50 / 60 and 70's on the stretch with some roundabouts to break up the flow. All in range mode and driving like a regular car might, not like an Eletre R maybe should 😉

Got 44.4 kWh/100mi there. Later on when I came back (Again car would be cold probably again by then) it was much higher, 54.8 kWh/100mi but winds have picked up now to around 27mph which felt like a strong headwind / side wind. Infact had to give up with the Highway Assist as the wind was blowing the car out of lane so on one hand it's nice it lets you steer around pot holes without disengaging as a Tesla might but it's too loose that it'll let the wind steer it also. They need to dial in a bit more resistance to that.

So on way there would be around 245 miles, on way back at those levels it's 198 miles. So can vary a bit but with the level of wind at the moment not a great test. See what I can do another day but maybe don't have any need for a long trip for a good few weeks at the moment.

 

2AD3D169-B36F-41C1-BD9D-1F428CADF229.heic

[aquiss]

Coming from the Jaguar I-Pace and heavily involved in that community and direct links into Jaguar, it too came with 19" to 22" wheels. The difference between them, was about 10 miles per inch size, to the point that Jaguar increased the entry model to a 20" wheel 2 years in, as software tweaks allowed them to claw back the 10 miles and a bit more.

Your going to see something similar with the Lotus, for a similar run between 2 cars, one on 20" inch and one on 23", will be about 30 miles over a full charge, but I too suspect, that within a couple of years, through software, those miles lost will generally come back through engineering gains.

It also needs to be made clear, all cars ranges are generally being measured in ideal conditions, based on a circa speed of 56MPH as baseline with a percentage coming back in regen, which is where the 350+ miles are being measured. No one is basing these figures at cars doing a constant 70-80MPH.

Similar to @Footie I'm seeing the Eletre, in the current wet, cold, windy UK weather hitting 250 miles on a run along decent roads/motorway. I can take enough from past experience that we will touching on 280-300 miles come better months and that's without software updates.

[FastLaneJB]

52 minutes ago, aquiss said:

Coming from the Jaguar I-Pace and heavily involved in that community and direct links into Jaguar, it too came with 19" to 22" wheels. The difference between them, was about 10 miles per inch size, to the point that Jaguar increased the entry model to a 20" wheel 2 years in, as software tweaks allowed them to claw back the 10 miles and a bit more.

Your going to see something similar with the Lotus, for a similar run between 2 cars, one on 20" inch and one on 23", will be about 30 miles over a full charge, but I too suspect, that within a couple of years, through software, those miles lost will generally come back through engineering gains.

It also needs to be made clear, all cars ranges are generally being measured in ideal conditions, based on a circa speed of 56MPH as baseline with a percentage coming back in regen, which is where the 350+ miles are being measured. No one is basing these figures at cars doing a constant 70-80MPH.

Similar to @Footie I'm seeing the Eletre, in the current wet, cold, windy UK weather hitting 250 miles on a run along decent roads/motorway. I can take enough from past experience that we will touching on 280-300 miles come better months and that's without software updates.

Yeah I understand, we have a Tesla Model 3 Performance for the misses so not my first EV though only been in this game for about a year. It's owning that made me change my mind about being a 2 x EV household.

Most of our trips are short so probably we both only need to charge once a week if that. Of course on the odd longer run I don't want a car that has me stopping every 100 miles but 200+ is probably fine as long as it also charges at a good pace. 20 - 30 mins to go to the toilet, grab a coffee or a quick bite to eat is fine. If it's charging at super slow speeds and you are stuck somewhere for an hour or longer that's where it would be a pain. But again, getting older so have more patience and it just won't happen that often in the scheme of things.

For those few times you have to wait at a public charger. There's all that time you've saved not having to go to a petrol station, de-icing the car and so on. I think on balance it's more convenient and not less.

[C8RKH]

1 hour ago, FastLaneJB said:

de-icing the car and so on

Some ICE cars allow you to pre-warm them, it's not unique to EVs.

My "old" S90 allowed me to switch it on and warm the engine, interior and de-ice the car from the Volvo app on my phone. I often did it whilst finishing breakfast. That was 5 years ago.

[FastLaneJB]

2 hours ago, C8RKH said:

Some ICE cars allow you to pre-warm them, it's not unique to EVs.

