We pit electric Renault Zoe against petrol Ford Fiesta in 282 mile race from Gateshead to London
LAST week I let you in on how drop-dead amazing the new Jaguar iPace is.
It is a fully-electric SUV with all the cajones of a sports car.
The iPace can even be used every day as the main family motor. The only problem?
It will cost you something in the ball park of £60,000.
But are budget EVs ready to take over from combustion?
Along with my Sun Motors opposite number Rob Gill, I put it to the test.
We “raced” a fully electric Renault Zoe — Rob’s ride — against a petrol-engine version of Britain’s most popular car, the Ford Fiesta.
We drove the 282 miles from the Angel of the North in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, to The Shard, central London.
Here’s how we got on.
Electric
ROB: “WARNING. There is not enough battery power to reach the selected destination.”
What? It’s 90-odd miles to my next planned charging stop at Baldock Services on the A1 and the car is telling me I’ve only got 82 miles of “juice” left.
I slow to 50mph. Switch off the radio. Switch off the air-con. All in a bid to preserve battery.
After limping along for 40 miles, I finally manage to turn the battery range from -8 miles to +5 miles. Bingo.
Now I can make it to Baldock and refuel.
I learned that trick up at Scotch Corner. I only used three miles of range in ten miles of 50mph roadworks.
I’m not knocking electric cars, I love them. Especially this Renault Zoe. It’s quiet, clean, fun, easy to drive and costs pennies to run.
But unless you can afford an £80,000 Tesla that does 300 miles-plus on a charge, electric cars make no sense for people who drive long distances.
The faster you go, the faster the battery drains.
And on motorways there is little regenerative braking to top up the range.
In stop/start city traffic, as proved here, you can actually do 13 miles and only use five miles of battery.
So, if you only do short distances and live in a town, you could be ready to switch to electric now.
The other Achilles heel is charging time.
It can take up to eight hours at home.
But that will improve as technology improves.
We are going to need thousands and thousands of charging points.
And what about Dave who lives on the 23rd floor?
How will he recharge his work van?
We don’t all live in a house with a garage to plug in our vehicles overnight.
We are going to need lamp post chargers on every street.
We are going to need inductive lanes on motorways that recharge as you drive.
Renault Zoe
Total journey time: 7hrs 40mins
Total cost: £7.73
Refuel stops: Blyth, Notts; Baldock, Herts (both 50 mins)
Battery range at start: 158 miles
Battery range at finish: 62 miles
Petrol
NICK: A FULL tank in my one-litre turbo-petrol Fiesta costs me £46.82.
The dash promises 374 miles.
We all know cars fib when it comes to mileage but that is nearly 100 miles of buffer.
Joining the A1(M) at Gateshead, I find 70mph on the cruise control and let the car take over.
The rev counter settles around 2,500rpm and I check my mirror to see Rob keeping up — for now.
It is a sunny day and I turn on the air-con. I love this song on the radio, so I crank up the volume.
My MPG figure has risen from 43.1 to 48.2 by the time I reach Scotch Corner, North Yorks. With the speed limit down to 50mph, my MPG leaps to 86.
Soon after Leeds, just over 100 miles into the journey, I notice I have lost Rob. I still have 293 miles on the dial.
At Peterborough I have to stop. Not because my tank is empty but because my bladder is full. It takes me 25 minutes to park up, find the toilet and buy a coffee.
As I reach London, the traffic thickens. It is down to a crawl by Hendon but my dash still reads 118 miles.
Even as my MPG drops to 37.1, I know I will finish with enough fuel to go back to Birmingham if I wanted.
Rob’s electric car will build up range from regenerative braking around town but I will still have a long wait at The Shard before he limps in.
That gives me time to pay the £11.50 congestion charge, from which Rob is exempt.
I did the journey in five hours and 25 minutes — only half an hour longer than Google Maps says it should take.
And I still have 108 miles of fuel left in the tank.
That makes the total cost of my journey around £50, including the congestion charge.
Ford Fiesta
Total journey time: 5hrs 25 mins
Total cost: £50 (inc congestion charge)
Refuel stops: None
Comfort breaks: Peterborough (25 mins)
Flash on the pan
HERE at Bike World we are privileged to travel around riding exotic motorcycles.
We have just got off Ducati’s Panigale V4 in Valencia, Spain. By all accounts it is an incredible machine.
But with a starting price just shy of £20,000, it is not the most affordable.
So the decision has been made that for every new model, we will take a look at an earlier version – one you can get second-hand for less cash but not less bike.
The Panigale 899 launched in 2014.
So for this review we look at bikes around the eight grand mark, with about 10,000 to 14,000 miles on the clock.
Designed as Ducati’s entry-level Panigale, the 899 still ticks all the dream-bike boxes.
It is beautiful, features the 148hp, 898 motor based on the 1199 L twin and has all the trick tech you could want in a high-performance sportsbike.
It has traction control, ABS and a full LCD dash.