My "old" S90 allowed me to switch it on and warm the engine, interior and de-ice the car from the Volvo app on my phone. I often did it whilst finishing breakfast. That was 5 years ago.

My Discovery did that so I’m aware. However being a Diesel it would take around 30 minutes to do so and still might be luke warm at best. It’s also illegal to do if parked on public roads in the UK.

The Tesla can get from 0C to 20C in about 3 minutes with a heat pump. Don’t know on Eletre as I don’t have the app working yet so cannot warm it up.

So yes possible with an ICE but few do it in Europe due to laws and it’s not nearly as good.

Edited January 21 by FastLaneJB

[Bibs]

8 hours ago, FastLaneJB said:

My Discovery did that so I’m aware.

Disco's have a Fuel Burning Heater to warm them up quicker - https://www.disco3.co.uk/wiki/Fuel_Burning_Heater

My 10 year old Scirocco diesel has an electric pre-heater as diesels do take a long time to warm the engine. 

[aquiss]

8 hours ago, FastLaneJB said:

The Tesla can get from 0C to 20C in about 3 minutes with a heat pump. Don’t know on Eletre as I don’t have the app working yet so cannot warm it up.

It's pretty much about the same on the Eletre

[C8RKH]

9 hours ago, FastLaneJB said:

So yes possible with an ICE but few do it in Europe due to laws and it’s not nearly as good

Clear bias messaging again.

It's not just possible it is a fact.

The S90 does not use the main engine, and so is not illegal and cannot be used to drive the car. It would warm my seats, steering wheel, windscreen and passenger compartment in a few minutes.

I applaud your enthusiasm. One of the things that puts me off EVs is the virtue signalling BS from some owners.

 

[FastLaneJB]

2 hours ago, Bibs said:

Disco's have a Fuel Burning Heater to warm them up quicker - https://www.disco3.co.uk/wiki/Fuel_Burning_Heater

My 10 year old Scirocco diesel has an electric pre-heater as diesels do take a long time to warm the engine. 

Not all of them, I ordered it with one but they didn't put it in as during Covid times. It would start the engine instead to heat / cool the car but it was slow.

2 hours ago, aquiss said:

It's pretty much about the same on the Eletre

I'll hopefully find out when I can get the app connected to the car 😀 Just phoned them now to try to resolve.

[Bibs]

Some info here...

 

[FastLaneJB]

1 hour ago, C8RKH said:

Clear bias messaging again.

It's not just possible it is a fact.

The S90 does not use the main engine, and so is not illegal and cannot be used to drive the car. It would warm my seats, steering wheel, windscreen and passenger compartment in a few minutes.

I applaud your enthusiasm. One of the things that puts me off EVs is the virtue signalling BS from some owners.

 

Wow you're a friendly one.

Let me repeat so you understand. Some cars can do it with a separate petrol or diesel heater but cars with that are extremely rare. It's a £1k roughly cost option on most Land Rover models these days because they let you remote start the engine itself in the UK. This is however slow and also illegal to do so on a public road.

BMW for instance will let you remote start the engine of their cars along with some of the other German brands in the USA but they do not allow it in the UK. I'm not aware they offer a separate diesel or petrol heater on any of their models.

So it's not virtue signalling BS at all. Just the facts.

7 minutes ago, Bibs said:

Some info here...

 

Thanks Bibs. I looked at that but it mostly seems to be where the car is in the app under orders but not in the right state. I don't see the car in orders on my app as I brought a cancelled order stock model in the end so I don't have any car at all showing up. It let me sign the car into my account but no car shows in orders or my garage in any state of purchase on the app.

I called Lotus and they I think need to get that VIN assigned to me and then hopefully be good. An eletric car without an app is a pain as I charged quickly on an Ionity the other day, went in to grab some food which took longer than I expected and occurred to me it might have finished with me getting idle charges but I had no way to know.

Edited January 22 by FastLaneJB

[C8RKH]

1 hour ago, FastLaneJB said:

Wow you're a friendly one.

Quite friendly, just don't like being confronted with selective info that introduces bias.

Let's take my S90 example - the pre-warming facility is part of the winter pack. If it was illegal to use this integrated facility to pre-warm the car then, they would not be allowed to sell it with such functionality, would they?

I'm not trying to pick a fight, but I am saying that selectively championing one thing in one instance, and then denigrating the same thing in another instance, is not right. That's all.

I haven't commented about the other makes/models you have mentioned as I don't have any experience of them, and therefore don't like to comment on something I don't know. It's that simple.

We'll just agree to disagree I guess.

[FastLaneJB]

As I mentioned it is illegal to do this on the public highway when the engine itself starts, an auxiliary diesel or petrol heater would be legal however. It falls under the same situation that it's illegal to leave a car running on public roads, the law doesn't account for the fact it's remote start. It will be legal to do this on your own driveway for instance as that's not on a public road and why they can sell and enable this functionality in the UK. As an EV doesn't have an ICE it doesn't fall fowl of this law and you can remotely heat it on public roads without issue.

Basically Land Rover / Volvo trust you to obey the law and use it only in the right places. BMW and some of the other brands don't allow this in Europe but do in the USA which doesn't have these kind of restrictions.

How can they sell something to you that might be used illegally? Isn't that the same question as a car that can go over the speed limit or selling you a knife hoping that you won't stab someone with it? There's a legal use for these items and they are trusting you to use them in those ways.

There's no need to agree to disagree, there's the right answer and the wrong answer here. You've not said anything to show what I said is inaccurate, you just jumped in and accused me of bias.

[C8RKH]

The ICE S90 uses a secondary electric "engine" iirc to run this feature. It's not illegal to use it to precondition the cabin as described including cabin heat, seats and steering wheel.

I'm not sure I agree that a manufacturer would put something in their car, knowing it was illegal in the market it was being sold in, on a "trust you won't use it basis". Please elaborate as this doesn't sound correct, and would surely be captured by UK Type Approval requirements. Do you know this is the case for fact, or as a guess? I don't.

Thanks.

[Bibs]

You can start a car, get out of it, leave it running and never return. There you go, law broken and manufacturers didn't see that one coming! 

Anyway, enough now thanks. If you want a discussion about this any more, it'll need a new topic started but this thread can please continue on an owner views after owning an Eletre for a while.

[Rex Kramer]

On 21/01/2024 at 18:33, FastLaneJB said:

OK so did a not all that long trip but trip none the less in Range mode, about an hour up the A1 and then back again. Mixture of 50 / 60 and 70's on the stretch with some roundabouts to break up the flow. All in range mode and driving like a regular car might, not like an Eletre R maybe should 😉

Got 44.4 kWh/100mi there. Later on when I came back (Again car would be cold probably again by then) it was much higher, 54.8 kWh/100mi but winds have picked up now to around 27mph which felt like a strong headwind / side wind. Infact had to give up with the Highway Assist as the wind was blowing the car out of lane so on one hand it's nice it lets you steer around pot holes without disengaging as a Tesla might but it's too loose that it'll let the wind steer it also. They need to dial in a bit more resistance to that.

So on way there would be around 245 miles, on way back at those levels it's 198 miles. So can vary a bit but with the level of wind at the moment not a great test. See what I can do another day but maybe don't have any need for a long trip for a good few weeks at the moment.

 

2AD3D169-B36F-41C1-BD9D-1F428CADF229.heic 8.4 MB · 3 downloads

This is really helpful insight.  Given time of year and the relatively early stage of development these cars are in, I could well imagine this is the minimum you are going to get - should really pick up in the warmer months. 
I’m still leaning towards the S just to grab some extra range (I’d really like a minimum of 250 miles) but nothing has been decided yet!

[FastLaneJB]

Yes not done a long enough trip to compare but also the weather with wind is pretty damn strong in the UK at the moment so not good to test with. I'll try to track when I do a longer journey but don't have anything planned at the moment so it's just a lot of short journeys at the moment. The car doesn't get chance to warm up the battery and consumption is obviously much higher there (Plus not driving it in range).

[Footie]

For me personally there’s a couple of issues I would want sorted before signing on the dotted line, the cruise control and Apple play. Everything else is very minor in my opinion and things you will get use to like going into the menu to turn off speed warning and lane assist or not having an actual button on the steering wheel for heating it.