While it might not be the fancy TFT version, it still has all the info there.
Braking is handled by the Brembo monobloc caliper system.
They can lack initial feel but the stopping power is excellent.
Coupled with a Showa BPF fork, the handling is sharp and precise.
If you are looking to take the 899 on track, it is worth noting that even with stock pipes, you may struggle with noise restrictions on quiet days.
The cans are underslung so sound is amplified after hitting the ground.
We chatted to dealers about reliability and, although there are few of the bikes with super-high mileage around, there are not many issues coming back.
But feedback across the board says the stock pegs are useless in the wet, so we recommend taking a file to them to add grip, or go for an after-market part.
Be careful when buying a used 899 with too many after-market upgrades.
They can be an easy way to cover up faults.
As a road bike, the 899 can get toasty in stop-start traffic on hotter days.
But on track and cooler days there is no real issue.
Think twice about taking a pillion as there is very little room at the back.
Four years on, the Panigale 899 is still a phenomenal bike.
If the V4, below, is not in your territory just yet, the 899 might just be the one for you.
A.J. CORONA
- For more, see or search “bike world” on YouTube.
AS if it wasn’t hard enough to keep up, Spanish outfit Seat has announced it will be creating a new brand – called Cupra.
Already the name given to spicy versions of its family cars, Cupra will “gain its own soul” and be a stand-alone marque, with a shiny new badge and can-do attitude.
Think Abarth to Fiat or DS to Citroen.
As long as it keeps banging out great hot hatches, I don’t care what it calls them.
Our roads riskier than F1 race
YOU might not think it – but you have more chance of being seriously hurt driving on UK roads than an F1 driver does during a race.
That’s according to racing driver BEN COLLINS, formerly The Stig on TV’s Top Gear.
Here, Ben explains what we can all do to get behind improving road safety in Britain.
Back in the 1960s, a Formula One driver had a two-in-three chance of being killed during a five-year period.
That was how poor the safety standards were.
Drivers navigated tricky bends at high speeds, with little or no run-off beside the track.
If you came off, you could find yourself wrapped around a telegraph pole or stopping dead into a tree.
The extensive use of smart barriers and run-off areas marked a new era of safety for F1, where they continue to fine-tune and invest in driver safety.
But shockingly, the average road user is still exposed to the very same hazards that were identified as unacceptable all those years ago in Formula One.
Sadly, it takes a toll: In 2016, 635 people were killed or seriously injured by colliding with trees, and 155 by hitting road signs.
Every driver has been caught out by a risky road, whether it resulted in a collision or just a moment of terror.
Narrow roads with no run-off, hazardous roadside infrastructure, surprise bends with no warning, poor lining and reflective markers for following roads at night.
Dangerous junctions, slippery surfaces, lack of provision for cyclists and pedestrians – all of these and many other factors besides affect road safety.
Human error is inevitable but the consequences need not be catastrophic if the road has been well designed to work with drivers.
A new road crash index created by the Road Safety Foundation and insurance company Ageas has pulled together data so you are able to see which are the risky roads in your area.
By identifying the riskiest roads in Britain we can help the Government to invest in the areas that need it most.
All you need to do is visit , find out your riskiest roads and then contact your MP about them.
Every £1 invested on improving the road network ends up saving £3 by preventing serious and fatal crashes.
Some money has already been allocated – now we need to point it in the right direction.
Reader's car of the week
THIS beautiful, bargain Beamer has been sent in by Robert Broughton, of Dover in Kent.
Robert says: “This is my BMW 3 Series 323i saloon, 1998 plate, which I bought in 2016 for £600. It’s an automatic, with electric windows and air-con. It’s in great condition and runs perfectly.”
If you want to see your pride and joy here, send a picture and brief description to [email protected].
Nick's picks
THERE are plenty of bargains for less than £5,000 over at mcb777.fun/motors
2009 Ford Fiesta 1.25 Style 5dr, £3,990
Well maintained with six months’ MOT, 52,000 miles.
2008 Citroen C4 1.6 HDi 16V Cachet 5dr, £1,450
Low fuel consumption, and tax is only £30 a year. With 101,000 miles.
2002 Mini Hatch 1.6 Cooper S 3dr, £2,500
Air-con, smart alloys and MOT passed this week, 61,000 miles.
2001 Volkswagen Golf 2.0 GTi 3dr, £1,599
New cambelt and water pump. MOT due July, 82,000 miles.
2011 Vauxhall Corsa 1.4 Excite 3dr, £3,195
Just 26,000 miles and 12 months’ MOT, plus new front tyres. Four- year service history.
MOST READ IN MOTORS
2008 BMW 1 Series 118d M Sport 3dr, £4,000
Full service history and MOT until October, 103,000 miles.
2005 BMW 3 Series 320ci M Sport 2dr, £3,100
Five owners, six cylinders and 95,000 miles. MOT in June.
- Find a car on our database of more than 490,000 new and use vehicles at mcb777.fun/motors