That said it’s a very wide car and you really become aware of it down a country road when you meet something like a van or lorry, you actually feel yourself squeezing inwards.

But for the money I don’t think anything competes on quality of materials or looks.

[Rex Kramer]

Those are definitely a concern for me.  Are Lotus owners receiving any commitments re CarPlay?  Eletre “2024” is listed by Apple as a compatible vehicle which suggests things are well advanced.

[aquiss]

HyperOS 1.4.0 should see Apple Carplay become available based on release details seen (along with HiCar support), however Android Auto still remains an unknown.

[RogEletre]

I was informed by Dealer (I did sign on dotted line!) CarPlay is close and it’s licensing not technical as they have it in China. 1.4.0 and we just got 1.3.0.W I believe.

to be honest having used the Nav and stereo with wired connection I am not sure CarPlay bothers me that much - but then I want to be left alone and not have messages etc when driving so am probably not representative.

Handover is confirmed Wednesday.  Insurance seems very reasonable too frankly compared with what I feared.

9 hours ago, Footie said:

For me personally there’s a couple of issues I would want sorted before signing on the dotted line, the cruise control and Apple play. Everything else is very minor in my opinion and things you will get use to like going into the menu to turn off speed warning and lane assist or not having an actual button on the steering wheel for heating it.

That said it’s a very wide car and you really become aware of it down a country road when you meet something like a van or lorry, you actually feel yourself squeezing inwards.

But for the money I don’t think anything competes on quality of materials or looks.

Agreed, am sure the annoyance will vanish once you get used to it.  Apparently settings menu remembers last menu so click settings takes your straight to disable.  Like turning off Stop Start in my other car - that has its own full pre flight checks list frankly so this will be a doddle.

[Footie]

I am at a crossroads at the moment, I have a deposit down for the Macan EV and its reveal was this morning at 11:30. Watched it and actually built my car to the spec I wanted and it wasn’t nearly as shocking as I expected so I debating do I stick with the Porsche Turbo EV or the Lotus. 
 

It will greatly depend on what the pcp is on the Porsche compared to the Lotus because you really can’t go wrong with either.

[Rex Kramer]

Saw that today.  As you say, both will be great although my guess is that the Macan will be ever so slightly cheaper on a like-for-like basis. I prefer the looks of the Lotus and I think the interior will be more interesting even if comparable in quality.  Where the Macan might win it for me is the slightly more compact size and the fact that the “turbo” looks very competitively priced, even when optioned up.

[FastLaneJB]

Not had mine long but the inbuilt navigation is very good from what I see at the moment. They've not started from scratch here, it's based on HERE Maps and their system. It picks chargers like a Tesla, shows you arrival battery percentage which seems pretty accurate. You can tap a button and it'll show you on the map how far you can get with the battery charge you have. Can help you find parking when you get to the destination. Can pick how much charge minimum you want before it adds a charger in, etc, etc. It's not the bare basics, it's fully featured.

I don't think there's a licensing cost for CarPlay but yes it's in 1.4.0 along with Digital Key for iPhones also. Looking forward to that update.

The Macan will no doubt be a good SUV. I just don't think it's quite as special as the Eletre. Are there some issues? Sure but nothing that I think is a show stopper and it's actually pretty well featured from the get go. I mean if you look at VW Group and their software devision, they ain't exactly been knocking it out of the park there recently either. The Macan is very late and is it that it's all fixed up and absolutely perfect or they've finally got it good enough they think they can ship it?

[Footie]

100% agree, the brother Taycan has had its issues despite getting his 2 yrs after its release and the wife’s Mk8 Golf R has been a total pain being in and out of the repair shop for software fixed so VAG aren’t anything to write home about. If you want reliable look towards BMW, my i4 hasn’t missed a beat.

Looks wise the Lotus knocks spots off the Macan, though the Macan counters this with is more compact size which would be a plus in my eyes. The Macan Turbo will have the edge on performance against the Eletre and Eletre S which are its closest priced rivals but in all honesty neither of them are slow.

I am actually a little underwhelmed by the interior of the Macan EV, it’s to similar to the car it’s replacing, no doubt it will be built well enough but hardly as special as the Eletre. Definitely need to see it in the flesh to say whether I want to stick with my order or swap to the Eletre.